If this were a normal spring, Sunday's abbreviated outing would be only a minor nuisance. But Halladay is at a place that is eerily similar to where he was 16 days before the start of last season, which ended with a 4.49 ERA and 156 1/3 innings in 25 starts. Twenty-two days before his first start of the 2012 season, a FoxSports.com report raised concerns about Halladay's velocity and the "bite" on his pitches. He was coming off a rough outing in which he had allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings against the Twins, and his fastball was topping out at 89 mph. This year, his velocity is hovering in the same range. Halladay admitted 6 days ago that he has a lot of things he needs to work on, that he is still struggling to deploy his most trusted weapon, the cutter. On Sunday, that work did not get done.