'twas the season / 'tis the season

Jayson Stark runs down the numbers on some pretty improbable occurrences that all took place in one marvelous baseball season. My favorite:

Happy Halladays Dept.: Roy Halladay knocked off a four-start stretch in August and September in which his innings pitched went: 9, 8, 9 and 8. Just as we all expected, he came out of that with two complete games. Just as nobody expected, neither of the nine-inning starts counted as a CG, because they both went extra innings. But he did get complete games out of the two eight-inning starts because they were both losses on the road. Go figure.

Happy Halladays, indeed.

Or, as some might say, merry Christmas and a happy new year, to you, yours, and everyone else who wants 'em.