Roy Halladay Came Here to Bury the Cardinals

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CITIZENS BANK PARK -- The logos are drying on the field. The Phillies are going through their pre-NLDS workout right now. Charlie Manuel and tomorrow night's starter, Roy Halladay, just wrapped up their media sessions and said that -- while they respect the Cardinals team for the resilience they've shown and the talent they have -- The Fightins are confident and ready to defeat them.

The playoff buzz has started in South Philly.

Charlie Manuel praised the Cardinals' offense, calling them a "real good hitting ball club," but also saved the best compliments for his ace on the hill tomorrow, Roy Halladay.

"He's the most prepared guy I've ever seen. He works harder than anyone I've ever seen," Manuel said of Halladay. "He thinks he can throw any pitch he's got at any moment."

"He's more determined."

As for the Cardinals success against the Phils earlier this season, Roy Halladay doesn't see much of a connection between then and now.

"I don't really see one thing or a couple things that would lead us to believe it's going to happen again," Halladay said.

Clearly the highlight of the early media session was when Roy Halladay was asked about the need to balance showing respect to your opponent while being confident in your team.

Here's the full context of Roy's put-them-in-a-grave-ala-Shakespeare's-Mark-Antony response:

Question: You talk about the balance of being in touch with what the other team is capable of, having proper respect, but at the end of all that thinking about what I know I can do and what our team is capable of so you don't give too much respect or too little -- that balance there?

Roy Halladay: I heard a quote a long time ago, 'I came here to bury Caesar, not praise him.' It's true. I think that we're all well aware of how good the [Cardinals] are. We obviously have a respect for what they've done and how they've played, but you have to be confident going in that you're going to be able to beat them. You have to be confident the guys around you feel the same way. It is important, I think we all don't take it lightly, but at the same time, I feel like without an arrogant tone to it, we believe we have a team that can go out and get the job done.

Gotta love Roy Halladay quoting Shakespeare while also eliciting the same emotions of watching the final fight scene in Karate Kid.

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Here's Charlie talking about just how good Roy is:

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