On Halladay And Perfection

Now that I have finally gotten the opportunity to watch Halladay's perfect game in its entirety, I can actually write about the game instead of just posting an image with a link to highlights.

Only one problem with trying to write about: I really do not have many words to describe it. It was as masterful pitching performance as there has ever been. Often times in no-hitters/perfect games, there are some hard hit balls that somehow end up in the gloves of the defenders. Take my night at Citizens Bank Park last Saturday watching Dice-K throw 7.2 innings of no-hit baseball for example. There were 3 or 4 really hard-hit balls that could have gone for basehits if not for a tremendous catch/play. Saturday night at Sun Life Stadium, there was nary a hard hit ball. The most notable defensive plays was a throw by Juan Castro from 3rd to get out Cameron Maybin by half a step, a diving stop at 3rd by Castro, and I'd even throw the oft-replayed last out as the #3 toughest defensive play. And that was just a slow-roller heading towards the hole, but slow enough for Valdez to scoop it up, turn around, and throw out Paulino with plenty of time to spare. If you want to add lucky plays, there was luck at the fly ball in the bottom of the 9th was hit in Sun Life Stadium and not Citizens Bank Park, where it would have likely been a homerun. Yes, venue for these types of things does matter. Yes, playing in a stadium with a real deep centerfield aided Halladay in his quest of history. But you play with what you have to play with. And Halladay did just that on May 29, 2010.

The Phillies lone run in the game came on a 3-base error in the 3rd inning by Cameron Maybin. Despite working Josh Johnson's pitch count rather well and getting hits, the Phillies could not do enough to generate runs on the Marlins' ace. For those that like pondering stuff, here is something to ponder. Including Halladay's perfecto, 6 perfect games have ended with a 1-0 score. In all 6 instances, the run was unearned.

On Saturday, Roy Halladay was perfect, in every sense of the word. He was flawless. He had 2 3-ball counts in the 1st inning. For the rest of the game, he had a combined total of 5. Roy Halladay was in a zone with Carlos Ruiz and nothing was breaking it on that hot, humid night in South Florida. The result: the 2nd perfect game in Philadelphia Phillies history and the the 20th perfect game in MLB history.

MLB Video: All 27 outs

MLB Video: The final out as called by the Phillies TV announcers, the Phillies radio announcers, the Marlins TV announcers, and the Marlins radio announcers.