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Halladay attempts to push Blue Jays to 11th consecutive win

Sep 10, 2008 - 10:09 AM Toronto (78-66) at Chi White Sox (80-64) 8:11 pm EDT

CHICAGO (Ticker) -- Roy Halladay is destined to fall short of his second American League Cy Young Award. He does, however, appear to be in line to do something else he has done only one other time - win 20 games.

Halladay attempts to spur the Toronto Blue Jays to their 11th straight victory on Wednesday when they meet the Chicago White Sox.

Even though Halladay (18-9, 2.64 ERA) appears unlikely to overtake Cleveland's Cliff Lee (21-2, 2.28) in the race for the AL Cy Young Award, he is poised to reach the 20-win mark for the second time in his career if he can win half of his four remaining scheduled starts.

The righthander, who registered his first 20-win season his only Cy Young Award in 2003, even has a chance of matching his career-high win total if he wins out. Halladay won for the fifth time in as many starts on Friday, permitting three runs - one earned - and seven hits over seven frames in a 6-4 victory over Tampa Bay.

While the AL's top pitching honor appears to be out of reach, the five-time All-Star righthander can take solace in the Blue Jays' recent playoff push that has them within one win of matching the team's all-time consecutive win streak, last accomplished from August 27-September 7, 1998.

During its long winning streak, Toronto has gained three games on AL wild-card leader Boston (85-59) and trails the Red Sox by seven games with 18 games remaining.

Chicago, which holds a one-game lead over Minnesota (79-65) in the AL Central, will turn to Mark Buehrle (12-11, 3.98).

The lefthander won for the fourth time in his last five decisions in Friday's 10-2 rout of the Angels, allowing three runs and two hits with seven strikeouts over six scoreless innings.