Phillies young ace Aaron Nola named a Cy Young Award finalist for first time
Major League Baseball announced the finalists for its 2018 major awards today, and Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola was named as one of the three finalists for the National League Cy Young Award.
The 25-year-old Nola enjoyed a breakout campaign for the Phillies this past season. Becoming the team’s ace, the young right-hander went 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA, 0.975 WHIP, 175 ERA+, and 3.01 FIP.
Nola allowed only 149 hits this year in 212.1 innings across 33 starts with a 224/58 K:BB ratio. His 10.5 WAR mark was the best by any pitcher in the game and the second-highest in all of baseball, just ahead of Mike Trout and just behind Mookie Betts.
The other finalists announced for the award were Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets.
Scherzer went 18-7 with a 2.53 ERA, 0.911 WHIP, 168 ERA+, and 2.65 FIP. Over 33 starts the 34-year-old allowed 150 hits in 220.2 innings pitched with a 300/51 K:BB ratio and 8.8 WAR mark.
The right-hander already has three Cy Young Awards on his mantle at home. Scherzer won the American League Cy Young Award with Detroit in 2014 before taking home the honors for the National League in each of the last two seasons with Washington.
The 30-year-old deGrom went 10-9 with a 1.70 ERA, 0.912 WHIP, 216 ERA+, and a 1.98 FIP. He yielded 152 hits across 217 innings over 32 starts with a 269/46 K:BB ratio and 9.6 WAR mark.
A two-time NL All-Star, deGrom was the 2014 National League Rookie of the Year. The righty finished seventh in 2015 and eighth a year ago in previous NL Cy Young Award voting results.
Rick Porcello helping the Bosox take charge in AL East
As late as June 2, the Boston Red Sox were just four games over the .500 mark. At that point, the team sat in third place in the AL East race, three games behind the arch-rival New York Yankees.
Flash forward a little more than seven weeks, and the Bosox have taken charge. They went 26-19 to flip the standings position, now leading the Yanks by 3.5 after the games of Saturday, July 22.
For the second straight season, Boston has an AL Cy Young Award front-runner. This time around, that top starting pitcher is lefty Chris Sale.
But last season’s top starter has struggled for much of the 2017 season. Rick Porcello won the 2016 AL Cy Young Award following the best season by far of his then eight-year big league career.
Porcello went 22-4 a year ago with a 3.15 ERA and 1.009 WHIP. He allowed just 193 hits over 223 innings with a 189/32 K:BB ratio.
Flash forward to this season, and Porcello’s numbers are nowhere near that level. The 28-year old righty has gone 4-12 with a 4.60 ERA and 1.436 WHIP. He has allowed 156 hits over 125.1 innings with a 115/24 K:BB mark.
Porcello has regressed to the type of pitcher he had been in his first seven seasons. That would be a nice, reliable, mid-rotation innings eater as opposed to a top of the rotation ace-caliber starter.
However, his recent starts have begun to signal what could be a turnaround towards numbers closer in line to last season.
At 7:10pm on Tuesday night at Tropicana Field, the New York Yankees will send their veteran 36-year old left-hander to the mound.
CC Sabathia will be trying to help the club to its first victory of the nascent 2017 season. The host Tampa Bay Rays ripped the Yanks by a 7-3 final in Sunday’s season opener. For Sabathia, this will be his 17th season in Major League Baseball.
The first-round pick at 20th overall in the 1998 MLB Amateur Draft by the Cleveland Indians, he spent most of his first eight seasons with the Tribe. He was a three-time AL All-Star with Cleveland. In his final full season there, Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award.
Sabathia was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers at the 2008 trade deadline and helped the Brew Crew to an NL Wild Card berth.
Following that ’08 season, Sabathia signed a huge nine-year, $202 million free agent contract with the Yankees. His first season in the Big Apple resulted in the Yankees winning the World Series. Sabathia finished fourth in the Cy Young voting.
In each of the subsequent two seasons, Sabathia again finished within the top four of the AL Cy Young race. He was an AL All-Star each year from 2010-12.
Each year that an MLB reliever has a dominating season there are discussions as to his Cy Young Award worthiness, and baseball should finally resolve the issue.
The Cy Young Award, emblematic of the best pitchers in MLB during each season, has been awarded since the 1956 season.
