Halladay makes history with Game 1 no-hitter

Welcome to October, Roy Halladay. Making the most of his first playoff appearance, Roy Halladay thoroughly dominated the Reds, pitching the second no-hitter in postseason history in a 4-0 Phillies Game 1 win. Everything about his outing was a masterpiece, from the fact that he threw first pitch strikes to 25 of 28 batters to how he barely allowed the ball to leave the infield even when the Reds made contact. Halladay's efficiency was also remarkable as he simply cruised all game long, needing only 104 pitches to complete the game as he got 0-2 counts 11 different times and only went to a 3-ball count 3 times. The only blemish all night for Halladay was a walk he surrendered in the 5th inning to Jay Bruce, otherwise it was the best pitching performance I've seen in my lifetime.

As for the Phillies offense, they scored 4 runs in the first two innings and then put the bats away for the rest of the game. Shane Victorino scored the first run of the game when Chase Utley sacrificed him home in the first inning and Halladay even got into the offensive act, singling in Carlos Ruiz and later scoring in the second inning.

As exciting an epic of a performance as Halladay put together in Game 1, it's important to remember that it was just one game and the Phillies only have a 1-0 lead in the series and will still have to win 2 more games to get back to the NLCS. Luckily, we know that this team has been here before and they know not to get too high or too low in the playoffs and they will have their eyes on the bigger picture when they take the field for Game 2.

October 6th, 2010 is now a day that all Phillies fans will remember forever. To think that Halladay was able to do this in his first postseason start is simply remarkable; I wonder what else he has up his sleeve for the World Series.
(AP PHOTO)