In brief: Halladay wins N.L. Cy Young

Baseball: Roy Halladay (pictured above) arrived in Philadelphia to a standing ovation, a $60 million contract extension and the billing as baseball’s top ace. That was before he threw a single pitch.

Doc delivered, and then some.

Halladay added another victory to an almost perfect season Tuesday, unanimously winning the N.L. Cy Young Award and becoming the fifth pitcher to earn the honor in both leagues.

“It’s by far the most fun I’ve ever had playing this game,” he said on a conference call from Mexico, where he was golfing with Phillies teammate Mike Sweeney, Cardinals star Chris Carpenter and pitcher Chris Young.

“It was everything I hoped it would be,” Halladay said.

Halladay became the only pitcher to throw a perfect game and no-hitter in the same season.

Halladay was an easy choice after going 21-10 with a 2.44 ERA and 219 strikeouts. The right-hander pitched 250 2/3 innings, nine complete games and four shutouts.

Halladay received all 32 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Adam Wainwright of St. Louis was second and Ubaldo Jimenez of Colorado was third. San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum, who won the past two N.L. Cy Youngs, finished 11th.

Associated Press

NIC at nationals live online

Volleyball: The No. 6-seed North Idaho College volleyball team opens play at the National Junior College Athletics Association volleyball tournament on Thursday against No. 11 Iowa Western Junior College at 7 a.m.

Fans can watch the match on the “NJCAA Tournament Streaming Video” link at nic.edu/athletics.

Outdoors blog keeps an eye out

Outdoors: The newspaper’s outdoors coverage is taking a giant leap into real time with a new Outdoors blog.

Rich Landers – who’s been covering outdoors topics ranging from birdwatching and hiking to hunting, fishing and conservation – is filing news, updates and insights as they happen.

The blog complements other outdoors coverage, including Landers’ Thursday outdoors column and Sunday features plus the Friday Hunting-Fishing report by Al Liere.

Check it out at spokesman.com/blogs/outdoorsblog/