Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw a perfect game last night which is only the 20th in MLB history. The work that Halladay puts in to get ready for each start is easily regarded as the toughest, most disciplined regimen for any pitcher. Less than 12 hours after completing history, Halladay was back at the ballpark, beating everyone of his teammates there. "Journey's always better than the destination," Halladay said. Here is a little from Jayson Stark of espn.com:
I got to talking about Halladay one day this spring with a former teammate of his in Toronto, Jason Frasor. And I found myself thinking Saturday about something Frasor said that day.
Some men, Frasor said, prepare to pitch.
And some men, he said, prepare to win.
But "Doc," Frasor said, "prepares to dominate."
And that's just about all Halladay has done since the day he reappeared in the big leagues in 2002, after that infamous detour to the Florida State League in 2001. He leads the majors in wins (137), innings pitched (1,796 1/3) and complete games (51) since then. He's second in winning percentage (.688) and ERA (3.08).
And none of that happened by accident. It happened because all this man has done since is embarked upon the pursuit of greatness.
You find him in the workout room hours before dawn on every spring training morning. You'll have to wait for 45 minutes to talk to him after every regular-season start, because there is no chance -- none -- he'd skip his mandatory post-pitching workout, even after a perfect game.
"I used to think I got to the park early," Phillies hitting coach Milt Thompson said of Halladay this spring. "But I get here at 6:15 [a.m.], and he's already on his second shirt."
