Halladay never folds em

Roy Halladay was throwing strikes, but home plate umpire Mike Everitt was too busy trying to hide his Albert Pujols boner to notice:
(from ESPN.com)
"St. Louis had the tying run up with two outs in the fifth after Albert Pujols walked on a close 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Halladay wasn't pleased with the call by plate umpire Mike Everitt. He didn't get another close one on a 2-2 pitch to the next batter, Matt Holliday. But Halladay fanned Holliday on a 79 mph curve to end the inning. On his way to the dugout, Halladay stopped for a brief conversation with Everitt."

The author there is being generous- those two pitches were more than close, they were about the strikey-est strikes ever. But even with the bases juiced, the calls not going his way, and slugger Matt Holliday bearing down on him, Halladay kept his poise and got out of the jam.

Two innings later, Charlie Manual came out to pull Halladay after Doc gave up a two RBI laser to Pujols. Halladay tells Charlie he has this, Charlie goes back into the dugout, the crowd goes nuts, Halladay gets a groundout to end the inning, and the crowd loses they minds.

Watching Halladay pitch is like watching Pedro in his prime- every pitch is a must-see, and you always trust that the guy is going to come up huge. Wow.

One injury note. Looks like Juan Castro re-twak his hamstring and is going to miss some time. Let's hope our third-string shortstop can get it done. Ruiz moved up a spot in the lineup to compensate and went a smoking 3-4 with a double and RBI. Choo-Choo!