Halladay throws 20th perfect game in MLB history
The Philadelphia Phillies fans were treated to something special by Roy Halladay on Saturday night as he threw MLB’s 20th perfect game at Sun Life Stadium in Florida.
The Phillies needed their ace to be something special as the batting line-up failed to turn up, collecting just seven hits and one run in a 1-0 win over the Florida Marlins.
"It's never something that you think is possible. Really, once I got the two outs, I felt like I had a chance. You're always aware of it. It's not something that you expect,” Halladay said.
It was the second time in month a perfect game has been pitched in the Majors after Oakland’s Dallas Braden achieved perfection against the Tampa Bay Rays on May 9th. It’s the first time in the modern era two perfect games have been thrown in a season, and we’ve already had a no-hitter thrown in April by Colorado’s Ubaldo Jiménez. In 1880 Lee Richmond and John Montgomery threw perfect games just five days apart.
Halladay struck out 11 batters in front of a crowd of 25,086 and before the game started the 33-year-old thought he might be in for a dominant night.
"Early in my bullpen I was hitting spots more than I have been. I felt like I just carried that out there," he said.
Just to put Halladay’s feat into context, he is only the fifth pitcher to win a Cy Young award and throw a perfect game. The others? Sandy Koufax, Catfish Hunter, Randy Johnson and David Cone, not a bad list to be on.
Since 2002, Halladay has led the league with 137 wins, innings pitched 1776 1/3, complete games with 51 and is second in win percentage .688 and ERA 3.08.
The Phillies become just the fifth team to have had two perfect games thrown for the franchise: Jim Bunning threw Philadelphia's other one on June 21, 1964 vs the New York Mets. Kevin Milwood threw the Phillies' last no-hitter on April 27, 2003 against the Giants.
If there is a slight stigma attached to having a perfect game thrown against you then the Marlins’ Cody Ross wasn’t ashamed.
"Look who's pitching, it's Roy Halladay, the best pitcher in baseball. It's not embarrassing,” Ross said.
And if there was any doubt as to who is the best pitcher in baseball is Halladay’s counterpart on the night, Josh Johnson, said Halladay proved he is the best.
"He's the best right-hander in the game and he kind of proved it."
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