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.

Roy Halladay Is Awesome

There are several reasons why I like Roy Halladay other than the fact that he is an amazing pitcher. For starters, he is as hard a worker as any pitcher out there. Also, he is a humble guy and a class act the likes of which you do not find every day in major American professional sports. Case and point, Roy Halladay has decided to thank all of his teammates who helped make the perfect game on May 29, 2010 possible. From the Twitter account of Delaware County Times beat writer Ryan Lawrence.

That is simply awesome. I just hope he remembers to send one to Juan Castro.....

Update: Per Ryan Lawrence, Juan Castro will get a watch, as will essentially everyone was a part of the Phillies team that day, whether they physically played in the game or not (i.e. bullpen pitchers and bench players are getting watches as well). Also, per Matt Gelb, Milt Thompson is receiving one as well. For a little more about Roy's presenting of the watches, here is an article from Gelb's blog, The Phillies Zone

The righthander purchased around 60 Baume & Mercier watches to commemorate his perfect game May 29. He gave out the watches as gifts to everyone in the clubhouse — all of the players who were on the active roster then, the entire coaching staff, all clubhouse personnel (including bat boy Rob DiClementi), training and video staff as well as public relations officials.

The watches were enclosed in brown boxes with an inscription on the front: “We did it together. Thanks, Roy Halladay.”

“Unbelievable,” Raul Ibanez said as he opened his. “Wow.”

It’s not unusual for a pitcher to reward his teammates for a milestone like a perfect game. Halladay went beyond that.

Each watch was engraved on the back with the date of the game and the linescore. Every watch was personalized, the person’s name engraved on the back of their watch.

“That’s awesome,” Ryan Howard said, as he inspected the thick instruction manual that came with every watch.

[...]

A little more than an hour before first pitch, the players sat at their lockers, finagling with the watches. Halladay, from the corner of the room, watched and smiled.

Brad Lidge shook his head in disbelief. He wasn’t even in Miami the night Halladay threw the perfect game. Instead, he was pitching in a rehab game 100 miles north in Port St. Luice, Fla.

Like I said above, simply awesome.

Should Bud Selig Have Overturned Armando Galarraga's Perfect Game?

By now everyone knows what happened last night. Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers was one out away from a perfect game when Jason Donald hit a groundball fielded by the 1st baseman. Armando went to cover the bag, stepped onto the bag, caught the ball, and held onto it all before former Philadelphia Phillies prospect Jason Donald stepped on the base. He should have been out. Umpire Jim Joyce ruled he was safe and the historic perfect game turned into a rather un-historic (though still very impressive) complete game one-hitter. There is no need to bring up the video and the picture. I'm sure you have seen it 1,000 times by now. There is no denying he should have been out and it should have been the 21st Perfecto in MLB history and a record breaking 3rd of the year.

The call was a mistake, umpire Jim Joyce has admitted to the mistake and apologized profusely. After the outrage last night, the Tigers have apologized for their intense reactions and earlier today Galarraga gave the line-up cards to Jim Joyce and shook his hand in a show of sportsmanship and forgiveness. Galarraga could be angry and hold a grudge. Jim Joyce could be unremorseful about it. Galarraga is accepting of the mistake, and Joyce has gone above and beyond in his attempts to make right with Galarraga and the Tigers organization. Both men should be commended for their efforts.

Originally this was going to be a "should MLB overturn the call post?", but MLB's statement has beaten me to the punch.

"First, on behalf of Major League Baseball, I congratulate Armando Galarraga on a remarkable pitching performance. All of us who love the game appreciate the historic nature of his effort last night.

"The dignity and class of the entire Detroit Tigers organization under such circumstances were truly admirable and embodied good sportsmanship of the highest order. Armando and Detroit manager Jim Leyland are to be commended for their handling of a very difficult situation. I also applaud the courage of umpire Jim Joyce to address this unfortunate situation honestly and directly. Jim's candor illustrates why he has earned the respect of on-field personnel throughout his accomplished career in the Major Leagues since 1989.

"As Jim Joyce said in his postgame comments, there is no dispute that last night's game should have ended differently. While the human element has always been an integral part of baseball, it is vital that mistakes on the field be addressed. Given last night's call and other recent events, I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features. Before I announce any decisions, I will consult with all appropriate parties, including our two unions and the Special Committee for On-Field Matters, which consists of field managers, general managers, club owners and presidents."
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It is highly unlikely that the call will be overturned.

I am always a proponent that the call must be right. But this is an exception. There are several things that Bud Selig and MLB can do, most of which were stated in MLB's statement below, but the absolute one thing that MLB should not do is overturn the call.