For the first decade of the award's existence, from 1956-66, there was one honoree for all of baseball. Beginning in the 1967 season, a Cy Young Award was bestowed on the top pitcher in each league.
The award has been given out in every year since its debut, including for the 1994 season that was canceled halfway through due to the strike.
The first true relief pitcher to win the award was Mike Marshall of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1974. Marshall won 15 games and saved 21 to take the NL honors that season. Three years later, Sparky Lyle of the New York Yankees became the first relief pitcher in the American League to win the honor with 13 wins and 26 saves.
It is MLB awards season, and as Major League Baseball hands out its formal honors, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America will do the same.
With the 2016 MLB season winding to a close, various individuals and groups, including myself and the full body of the IBWAA (Internet Baseball Writers Association of America) will be honoring players and coaches as award winners for their performances this year.
The IBWAA was founded on the 4th of July back in 2009 "to organize and promote the growing online baseball media, and to serve as a digital alternative to the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA)"per the home website.
At the end of each regular season, the IBWAA membership receives an awards ballot. Each writer is then asked to vote and return the ballots promptly.
These ballots are then tabulated, and MLB awards winners are determined. The IBWAA is scheduled to begin announcing the winners of its writer balloting in mid-November.
MLB has already begun the process of announcing some its awards winners. For instance, David Ortiz in the AL and Kris Bryant in the NL have been honored with the Hank Aaron Award as the top hitter in each league this season.
Each year, I publicly release my vote. I do this so that any followers get a sense of what I am thinking as far as the game is concerned, but also to spur conversation on our great game of baseball.
I am quite sure that in at least a couple of these selections, you would choose differently. Would love to hear your choices for each of the awards. Feel free to leave a comment with those selections.
So now, on to my ballot. As writers we were asked to provide a Top 10 in each league MVP vote, a Top 5 in the Cy Young Award balloting, and Top 3 in each of the Top Manager, Top Reliever, and Rookie of the Year categories.
I released myown predictions for the Phillies in the coming season. Now we begin the process of releasing our predictions for some of MLB’s major award winners.
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the top pitchers in Major League Baseball. Instituted for the 1956 season, the award was originally given to just one pitcher as the best in all of baseball from 1956 through the 1966 season.
Beginning in 1967, MLB began to award one pitcher in each league. Roger Clemenswon the award a record seven times during his career.
Newly elected Baseball Hall of Famer Randy Johnson won the honors five times, including four in a row from 1999-2002. Greg Maddux also won four straight years, from 1992-95.
The only other 4x winner of the Cy Young Award was Phillies Hall of Famer Steve Carlton. Lefty took home the honors in the National League in 1972, 1977, 1980, and again in 1982.
Now we begin the process of releasing our predictions for some of MLB’s major award winners.
The Cy Young Award is given annually to the top pitchers in Major League Baseball. Instituted for the 1956 season, the award was originally given to just one pitcher as the best in all of baseball from 1956 through the 1966 season.
In the American League, 11 different pitchers have won the award over the last 11 years. Johan Santana became the last to win it multiple times in the 2004 and 2006 seasons.
Former Phillies stars Roy Halladay in 2003 with the Toronto Blue Jays and Cliff Lee in 2008 with the Cleveland Indians have won the AL version of the award.
The last two years saw surprise winners in the junior circuit, as both Corey Kluberof the Cleveland Indians and Dallas Keuchel of the Houston Astros came apparently out of nowhere to take home the honors.
Like yesterday's evaluation of the National League Most Valuable Player candidates, and the selection of my own Top 10 vote, there is a hitter-pitcher element in the AL this season.
The starting pitcher candidate in this case is Seattle Mariners righthander "King Felix" Hernandez. Like his NL counterpart, Clayton Kershaw, the King is most certainly the runaway favorite to win his league's Cy Young Award for the top pitcher. And like his NL counterpart, to this evaluator, that is where he should rightly and properly be honored.
Winning the Cy Young Award is not a "secondary" or "lesser" honor to the Most Valuable Player Award in any way. The Cy Young goes to the best pitchers in the game. Position players have no shot at it. Winning the honor says that you are the absolute best at your most-valued of all positions.
