The Doc is In

October 6, 2010 5:54 PM

Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies has pitched the second postseason no-hitter in major league history.

It was in the first game of the National League Division Series (two steps away from the World Series) against the Cincinnati Reds, and he was one walk away from a perfect game. Of course it's nowhere near as exciting as the first one, a perfect game in the 1956 World Series by journeyman pitcher Don Larsen.

posted by waitingtoderail (52 comments total)

An astounding performance, that was.
posted by Mister_A at 5:58 PM on October 6, 2010

I neglected to mention that he also threw a perfect game during the regular season - only four pitchers have ever thrown two no hitters in one season.
posted by waitingtoderail at 6:03 PM on October 6, 2010

One that was almost screwed up on the last play of the game. My heart skipped a beat when the catcher didn't snatch it perfectly at first.
posted by QuarterlyProphet at 6:03 PM on October 6, 2010

The Reds had the league's highest-scoring offense too. He really is the best, without question, in MLB. CC and Lincecum are great but this guy is amazing.

Also worthy of note: This was his first post-season start after like 300 regular-season starts.
posted by Mister_A at 6:05 PM on October 6, 2010

Way to go, Roy!
posted by rtha at 6:11 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, I don't really care (stupid Tigers), but that was fun to watch.

That last play was pretty dramatic. There was a moment in time when I was sure the catcher wasn't going to be able to get it there in time. The ball just kind of got mixed up with the bat and it was agony watching him go for it. Nice play to grab it up and toss it around the runner.

I'll go back to not caring about baseball now. October? November? Seriously? They ought to cut the number of games in half and play the World Series in late August or early September, right before football kicks off. It would be total sports nirvana. Instead, I have to ask, how many people really give two shits by the time it's snowing outside?
posted by kbanas at 6:13 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

As a Blue Jays fan, this is a little bittersweet, but only a little. I'm really happy for him.
posted by lukemeister at 6:14 PM on October 6, 2010

HE GOT LUCKY

*grumble grumble*

Okay, it was pretty freakin' awesome. Dammit.
posted by zarq at 6:14 PM on October 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I don't really care (stupid Tigers), but that was fun to watch.

And by I don't really care I mean I don't really care who wins the series. I was totally rooting for him to pull it off.
posted by kbanas at 6:15 PM on October 6, 2010

Wait, it's the postseason already? I've apparently REALLY not been paying attention to baseball this year.

Being a Mets fan'll do that to a guy.
posted by dersins at 6:17 PM on October 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

If he had a strike zone like he did tonight for the last ten years, he would have had 20 no hitters by now. Also, he bailed on the AL East to pitch for the best team in a crap division in a AAAA league. He didn't like playing against the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays 60 times a year, and preferred the Mets, Braves and Marlins (and Nats!). I don't blame him, but he and his 2010 Cy Young and his perfect game and his postseason no hitter (against the Reds, but still) can go to hell. Until he comes back home for his swan song in the 2015 series as the spot starter.

- A longtime and cranky Blue Jays fan
posted by loquax at 6:17 PM on October 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Strikezone graph via Sportsfilter.
posted by josher71 at 6:23 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wait, they play baseball after September? </pirates fan>
posted by octothorpe at 6:25 PM on October 6, 2010 [9 favorites]

Definitely the best pitcher in the majors right now. His pitches are really fun to watch, and I've always liked him for some reason. I just did a google search, but I could have sworn he used to have really epic side burns. Glad to see he's finally on a team that can support him. Amazing that he won so many games with the Blue Jays.
posted by Corduroy at 6:25 PM on October 6, 2010

Man, do we love that guy.
posted by desuetude at 6:26 PM on October 6, 2010

Wow, the Reds were swinging at everything. It sure looked like he was getting a lot of calls. I take back my crack about the strike zone. I'm still mad at him though.
posted by loquax at 6:31 PM on October 6, 2010

Roy Halladay is made from liquid metal.
posted by dirigibleman at 6:31 PM on October 6, 2010 [3 favorites]

He's like half ninja, half robot, half other ninja.
posted by Mister_A at 6:31 PM on October 6, 2010 [7 favorites]

The Braves and Phillies are AAAA?
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:34 PM on October 6, 2010

As a temporarily-transplanted Torontonian, I have adopted the Phillies as my playoffs home team. Go Halladay! I am happy for him too. Alas, poor Jays.
posted by bread-eater at 6:45 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

sonic meat machine: "The Braves and Phillies are AAAA?"

