Sims: What's Wrong With Phillies Ace Roy Halladay?

By Abby Sims
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Phillies ace Roy Halladay evidently kept his shoulder symptoms from the team's coaching and training staff while underwhelming all -- including his opponents -- in his last few starts. So, Halladay, how did that work out for ya? You have to wonder if, even now, he is only headed to see a specialist because the staff came to him to see what -- besides his ERA -- might be up.

Halladay's season got off to a terrible start with an uncharacteristic ERA of 14.73 built over only 7 1/3 innings in his first two starts. He rallied in his next three games, pitching 21 innings and bringing his ERA down to 5.08 before imploding yet again on April 30 and May 5.  According to Phillies beat writer Kevin Cooney, Halladay claims that his shoulder pain only began after his successful start on April 24, in which he gave up only one hit and one run over six innings.

If that is the case, it would be interesting to go back and compare tape of Halladay's pitching mechanics in his first two games versus his middle three starts. Was he bothered by something earlier than he's admitted? Or, might he have compensated for his poor performance by altering his mechanics in such a way that it resulted in an overuse injury?

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