Both Kershaw and Hernandez are just that, the best pitchers in the game today. They deserve those awards. And they deserve MVP votes because neither of their teams would likely be a contender without them. But the same can be said of each of the position players, and those position players, and to a slightly lesser extent the best closers, affect team outcomes nearly every single game.
With all that said, take a look back when you get a chance at yesterday's NL MVP evaluation, and now enjoy my personal 10-player American League Most Valuable Player ballot, were I to have one, and were the season to end today:
10) Josh Donaldson, 3B, Oakland The offensive leader of a team that was baseball's best for much of the season, Donaldson has emerged over the last two years as an All-Star caliber performer. This year he has 26 homers and 93 rbi, and has scored 85 runs. He provides the middle-of-the-order pop that teams need to contend. Despite their slide of recent weeks, the A's remain in control of the top AL Wildcard spot. Much as with Miggy in Detroit, whether Oakland hangs on to a post-season berth will largely depend on his continued production over the last couple of weeks.
9) Felix Hernandez, SP, Seattle Already covered this above: the best pitcher in the American League, the easy choice for this year's AL Cy Young Award. The King has a 14-5 record with a 1.12 ERA and an 0.92 WHIP. He has allowed just 153 hits across 212 innings. His K/BB ratio is at 217/41. There is only one other player who has been more of a difference-maker to the M's emergence as a contender this season, and he is found much higher on the list.
8) Jose Altuve, 2B, Houston I struggled with putting a player on a team that is 17-games under the .500 mark and in 4th place in their division, never having been a contender all season long, on the list at all. But Altuve is a special case. The Astros are an extremely young, inexperienced team that has been losing for years. Altuve has stepped up as a leader, and with a ton of good-looking prospects coming, is exactly what they need at the crest of the wave of talent. He has game-changing speed, swiping 51 bags and scoring 78 runs for one of the lowest-scoring teams in the game. He is hitting .336 and is a serious contender for the AL Batting crown, and carries a .373 on-base percentage. Not a big power guy, he still has 50 rbi.
7) Jose Abreu, 1B, Chicago Very rarely do I rank a player this high on a losing team, especially when that team has a decent chance to finish last in their division. Couldn't they team be that putrid without him? Yes, they could. But the White Sox could also be down battling Texas for the worst record in baseball were it not for this Cuban rookie's production. He sports a .317 average, .372 on-base percentage, and has 33 homers with 99 rbi. He is an easy choice for the AL Rookie of the Year. Just as impressively, he is one of the game's best hitters already.
6) Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit It has supposedly been an off-year for the man who has won the last two AL MVP Awards and the Triple Crown in 2012. Bothered most of the summer by what has been revealed as heal spurs, Miggy's power was sapped by the pain in his base. But he still remained one of the game's supreme hitters, and his power outburst last week almost single-handedly drove Detroit back into a Wildcard position. Even hurt, he has managed 22 homers, 101 rbi, and 91 runs scored while hitting .311 and with a .371 on-base percentage. Whether the Tigers return to the post-season or not largely depends on what he does in these final 2 1/2 weeks of the regular season.
5) Victor Martinez, 1B, Detroit With Cabrera slightly off from his 2-time MVP pace this year, Detroit desperately needed VMart to stay healthy and produce in order to stay on top in the AL Central race. He has delivered, batting .335 with a .406 on-base percentage. He has 30 homers, 96 rbi, and 79 runs scored and is battling Altuve for the AL Batting crown in a neck-and-neck race. Despite this, the Tigers have been caught by Kansas City in the standings. They remain in a battle for another division crown, and also cling to a Wildcard berth, largely thanks to Martinez' consistent production.
4) Alex Gordon, OF, Kansas City Much as with Anthony Rendon in the NL, Gordon doesn't receive nearly as much attention as he should for this honor. The Royals had another strong start to the season. But unlike a year ago, KC has not only stayed in the playoff race, but they have stayed in the race for an AL Central Division crown. A big reason has been the leadership, production, and the key hits and defensive plays from the unquestioned team leader Gordon. His raw numbers don't pop out at you, one reason that he won't be a favorite to actually win the AL MVP Award outright, and isn't a Top 3 guy on this ballot. He has 19 homers, 66 rbi, 77 runs scored. But perhaps as much as anyone on this list he epitomizes what I believe the award to be all about - true value to your team, which incorporates those intangibles such as leadership, and coming through in the biggest moments.
