A few thoughts on Roy Halladay‘s perfect game:
- It’s the 20th perfect game in baseball history, which is only eight more men than have walked on the moon.
- Good to see Halladay smile.
- I’ve seen pitchers carry no-hitters into the seventh inning before and I’m like, “OK, somebody is going to get a hit here.” And somebody always does.” I only started to think Daisuke Matsuzaka would throw a no-hitter May 22 when Carlos Ruiz hit into a line drive double play in the eighth inning. Juan Castro hit a broken-bat flare into left field in the following at-bat. But there was a different feeling when Halladay carried a perfect game into the seventh. This is going to happen. Nobody is going to get on base here.
- Cool to hear Halladay give Jamie Moyer some credit for the suggestions he made in between starts.
- Guess we’ll be hearing much less about pitch counts, right?
- The Phillies have thrown one perfect game and one no-hitter since I started covering the Phillies. I’ve missed both. I started covering the Phillies for The Philadelphia Inquirer in April 2003. The first game I ever missed as a beat writer Kevin Millwood threw his no-hitter against the Giants at the Vet. I was flying to LA at the time because the Phillies opened a series the following night at Dodger Stadium. I remember getting into my rental car, finding the Dodgers game and hearing Vin Scully say, “And in Philadelphia, Kevin Millwood has a no-hitter through eight innings!” I almost drove my car off the road. And the Halladay perfect game? I typically get one road series off a month. Taking off this series made the most sense because it split up a three-city, nine-game trip. But at least I got to watch it while having an adult beverage or two over the holiday weekend.
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The Zo Zone is on Facebook and Twitter. His Phillies book “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” is available online, and at Delaware Valley bookstores!
