Roy Halladay Begins Rehab Assignment

Phillies ace Roy Halladay has not pitched since being removed after two innings of their game against the Cardinals May 27. A strained lat was diagnosed and he’s been on the disabled list since then.

Halladay could be close to a return to the majors:

Halladay will start Thursday for Class A Clearwater in his first game action since May 27, according to [a Philadelphia Inquirer] report.

If there are no setbacks, Halladay is likely to start next Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to the report.

Halladay had been pitching significantly below his career norms before the injury, although he wasn’t pitching badly; he was exactly league-average in ERA (100 ERA+) and had a good 1.14 WHIP, a bit lower than his career average.

His return is no magic elixir to return the Phillies to contention — they stand 13 games under .500 and dead last in the NL East — but they’ll be happy to see him taking the ball every fifth day, anyway.

For more on the Phillies, please visit The Good Phight and SB Nation Philly.

Roy Halladay Injury Diagnosis Confirmed

After Roy Halladay was removed from a game with shoulder soreness, he was diagnosed with a strained lat. At that point he was given a six-to-eight-week timetable that some thought was realistic, and that some thought was optimistic. The standard practice in these situations, though, is to seek out a second opinion to make sure nothing was missed. Halladay and the Phillies went after a second opinion on Halladay's shoulder, and the word is in: the initial diagnosis was correct.

Matt Gelb:

A second opinion on Roy Halladay's injured shoulder is expected to show no differences than the original diagnosis of a strained latissimus dorsi muscle.

The six-to-eight week prognosis remains the same. But that timeline will not be concrete until two weeks from now when Halladay attempts to throw.

If you're a fan of Halladay, the Phillies, or really great pitching, you can choose to be encouraged by the fact that Halladay was supposedly "symptom-free" after exercising Tuesday. But he's still a ways off, which is something we hoped we'd never have to say about Roy Halladay. We want the best athletes to be something greater than human, and it's weird when they have human episodes.

Phillies Are In Trouble ... But How Much, Really?

No other national writer follows the Philadelphia Phillies like Jayson Stark follows the Philadelphia Phillies, so I took special notice when I saw that he'd written something about how that club will be affected by the loss -- for somewhere in the neighborhood of two months -- of Roy Halladay.

Stark (via ESPN.com):

So what was their formula for running off the kind of mid- or late-season winning streaks they've patented in recent years -- like the 49-19 blitz they closed with in 2010? The formula was to get their aces on a roll and ride that wave. That's what. But how does that happen now?

Which means this is a team that will be forced to keep treading water for weeks -- until Utley, Howard and Halladay return. And by then, said one scout, "Washington might run away with that division."

The counter-argument, of course, is that Halladay wasn't himself for most of this year, anyway. Since winning his first three starts of the year, he was 1-5 with a 5.29 ERA, had all but given up on throwing his fastball, and couldn't finish his curve or cutter with any consistency. And still. the Phillies were tough enough to hang in the race, and even to run off 11 wins in their past 16 games.

It's hard to figure how a team without Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Roy Halladay and Vance Worley is going to stay close in the standings and eventually make one of those great closing runs.

But what if this team was with Utley, Howard, Halladay and Worley? In 2010, they began that 49-19 blitz on the 22nd of July. Utley and Howard are supposedly progressing in their rehabs. Worley's expected to rejoin the Phillies' rotation next week. And with Halladay expected to miss six to eight weeks, he should be back by ... well, right around the 22nd of July.

Which isn't to suggest the Phillies will put together another run like that one. Or that when all these guys are healthy, other guys won't be injured. With Halladay out for maybe two months, the Phillies are obviously in bigger trouble than they were already in. But it's not over yet, not by a long shot. The Nationals are overachieving, the Braves suddenly can't pitch, and the Marlins and Mets -- their 27-22 records aside -- have been outscored this season.

The Phillies aren't the favorites any more, because they're in fifth place and they've got big holes. But it's far too early to count them out.

Roy Halladay Injury: Shoulder Problem Means 6-8 Weeks On DL

Sunday, Phillies ace Roy Halladay left his start against St. Louis after just two innings and 36 pitches.

The reason? Shoulder soreness.

Tuesday, we've learned the soreness was actually caused by a strain. From the Phillies:

Phillies place Roy Halladay on 15-day DL (retroactive to May 28) with right latissimus dorsi strain.

— Phillies (@Phillies) May 29, 2012

The latissimus dorsi, if you're wondering, is a muscle behind the shoulder. Or a character on Game of Thrones. Or, ideally, both.

The Phillies haven't announced a timetable, but Jon Heyman says Halladay will miss 6-8 weeks.

The good news is that Cliff Lee's back in the rotation after a DL stint, and the Phillies do have five four legitimate starting pitchers, if you count Kyle Kendrick. Or five, if you count Dave Bush, who's been pitching well in Class AAA. The bad news is that Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are still out of action, and Jimmy Rollins still isn't hitting.

The Phillies are still only four games out of first place, and they might be heartened by the Braves' eight-game (and counting) losing streak. But their margin for error just got a little thinner. And considering Halladay had thrown at least 220 innings in each of the last six seasons, it was hard to see this one coming.

Roy Halladay Leaves Game With Shoulder Soreness

The Phillies' ace was taken out of Sunday's game after just two innings.