3) Nelson Cruz, OF, Baltimore The Orioles took over first place in the usually rough and tumble AL East in the early weeks of the season, and have steadily pulled away over the course of the summer to a point where they own a 10-game lead, the biggest in baseball, and already have a 'Magic Number' down to single-digits. Signing Cruz as a free agent in the off-season has proven to be one of the biggest such moves in baseball. With first catcher Matt Wieters and then Manny Machado lost for the season, Cruz has delivered with 39 homeruns, 101 rbi, and 82 runs scored. He seems to deliver his biggest bombs at the important moments. Despite the presence of his outstanding fellow outfielder Adam Jones, the O's are not where they are without Nelson Cruz.
2) Robinson Cano, 2B, Seattle The former Yankee signed a lucrative free agent contract in the off-season to move all the way across the country to play for a team that had not reached the post-season since 2001, and had finished in 4th place eight times in the last decade, including the last four seasons in a row. The Mariners are now 14 games over .500, just a half game out of a Wildcard berth. The Yanks are 4 over .500, 5 1/2 out of the Wildcard. The difference is clearly Cano. He has hit .320 with a .386 on-base percentage, with 75 rbi and 73 runs scored. His homers are down at a dozen, but that can largely be attributed to the ballpark factor. What is clearly up is the effect that his presence has in the Seattle batting order.
1) Mike Trout, OF, Los Angeles The man (we have to stop referring to him as "kid" at some point) who finished as the runner-up for the AL MVP in his first two seasons should finally win it this time around. He has driven his team to the top of the standings. His Angels have not only taken charge of the AL West lead over the last month, but they now have the best record in the sport. Some of Trout's ridiculous numbers of the last two years are down, but his impact on the game and his team are not. He is hitting .288 with a .372 on-base percentage. With 32 homers and 103 rbi, he has emerged as a true major power threat. His speed has allowed him to score 99 runs, and he still has stolen 14 bases in a season that saw his team restrict those opportunities for him. For the 3rd straight season he is clearly the best all-around player in the game. Now he will be recognized as it's Most Valuable as well.
NO APOLOGIES for not putting the following players on either my NL or AL ballots the last two days. Fact is, they absolutely deserve consideration. Fact is, they will receive MVP votes in the real voting. But you only get so many choices, and we all have to make tough decisions. A few names who deserve mentioning that I did not vote for are:
NL - Justin Upton (Atl), Adrian Gonzalez (LA), Freddie Freeman (Atl), Jayson Werth (Was), Josh Harrison (Pit), Adam LaRoche, (Was), Matt Kemp (LA), Adam Wainwright (ST)
AL - Jose Bautista (Tor), Michael Brantley (Cle), Jacoby Ellsbury (NYY), Albert Pujols (LA), Adam Jones (Bal), Ian Kinsler (Det), Melky Cabrera (Tor), Corey Kluber (Cle), Kyle Seager (Sea)
As the 2014 Major League Baseball season sprints into it's stretch run, each week separates post-season wheat from chaff. Time runs out on some clubs, and the words "Magic Number" once again emerge into the game's vocabulary for others.
As teams push for the pennant, they are often driven forward by one man, one lead character playing hero in that season. He may be a slugger. He may have a golden arm. He may come up with clutch hits at crucial moments of many of these dramatic, decisive games.
At the end of it all, teams win, and players are honored for their individual achievements. The voting for the 'Most Valuable Player' award in both the National and American League takes place before the post-season, so it is a reflection on the performance of the top players in the game over the course of the regular 162-game season that has unfolded over the previous full 6 months.
These centerpiece awards have been given out in MLB since 1931 by the Baseball Writer's Association of America. Two baseball writers from each city in each league vote annually for the recipient, and the winner is announced at the conclusion of the World Series.
The BBWAA has never given out a clear definition of "most valuable", and that has been a bone of contention among many voters, commentators, writers, fans, and even players themselves. What makes a player valuable to his team, and how is that measured? Can a starting pitcher, for instance, who only affects team performance once or twice a week, possibly be as valuable as a position player, who affects team outcomes every game?
Without definitive direction, I have always been guided by what I consider common sense. To me, especially since pitchers already have an award specifically dedicated for their excellence in the Cy Young Award, I cannot personally consider a starting pitcher to be more valuable than the most valuable of position players.