Donald was out, we all know that, but if this call would have been overturned, Pandora's Box would have opened up. So many blown calls at the end of the game would then be called into question. There is no doubt Joyce blew the call, but what happens if you go back and change this? What happens to every other blown call? All of a sudden there will be a firestorm every week with a new blown call where the result of the game should be overturned. Not only that, but MLB would have set the precedent where they can overturn the game.

Then that would eventually extend to the playoffs. Would World Series games be overturned on a blown call? So many blown calls surely affected the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series? Should they be co-champions because of it? Just because a call is obviously wrong, it does not mean it should be reversed the next day.

There are ways to remedy this. But overturning the call is not one of them. Expand instant replay is a very good idea and a very good start. Develop a system of manager's challenges, that way stubborn umpires can't just ignore the complaining team/manager. It sucks for Galarraga, but overturning the call is not the proper way to remedy things. And what's going to happen anyway if they did overturn it? Galarraga can never have that moment back on 1st base where he can embrace Cabrera after perfection? It will be all too bittersweet and feel wrong. To change a game that drastically sets a bad precedent for now and for the future.

Now You Can Say You Saw Roy Halladay Pitch A Perfect Game Live At Sun Life Stadium!

Everyone and their mother know that Roy Halladay pitched MLB's 20th perfect game at Sun Life Stadium on May 29, 2010, so there is no use in talking about that anymore. But a whole lot more people are going to say they saw it live now!

Over 25,000 fans were there to see it live (click here if you want to read an awesome account of a Phillies fan who was there), but now, there are going to be quite a few liars among us. Why is that, you say? The Marlins are selling unused tickets! At the right price, you (yeah, you!) can say you saw Roy Halladay pitch a perfect game at Sun Life Stadium and have the ticket to prove it! From the Palm Beach Post.

Marlins President David Samson doesn't understand all the fuss about his team selling unused tickets from Roy Halladay's perfect game.

"It's not as though there's consumer fraud going on. There are people who are well aware of the result. We're not misleading anybody. No one is buying a ticket thinking they're going to the game. No one is saying 'I wonder who wins?' '

The Marlins sold 3,000 tickets in the first four hours Tuesday, mostly upper deck seats at about $15 each, for a game that was played Saturday in front of 25,086.

The decision to sell the unused tickets has attracted national attention - from debates on ESPN's SportsCenter to an endorsement from Dom Imus. One issue is that the unused tickets - which will be sold all year to meet demand - will count toward the team's final attendance tally.

"We're a low-revenue team trying to raise revenue. I would not have expected this to get any attention," Samson said. "It's baseball history. We're just selling tickets."

The Chicago White Sox sold un-used tickets from Mark Buehrle's perfect game last year, but that drew little notice because it was the home team's pitcher who threw the perfect game. Samson dismissed the notion that the Marlins were profiting from another team's feat.

Most sales have come from the Philadelphia area.

Now if I had gone to that game, then I might be a bit miffed that there are unused tickets being legally sold by the Florida Marlins organization, but I am not, and if a Phillies fan (or a baseball fan/collector in general) wants to purchase the tickets as a souvenir that will give them something to remember the game by, then I really can't say I have a problem with that. And people are buying them, so like it or not, it is working. Sure it could get a bit irritating that made up accounts of the game will be going around, but to those that just want a part of history, I do not see a problem with the unused ticket sales.

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.

Perfection, Thy Name Is Roy!

Link to perfecto sealing out

Mr. Perfect: Dallas Braden

Simply awesome.

The Rays just can't catch a break. Last year it was Buehrle throwing the perfect game. This year Dallas Braden.

Congrats to Dallas Braden on throwing the 19th perfect game in MLB history. It could not have happened to a better guy, and to use the words of Dallas Braden's grandmother, "Stick it, A-Rod." A-Rod has responded to Braden's perfect game by saying, "Good for him, he threw a perfect game. And better yet, he beat the Rays." How arrogant is that???? Good grief he is full of himself, though I am pretty sure we all knew that.

Enough of that and more on celebrating the accomplishments of Dallas Braden who has now done something that only 18 other pitchers have done, and that is throw a perfect game. Him hugging his grandmother at the end (pictured above) on Mother's Day no less is one of the best moments you will see in any sporting event, especially when you consider he lost his mother to breast cancer when he was but a senior high school. Simply amazing.

Seeing as the YouTube video will disappear shortly, click here to watch the final out on MLB.com

This Is Just Awesome

Study the above bracket for a second. Click on it to see a clearer, enlarged version of it.

I love this kind of shit. And this is just flat-out awesome.

