There are few times in life when you are genuinely at a loss for words.
This is one of them.
After witnessing just the second no-hitter in playoff history (Don Larsen, Game 5 of the 1956 World Series) the only thought I can formulate is:
I don’t believe what I just saw. I simply don’t believe what I just saw.
via Yahoo Sports
From the very first pitch of his first ever playoff start, Roy Halladay was in complete control. He dominated one of the best lineups in the National League. He was overpowering. He was simply… perfect.
It might not go into the record books as a perfect game but sans a 5th inning walk to Jay Bruce, Halladay was perfect. 9 innings of no hit baseball on just 104 pitches. He threw just 25 balls, only one more than opposing starter Edison Volquez threw in 1.2 innings on the mound. Doc even added a RBI single in the bottom of the 2nd!
But Halladay’s performance was more dominant than the numbers show.
Normally when witnessing an incredible accomplishment, there’s a moment, a play, that you can look back on as the signature turning point. Tonight there was no moment, no single play. There was simply weak grounder after weak grounder. Weak pop up after weak pop up. Strikeout after strikeout after strikeout. Roy Halladay was in complete control from start to finish and dominated the opposition.
It was the greatest pitching performance of my lifetime.
“He’s probably prepared more than anyone in the history of the game for this start and it showed tonight,” said Phillies relief pitcher Ryan Madson in an elated clubhouse after the game.
The likely 2010 NL Cy Young put on a performance for the ages. After spending 12 brilliant seasons as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays, Halladay requested a trade seeking the one thing he has yet to accomplish in baseball. A championship.
In his first moment of the grandest stage of them all, he achieved history.
“It’s surreal, it really is,” said Halladay. “I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the postseason. To go out and have a game like that, it’s a dream come true. It’s been a great year, a fun year, but we obviously have a ways to go.”
I’m sure in the upcoming days and weeks and months and years the magnitude of Wednesday nights performance will begin to set in. 40 years from now I will tell my Grandchildren about the October night in which Roy Halladay made history.
But for now, I still don’t believe what I just saw.
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