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It’s no secret that a solid rotation is key for success. An offense, no matter how formidable, can be silenced by effective pitching, keeping the team in the game.

Closing in on two months into the 2011 MLB season, a distinct group of starting pitching staffs has risen to the forefront as being capable of taking their teams to the playoffs. 

To be a truly fearsome rotation, a team needs five established starters who can all deliver quality outings reliably. Looking back at the 2010 season, we saw the San Francisco Giants (who made this list with almost the same rotation) ride their starters all the way to their World Series title. 

Without further ado, let’s look at the top seven starting pitching staffs in baseball a third of the way through the season. 

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Is perfection contagious? Maybe, maybe not. But since 2010, there have been more no-hitters and perfect games thrown in Major League Baseball than from 2007-2009 combined. And on Saturday, Tigers‘ ace Justin Verlander added to that number.

If perfection is not contagious, then this is all a coincidence. But when you take a close look at the time-line of the no-nos thrown in the last 12 months or so, there seems to be a common link between all of them.

Verlander’s second no-hitter of his career comes five days after Francisco Liriano no-hit the Orioles. It’s also almost exactly one year to the day of Dallas Braden’s perfect game, last Mother’s Day—which was about three weeks after Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter.

Exactly 20 days after Branden’s perfecto, Roy Halladay joined the parade, tossing a perfect game of his own. Edwin Jackson and Matt Garza each pitched a no-hitter, almost exactly a month after each other.

Here is an in-depth recap of the eight no-hitters thrown since last season.

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Every sport has their own set of unwritten sins, for instance a left tackle not helping their quarterback up after a blindside sack, or in hockey not giving the goalie your stick after his breaks, but no sport has more unwritten rules than baseball.

In most big league clubhouses you can find a kangaroo court trial being held every so often, namely for breaking some rules on their long list of no-no’s. Just like in our judicial system, some laws carry a higher punishment than others, and this list of the seven deadliest sins is something all ballplayers should try to avoid.

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When it comes to determining the greatest starting pitcher in a franchise’s history, where do you even start? 

Considering the Toronto Blue Jays have been in existence since 1977, 277 pitchers have taken the mound with 147 of them being starters. 

Everyone has their opinions as to who was better; who had the most wins, who started the most games, who contributed the most to the franchise’s success. 

In this instance instead of throwing out names like Roy Halladay, Dave Stieb, Roger Clemens and Pat Hentgen, one would have to set qualifying criteria like the number of games started i.e. at least 60-plus games.  For the sake of argument that number can be broken down even further to the top 10 leaders in victories. 

Of course when it comes to determining the best ever, the same names surface each and every conversation: Dave Stieb, Roy Halladay, Jim Clancy, Jimmy Key, Pat Hentgen, David Wells, and Juan Guzman.

Clancy, Hentgen, Wells and Guzman were good in their own right, but in the upper echelon of Jays greats?  I don’t think so.  Their Toronto career ERAs ranged from 4.06 to 4.28; highly uncharacteristic to being named best of all time. 

Clemens on the other hand had a superb stint while in Toronto, culminating in two Cy Young awards and 41 wins in 67 starts.  Perhaps the two best seasons ever—I’ll give him that—but only two seasons.

That leaves Stieb, Halladay and Key to battle it out for Canadian supremacy. 

Jimmy Key ranks fourth in victories with 116 leaving him trailing Doc by 32, but Key never received the spotlight he should’ve in my eyes.  Rarely breaking 90, Key was a magician at hitting his spots and a model of consistency for the Jays through their peak years in the late ’80s and early ’90s. 

What can you say about Mr. Halladay, this beast of a pitcher?  If Doc didn’t struggle through those early years, he could quite possibly hold the team lead in victories.  With that being said, Halladay was the go-to guy in Toronto between 2002 and 2009.  Six All-Star appearances and a Cy Young in 2003 have solidified this gunslinger’s spot in history.  The scary thing?  He may be even better now.  Unbelievable considering what fans have witnessed in Toronto. 

Stieb will always be remembered for the guy who battled every single time he took the mound.  Every appearance was filled with glaring stares to teammates who committed an error.  Strikeouts were most certainly graced by the presence of one of the nastiest sliders that danced through the zone at nearly unhittable angles.  Combining that with five one-hitters (three lost on the last out), one no-hitter, the most wins in club history (175) and a tie for second with a 3.42 ERA leaves him as the most prolific pitcher Toronto has ever had. 

