Philadelphia Phillies Vs. Florida Marlins: Live Journal

May 29, 2010 was a special day in Philadelphia sports history. Not only were the Philadelphia Flyers playing in their first Stanley Cup Finals game since 1996, but Roy Halladay took his talents to South Beach for an unforgettable evening of baseball. Only 19 times previous had a MLB pitcher thrown a perfect game. Roy Halladay was going to make it 20.

But what you may not have known about that night is after the Flyers game, I went back and watched the perfect game and wrote down notes in a notebook, as if it were a live blog I were conducting. For the first time ever, I am sharing with you these notes and will publish in this blog as they happen during the game. Think of it as an old school AA live blog, except everything has been previously written. Sit back, relax, and enjoy!

Line up

Phillies
Victorino
Valdez
Utley
Howard
Werth
Ibanez
Castro
Ruiz
Halladay

Marlins
Coghlan
Sanchez
Ramirez
Cantu
Uggla
Ross
Hayes
Maybin
Johnson

1st Inning

Josh Johnson on the mound. Shane Victorino leads off the game with a fly out. 1st pitch swinging too. Consider that something I've never seen before. Isn't that what Jimmy Rollins is for? Okay, at least you are taking pitches, Valdez. Ooh, a double for Valdez. Now that's literally something I've never seen before. The Marlins have some noise makers for this game that sound literally like vuvuzelas. Well, Wheels called them a buzzing noise. They are inaudible through the TV because it is impossible to hear 2 people making noise from the stands through TV, so I don't know for sure. Ryan Howard flies out to end the inning: Now that's money well spent.

Halladay's turn at the mound for the first. Coghlan thought that was Ball 4. Imagine if it was. Bad acting job, bad acting job. Roy Halladay seems to be getting his pitch count worked early. At this rate, there is no way he finishes this game. Hanley Ramirez is a lazy ass. For the 3rd straight batter, Halladay has gotten behind in the pitch count. Ramirez left the plate early because he thought Strike 2 was Ball 4. Again, lazy. Inning over. At this rate, no way Halladay goes 9 innings.

2nd Inning

Phillies offense has been in a slump lately. Good thing there is no chance of that lasting long. Nope, not with these guys. They'll be out of it in no time. Werth grounds out, Ibanez flies out. So no time is obviously not right now, I see. Josh Johnson, now there is an early Cy Young candidate for you. Thank goodness the Phillies have Juan Castro as a defensive utility man. And he can hit too! This utility man does it all. Roy Halladay is one of MLB's best pitchers, but I think he also has to be considered one of MLB's worst hitters.

Yet another 3 ball count and long at-bat. I don't think Halladay has it tonight. I blinked and the inning ended. Yeesh Roy works fast.

3rd Inning

Shane Victorino is an imbecile. Whoa, another hit for Valdez? Is this even humanly possible for him? Chase Utley time. The owner of the Marlins is sitting there surrounded by empty seats. He actually is sitting there and sees how embarrassingly empty this ball park is, in large part because of his dumb ideas. I wonder what stupid idea he will come up with next? LOL MAYBIN! He misplays a routine fly ball and Valdez scores from 1st. A lulzy moment indeed. Ryan Howard: Earning his absurd contract one hard hit single at a time. Bleh, Werth. Why did the Phillies sign Raul Ibanez to a 3-year contract? He is extremely un-clutch these days. Is that even a word?

2 pitch AB. Yes, Tom, being a major league pitcher is a special thing. I love how Victorino caught that ball inches behind Jayson Werth. What happens if they collide? McCarthy: "He gets Johnson swinging." 9 up, 9 down for Roy. Not too shabby, but then again, Joe Blanton almost always has a point in the game where he retires 9 straight.

4th Inning

Sarge time! Maybin catches this fly ball hit his way. You have redeemed yourself well, Cameron. Single off the wall for Chooch. I count 3 people sitting in those seats above the Teal Monster. Did Halladay just strike out bunting? Brian Bocock could teach him a thing or 2 about hitting. No, really. Halladay is so bad that even lessons from Bocock would improve him. Does Victorino ever not pop out or fly out?