Some people seem to think that their team plays baseball, despite the fact that their team uses a designated hitter. These people attempt to make up for this deficiency by implying that the NL is not a real league.
posted by notsnot at 6:55 PM on October 6, 2010 [15 favorites]

I have nothing intelligent to say after waving a rally towel for half an hour while sitting on my coffee table. Everything comes out as puns: Let's celebrate Doctober! It's the High Halladays!
posted by gladly at 6:58 PM on October 6, 2010 [6 favorites]

Managed to catch the last few innings. He had some crazy movement on his pitches.
posted by drezdn at 7:01 PM on October 6, 2010

Also a Toronto fan, and I'm totally rooting for the Phillies this playoff season, just for Doc.
posted by pised at 7:12 PM on October 6, 2010

It's a very satisfying team, and even though I'm a Philadelphian and it's going against tradition to love our home team, this set of guys is just awesome.
posted by Peach at 7:36 PM on October 6, 2010

And because Roy Halladay always makes sure that he gives credit to Carlos Ruiz for his successes, it's worth remembering how good he's been with Chooch behind the plate.

Sometimes winning managers don't get the credit they deserve if their roster is deemed to be loaded with talent. Similarly, the role of a catcher in a pitcher's success can be underrated.

Take Halladay. Nobody would dispute that he's one of the top righthanders in baseball today. He's going to be good regardless. But, working with Ruiz, his earned run average this season is 1.84 and opponents are hitting .223 against him. With anybody else: 3.75 and .294.

posted by gladly at 7:42 PM on October 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

Yeah, all the diehard watch-every-game Phillies fans I know swear Ruiz is the most underrated player on the team and they'd be nowhere without him.

This was awesome but I couldn't really appreciate how awesome it was when I watched it, because I was watching with a Reds fan and he was pretty mad.
posted by jackflaps at 7:53 PM on October 6, 2010

IS THIS SOMETHING I'D NEED TO HAVE A


Wait, no. I love beisbol.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 7:58 PM on October 6, 2010

Now the world is beginning to understand why Blue Jays fans salivated over this guy for about 8 years. There are some great old blog posts about him that still make me laugh:

Ghostrunner on First imagines a day in the life of the Doc.

Drunk Jays Fans make a photoshop of the real Halladay.
posted by auto-correct at 8:27 PM on October 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

I think if I could see the Reds get swept, I could be a happy Cardinals fan.

Also, the Yankees.
posted by saul wright at 8:30 PM on October 6, 2010

It was a well-pitched masterpiece. Poetic of Chooch to save the no-no on the final out.

I have a feeling Doc might have another perfect game in his career.
posted by inturnaround at 8:48 PM on October 6, 2010

I'll go back to not caring about baseball now. October? November? Seriously? They ought to cut the number of games in half and play the World Series in late August or early September, right before football kicks off. It would be total sports nirvana.

Total sports nirvana would be if the hockey and baseball schedules nestled in a perfect balance of yin and yang, squeezing out American Football entirely. Real football could fill in the lazy days of summer. Some people would follow NBA, to be sure, but some people believe WWE is real, too.
posted by explosion at 8:57 PM on October 6, 2010

MLB.com has video up, shows at least part of each at-bat, the OUT part. Nice job Halladay. Just epic.
posted by IvoShandor at 9:33 PM on October 6, 2010

As a Mets fan, this frustrates, angers and embitters me, because he's a Phillie. As a baseball fan, though, I can't help but be in awe of Halladay.
posted by KingEdRa at 10:04 PM on October 6, 2010

I have to ask, how many people really give two shits by the time it's snowing outside?
posted by kbanas

The (2009) World Series averaged 19.4 million viewers, the League Championship Series averaged 8.4 million, and the Division Series averaged 4.8 million.

