NLDS, Game 1: Roy Halladay Throws Second No-Hitter In MLB Playoff History As Phillies Beat Reds 4-0

One look at the strike zone map for the game shows that Halladay wasn’t really getting much more help from umpire John Hirschbeck than the Reds were. Halladay was just doing a phenomenal job of pitching to the edges, as he always does, and that’s what makes him so damn effective.

For other postgame quotes, we turn to Halladay himself:

You could debate something like this for ages - and some people most certainly will - but for the sake of keeping things simple, let’s use a statistic called ‘Game Score’, which I will allow Wikipedia to define:

Game score is based on a number of things, from strikeouts to runs allowed. Halladay’s no-hitter racked up a game score of 94. Where does that place when you look at all other starts throughout playoff baseball history?

It was the fourth inning. It was in the top of the fourth that the TBS announcers started talking about Halladay’s perfect game in Florida from earlier this year, and about Don Larsen’s World Series perfect game in 1956. Ordinarily, you’d chastise a broadcast for making those kinds of allusions so early in a game, but truth be told, there was a vibe, there. As Roy Halladay went to work, there was a feeling. He always throws great stuff. He always has great location. Today, he was extra-great. Extra-him.

104 pitches. 79 strikes. You know what’s remarkable? After 2297.1 regular season innings, this was the first playoff appearance of Roy Halladay’s career. I don’t know that this proves that playoff experience is irrelevant, but it certainly proves that Roy Halladay is impervious to circumstances that might make a lesser man weak in the knees. Roy Halladay looked like Roy Halladay. Roy Halladay looked like a better Roy Halladay. I guess maybe he’d been saving his strength for this.

The official rule in a situation like this is that it’s up to umpire judgment as to whether or not the act was intentional. Had John Hirschbeck decided that Phillips dropped his bat in the ball’s path on purpose, he could’ve called him out right there. It’s better this way, though. This way, there’s no controversy.

We will have much more in this stream shortly.

-J. Gomes strkeout

-J. Bruce ground out

-O. Cabrera ground out

-J. Votto ground out

-R. Hernandez fly out

-J. Francisco ground out

0 H

0 BB

3 K

81% strikes

He’s hitting every spot and missing every fat part of every bat, and the focus for the Reds right now can’t be trying to score a run - the focus should probably be on getting someone on base. Thus far, Halladay looks impossible.

And then Roy Halladay stepped in.

Halladay jumped on a first-pitch heater and ripped a line drive to right, the ball coming down just in front of Jonny Gomes. The single scored Ruiz from second, putting the Phillies on top 2-0 and only breathing more life into an already frenzied ballpark atmosphere.

Philadelphia overcame a ton of injuries in its lineup this season to post 97 wins, as it finished with the best record in major league baseball for the first time in franchise history.

“It’s definitely something I’ve thought about a lot, but, you know, I think since we’ve got ourselves into the playoffs, it’s been more of a preparation mode than anything, and that’s been great for me,” said Halladay of his first playoff start.