Mr. Perfect: Roy Halladay, You ARE the Man!

I must confess, I was not watching last night's baseball game for most of it. I had to drive somewhere as it began, and I heard the first inning on the radio, where Roy Halladay threw more pitches than I would have liked but had a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. A good way to start the game, I thought, but I turned off the radio to go to a Memorial Day barbecue and didn't think more on the game other than to text Google every so often for the score. About two hours later, I was sitting watching the Flyers and Blackhawks beat up on each other, and after the 1st period ended 3-2 Flyers, my friends and I decided to turn off the TV to go back outside into the nice late spring evening and eat some more delicious food.

Then I got the text message. It read: "roy halladay has retired 24 batters...in a row...consecutively..." I got the message. Frantically, we went back to turn on my friend's TV, which of course didn't have cable. I decided to throw etiquette to the wind and we asked the host if he could get his laptop, and I got to mlb.com as fast as I could and saw that wonderful "live look-in" button. I clicked, and was met with the pleasant blue screen of the middle of the 9th. We sat and waited, crowded around a laptop.

The game returned, and when it did, the atmosphere in my host's tiny living room was electric. Fredi Gonzalez, the Marlins' coach, had decided to throw three consecutive pinch hitters at Roy Halladay in a bid to stop perfection and tie up what was still only a 1-0 game. Mike Lamb was the first, and he hit a pitch about as far as any was hit that night, to straightaway center. Shane Victorino moved back, but clearly had room and made the catch. Wes Helms was next. Halladay threw a 1-2 pitch to the inside corner that froze Helms for a called strike three. I was ready to jump for joy or scream in agony at this point. Finally, Ronny Paulino came to the plate. On another 1-2 pitch, a curveball from Halladay, Paulino hit a grounder to the left side. Juan Castro gloved it on the run, spun around, and fired to first. My heart stopped. The throw could have been too late. The throw could have been too high or too wide. But no, like the rest of the game, it was perfect. For the second time in Phillies history and the 20th time in baseball history, perfection was achieved. As Jayson Stark wrote, it was, indeed, a Halladay to Remember.

Roy Halladay, perfection achieved

(Photo courtesy of Wilfredo Lee/AP)

There are many videos of highlights out there to relive just how amazing this night was for Roy Halladay. Personally, I like watching all 27 outs, which you can see over at the 700 Level along with another great recap of the game. Enjoy.

Wakefield Baffles Batters and Halladay Loses, as Phillies Drop Red Sox Series

Special Guest Post by Skyline Stories (@SkylineStories)

Who's more likely to throw 8 shutout innings -- Roy Halladay, the former Cy Young award winner who leads the National League in complete games and shutouts, or Tim Wakefield, a 43-year-old knuckleballer whose last win was in July 2009?

If you picked Wakefield, then you'd be nuts. Except the improbable happened, as Wakefield bewildered the Phillies yesterday in an 8-3 win.



The last time I saw the two teams play was for Daisuke Matsuzaka's debut in a Major League ballpark in 2007, the crowd and media buzzing in anticipation of his fabled gyroball. But this was an awful game. The Phils couldn't hit, Dobbs and Hoover had costly errors, and Halladay had his worst start ever as a Phillie, per Philly.com.

Wakefield was only three innings from his first shutout since 1997, and became the oldest AL pitcher to throw that many shutout innings since fellow knuckleballer Charlie Hough in 1992, according to MLB.com. Of Wakefield's 103 slow-slower-really slow pitches (see below), most were knuckleballs that ranged from 65-68 mph, and later mixed in fastballs and curveballs (!).

Though I'm a Phillies fan, I wanted manager Terry Francona to leave him in for the shutout. Instead, he brought in Ramon Ramirez and the Phils rallied for 3 runs, too little too late. But Francona told MLB.com that Wakefield was gassed: "He said in the eighth […] he was starting to feel it. But I certainly would have let him go back out. He said he had enough."

The big concern for the Phils is Halladay. Last outing he threw an unbelievable 132 pitches, and though he looked strong in the first few innings, he didn't have as good location in the later innings. But Halladay and Manuel reject that's why Halladay had a poor outing. "[B]ody-wise I felt great, it was just a matter of making pitches," Halladay said at the press conference.

I disagree with PhilliesNation who thinks it's just one rough start against a "Red Sox team that has owned him throughout his illustrious career," and The700Level who chalks it "up to one of the five bad starts" that Doc says he's allotted. As Baseball Prospectus concluded, after 121 pitches "a manager may be gambling with that pitcher's next 4 or 5 starts at the very least."

We'll see in his next start.

Next up for the Phils are the Mets. Let's hope the Phils fare better on Tuesday night, when the Mets start R.A. Dickey -- another knuckleballer.

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