Skip to main content

Halladay Untouchable in Playoff Opener


In the opening game of the 2010 National League Division Series, Phillies ace Roy Halladay threw the second no-hitter in MLB post-season history, to lead his club past the Cincinnati Reds, 4-0.

Way back on October 8th, 1956, the Yankees' Don Larsen threw a perfect game in the World series against the Dodgers.

On Wednesday, Halladay threw 9 hitless innings, striking out 8 batters, with 104 pitches...79 of which were strikes, against the National League's most potent offense. As a team, Cincinnati led the league in batting average (.272), HR (188) and RBI (761) during the regular season. It was the second time Halladay held a team hitless this year, as he hurled a perfect game against the Marlins in Florida on May 29th.

Halladay even contributed to the Phillies' victory with his bat, driving in a run with an RBI single in the 2nd inning, off of Reds starting pitcher Edinson Volquez.

The excitement level for Halladay's tremendous effort spread beyond the Delaware Valley. The final outs of Halladay's no-hitter were displayed on the video board at Minnesota's Target Field, as the Twins and Yankees prepared to start their American League Division Series.

After the game, Halladay described the event as "a dream come true". Many phans would agree. It wasn't too long ago that the Phillies tried to get by with moderately desirable pitchers. The only top level pitchers' names tied to the Phillies in trades were being sent away by the Phils. They'd make moves, adding middle tier names like Turk or Cory around the trading deadline. That is no longer the case, as Philadelphia has become the home of a baseball contender...a place where elite talents want to play. These days, the Phillies add names such as Roy and...Roy again.

"This is what you come here for," Halladay told the media following his first ever MLB playoff appearance on Wednesday. "This team- they know how to win. It’s been a great year, a fun year. We have a ways to go."

Now, it'll be the other Roy's turn, as Roy Oswalt will take the mound and try to keep the momentum going for the Phillies in game 2 on Friday.

___________________________________________________________________

For unique updates and stats follow PhoulBallz.com on Twitter by clicking HERE.

Comments

MVR Joe said…
Nice pic man

Popular posts from this blog

PhoulBallz Q&A with Mike Stutes

Mike Stutes completes "The Reading Phils Mike Tri-fecta" over three days, here on PhoulBallz.com. Stutes, a 22 year old, was an 11th round selection by the Phillies in the 2008 amateur draft. Stutes, a right handed starting pitcher, helped lead Oregon State to the College World Series championship in both 2006 and 2007. Stutes and teammate Vance Worley are the first players to begin a season at Reading the year after being drafted since Pat Burrell did it in 1999. Stutes was the Phils' minor league pitcher of the month in August '08, when he went 4-1 with a 1.72 ERA in 6 starts. Check out my Q&A with the third Mike below. Can I get you to talk about the coaching staff and how they help you deal with ups and downs? They've been real positive with me. I started out good and then I hit a rough patch. They've stuck with me through it all. I haven't heard any negative words from them. Every day they try to come out, work with me, try to get me turned around...

Jason Knapp Q&A

PhoulBallz .com was fortunate enough to meet with Phillies prospect Jason Knapp just one day after he caught the attention of the baseball world with his 7 shut out innings, 14 strike out performance against the Indians' Lake County team. - I asked Jason, the Lakewood BlueClaw , for some thoughts about his big game... I had pretty good command of three pitches (fastball, curve, change up). I was on the same page with my catcher, D'Arnaud , and I ended up, ya know, I felt pretty good. - In a great performance like that, how much credit goes to Travis D'Arnaud , the catcher? More than you might expect, definitely. I didn't shake him off once. He told me what to throw and I do what I'm told. And if it works out, a lot of the credit goes to the catcher. - Does the lack of run support (Lakewood has scored 3 total runs in his 3 starts), in your few starts, increase your stress level, or enhance your focus? No, I just try to go out and do my job every outing. Ya know, we...

Yankees Fans Misled By Pepsi Promotion

**** Today, New York Yankees fans attended a Pepsi promotion in Times Square hoping for chances to win opening day tickets to the new stadium, but the tickets, which were difficult to track down due to poor organization on Pepsi's part, were actually for a game in June. Furthermore, the 250 pairs that were promised were actually only 100 pairs. The fans, who were made to sprint through traffic over multiple city blocks when locations for the promotion changed, quickly turned against the soda brand by pooring out their beverages and chanting anti-Pepsi phrases. Yankees fans are even threatening a boycott of Pepsi. An appearance by Yankee great Goose Gossage could not even settle the angry mob, as he had to be whisked away, as a precaution, according to the Daily News . Ooo , I'd hate to see what "the worst fans in sports" (Philadelphia fans) would have done to their free Pepsi cans and beloved reliever in that situation. Because this happened in a non-Philly city, th...