Roy Halladay has long been one of the best pitchers in baseball, yet hasn’t played on the playoff stage as the Blue Jays have consistently been below multiple teams in the AL East.

His highly anticipated playoff debut went smoother than anyone could have hoped, as he threw just the second no-hitter in playoff history (Don Larsen’s perfect game was the other) against the Cincinnati Reds.

Halladay, who threw a perfect game in the regular season, was nearly perfect tonight against the NL Central Champion. In just 104 pitches, Halladay retired 27 of the 28 batters that he faced. On the night, Halladay reach three ball counts against only three batters, which allowed him to keep his pitch count low despite eight strikeouts.

Cincinnati right fielder Jay Bruce drew a two out walk in the fifth inning; he was the only Reds batter to reach base all night.

Offensively, The Phillies scored four runs early in the game (one in the first and three in the second) and let Doc take over. The other two members of Philadelphia’s “H2O” pitching staff have postseason experience, but Halladay looked like he had been out there 100 times before and didn’t show any nerves.

Counting his regular season perfecto, Halladay became just the fifth pitcher in MLB history to toss two no-hitters in the same season (and first since Nolan Ryan back in 1973) and is the only player with one in the regular and post-season.

And don’t think that the Reds were a team that got to the postseason on pitching and defense alone. They led the NL in runs scored, batting average and homeruns during the regular season. Add the fact that this was in the postseason and in hitter friendly Citizens Bank Park and Halladay’s effort immediately gets some consideration for most impressive no-hitter of all time (perfect games excluded).

The Reds and Phillies don’t play again until Saturday, when Roy Oswalt (PHI) will face Bronson Arroyo (CIN) as the Reds look to wake their bats up.

Used with permission of the author.

Along with contributing to Sports Climax, Brett Kettyle is the Atlanta Braves Community Leader on Bleacher Report and maintains a Braves column for MTR Media. Follow Brett on Twitter.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax, LLC

On any other night, Mark DeRosa’s first-inning single is fielded by the short stop, the Phillies get the two out bases-loaded-hit they often threatened to unleash, Eli Whiteside’s blast down the left-field line hooks just foul instead of chiming off the foul pole, and Philadelphia ace Roy Halladay is his normal, dominant self.

But on this night it all adds up to a 5-1 win over the Phillies for the Giants in China Basin, and over the first four games of this daunting nine-game, 10-day homestand against three of the National League’s four playoff teams from last year, San Francisco is 3-1.

Sanchez (2-1) labored for five innings, but managed to keep the Phillie’s potent lineup at bay, allowing just three hits, one earned run, while walking five and striking out six. He also overcame an inconsistent strike zone by home plate umpire, C.B. Buckner, and a seemingly endless supply of base runners.
After an impressive showing against the likes of Chase Utley, and the newly minted $25-million-man, Ryan Howard – who were a combined 0-for-5, stranding six runners – Sanchez has yet to allow a hit to a left-handed hitter in 14 at bats so far in 2010.

“He really didn’t have his best stuff. That’s the first time all year he didn’t have all three pitches working,” said Eli Whiteside, who was 2-for-3 with a double, homer and two RBIs against Halladay. “They had their opportunities, but he battled. He kept us in it.”

If Sanchez kept the Giants in it, Mark DeRosa brought them there in the bottom of the first. With his team mired in a 5-for-54 slump with runners in scoring position, DeRosa knocked Halladay’s 3-2 curve ball for a two-out single to left, just past short stop Wilson Valdez, scoring Edgar Renteria and Pablo Sandoval, giving the home team an early, and unforeseen 2-0 advantage.

“We’ve been missing that, and it seemed like it loosened the guys up and sent some confidence through the lineup,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “(That was) one of our better at-bats of the year.”

The Phillies helped, too. Sanchez wiggled out of a bases-loaded jam in the third thanks to a nice running catch by right fielder Nate Schierholtz. And in the fifth the Phillies scored a run on Utley’s ground out, but stranded three more base runners when Sanchez got Ben Francisco to fly out softly to left. The Phillies – channeling their inner orange and black – were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and stranded 11, too. The Giants went 3-for-7 in such situations.

In the past, when Sanchez wasn’t on his A-game, it often meant he and the Giants were doomed. But the lefty persevered Monday, and though he left after a grinding 107-pitch outing (three more than Halladay threw in seven innings) Sanchez earned the win.

Though they’ve faced above average starters on each game so far through the homestand, San Francisco pitching has been even better. Giants hurlers have allowed just four runs through the first 36 innings to the Cardinals and Phillies collectively, reassuming a home dominance the team enjoyed in 2009. The staff also boasts a major-league best 2.68 ERA.

“It’s legit,” said Sergio Romo who pitched the final six outs of the game. “We just beat arguably the best pitcher in baseball, and we were able to do it convincingly. We came out today and took it to him.”

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™