Greatest vs Greatest

by Oldfinfan on May 6, 2010 11:16 AM EDT

Today the world of MLB fans get to see one of the most anticipated match-ups of our current era in baseball. Technically this belongs over at the Good Phight blog but we are all big Halladay fans here so I don't think anyone will mind.

Roy Halladay will face off against Albert Pujols today at 8pm EST. I personally have been wanting to see these two face each other for a few years now and I am very excited. My biggest problem is who do I want to win in this match-up.

Albert Pujols is, I think, the most talented hitter since Lou Gehrig. He is a gold glove firstbaseman and one of the smartest base runners in baseball to go alongside his tremendous ability with his bat. In the 9 years he has been in baseball he has set new standards for consistency.

Over his career he has hit .334/.427/.627. If you take his career worst numbers in each major category you'd still have an MVP type season

.314/.403/.561 32 HR 103 RBI 99 RS.

He has walked more then he has struck out every year but his rookie season, and the spread between the two numbers gets larger every season. Perhaps my favorite tidbit about Albert Pujols is that he has never once in his career (according to Elias Stats Bureau) swung and missed at three straight pitches.

I won't say much about Halladay because everyone here knows his brilliance. We know he is the model that all pitchers look to. He leads or is in the top 3 of every single pitcher stats over the past 8 season.

I don't think the league has ever had a pitcher and position player that were so clearly, heads above the rest of their peers, as we do in Halladay and Pujols.

Today they face off for the first time.

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Comments

The universe may explode.

It’s kind of like Josh Towers pitching against Eric Hinske, in a bizzaro world.

A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without Sugar

by craig in calgary on May 6, 2010 11:32 AM EDT reply actions

i'm pretty sure they play at 1:00PM EST

by elpikiman on May 6, 2010 12:03 PM EDT reply actions

They had a couple of at bats before haven’t they?

Like the all-star game last year? Or spring training?

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on May 6, 2010 12:07 PM EDT reply actions

Oops.

As it turns out they have faced each other before.
Pujols is 0 for 4 against Halladay lifetime.

But he is 1 for 6 if you include his 2 at bats from the all-star game last year.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on May 6, 2010 12:18 PM EDT up reply actions

And he is now 1-7 Lifetime with 1RBI and a BB

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on May 6, 2010 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Yep

Roy is now 6-1 with an ERA of 1.61 and if the season ended today, probably wouldn’t get a single 1st place Cy Young Vote.

A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without Sugar

by craig in calgary on May 6, 2010 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Not a single one? Really? I kinda doubt that. He has been amazing.

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on May 6, 2010 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions

I dunno, compare Doc to Ubaldo

6-0 0.87 ERA
6-1 1.61 ERA

Doc’s been amazing, Jimenez has been untouchable.
Now I welcome someone to use a stat that I’ve never heard of to disprove me…

A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without Sugar

by craig in calgary on May 6, 2010 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Lately, Halladay always seemsm to have this one guy who has a career year, and beats him out for the Cy

Last year, Greinke
Year before, Lee

I wouldn’t be surprised if Jimenez fades a little though as the season progresses. This one should be Doc’s I would think.

by REMO on May 6, 2010 5:48 PM EDT up reply actions

Absolutely.

I assume he will too, and Doc eventually wins it. My initial point was “If the season ended today”.
Grienke deserved it last year but I think Roy got jobbed when Lee won.

A man without a mustache is like a cup of tea without Sugar

by craig in calgary on May 6, 2010 5:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Didn’t realize Jimenez had been that untouchable.

And I agree with you for the past two AL CY’s

Life as a Toronto Sports Fan?... *sigh*... It is what it is...

by JohnnyG on May 6, 2010 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions

being the second or third best pitcher in the league

year in, year out for almost a decade now is pretty impressive in and of itself, though.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on May 7, 2010 4:26 PM EDT up reply actions

and I agree with those who say

Doc should have won over Lee. Jesse’s post on that was very good, I remember. Just saying that being second best for that long while every one around you is fluctuating is its own kind of impressive.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on May 7, 2010 4:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Doc has 15 more innings on Ubaldo

If Ubaldo can sustain his #s til that point, then we’ll talk.

HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!

by BenjiDoc on May 7, 2010 10:33 AM EDT up reply actions

I have the feeling craig was baiting me, haha

but Doc’s xFIP (2.72) is actually better than Ubaldo’s (3.14) Doc has left 84% of runners on, with Jimenez leaving an absurd 91% on base so far. No way he keeps that up. And of course Doc’s 6.86 K/BB is destroying Ubaldo’s still very good 2.75. Doc’s BABIP at .290 is about what you’d expect, while Ubaldo’s .264 suggests he’s been fortunate.

No doubt Jimenez has been amazing this year, but Doc’s the better bet over the course of the season.

"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman

by hugo on May 7, 2010 4:33 PM EDT up reply actions

Even just going by straight fangraphs WAR (which is calculated by FIP)

because Doc’s pitched more innings, he’s at 2.2, while Ubaldo is at 1.7

Furthermore, the fact that Ubaldo hasn’t yielded an homerun yet is artificially suppressing his FIP as they have almost the exact same (excellent) groundball-rate (53.1% for Ubaldo and 52.9% for Roy). As you mentioned, by xFIP, which corrects HR/fly to league-average, Halladay has been better than Jimenez by a fairly large margin.

"Look at me! I'm Tomokazu Ohka of the Montreal Expos!"

by jessef on May 7, 2010 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions

I could have sworn the game was at 8...I missed it...omg

by Oldfinfan on May 6, 2010 4:28 PM EDT reply actions

Its a Long Season

and while Halladay has performed like this for years Jimenez has not carried this kind of work load before. It may be a close race at the end of the year (unless something unfortunate befalls one of the Cy candidates) but I think Doc will give him a run for his money.

by IanJ on May 7, 2010 1:30 PM EDT reply actions