When considering all the attributes that go into putting something like this together, you cannot base your arguments strictly on face value.  You undoubtedly need to dig deeper and break things down to support your claim. 

In the end, Dave Stieb will go down as the greatest Jay to toe the rubber.  I tip my cap to the man who made watching those games on CTV something I will never forget. 

Follow this link to view several interesting numbers, some that will make you think twice. Click here to view.

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective

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The top two pitchers for the San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies are arguably the top tandems in the Major Leagues. 

Each of these pitchers is an ace in his own right, but combined with the other, they make a great one-two punch for their respective teams.

In San Francisco, the Giants rode the strong arms and steely resolve of Lincecum and Cain to the 2010 World Series title.

Lincecum, a two time Cy Young award winner, compiled a record of 16-10 with a 3.43 ERA and 1.272 WHIP last season. For the third consecutive year, Lincecum led the league in strikeouts with 231, in 212 1/3 innings pitched.

Matt Cain was the steadiest pitcher in the Giants’ outstanding rotation. He was solid during the regular season, as he went 13-11, with a 3.14 ERA and 1.084 WHIP ratio. Cain worked a career high 223 1/3 innings and struck out 177.

Where Lincecum and Cain really excelled was in the postseason. Lincecum had a record of 4-1 with an ERA of 2.43 and WHIP of 0.919. In 37 post season innings, Lincecum struck out 43.

Cain was even better in the postseason: In three postseason starts, Cain went 2-0. He did not allow an earned run in 21 1/3 innings and had a WHIP of 0.938.

In 2010, Roy Halladay won the Cy Young award with the Phillies, the second of his career. He compiled a record of 21-10 with an ERA of 2.44 and WHIP of 1.041. Halladay threw 250 2/3 innings in the regular season and struck out 219.

Cliff Lee began 2010 in Seattle, but was traded to the Texas Rangers in mid season. He compiled a 12-9 record between the two clubs. Lee had an ERA of 3.18 and WHIP ratio of 1.003. Lee has one Cy Young award to his credit.

In the 2010 postseason, Halladay was 2-1 with an ERA of 2.45 and an incredible WHIP of 0.773. Lee, was 3-2, losing his only two games against the Giants in the NLCS.

Halladay is off to a great start this season. In three starts, he is 2-0 with an ERA of 1.23. Lee’s 2011 has not gotten off to as strong, as he is 2-1 with an ERA of 4.19. His WHIP is still excellent at 0.983.

Lincecum and Cain are off to great starts in 2011. The tandem is currently 3-1 and both have ERA’s below 2.00. 

Both tandems are outstanding and should do very well this year. However, there are three key factors that, I believe, give Lincecum and Cain the edge over Halladay and Lee, in 2011.

The San Francisco offense is much improved this year, whereas Philadelphia has lost Jayson Werth and Chase Utley is out for an indefinite period of time.

Throwing in the pitcher friendly AT&T Park is also a benefit to Lincecum and Cain. Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia is a hitter’s park and that could detract from the numbers of Halladay and Lee.

The biggest factor, in my opinion is age. Lincecum and Cain are both 26 year old and in the prime pf their careers.

For the Phillies, Halladay is 33 and Lee is 32.

All four pitchers are outstanding, however, I give Lincecum and Cain the slight edge.

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In baseball today, fickle fans have a fascination with speed when it comes to pitching.  Unless a pitcher can throw a fastball upwards of 94 miles per hour, it seems that he is not worth one’s total attention.  While the fastball is certainly a fine pitch, I would prefer today to talk about a horse of a different color: the changeup.

All in all, the changeup is the same as the fastball in terms of movement.  It moves straight, but a special grip required to throw it makes it a different pitch entirely.  Rather than overwhelm an opposing batter with high velocity, a changeup moves much slower than a typical fastball and most batters swing at it too early.

While many of today’s pitchers do have great fastballs, many of those same pitchers rely heavily on a changeup in order to be effective.  One pitcher who uses this pitch very well is Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay (pictured at left), whose changeup just seems to improve season after season.

Here are 10 pitchers in baseball today, Halladay included, whose changeups are extremely stifling.

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In this past week in Phillies baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies won three of their five games, bringing their NL East-leading record to 9-4.

