Doctober time: Halladay throws 2nd play-off no-hitter
One perfect game, one Cy Young Award, seven All-Star games and 58 complete games later, Roy Halladay finally made his first play-off appearance.
And what an appearance it was. Halladay threw the second no-hitter in post-season history to lead the Philadelphia Phillies to a 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in National League Division Series game one.
Don Larsen is the only other pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the play-offs, throwing a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series.
"It's surreal, it really is. I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the post-season. To go out and have a game like that, it's a dream come true.
"This is what you come here for. It's a good team, they know how to win. ... It's been a great year, a fun year, we obviously have a ways to go,” Halladay said after the game.
Halladay got all the run support he needed in the first inning when Shane Victorino scored on a sacrifice fly by Chase Utley. Victorino then knocked in two runs in the next inning just after Halladay had helped his own cause by hitting an RBI single.
Halladay threw 104 pitches, 79 for strikes, striking out eight batters on the way to the first no-hitter thrown against the Reds since 1971.
Joey Votto, the NL’s front runner for the MVP was blown away by Halladay. "It's no fun out there. It's like trying to hit nothing. He's an ace among aces.” Orlando Cabrera, a World Series winner with the Boston Red Sox in 2004, wasn’t pleased with the way the umpires called the game.
"He was basically getting every pitch, we had no chance."
Halladay becomes the fifth pitcher to throw two no-hitters in the same year joining Nolan Ryan, Virgil Trucks, Allie Reynolds and Johnny Vander Meer.
Game two of the series takes place on Friday night in Philadelphia. Roy Oswalt will take the mound looking to reproduce Halladay’s magic.
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