If Chris Coghlan is even remotely as good as we was last year, this former rookie of the year along with that Stanton kid could be something special in Florida. Oh, so that sound we can't hear is a tambourine! They gave away tambourines! Yeah, I've got nothing. Ah, Gaby Sanchez, such a friendly looking fellow. If there is a guy who is not going to get involved in a brawl of some sort, it's Gaby Sanchez. He wouldn't harm a fly. "Guy has a ball, a glove, and a tambourine. Your thought is what is wrong with the picture?" Probably the fact he has them all at a Florida Marlins game. Maybin fucked up at the plate this time. Then again, Roy Halladay has settled in real nicely. Forget all I said about pitch count in the 1st 2 innings. Quick note: Halladay has not allowed a base runner through 4. Probably won't be important in the grand scheme of things, though.

5th Inning

Valdez leads off by getting an out. Yep, that's the Wilson Valdez I know. Ramirez stepped up to make a play. When the guy is not being a lazy ass, he's a decent player. Oh, ho hum, 1-2-3 inning for Josh Johnson. Yeah, this guy is a good pitcher too.

Nice defense by Utley. He is, in fact, the man. 3 ball count to Uggla and Roy gets him to fly out. I could get used to seeing these Halladay-Johnson pitching duels. Man, they are fun to watch. I think Roy's innings are getting quicker and quicker as the game goes along.

6th Inning

Tom McCarthy and Sarge are talking about Milt Thompson, the hitting coach of one of the best offenses in all of baseball. That guy must have job security like you wouldn't believe. When Werth flails aimlessly, it really is a sight to behold. Ibanez goes down. Castro singles. He may be no Polanco, but he can fill in admirably and is not Bruntlett bad with the bat. And Ruiz kills it with a ground out.

7 strike outs for Halladay after Hayes goes down flailing. 5.1 innings and still no base-runner, maybe this will be special after all. Ball hit to Valdez who makes a great throw to get a flying Maybin. Roy is so amazing that that is probably the play of the game so far. And once Johnson goes down, McCarthy is so kind to mention that Halladay has retired all 18 batters.

7th Inning

Roy can't hit. Woohoo, single for Victorino. He's earning the money he got in arbitration this off-season. Wilson Valdez grounds into the world's easiest double play to end the inning. I'll say this much, if the Phillies ever need to rely on that useless turd Valdez to fill in for any long periods of time, this team is fucking screwed this year. Get well soon, Jimmy Rollins, because if you don't, this team is utterly hopeless.

Coghlan, Sanchez (who flew out on what would have been Ball 4), Ramirez (who also swung at a Ball 4). It's fucking surgical tonight for Roy. You are doing your best job to jinx this effort, TMac. A very fine one indeed.

8th inning

Clay Hensley in for Josh Johnson. As Halladay sits alone there in the dugout, I wonder, how he can watch the game and not psych himself out. Utley flies out to the deepest part of a deep ball park. More shots of Jeffrey Loria. Again, he is probably concocting some crazy scheme to get laughed at as we speak. Long at-bat but down goes Howard. And so does Werth. Quickly.

Halladay nearly hit Cantu. He promptly hits it hard to Castro who makes a throw to 1st to get Cantu. If that is Greg Dobbs playing 3rd this game, the perfect game/no-hitter is done with. You can begin to feel this night being special. Uggla strikes out. Pop up! Halladay is 3 outs away from history.

9th Inning

Come on Phillies! Either score a shitload of runs or get out of this quickly so Roy can pitch in the 9th and my heart can stop racing at 1,000 mph. 2 down and no one on for Ruiz. This has been the longest 0-2 AB in the history of mankind. Ground out. Roy Halladay has a chance at history now.

Mike Lamb pitching for Hayes. Lamb sends Victorino to the warning track to catch a fly out. This huge ball park is a great thing sometimes. Wes Helms is pinch hitting with Roy 2 away from greatness. Wheels can barely contain is excitement. 1 OUT AWAY! Ronnie Paulino is the last chance for the Marlins to break it up. 1-2 the count. Wheels is literally choked up in the booth. "Tambourines coming in handy now." That is what TMac thinks of in this situation? The damn tambourines! Ground to Valdez, THROW TO HOWARD IN TIME AND ROY HALLADAY HAS THROWN A PERFECT GAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just like in life, our Roy is perfect. Now excuse me while I sleep off the heartache of having to watch the Flyers play the worst Stanley Cup Finals game in the history of history. Goodnight, Journal.