The week (defined for our purposes as Monday through Sunday) concluded with a hard-earned 3-2 win over the visiting Florida Marlins, who would have tied the Phils for first place with a win.

The men in red pinstripes split the rain-abbreviated, two-game set, and have yet to drop a series this young season.

As it played out, the Phillies—whose offense had been surprisingly potent the first nine games of the season—only tallied 17 total runs in the five games. On the bright side, they received four well-pitched games from their five-man rotation (who each started one game, starting with an ineffective Joe Blanton).

In such a pitching-dominated week, who are the leading candidates for my third Top Phillie of the Week Award?

A panel of alternate personalities, utilizing the finest technology and expertise imaginable, has identified six somewhat worthy candidates this time around. Interestingly, none of my panelists identified the previous two winners—Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino—as one of the six.

Let’s hope that there’s no jinx at work here.

So, who were the ones who made the cut and boosted their chances for the Top Phillie of the Year Award to be announced in October?

(Note to potential sponsors: Contact me via this site with your cash and/or proposals.)

Let’s get right to the Sizzling Six.

6) Cole Hamels—The best No. 4 starter in baseball—the King of Diamonds if you prefer—pitched very well earlier today in a mid-April version of a big game.

Hamels worked seven innings, yielding two earned runs on seven hits. He fanned seven while walking two. Unfortunately for Cole, the Phils did not score their third run ’til the bottom of the eighth.

5) Ryan Madson—The superb master of the eight inning made three appearances this week, and excelled in each. Madson notched his first win of the season today, and for the week, he gave up only one hit and no walks in three innings. His ERA remains at 0.00, and his WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched) is at a silly 0.40.

4) Carlos Ruiz—Chooch only batted 4-18 this week (.222), but that does not begin to tell the story.

One of Ruiz’s hits was a solo homer in the top of the sixth on Thursday, to break up Washington Nationals’ starter Jordan Zimmerman’s perfect game, and put up the first run for Cliff Lee—the only breathing room he would need.

On Sunday, Ruiz drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eight. He also made a terrific play on a surprise bunt, and a great block of a pitch in the dirt in the top of the ninth, preserving the one-run victory.

3) Placido Polanco—Polly does not grab headlines; he just continues to collect hits and play the game the right way.

Polly hit for .429 for the week (9-21) to boost his season’s average to .373. He hit safely in all five contests, with a homer (the first run in Sunday’s game), six runs scored and four RBI.

2) Roy Halladay—One runs out of superlatives for Doc, who added another chapter to his Philadelphia legend with his 3-2 complete game victory at Washington.

Doc scattered six hits in his complete game performance, yielding two runs and two walks, while striking out nine. The other half of the story?

The man who has more complete games (career) than any other hurler in baseball, showed his toughness one more time. When skipper Charlie Manuel came to the mound with the Phils hanging onto a 3-1 lead with two runners on and one out, Doc waved him off simply saying, “I’ve got ‘em. I’ve got ‘em.”

Well, he got ‘em all right, ending his gutsy performance by striking out two batters looking. For an account of his feat, see more here.

It was swift, no-nonsense and dominant. In a word, iconic. Typical Doc.

1) Cliff Lee—It would take an almost perfect performance to top Halladay this week, and Philly’s co-favorite pitcher delivered one.

Bouncing back from an off-game at Atlanta, Lee had everything working versus the Nats on Thursday.

Lee threw a complete game shutout, yielding only three hits and a walk in the 4-0 win. Amazingly, he fanned 12 Nats on only 99 total pitches. That, my friends, is almost impossible to do.

In recognition of this masterpiece (and we may not see a better pitched game all year, even from this staff), Cliff wins our third Top Phillie of the Week Award.

GOLD NOTES

Here is one of those stats that is hard to fathom, or Hard to believe, Harry if you prefer.

(Per an AP recap piece), prior to Halladay and Lee throwing their complete games, no Phillies’ pitching tandem had done so since  Paul Byrd and Curt Schilling in May of the 1999 season. This tidbit came to my attention in an AP recap, and my head is spinning to try to comprehend it.

Yes, complete games are rare, but how can they be that rare? 

One would think that this pitching staff will not need another 12 years to duplicate what should be very achievable. It may happen again in the next 12 days.

For more information on Matt Goldberg’s new books, as well as writing, speaking and interview requests, please e-mail: matt@tipofthegoldberg.com or contact him via his Bleacher Report homepage.