Given the number of upsets we had in this tourney, surely you would think no one had a perfect bracket. None of the 4.78 million who entered their bracket on ESPN did. But as you can see above, one bracket was perfect. This is the pre-tournament filled out by 17-year old Alex Herrmann. Up to this point, there is not a single mistake on it.

Now I know what you are thinking at this point. Surely this is a joke, right? Surely this was just some goofball kid who entered this as a joke or some hardcore UNI hardcore UNI bandwagon fan who does not know shit about college basketball outside his own team, right? After all, how could you possibly seriously have UNI and Cornell in the Sweet 16 AND on top of all that to have upsets of Ohio beating Georgetown and to go against the grain and not pick the upset of Siena over Purdue, something every upset-minded person thought would happen? Whatever it is you think, you are probably wrong. Unless of course you guessed that Alex Herrmann is a teenager with autism and this bracket is a 100% serious attempt by Herrmann who has memorized stats like, frankly, only autistic savants can. NBC Chicago has more about this and more about Alex.

he picked every game through the first two rounds correctly. The odds of anybody doing that? One in 13,460,000, according to BookofOdds.com. It's easier to win the lottery. Twice.

"I'm good at math," Alex, a Glenbrook South High School student, said. "I'm kind of good at math and at stats I see on TV during the game."

Alex entered the bracket on CBSsports.com's bracket challenge. His 24-year-old brother Andrew, who helped him enter his picks into CBS' bracket manager, also entered the contest -- and ranks behind 500,000 other people.

“My bracket is totally shot,” hist 24-year-old brother Andrew said. “So is everyone else I know."

ESPN estimates around 4.78 million played in their bracket challenge, but no one picked all the games correctly. The leader at ESPN’s bracket has already missed four games.

But Alex Hermann's miraculous bracket is still a picture of perfection.

Andrew is still shocked --- after looking it over for the umpteenth time, he told his mother to alert the media.

"I checked his bracket and it was off the chart," Andrew said. "I thought it was big deal."

Alex doesn't get anything for perfection. He entered one of three bracket games offered by CBS -- the only one without a prize attached.

Alex’s basketball knowledge could have been worth a fortune. One of the other CBS games offers a prize of $5,000 per round. Other sites offer even more money -- Yahoo offers $1 million for a perfect bracket; SportsBook.com offers $13 million.

“If he would have won any money he would have just saved it,” his mother Diane said. "He's a big saver."

Of course, everyone wants to know Alex’s secret. He says there's none.

"I watched each team this year and saw the size of the player and looked at the stats," Alex said.

There are still four rounds remaining, so it could fall apart -- the odds of a perfect wire to wire bracket is about 1 in 35,360,000 by some measures or 1 in 1,000,000,000,000 by others.

Alex picked Purdue to win the whole thing. That just happens to be his brother’s alma mater.

“They’re his favorite for that reason, Diane said. Or maybe he knows something no one else does.

CBS did not return several phone calls to confirm Alex's entry -- and the software does allow changes after the tournament begins. But the Hermann's insisted that they filled out their brackets as a family before the tournament started, and haven't touched the picks since.

How amazing is that?

Right now I am thinking that every Purdue fan alive that has learned about this are instantly going to Las Vegas to bet their life savings on the Boilermakers.

And just like that this tournament has an added layer of drama now that we've got a perfect bracket through the first two rounds. I'll be sure to keep an extra eye on it as we go through the rest of this tournament and I will try to alert you if any team were to upset young Alex Herrmann's perfection.

Mr. Perfect, Mark Buehrle

Whenever I am not watching or following other baseball scores for a day, just assume that something great is going to happen, okay folks? I was working all day with no TV in site and no computer of my own to use and look at what happened today. Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox pitched the 18th ever perfect game in MLB history. Not only is a perfect game a no-hitter, but in a perfect game, the opposing team does not get any base runners at all in the game. That's exactly what happened today. The Rays were unable to get a base runner the whole game. Simply unbelieveable. And because posters on YouTube suck and I can't find a good quality video of the 3 9th inning outs without random people filming their TV screen screaming their lungs out, I have 2 videos instead. The first one is the first out which may be one of the greatest catches that I have ever seen period and the 2nd one is the last 2 outs courtesy of Awful Announcing.




Simply unbelieveable. What a catch by DeWayne Wise and congratulations to Mark Buehrle on a perfect game and his 2nd career no hitter. Let me tell you what, enjoy that video because that is not something you say everyday. And according to SportsCenter, Mark Buehrle has in fact received a phone call from Washington D.C.'s favorite baseball and Chicago White Sox fan, President Barack Obama!