Halladay's No-So Good Night

Image Credit: Josh Miller/Phillyist

Roy Halladay's epic no-hitter last night—only the second ever in postseason play—against the Cincinnatti Reds in Game 1 of the NL Division Series adds another chapter to the amazing four-year run of the Philadelphia Phillies.

"It's surreal, it really is," Halladay said. "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."

The numbers—one walk away from perfection, seventy-nine of 109 pitches for strikes, and eight strikeouts—only confirm what we all saw. Mastery. Mystification (of hitters). A lifelong memory.

Whether the Fightins go on to take the World Series or not, what the ace of aces did yesterday in South Philly will be fodder for legends in this town for decades to come. So, you might as well print out your pitch-by-pitch account from Philly.com now.

Some day, hundreds of thousands of heads in addition to the 46,411 paying attendees will claim to have been at Citizens Bank Park when Doc hurled himself into history, again (he threw a perfect game earlier this year). Halladay joined Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, who tossed a perfect game in the 1956 World Series, as the only man to surrender nary a hit in a playoff outing.

When Brandon Phillips tapped a ball in front of home plate on the game's final play, seconds seemed to morph into eons. Years of building rotations around Floyd Youmans, Vincente Padilla and Andy Ashby faded a little further back into the forgotten regions of our collective memory. Catcher Carlos Ruiz scooped up the dribbler and from his knees fired to Ryan Howard at first. No-hitter. (The only element missing to frame the moment was Harry Kalas's baritone voice).

Earlier in the night, Shane Victorino and Halladay provided enough offense to give the pitcher room for respiration—not that anyone in the Philadelphia Area was breathing easy during the ninth inning. Victorino, after doubling and stealing third, started the scoring by dashing home on a Chase Utley sacrifice fly in the first. An inning later, Victorino knocked in two runs, a batter after Halladay's RBI single made the score 2-0.

Fans, did you ever think the days of Von Hayes, Dickie Thon and Danny Tartabull (the list goes on ... and on ... and on) would give way to an era of such dominance? Enjoy this. As Halladay said when the Phillies clinched the NL East, "it's only going to get funner."

With fellow aces Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels scheduled to pitch next on Friday and Sunday nights, there are more great performances on tap. It's Octoberfest and there is a special on pitchers in Philadelphia. Ten more victories and we'll be parading down Broad Street. Just don't expect anything quite like Wednesday. That only happens once in a lifetime.

For more Phillyist coverage of the Phillies postseason push, check out a Yankees fan's playoff advice for the Phillies, and a list of the five players most-deserving a first championship ring (so far, we're rather pleased with the first selection).