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Roy Halladay was dealing once again, throwing eight innings of two-hit, shutout ball on the road versus the Washington Nationals. Well over the 100-pitch mark, he was laboring in the ninth.  The Nats had narrowed the deficit to 3-1 and had runners on first and third with just one out.

Skipper Charlie Manuel walked to the mound, and almost any other pitcher in Major League Baseball would get a pat-on-the-back and an ovation—if they made it to the ninth in the first place.  Per Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News (quoting Manuel), the conversation between manager and ace pitcher went like this:

Manuel: “Well, Roy, here I am.”

Halladay: “I’ve got ’em. I’ve got ’em.”

Manuel: “OK, you’ve got ’em, then.”

As manager-pitcher conversations have always been protected by some form of doctor-client (Doc-client, in this case?) privilege, we’ll have to take Charlie at his word. And yes, I prefer to think that this is all that the no-nonsense Halladay uttered.

Doc goes back to the hill, and yields an infield hit, which cuts the lead to one and places runners on first and second—still with one down. Adding to his legend, what does Halladay do?

He strikes out one-time Phillies-hero Matt Stairs looking, and then rings up surefire Hall-of-Famer Ivan Rodriguez with yet another Backwards K.

The game-ending strikeout means three things:

1. The Phillies win again, and now sit at an impressive 8-3.

2.  Halladay runs his record to 2-0, with a low, low ERA of 1.23.

3.  “I’ve got ’em. I’ve got ’em.” becomes an instant Philly sports quotes

Where Will This Quote Rank in Phillies Sports Lore?

Only time will tell as to whether Doc’s quote will be remembered years down the road, but his terse, ultra-confident statement and the way he backed it up with two called strikeouts may well end up being the stuff of local legend.

Indeed, it may one day take its place next to Ryan Howard’s “Get me to the plate, boys”, which the big man lived up to with a two-out, two run, game-tying double in the bottom of the ninth. Of course, both the line and the line drive were delivered in Game Four of the NLDS in Colorado.

So, RH-2, if you will, may not quite make it to the level of RH-1’s quote, but it sure beats other recent quotes with more pejorative connotations, such as “They’re fair-weather fans” or the iconic “We’re a small market franchise.”

Adding to the Nickname for Our Starting Rotation

In September, 2010, and in this very space, I was brainstorming nicknames for the Phillies three-headed monster, and ended up proposing H20. The nickname went a little viral, even if only some of that virus accompanied that piece.

When Cliff Lee, shocking-Lee and joyful-Lee returned to South Philly, I was among those who proposed (and advocated) R2C2 for the rotation of Halladay, Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

Some other nicknames have joined the discussion, including variants of Mound Rushmore, the Fab Four (or Phab Phour) and the Four Aces.  For my money, none are as catchy as H20, but I’m not going to advocate getting rid of Cliff Lee.

Still, the Four Aces (I’ve never been a “phan” of overusing the Ph) is a good name, but it seems about time that we define the aces a little more.

Admittedly, I’m not a bridge player, and don’t care for watching poker on TV, playing it with friends or doing so online. But in most people’s minds, the Ace of Spades carries the most weight, so let’s go to it.

Roy Halladay:  The Ace of Spades

Many, including yours truly, have referred to Doc as the Ace of Aces, and he certainly is—among the Phillies, and among all great pitchers in MLB.

Hence, Halladay takes his rightful place as the Ace of Spades: dark, serious and just a little menacing

Cliff Lee: The Ace of Hearts

Lee won the hearts of Phillies fans in a few short months in 2009, forever earning the town’s love with his two wins versus the Yankees in the 2009 World Series, punctuated by his behind-the-back stab and his ho-hum, yawning catch of a weak pop-up.

Philly’s heart was broken when its newest sports hero was traded to Seattle last year, but they loved him even more when he spurned the Yankees’ mega-dollar deal to pitch for the Phillies and their ultra-sensitive fans.

The man from Arkansas is clearly the King of Hearts

Roy Oswalt: The Ace of Clubs

For many years, Oswalt was the lone ace for the Houston Astros, but he has pitched quite well since coming here.

Oswalt is a man of few words, but (a la Big Roy Halladay) lets his play do the talking for him. Given his big stick mentality and the fact that he starred for another ballclub, Little Roy looks just fine as the King of Clubs.

Cole Hamels:  The Ace of Diamonds

A diamond is a high-priced commodity, which can be quite brilliant, or somewhat flawed.