So, a few?
posted by justgary at 10:11 PM on October 6, 2010

As a Mets fan,

Just stop right there.
posted by phaedon at 11:27 PM on October 6, 2010

Has pitching been dramatically better these past few years?
posted by hal_c_on at 1:02 AM on October 7, 2010

Has pitching been dramatically better these past few years?

Really just this year.

The cumulative ERA in the Majors this season was 4.08, a 24-point drop from 2009 and the lowest mark since 1992, when the league ERA was 3.75. There haven't been this many no-hitters in a season since 1991, when a record seven were thrown (there were seven in 1990, as well). Six no-hitters have been thrown in a season just four times: 1908, 1915, 1917 and 1969.

The institution of an actual drug policy with some teeth has apparently helped significantly.
posted by IvoShandor at 1:22 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

Utter bliss. This is the kind of glory we in Philly have been having toe-curling adolescent fantasies about for generations.

I daren't mention my hopes, as they've been dashed so many times before.
posted by banal evil at 2:33 AM on October 7, 2010

I daren't mention my hopes

Dude, you won two straight pennants and won the Series just two years ago. You're not allowed to complain about dashed hopes.
posted by dersins at 3:19 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

oh man I can't wait for the Phillies to kick some Yankee butt. After last year, such a thing would rank right up there with steak and good sex.
posted by angrycat at 3:54 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

It was a great performance to watch. I love watching a pitcher go old-school and go the distance, whether or not there's a no-hitter involved. None of that "early-middle-reliever throwing for two batters, then the middle-mid-lefty-reliever comes in to face a single batter, then the late reliever comes in just before the pre-closer" crap.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:12 AM on October 7, 2010 [1 favorite]

And lest we forget, he also got a single, an RBI, and a run scored.
posted by synecdoche at 4:49 AM on October 7, 2010 [2 favorites]

October baseball is the best baseball.

(When the Phillies won the WS in 2008, Obama was elected a week later. If/when they win the WS this year...well, a gal can hope, right?)
posted by kalimac at 5:12 AM on October 7, 2010 [3 favorites]

Dude, you won two straight pennants and won the Series just two years ago. You're not allowed to complain about dashed hopes.

No complaints, just a fear of hope.

Philly's title drought lasted 26 years with 4 major sports. In my memory a Philadelphia team has played the championship game of every major sport and lost. In my memory one Philadelphia team has won a championship. I have had my hopes dashed quite a few times, and the multiple memories of failure aren't easily assuaged.

I'm didn't say Philly has had the dashed hopes of, say, Cleveland, but someone else's experience doesn't deny me my own.
posted by banal evil at 5:36 AM on October 7, 2010

Dude, you won two straight pennants and won the Series just two years ago. You're not allowed to complain about dashed hopes.

Forget about "dashed hopes" - for most of the Phillies' history, there were zero hopes. You may recall this infamy from 2007.

This recent spate of success is an anomaly in Philadelphia. We went 18 years without a world championship in any of the 4 major sports. I just checked: my lifetime record as a Phillies fan is 4314-4416 - 102 games under .500, which means if I'm lucky they'll have a winning record by the time I turn 60.

It's only been since the construction of the new ballpark that the team has finally spent enough serious money on player salaries to compete with the likes of the Red Sox and Yankees.

So excuse us while Philly savors a rare moment of success.
posted by sixpack at 5:37 AM on October 7, 2010

Correction - what B.E. said: 26 years. I lost count.
posted by sixpack at 5:38 AM on October 7, 2010

Cliff who?
posted by Pax at 6:34 AM on October 7, 2010

Cliff Who kicked the crap out of the "best" team in the AL, by the way.
posted by Mister_A at 6:38 AM on October 7, 2010

I was VERY sad about losing CL...I just feel a little better about who we got for him.
posted by Pax at 8:05 AM on October 7, 2010

This recent spate of success is an anomaly in Philadelphia. We went 18 years without a world championship in any of the 4 major sports.

That's what you get for booing Santa Claus.
posted by Mister Fabulous at 9:18 AM on October 7, 2010

Another fellow Toronto fan: So good to see Doc get these kinds of games under his belt. The man is an amazing pitcher.
posted by adamd1 at 9:21 AM on October 7, 2010