> I don't know what they might in fact base that on, given that Lincecum has better career stats in every regard. Well, except one; Halladay has peerless control., better than Lincecum's.
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>On a serious note, you have to be careful about comparing career stats, since Halladay pitched in the much tougher American league (a better league, with no DH, and in Halladay's case, he had to face Boston and the Yankees and in recent years, Tampa). But even then....

And let us not forget the fact that their schedule is an unbalanced MLB embarrassment (imho). They faced the Yankees and Boston far too often for it to be fair. Then throw in the Rays on top of that, and the Jays were trapped in a meat grinder.

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>Until 2002, Halladay was either injured or bounced between pen and starting rotation. If you compare their numbers since 2002, they are very close. Linecum's winning % is 70%, Halladay's 69%. Lincecum's ERA is 2.93, Halladay's is 3.07. That is with Halladay facing arguably much tougher competition. Lincecum strikes out more hitters, but also walks twice as many as Halladay.
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>Also recall I previously gave you a big statistic: In the last 3 seasons, Lincecum has a losing record after Sept 1, with an ERA over a run higher. Halladay has a .667 win %, with an ERA of half a run LOWER than his career ERA - and that's often pitching against division foes in the month of September that have been fighting for the AL East and Wild Card.
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>We may never know for certain, but I'd bet a steak dinner Lincecum's numbers and success would be worse if he pitched in the AL.
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>Last year, when the Giants were battling the Rockies for the wild card, Lincecum was 1-3 in September with a ERA of .7 over his career average. Not exactly clutch performances...
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>So over the last several years, their numbers are very close, but also with Halladay leading in 2 important areas: walks per 9 innings and record during the pennant race.
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>They have been two of the top pitchers in baseball the last several seasons. They are great pitchers. I just think there are stronger arguments that Halladay is the better of the two. I also don't think Lincecum will sustain his current numbers when he hits 30 years of age (or for that matter, even 28).