Roy_halladay_pitcher
Ok, he's not a real Doctor, but Harvey Dorfman is in Roy Halladay's head- in a good way.

A piece by Phil Sheridan in today's Inquirer tells us about Dorfman, who wrote The Mental ABC's of Pitching.  He is a respected source for helping some of this generatiion's most successful pitchers compete at a high level.  Doc is one his patients.  [Philly.com]

Ironically, it wasn't the kid with the X Games demeanor and crazy windup [Lincecum]. It was Halladay. Before he became Doc, he had to spend some time with the doctor.  

"When I met him, he was innocent, naive, about the mental part of the game," Harvey Dorfman said by phone the other day. "Now he gets it. He applies it. He integrates information into behavior. It's not like in school, where you get high grades for what you know. In baseball, you get high grades for what you do."

Perhaps most interesting is that Halladay spoke to Dorman before throwing his Game 1 start against the Reds:

And Halladay still regularly consults Dorfman.

"We talked prior to his last start," Dorfman said. "I recognized that he wasn't approaching things in the ideal way. He just didn't look right to me and to himself, more importantly. That's what is so wonderful about him."

After a few less-than-Doc-like late-season outings, Halladay was regrouping and refocusing for the postseason debut he'd waited for so long.

"So many guys talk about getting there and wait a long time to get there and then, when they do, they soil themselves," Dorfman said.

Halladay threw a no-hitter.

"Impeccable," Dorfman said. "I sent him an e-mail with one word in it: 'Masterful.' " 

According to Sheridan's piece, just about every pitcher in the clubhouse has read Dorfman's book. Dorfman isn't the only influence for Phillies pitchers.  Cole Hamels sees a performance specialist.