Hamels, sometimes known as Hollywood, has just a little of that blue-blooded, snooty appearance, which belies how fierce of a competitor he is.

And despite a somewhat flawed 2009 season, Hamels has mostly shined brilliantly in his tenure here.

The Ace of Diamonds is a good fit for Cole.  King Cole? Nah…

As for Joe Blanton, an excellent No. 5 starter despite two straight rough outings, I’m thinking it over. King of Clubs doesn’t quite do it for me.

For more information on Matt Goldberg’s new books, as well as writing, speaking and interview requests, please e-mail: matt@tipofthegoldberg.com or contact him via his Bleacher Report homepage.

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To make life easier, let’s just say that Dice-K cost a clean $100 million. I mean, that extra $3,111,111.11 really isn’t anything to write home about anyway. I can easily make that much money in three, maybe four lifetimes.

With that absurd amount of Benjamin’s, I’d buy Roy Halladay. Halladay was signed through 2013 with a 3year/$60 million contract. I’d rather have spent my money on three years of Halladay instead of six years of Daisuke Matsuzaka.

With the remaining (approximately) $40 million, I’d have taken the Boston Red Sox, the entire AL East, the rest of the American League and their counterparts in the National League out to Sizzler for an all-you-can-eat steak dinner. And if anything is left over, maybe some Pink (read: crack) Berry afterward.

If anyone has too much to drink, Dice-K will be available as the designated driver to ferry people home free of charge. After all, he doesn’t really need the money now, does he?

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No true ace willfully gives up the ball with a game on the line.  As a fan, you admire this, but sometimes, you still have a hard time trusting them.  Maybe the closer should be called you think.

But when Roy says he’s got it under control, you just have to trust him, no matter how bad things might look.  Halladay has earned the right to be his own closer.

I learned this last night in the ninth inning as the Phillies played the Nationals.  Through the first eight innings, Halladay was on cruise control, allowing only two hits and shutting out Washington.  Although he had thrown nearly 100 pitches, things seemed to be in control.

That was about to change as Rick Ankiel led off with a double.  Jayson Werth followed with a single.  Just like that, Halladay was in his first jam of the night as the tying run came to the plate.  The bullpen came to life.  Surely, Charlie would be out on the mound to congratulate Roy on a game well pitched, and put the ball in the hand of closer Jose Contreras. 

But Manuel stayed in the dugout.

Halladay struck out the next hitter, Adam LaRoche, but the next two batters singled, driving in two runs and putting the tying run on second. 

Now, Manuel came running out of the dugout. 

The announcers assured those of us viewing at home that when Charlie runs out of the dugout he is not ready to make a pitching change.  The game seemed to be slipping away, a loss in a game like this could wreck the rest of the week and kill a team’s momentum, especially following a loss the night before. 

Surely Charlie must realize Halladay was done, I thought.  The 100-plus pitches having taken their toll, Halladay simply would not be able to finish what he had started, no matter how badly he wanted to.

Halladay, however, did not see things my way.  He assured his manager and teammates that he had things under control and would protect the Phillies lead, which was now perilously close to slipping away.

As Manuel walked back to the dugout, without taking his ace with him, I implored him to reconsider. He did not and Halladay stayed in the game.

What followed was some of the most focused, clutch pitching that I have ever seen in the ninth inning of a game.  The Nationals called for pinch hitter extraordinaire Matt Stairs to the plate, the same Matt Stairs who became a Phillies folk hero for his late game heroics.  I had a bad feeling about this matchup.  Stairs could end the game with one swing.  Given a fastball middle-in, Stairs would send the Nationals home winners.

Halladay simply fired three straight fastballs on the outside corner.  Stairs didn’t even move the bat from his shoulder.  I had never seen a hitter so overmatched at the plate.  Pudge Rodriguez followed.  The game now seemed safe.  Again, Halladay disposed of the hitter with three pitches.  The last a filthy curveball on the outside that buckled Rodriguez.

With this performance, Halladay has, in my opinion, earned the right to dictate whether or not he will stay in the game.  The way he bore down in crunch time was incredible.  To strike out the final two hitters on six pitches, with the tying run in scoring position, shows that Halladay is a true ace.

Charlie Manuel obviously knew better than to take the ball from Roy Halladay.  Next time I see Halladay in a jam in the ninth inning, I will know better as well.

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