Mike McCann's Field of Fotos

10 years ago this week, Roy Halladay , coming off an historic season where he threw a regular season perfect game and a no-hitter in the first playoff game of his career, began his second year in Philadelphia. Working seven shutout innings of the Phils 11-0 victory over the Mets, Doc struck out seven, while scattering six hits and a walk. A perfectionist, he even consulted with home plate umpire Mike Everett after the top of the 2nd inning. The Philadelphia Inquirer's Phil Sheridan quoted the reigning Cy Young Award winner: "I'm just trying to find out, really, where he's at... For a pitcher, it's always hard to see - you can't really tell if you're a couple inches on or off or up or down. So I was just trying to find out from him how close it was or if it's down or if it's off. Just trying to get a read, really." In what would be his last great season before career-ending shoulder problems , Halladay went on to win 19, led the NL with eight co...

...you share it with Adrian Beltre , whose 21 years in the majors rank him among the best all-around 3rd basemen ever. The five-time Gold Glove winner smacked 477 homers while hitting .286, mostly with the Doegers, Mariners and Rangers. He'll debut on the Hall of Fame ballot in 2024. Josh Hader has emerged as one of baseball's best closers with the Milwaukee Brewers. The long-haired lefty led the National League in saves during the 60-game season. Even more impressively, he's averaged 1.7 strikeouts an inning since arriving in the majors in 2017. Eduardo Rodriguez became a mainstay of the Red Sox rotation during their 2018 drive to the World Series. Raising his game again the following season, he won 19 and finished sixth for the AL Cy Young Award. While a COVID related heart infection cost him all of 2020, he looked sharp in spring training and seems good to go in his walk year before hitting free agency next winter. Brett Tomko was the embodiment of the journeyman pitc...

The Yankees 7-0 Monday win over the Orioles came right from the textbook: power and pitching.  Start with the power -- which was impressive, and although just the fourth game of the season, seemingly overdue.   Aaron Judge zipped a line drive just beyond the right field wall in the 4th inning. Nice, but, thanks to the Stadium's cozy configuration, hardly headline-generating. But Giancarlo Stanton 's grand slam an inning later was eye-popping. Traveling 471 feet into the concourse beyond the left-center bleachers, that ball didn't soar as much as explode. Did it bear the commissioner's signature or the head of NASA? FYI: It was just the fifth time that Judge and Stanton had homered in the same game since becoming teammates in 2018. Even better news came from mound, where Jordan Montgomery , finally back at full health nearly three years after Tommy John surgery, turned in a dominating, Andy Pettitte-like performance: six shutout innings, with seven strikeouts, no walks...

The iconic Philadelphian Connie Mack is credited with coining the expression, "Baseball is 75 percent pitching." Other sages have raised that percentage as high as 90.  Whichever number you choose, one thing is clear: when one team's pitching dominates their opponent, the one's are almost assured of winning. This past weekend, the Phillies were the living embodiment of those words. Three dominating efforts by starting pitchers Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler   -- seven innings of one-hit shutout ball with 10 strikeouts --  and Zach Eflin, backed by similar excellence from the bullpen. Yes, the bullpen that was historically awful in 2020, protected Phillies leads in a three-game series sweep. Actually, not the same bullpen -- two of the four Philadelphia relievers, Archie Bradley and Jose Alvarado are new to the team, while the returning Hector Neris and Connor Brogdon also pitched scoreless ball. That foursome kept the defending division champs off the boards, while the Phil...

April 2nd. 1972: One of the saddest days in New York baseball, as Mets manager Gil Hodges dies of massive heart attack just after completing a round of golf in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was just 48. April 2nd, 1996: A fter their season opener was pushed back a day by snowy weather, the Yankees beat the Indians 7-1. In an indication of things to come, Derek Jeter blasts a home run (he'd go on to win rookie of the year honors), in the club's first victory under manager Joe Torre. April 2nd, 1997: Tino Martinez blasts three home runs in his first three times up as the Yankees crush the Mariners 16-2 at the Kingdome . He adds a bases-loaded walk and a single in a seven-RBI day. April 2nd, 2001: Roger Clemens whiffs Joe Randa in the 9th inning of the Yankees' season-opening 7-3 victory over the Kansas City Royals and passes Walter Johnson as the American League's alltime strikeout leader. Randa was Clemens'  3509th victim and fifth of the game. April 2nd, 2003: Alex R...

The Yankees mark several cornerstone franchise anniversaries during 2021. It's 100 years since Babe Ruth led them to their first pennant. 60 years since the greatest single season of the Stengel-Houk dynasty -- and summer of the slugging M&M Boys. And it's 25 years since the first of the four titles in five years under Joe Torre. It's also a dozen years since their last championship -- an eternity for fans of the Bronx Bombers. So, there's an urgency for general manager Brian Cashman and owner Hal Steinbrenner. They're crossed their T's and dotted the I's with new starting pitchers, Jamison Taillon and Corey Kluber. The bullpen received a partial makeover. And they held onto the club's best overall hitter, DJ LeMahieu. While the club is no sure thing -- especially with catcher Gary Sanchez going from rising star to world-class enigma and two years of disabling injuries to towering sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge -- the Yankees look prepare...

  ...you share it with  Chien-Ming Wang , a two-time 19 game winner who'd emerged as the Yankees ace, before -- in a story in some ways resembling Dizzy Dean -- a freakish 2008 foot injury led to an endless series of arm problems. A fter tearing his Lisfranc ligament running the bases against the Astros in Houston, t he pitcher who was the fastest to 50 career victories since Dwight Gooden, never regained his effectiveness. He's since become the poster child for American League clubs, especially the Yanks, pressing for a universal DH. ( My images of Wang are from a 2009 Grapefruit League game against the Astros, and a 2015 comeback attempt with the Braves .) Also on today's cake and candles list : Josmil Pinto appeared on track to follow 2013 New Britain Rock Cats teammates Eddie Rosario and Miguel Sano to major league stardom. The Venezuelan catcher put up some nice numbers that summer: 23 doubles, 14 home runs and a .308 average, which earned him a late-season promotion ...