Philadelphia Phillies

With Roy Halladay becoming the fourth pitcher in baseball history to throw two no-hitters in the same season, I thought it would be interesting to see how his playoff no-hitter compared to his perfect game on May 29 against the Florida Marlins.

Here is the tail of the tape:

Coming into the 2010 MLB postseason, everyone wanted to know if Roy Halladay was ready to pitch on the big stage. The real question turned out to be if the stage was ready for him. Roy Halladay stepped on the mound and put on a historical performance by completing the second no-hitter in postseason history, leading his team to a 4-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the NLDS.

The only other no-hitter in baseball postseason history was Don Larsen's 1956 World Series Game 5 perfect game against the Brooklyn Dodgers.

I don’t think there enough adjectives out there to describe the pitching performance given by Philadelphia Phillies ace Roy Halladay on Wednesday.

Awesome, incredible, spectacular, or whatever word you want to use, the fact is Halladay was simply amazing.

My friend Robert and I were eating at a campus bakery shop this afternoon when we saw a fellow college student sitting in the booth across from us wearing a Shane Victorino Philadelphia Phillies jersey shirt. On her laptop was the ESPN Gamecast of the Phillies Game 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Reds.

Wow! Roy Halladay just pitched a playoff no hitter for the Phillies.

I'm trying to remember the last time I remember a no-hitter in the playoffs. I'm sure Sandy Koufax had some. No? Curt Schilling? No? The Big Unit? No? All those Atlanta Braves guys? No?

Okay! You're forcing Stan Silliman to Google. I'm too old to Google.

Don Larsen? The perfect game in the 1956 World Series? Geez, what was I doing October 8, 1956? Hmmm?

Roy Halladay, the Philadelphia Phillies' prized offseason pick-up via trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, got his first postseason start Wednesday evening in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.

ALDS: Tampa Bay Rays (96-66) vs. Texas Rangers (90-72)

While I really like this Texas Rangers team, I have to give the edge to Tampa Bay. The Rays have had the Rangers number, especially at home. Tampa Bay has won its last four overall against Texas, and 17 of its last 22 at home in this series. Tampa Bay won all three of its home games against Texas this season. The Rangers played below .500 ball on the road this year, and ultimately not having home field should cost them in this series. 

Part 6 of 7 Phillies Championship Advantages

Professional sports teams have been known to win championships without it. 

Sometimes sheer talent and fortuitous circumstance converge together to achieve a successful outcome. 

Sometimes a team simply catches fire and makes an unlikely championship run. 

In an era of baseball that has been controlled by the big market teams, this year’s playoff landscape is certainly different from past seasons.

All right, maybe it isn’t completely different—the crop is still led by the usual suspects from New York and Philadelphia.

Still, the familiar names of the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Angels will not be heard in playoff baseball this year.

Whether you want to see it or not, it's lingering: the possibility of having a rematch in the World Series is highly likely.  

Going into the playoffs the Philadelphia Phillies are the hottest team, winning 22 of their last 29 games.  The Yankees on the other hand, in a bold move decided to leave A.J. Burnett out of the rotation against the Minnesota Twins in the ALDS.