Halladay hurries to stop Rays for No. 20

BLUE JAYS 3, RAYS 1: Roy Halladay allows five hits in the quickest game at Tropicana Field.

ST. PETERSBURG - Filthy. Nasty. Wicked.

The Devil Rays, looking like guys who were slapped upside the head with a 2 by 4 all afternoon, used these words to describe Toronto pitcher Roy Halladay.

Not exactly terms of endearment, but they were compliments of the highest regard.

Halladay became the first pitcher in the majors to win 20 games with a complete-game, 3-1 victory against the Rays on Thursday in front of 9,345 at Tropicana Field. And Halladay (20-6) did not need much time to perform his surgery. The game, played in 2 hours, 3 minutes, was the quickest in Tropicana history.

"The guy is above average every pitch," Rays designated hitter Al Martin said. "He's a guy that you try to get in trouble once or twice a game and you hope to take advantage of it. And we didn't."

For Martin, every at-bat seemed like a replay of the previous at-bat.

"You feel comfortable up there, but every time, it's ground ball, ground ball, ground ball," Martin said. "Before you know it, you're 0-for-4."

The Rays wore out a path between home and second base. Of Tampa Bay's 27 outs, 18 came on ground balls, including 11 to second base.

"That's what he does," Rays manager Lou Piniella said. "He throws a lot of ground balls. ... The guy is a good pitcher. He's not going to beat himself. You got to hit him."

The Rays didn't. They managed only five hits, two on bunts. The only run the Rays scored was unearned when Antonio Perez reached on an error in the sixth and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Aubrey Huff.

By that time, the Rays were down 2-0 after a homer by Greg Myers in the second and Carlos Delgado's sacrifice fly in the third. Rays pitcher Jeremi Gonzalez, who gave up six hits and three runs in 71/3, pitched well, but couldn't match Halladay, who has more victories (39) over the past two seasons than any pitcher in the majors.

"He's amazing," Toronto manager Carlos Tosca said. "If there's a better pitcher out there right now, we haven't seen him. He's the total package."

Not all that long ago - in 2000 to be exact - Halladay's struggles were so extreme that the Jays shipped him all the way back to Class A ball in Dunedin. Since his return at the start of the 2001 season, Halladay has gone 44-16, including 19-7 last season.

"He knows how to use everything he has now," Martin said. "Before, he was nasty, but it was like he would get you 0-and-2 and then he would let you off the hook and make a pitch that you had a chance on. Now if you don't hit the one pitch that he gives you, you can forget it."

The Rays did a lot of forgetting Thursday, while Halladay, who makes his offseason home in Palm Harbor, said he wouldn't look back until kicking back over the winter.

"I've still got some season left so I don't think it sets in until the season is over," Halladay said. "I have to tell you, after the season, I'll enjoy it. It's a lot of fun."

Well, fun for the Jays.

"He is as good of a pitcher as there is in the league, no question about it," Piniella said. "He pitched extremely well."