Solid start for solid starter

Roy Halladay has had some fantastic seasons pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays. He had 19 wins in his breakout 2002 campaign. He had a career-high 22 wins in 2003, winning AL Cy Young honours that year. And he racked up 16, 16, and 20 victories over the last three seasons, respectively.

Yet somehow he’s on pace to be even better in 2009.

With a career-high 133-pitch effort in a complete game 6-4 win over the Angels Tuesday night, the 32-year-old Halladay improved to 9-1 on the ’09 campaign, becoming the first pitcher in the majors to win nine this year. The 9-1 record marks Halladay’s best start through 12 outings in his career (he’s also posted a career-best 6.83 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 12 starts).

Halladay was unhittable for much of Tuesday night’s game, recording a career-high 14 strikeouts. Eight of those were looking, as the Angels hitters were often left shaking their heads in frustration on the way back to the dugout.

Here’s a look at Halladay’s best season starts through 12 outings since that 2002 campaign (as ranked by winning percentage) …

2009 — .900 (9-1), 2.77 ERA, 12 BB, 82 K
2006 — .875 (7-1), 2.93 ERA, 10 BB, 43 K
2005 — .818 (9-2), 2.45 ERA, 15 BB, 65 K
2007 — .778 (7-2), 4.37 ERA, 14 BB, 54 K
2002 — .750 (6-2), 3.48 ERA, 20 BB, 71 K
2003 — .750 (6-2), 4.00 ERA, 12 BB, 63 K
2004 — .600 (6-4), 3.55 ERA, 24 BB, 61 K
2008 — .583 (7-5), 2.94 ERA, 12 BB, 72 K