And while Halladay may not quite be a slam dunk just based on his lifetime career totals, he is clearly one of most dominant pitchers of the past decade and should be mentioned in the same breath as Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and Pedro Martinez. His masterpiece last night and his perfect game earlier in the year serves to show the rest of America what those who were either hardcore fans, Blue Jay fans or American League East fans have known for a long time:

Roy Halladay is a special pitcher.

On Toronto – a team that was never all that good during his tenure, and having to play at least 2 teams every single year that won 90+ games for a very good percentage of his starts. His stats against the Yankees are even better than his stats against everyone else. He was an all star for the 7th time in 12 full seasons this year, will likely win his 2nd Cy Young Award this year to go with one 2nd place finish, one 3rd place finish and two 5th place finishes. He has 3 seasons of 20 wins or more. His 169 wins are twice as many as his losses (number one among active pitchers), he has a lifetime ERA of 3.32, pitching predominantly against the toughest division in baseball for the past decade. His WAR are first or 2nd in 8 years. His 58 complete games are first among active pitchers, and he has led the league 6 times (with one second place finish). And he is routinely amongst league leaders in innings pitched.

He can easily win 300 games with the way he pitches and his relative youth, which would be unheard of after the retirement of Johnson, Maddux and Glavine.

But just as important – he instantly gives his team an excellent chance to win every single time out in a way that few pitchers over the past 15 years have – even the ones with overpowering fastballs.

Maybe his numbers aren’t as gaudy as others on the ballot, but if his career ended this postseason, what is the argument against voting him into the Hall of Fame?

Clearly, I take baseball quite seriously, which is why I hate interleague play.

By the time interleague play entered the lexicon of American baseball fans, I was into my teen years and had been playing Little League longer than the average Major League career. I wasn’t sure about the concept in the beginning, but I’ve come to despise the weeks of summer when my home team plays the other league.

I grew up in the Deep South, a place where there is only one baseball team: the Atlanta Braves. Consequently, I have no desire to which “regional rivalries” like Kansas City vs. St. Louis, the Angels and the Dodgers or the Subway Series in New York. I don’t particularly care about the only two other teams below the Mason-Dixon, which didn’t exist until after I had been a Braves fan for over a decade. Neither do I have any desire to watch other National League teams wasting their time against the American League. I have no interest in that league till the tail end of fail. Right now, I’m more concerned with my team’s route to the Fall Classic.

But the the biggest reason I despise interleague play is that fact, yes fact, that American League Baseball is not real baseball. That’s bound to start some fights here.

I’m what many refer to as a baseball purist, but one doesn’t have to be a purist to understand that the American League doesn’t play by the rules. All you must do is refer to Rule 1.01, the very first rule of baseball:

Baseball is a game between two teams of nine players each, under direction of a manager, played on an enclosed field in accordance with these rules, under jurisdiction of one or more umpires.

An American League line-up, with the exception of games in which those teams are lucky enough to set foot on National League grass, consists of 10 players.

The designated hitter rule is an abomination. It’s poker with a fifth ace. It’s subbing a linebacker for the punter after the punt. It’s replacing Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting skills with Marlon Brando’s, but keeping the pretty face.

As long as interleague play exists, I will grudgingly watch my home team each game. I’ll watch as a bench warmer goes in at first or in left so the every day guy can DH. I’ll watch it, but I won’t be happy about it.
What am I talking about? No matter how much I hate the DH or despise interleague play, I’ll be ecstatic just to watch the greatest game on the planet– even if it’s the silly fake American League version.

Buying the hype continues for me to this day – drafting players like Chase Utley, Corey Hart, Andrew McCutchen, Tim Lincecum and Ike Davis in my rotisserie baseball keeper leagues while they were still in AA or AAA ball. And I really, really hope this Strasburg kid lives up to his potential – especially since baseball has done a piss poor job of promoting its young, exciting players and frankly, the game itself (thanks for nothing, Bud….)

That being said, reading this article that “makes the case” for Strasburg being an All-Star this season misses the mark in so many ways. Not that he hasn’t had three very solid starts – albeit against barely major league hitters on Pittsburgh and Cleveland, and a then-below .500 White Sox team (his next start will be against the Royals). But this piece of the argument is straight out of the “where have I heard this before?” book:

The only question on him now appears to be: Is he a once-in-a-lifetime pitcher, or a once-in-a-century pitcher?

Admittedly, the forces of stodginess will all be aligned against the appearance of Stephen Strasburg on an All-Star roster at this early date. There are always legions in favor of the baseball status quo. Let’s not do anything different, because, well, it might be too different. And in this case, even the Nationals probably wouldn’t want Strasburg pitching in a situation over which they had little or no control.

But, but, but Stephen Strasburg is a special case. The only negative result from putting him on the NL All-Star roster would probably be that some of the other All-Star pitchers, after seeing him work, would go back to their respective teams with inferiority complexes.

It isn’t about the “status quo” or not doing anything different – if it was, there wouldn’t be a Wild Card or intraleague play, and one Armando Galarraga would have a 28 out perfect game on record. In the case of Strasburg and this year’s All Star game, it is about whether he deserves to be there – plain and simple – not whether the hype mandates that he be there.

Let’s look back just a few short months – to one Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves. Chipper Jones comparing Heyward to former Tennessee Titans DE Jevon Kearse and Bobby Cox compared Heyward to Hank Aaron – before he saw one major league pitch that counted. And we can go back further and further – remember when JD Drew was compared to Mickey Mantle and Stan Musial before blowing off the Phillies when they drafted him? He’s still around and has had a pretty decent career – but come on – nothing near that hype. Of course, if you wanted a rookie NL pitcher on the All-Star squad that has deserved it from Day 1, look no further than Jaime Garcia on St. Louis, who only has 70Ks, a sub-2.00 ERA, 7 wins and a 1.21 WHIP through 14 starts.

The list goes on and on. Kerry Wood was compared to Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemens. Mark Prior was even better and had the “perfect windup” so as to never get injured. Eric Davis had 2 of the more amazing seasons in 1986 and 1987 and was compared to Willie Mays before a number of average, injury riddled seasons and a bout with cancer (which was one of the best comeback stories) left his career as another “what could have been”. I won’t even get into Doc Gooden or Darryl Strawberry – 2 guys who had very good careers and accomplishments, but nothing near the lofty instant-Hall-of Fame hype that was heaped upon them those first few seasons.

If Strasburg is this good, lucky and healthy, he will have many All-Star games to come. Ditto for Heyward, and maybe even Florida’s Michael Stanton or the Mets’ Ike Davis. But right now, neither Strasburg nor Heyward are even the most deserving player on their own teams. Let’s watch these guys do their thing and maybe blaze their own paths. But there is only one Mantle, Aaron, Mays, Ryan and even Clemens. In the meantime, if baseball wanted to do something that was “for the good of its fans”, then maybe coming clean on PEDs and marketing the players who have already proved themselves as perennial All-Stars or future Hall of Famers would be a better idea.