This is not to say that starting pitchers, such as Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers, are not valuable. Clearly they are, and clearly the Dodgers, as one example, would not be the same team, and perhaps not even a contender, without Kershaw. So for me, a pitcher like Kershaw would absolutely receive acknowledgement on my ballot. But he would not be the top choice.
On each ballot, the writer's doing the voting select 10 players and rank them 1-10 in the order in which they feel these players have been "most valuable" to their particular team. A player then receives 14 'points' for every first place vote, 9 for a 2nd place vote, 8 for 3rd, 7 for 4th, on down to 1 point for a 10th place vote.
The following would be my personal 10-player National League Most Valuable Player ballot, were I to have one, and were the season to end today. I will present my 10-player American League MVP ballot tomorrow:
10) Francisco Rodriguez, RP, Milwaukee You would be hard-pressed to make a case that any player has been more influential to his team's success as a complete surprise than has KRod proven for the Brew Crew. Once arguably the game's most dominant closer, he re-emerged in that role this season for the Brewers. He has registered 39 Saves with a 2.95 ERA and a magnificent 0.98 WHIP, and with a 69-14 K/BB ratio across 61 extremely valuable innings at the end of now-fading Milwaukee's closest games.
9) Hunter Pence, OF, San Francisco His raw numbers of 19 homers, 69 rbi, 101 runs scored, 13 steals while compiling a .295 batting average make Pence one of the best all-around offensive threats in the NL. Combine the numbers with his hustling defense and his passionate leadership, and factor in that he plays his home games in a pitcher's haven at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and you have a legit MVP candidate for a legit contender that wouldn't be so without him.
8) Dee Gordon, 2B, Los Angeles The only rival to KRod as a surprise MVP candidate, Gordon's emergence has arguably been even more unlikely. Not even a starter entering the spring, Gordon took the 2nd base job and ran with it, literally. Hitting .287, he has stolen 59 bases to lead all of baseball, has scored 80 runs, and generally been exactly what the first-place Dodgers needed: a catalyst at the top of the batting order on a consistent basis. His team is very likely once again struggling for runs and under-achieving if not for his sudden emergence as an impact player this year.
7) Clayton Kershaw, SP, Los Angeles The best starting pitcher on the planet. Period. On his return to the team after missing the first few weeks of the season, Kershaw took up right where he had left off during the team's showcase opening series in Australia in March, where he left off last season in a Cy Young campaign. He has dominated. With an 18-3 record, 22 of 24 Quality Starts, a 1.67 ERA and 0.82 WHIP, and with an unreal 210-27 K/BB ratio over 177.1 IP, Kershaw is the clear NL Cy Young Award winner once again.
6) Giancarlo Stanton, OF, Miami The most sensational individual performer in the National League this season on a daily basis, Stanton likely gets the honors as the Most Outstanding Player in the NL: 37 homers, 105 rbi, 88 runs scored, 11 stolen bases, a .291 batting average with a .396 on-base percentage. He is improved defensively, and has a cannon for a right arm. Stanton does it all, and has most importantly stayed healthy this year. The only thing keeping him from the top spot? His team is not, and won't be, in the post-season race. They could lose without him. They are losing with him. His performance keeps them fighting for .500, but for this writer, to win the honors you need to elevate your team to contention.
5) Craig Kimbrel, RP, Atlanta The most valuable Closer in the game today, he is the perfect weapon in the 9th inning. In that role, he impacts 3 times the number of actual game results than does a starting pitcher like Kershaw. He has registered 43 Saves, tied for the NL lead. He has a 1.61 ERA and 0.93 WHIP. He has an 80-18 K/BB ratio across 56 innings. The Braves are just 1 1/2 games out of a Wildcard berth that they wouldn't even be sniffing without him.
4) Carlos Gomez, Milwaukee The Brewers are just a game and a half out of the Wildcard, but they have been seriously fading, and with that fade Gomez' own shot at the NL MVP Award is also fading. But Milwaukee led the NL Central for much of the season, and they remain in the post-season hunt, largely thanks to Gomez' taking his game to another level. He has 21 homers, 67 rbi, 87 runs scored, and 29 steals while hitting at a .284 clip, and has taken the mantle away from Ryan Braun as the biggest threat in the Brew Crew everyday lineup. His teammate, Jonathan Lucroy, would also be a worthy nominee, and will finish high on some ballots, but it is Gomez who is the better all-around player.
