Screen Shot 2013-09-24 at 8.44.05 AMThere have been nonstop rumors about Roy Halladay’s health ever since he was pulled from a game after four sweaty innings in Chicago in 2011. And with good reason. Something has seemed… off… about Halladay. On the mound, he works himself into a lather more quickly than any other pitcher, and he always looks stressed. Despite being a workout fiend, he seems to tire more quickly than most and appears to have lost more muscle than he’s gained over the past year or so. And what started as unfair speculation has, over time, turned into reasonable doubt– there’s something wrong with Doc.

Yep, there is.

Halladay was pulled after 16 pitches last night when he couldn’t throw a baseball more than 83 mph. He has “arm fatigue” stemming from his shoulder surgery earlier this year and will miss the rest of the season.

But also, this:

Later in his postgame interview with reporters, Halladay admitted that this has been a “stressful” season. He went on to admit that he’s dealt with more than shoulder issues. He said he recently began taking medication for an illness related to diet.

“We got it figured out,” said Halladay, whose weight is noticeably down. “Some of it’s personal. It’s a family history deal. It took us a while to figure out the cause and basically it’s related to diet. They put me on some medicine that will prevent that from happening and ever since then it’s been great.”

And from Philly.com [who finally fixed their formatting issues!]:

He was optimistic because he felt no pain in his shoulder or arm. Manager Ryne Sandberg said Halladay had a “classic dead arm.” Sandberg was not aware of his illness. General manager Ruben Amaro Jr. insisted before the game that Halladay was healthy.

The 36-year-old righthander is gaunt. His body is overwhelmed. His shoulder is not strong. He was vague about the condition, saying “some of it is personal.”

And Phillies.com:

Halladay said he is dealing with “arm fatigue” following right shoulder surgery in May, but he also revealed that he has been battling a recently diagnosed illness related to his diet, which runs in his family.

Your concerns were right on. An overworked shoulder doesn’t turn a world-class athlete into a puddle of sweat and exhaustion.

Here’s what I wrote… last May:

Doc saw another doctor yesterday in New York– Dr. David Altchek, who performed surprise Tommy John surgery on Twin Scott Baker. There’s no indication that anything is wrong with Halladay’s elbow… but there are a number of odd occurrences involving Doc since March that make us uneasy:

Decreased velocity in spring training, denies injury.

Leaves team after poor outing – in which he once again looked overheated – for “personal family issue,” returns next day. 

Wild rumors pop up about Doc’s health as people speculate what’s wrong and why he left team.

More bad starts.

Shoulder soreness, pulled from start. 

Lat strain, out 6-8 weeks.

Second opinion, will speak with media on Friday, likely in a secret, staged meeting by Phillies PR gestapo.

Can’t help but wonder if that personal family issue was the diet thing.

via Bleeding Brotherly Love

And from this past March:

Roy Halladay was pulled from his start after one inning yesterday. He was supposedly sick and threw up, but the fact that he showed up in Clearwater this morning to get medicine, ostensibly for a stomach bug, has some wondering if there’s more to the story. Pretty much anything about Halladay is conjecture, and I know there were all sorts of rumors about him being (we’ll call it) ill last year, but ever since that day he overheated in Chicago in 2011, something has seemed off about him. And though he’s probably just getting old, you can’t help but wonder if there is more to the story.

And from Matt Gelb that same day:

Halladay lasted just one inning Sunday because of what the team termed a stomach virus. Through a team spokesman, Halladay said he was still sick and contagious Monday. He was at the complex only to receive medication.

It is a curious spring for Halladay, which has bred boundless conspiracy theories. The truth is impossible to know until Halladay throws again. The Phillies have not yet scheduled his next start, which could come Friday or Saturday.

This all started two years. How long did Halladay and the Phillies know that something else was wrong besides just back and shoulder problems?

Completely anecdotally, here’s an email from April sent by reader Kyle that I never shared. Halladay’s newly revealed “diet” issue made me think of it:

I’ve got a goofy little tidbit on Halladay. A few nights ago I was in the Newtown Square Wawa and one of the workers was talking about how Halladay comes in there regularly. (Its well known by the people that live around there that his house is nearby). So naturally I asked him if there was anything out of the ordinary about him, and sure enough the guy says that on pretty much a nightly basis, Doc comes in and buys 2 pints of Ben & Jerry’s ‘Chocolate Therapy’ ice cream, like clockwork. I had never heard of it but apparently its a real thing. So forget his lack of command and loss of velocity on his fastball, I think we’ve finally come to the core of his pitching woes – 2 pints-a-day of Ben & Jerry’s.

Maybe Halladay is trying to gain weight.

Two months later, an email from reader Greg:

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About to pull out in Wawa, giant white tinted out Suburban pulling in (somewhat erractically) so we wait for him to pull in. My buddy goes, “Yo that’s Halladay. (As he gets out)….”YOO, YO Doc”…doesnt answer & keeps walking, as we said Yo Doc again…so he goes in, buys something pretty quick…comes back out as we wait for him to come out and at least acknowledge the fact hes been spotted at Wawa at 12:30 in the morning, so we go “Yo Doc what up? Hows the arm doin?” He goes “What are you guys talking about?” We say “How about Johnny Mayberry tonight, WALK OFF!” He goes “You guys must have the wrong guy, I dont know what your talking about.” So we say, “C’mon man give up the act, we wish you a speedy recovery and hope the arm heals up quck” just im time for him to slip it in one more time, “Yeah you guys must have the wrong guy”…we finished with “Yeah alright Doc, were Phillies fans we know who you are, thanks though”

Wasnt like we asked for a picture or autograph, there was 2 of us in the car in an empty parking lot on 252 in Newtown Square at 12:30 AM and the guy wouldnt even acknowledge the fact that he WAS indeed, Roy Halladay.

I tried to take some picture without being socially awkward (attempting to talk to him, while taking pictures)

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ice cream pints?

Halladay’s really sad post-game interview from last night is after the jump.