Philadelphia

In one of the most thrilling moments in postseason history—and what must be the most thrilling moment in divisional series history—Roy Halladay pitched the second postseason no-hitter in baseball history in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS on Wednesday night, becoming the first pitcher to pull off the feat since Don Larsen's perfect game in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series.

But where does this feat rank amongst the top 10 postseason moments in Philadelphia Phillies history?

Let's take a look.

Yesterday afternoon, as Roy Halladay was preparing for yesterday's NLDS opener, Cliff Lee was putting the finishing touches on another brilliant postseason pitching performance. 

Lee dominated the AL's most potent offense, striking out 10 Tampa Bay Rays batters while holding them to one run to give the Texas Rangers their first playoff win in 14 years. 

In order for a team to be successful in the playoffs, it is imperative that it has at least one dominant starting pitcher.

Each year, the winner of the World Series features one, if not a few starting pitchers who are capable of tossing eight innings of shutout ball on any given night.

Halladay did one better last night.

With his electrifying performance in Game 1 of the National League Division Series came visions of postseason dominance gone by. Here are the five greatest postseason pitching performances of all time.

Roy Halladay and Don Larsen are two pitchers who couldn’t be more different, but after Halladay tossed his no-hitter against last night, the two will forever be linked.

There's certainly going to be an influx of Roy Halladay articles popping up in the next day or so, and it's easy to see why.

Halladay is only the second pitcher in MLB playoff history to throw a no-hitter and the first in over 50 years since Yankee Don Larsen pitched his perfect game against the Dodgers in the 1956 World Series.

He's also thrown his second no-hitter of the season, the first being a perfect game.

Roy Halladay's performance on Wednesday was masterful.  The Doc was indeed surgical.   

In his first career playoff game, Roy Halladay may have pitched the best game of his life against the Cincinnati Reds.  

The only other performance that is comparable is his perfect game earlier this season against the Florida Marlins.  

However, he was only one walk shy of pitching another perfect game.  

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:

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.

Speed kills.

Ask the Yankees circa 2004 when a stolen base by Dave Roberts in the bottom of the ninth kept the Red Sox—down 3-0 in the American League Championship Series and 4-3 in Game 4—alive and propelled them forward to the greatest comeback in baseball history.

Or maybe you could just look at the 1982 World Series between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers.

With the MLB playoffs just hours away, many fans are inevitably experiencing their own version of postseason baseball butterflies.

But it isn’t just the fans that are trying to quell their nervousness; it’s also a handful of players who are playing for more than just a shot at the Fall Classic.

No pressure, really.

Lurking in the dugouts of the eight remaining teams are a collection of various players who are not only trying to help their respective teams advance in the playoffs but are also trying to prove their free-agency worth.