The Philadelphia Phillies must have thought that was the greatest game he could pitch; after all, Halladay did not allow a base runner. But considering the setting Wednesday, he found a way to top himself.
Halladay threw the second no-hitter in postseason history and the first since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in the 1956 World Series. He thwarted the Cincinnati Reds, the top-scoring team in the National League this season, in a 4-0 victory in Game 1 of their division playoff series.
Halladay allowed one base runner, on a walk to Jay Bruce with two out in the fifth inning, and few hard-hit balls. He struck out eight, with exceptional command of his two-seam fastball, cutter, curveball and changeup.
“It’s hard to explain, but pitching a game like that, being able to win the game comes first,” Halladay said. “That’s kind of your only focus until after it’s over with. I think once it ends, it’s a little bit surreal.”
The game was bound to be memorable for Halladay, a decorated right-hander who had labored for 12 years with the also-ran Toronto Blue Jays until a trade to the Phillies last December. His 320 career starts were the most of any active pitcher who had never appeared in the postseason.
As Halladay walked across the outfield to the bullpen before Wednesday’s game, his pitching coach, Rich Dubee, gave him a simple instruction.
“Go out there and try to be good,” Dubee said he told Halladay. “If you go out there and try to be good, you’ve got a chance to be great.”
Halladay, whose perfect game came on the road against the Florida Marlins on May 29, made the most of that chance. He is the fifth pitcher in major league history to throw two no-hitters in the same season, joining Johnny Vander Meer of the 1938 Cincinnati Reds, Allie Reynolds of the 1951 Yankees, Virgil Trucks of the 1952 Detroit Tigers and Nolan Ryan of the 1973 California Angels.
It also continued a trend in the majors this season. Halladay’s gem was the sixth no-hitter since opening day, one shy of the single-season major league record. Another potential no-hitter — a perfect game, in fact, by Detroit’s Armando Galarraga — was ruined by an umpire’s blown call with two out in the ninth inning.
Halladay, 33, went 21-10 this season, leading the league in innings and complete games, and he is likely to win his second Cy Young Award. He has been everything the Phillies hoped for when they traded three prospects to Toronto to get him, then signed him to a contract extension that could be worth $80 million over four years.
It was something of a gamble for the Phillies, who simultaneously traded their best 2009 starter, Cliff Lee, to Seattle. Lee had beaten the Yankees twice last fall for the Phillies’ only World Series victories, but he was not signed to a long-term contract.
Lee has remained an ace — now with Texas, he beat Tampa Bay in his playoff start Wednesday — but Halladay lent a sense of desperation to the Phillies’ two-time reigning N.L. champions. If there was ever a danger of their growing complacent, his presence erased it.
“He has a lot of hunger,” Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel said on Tuesday. “I think he’s starving, all right. He’s intense and he wants it.”
Halladay ran alone on the warning track in a downpour before the Phillies’ workout on Tuesday, then played catch in the outfield with his fellow starter Cole Hamels. His work ethic and mental sharpness are revered around baseball, as is his wide repertory of weapons.
“He’s got probably four of the best pitches in baseball,” another Phillies starter, Roy Oswalt, said on Wednesday afternoon. “All four of his pitches he can throw at any time. When you can do that in the big leagues, you’re going to create a lot of havoc for the opposing hitter.”
Even, as Halladay showed, when facing the team that led the league in average, runs, hits and homers. The Reds battered him for 13 hits on June 30, but even that day there were signs that Halladay could dominate them. He struck out 10 without a walk, and tossed nine shutout innings against the Reds two starts later.
“Anytime you’re facing a good team, I think the more aggressive you can be early in the count — get yourself in pitcher’s counts — the more the numbers play into your favor,” said Halladay, who threw first-pitch strikes to 25 of his 28 hitters. “So that was definitely a priority.”
The Reds remain hitless in the postseason since Eddie Taubensee’s eighth-inning single in Game 4 of the 1995 N.L. Championship Series, when they were swept by the Atlanta Braves. It was a dispiriting way to return to the playoffs.
“You’ve got to put that one behind us, figure we got beat by a great performance tonight,” Reds Manager Dusty Baker said. “The thing about it is, I don’t think he threw anything down the heart of the plate. Everything was on the corners and moving.”
The Reds’ hardest hit might have been a lineout to right by pitcher Travis Wood in the third inning. The final out came on a dribbler in front of the plate by Brandon Phillips, who raced to first as the ball nicked his bat in the dirt. Catcher Carlos Ruiz dropped to his knees to field it, threading a throw over Phillips’s left shoulder.
The out secured, Ruiz embraced a beaming Halladay as teammates mobbed them. The Phillies and Halladay hope it was only the first celebration of an already magical postseason.
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Christine Delargy is an associate producer for CBSNews.com. You can read more of her posts here. For more of Washington Unplugged, follow us on Facebook and Twitter. Tags:obama ,obama/clinton 2012 ,bob woodward ,clinton Topics:White House ,Washington Unplugged ,Campaign 2012 ,Obama Administration 