This weekend, like every weekend in the major leagues, will feature great batter-pitcher matchups, confrontations that define the one-on-one nature of the game.
We'll see Roy Oswalt against Joe Mauer, Johan Santana versus Evan Longoria, Cliff Lee versus Derrek Lee, Josh Beckett versus Chipper Jones and anyone against Albert Pujols; Sunday, Gil Meche gets him.
So we asked 10 current players, and one former player, to name the best batter-pitcher matchup in the game, the one -- if they were clicking from game-to-game at home -- they would immediately stop to watch. The results were surprising only because of their unanimity.
...
Mets infielder Alex Cora: "Halladay against Pujols. He is such a complete pitcher. I've seen him give up four runs to us, then he ends up going nine. He has so many pitches. If the cutter isn't working, he goes with the changeup. If the changeup isn't working, he goes with the breaking ball. If that's not working, he makes something up. I used to tell Petey [Pedro Martinez] that if I was a general manager, and Roy was a free agent, I'd go over to his house, I'd give him a contract, I'd tell him to fill in a number and I'll be happy.
You can tell that everyone in the MLB has a lot of respect for Halladay...and Pujols of course. Pretty fun article to read.
