>>>>>BTW, hearkening back to the raging debate last season, I will say without qualification that Roy Halladay is currently the best pitcher in baseball. He had a short string of rocky starts a while back but even then he pitched well enough to win. His last start was his 10th win and his 5th complete game. Many pitching staffs go all season without that many CGs collectively. Our pal Tamar is at the Phillies-Red Sox game tonight, Cliff Lee and Josh Beckett on the mound.
>>>>
>>>>I'm not even sure Halladay's the best pitcher on the Phillies right now. Across the length of the season, he may be, but Lee and Hamels are giving him some pretty stiff competition right now. Including Tuesday's game, Lee has 3 consecutive complete game shutouts; for June, he was 5-0 with a .21 ERA.
>>>>
>>>>As I write this, Hamels is trying for his 10th win for the 3rd time. He pitched well enough to win the last two (where he took losses), but the Phils failed to score enough.
>>>>
>>>>Tamar
>>>
>>>Phillies beat the Jays today, but at least it was a very entertaining game. And Doc was treated just the way I figured he would and should have been. He got a standing O from 40 odd thousand Jays fans when he came out on the field, but after throwing his first pitch, he was just another bum on another team and was treated as such.
>>>
>>>Except when he's facing the Jays, Jays fans still love him.
>>
>>Were you at the game?
>>
>>I figure that losing Friday's game must have been pretty disheartening for the Jays, knowing they had to face Halladay and Lee in the next two. Lee was just phenomenal in June, and having been at his shutout Tuesday night, I see no reason it wouldn't just carry right into July.
>>
>>Tamar
>
>Sorry about that (Lee's shutout innings record).
>
>Yeah. Sure I am! ;)

Boy, was that a tough loss. Very weird, too, because despite all the runs (and the late homers), Lee looked pretty good. 9 Ks.

Oh, well, win every series and you'll almost surely land in the post-season. Now we get to play the Marlins. Which reminds me of my favorite stat from Lee's phenomenal June: he was 5-0, giving him as many wins in June as the Marlins had. (When I first heard the stat, after Lee's win last Tuesday, it was that he had 2 more wins than the Marlins in June, but I see they picked up a bit at the end of the month.)

Tamar