3) Anthony Rendon, Washington Playing largely at 3rd base due to Ryan Zimmerman's season-long injury troubles, Rendon has been a whiz at the hot corner for the first place Nats. He also seemlessly slid over to play 2nd base for a month when Zimmerman was briefly able to get healthy. All the while, he has emerged as the most consistent offensive threat in their batting order. His 102 runs scored leads all of baseball. He has 18 homers, 77 rbi, and 15 steals as well. There is a sense is that he is only scratching the surface of his all-around game. Aleady one of baseball's best hitters, Rendon is the MVP of a team running away with a division crown. Hard to beat that as a league MVP endorsement. I was extremely tempted to list him in the top position.
2) Andrew McCutchen, Pittsurgh The Pirates have again emerged as a playoff contender for the 2nd straight season. Their run to the post-season a year ago was a prime factor in McCutchen taking home the 2013 NL MVP. Their return would be a major factor in his winning the honors in back-to-back fashion, something accomplished only by Barry Bonds, Albert Pujols, and Miguel Cabrera in the last three decades. He has the raw numbers: 22 homers, 74 rbi, 76 runs, 17 steals, and a .311 batting average with a .402 on-base percentage. And he is getting hot and coming up with big hits lately in clutch situations. The Pirates have taken over a Wildcard spot, and if they hold it, he will be a top finisher when all the votes are counted.
1) Buster Posey, San Francsico The 2012 NL MVP, his raw numbers are good enough on their own: a .309 batting average, 20 homers, 79 rbi, 67 runs scored. That he produces this offense mostly from the catchers position makes him the game's top threat in that regard from the position. The Giants have wisely reduced his catching, shifting some of the load to more appearances at 1st base to keep his potent bat in the lineup, while also finding him more scattered rest opportunities. The result has been that Posey is fresh, the game's hottest hitter over the last month as the Giants halted a slide and re-emerged as contenders. They now lead the Wildcard race, and are still within range of running at the Dodgers for the division crown. They are at neither spot without him. At least for now with 3 weeks to go, on this man's ballot it is between Posey and McCutchen, the last two winners of the award, for NL MVP.
Halladay and Ruiz embrace after final out of playoff no-hitter
For Phillies fans, it was not that long ago that our team was at the top of the National League, with the best starting rotation in baseball leading the way.
Three years ago on this date the Fightins were in the midst of a franchise record-setting 101-win season, and that vaunted pitching rotation included four pitchers who had been collectively nicknamed "The Four Aces" by fans and media.
Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and arguably the Ace among Aces, Roy 'Doc' Halladay. It all seems to be drifting further and further into the rearview mirror now. Oswalt has been gone for a couple of years. Lee is on the Disabled List, and heavily rumored in trade discussion. Only Hamels remains, and is likely to remain, for the foreseeable future.
Halladay finally retired following the 2013 season, one that was frustrating and painful for himself and for fans of both the team and the man whom we had all come to love over the final four years of a brilliant career that spanned parts of 16 seasons, mostly with the Toronto Blue Jays. In what was his 2nd consecutive ineffective season cut short by injuries, Doc Halladay's gifted right arm finally was spent.
But Halladay left behind a tremendous legacy in just those brief closing seasons here in Philly. There was the Cy Young Award that he won following his first season here in 2010, a 21-win campaign that included that 'Perfect Game' on May 29th. There was that magical 2011 season in which he was the Cy Young runner-up for the record-setting Phillies who won their 5th straight NL East title. And there was that 'Perfect Game' against the Florida Marlins on this night, four years ago now.
For my wife and I, there was also a special night with Doc. It came on a cool, damp night at Citizens Bank Park in the 2010 playoffs, in what was the very first playoff game of Roy Halladay's illustrious career. It was what he had come to Philly for in the first place, a chance to win a World Series, in front of a ballpark packed to the rafters with rabid, knowledgeable fans. It was Roy Halladay's dream.
We are 'Sunday Plan' season ticket holders with the Phillies, and back in 2010 our seats were in section 208, row 6. On that night of October 6th, 2010, however, because it was a playoff game, we had been given tickets in section 313. So we were seated up above left field in foul territory, a little ways beyond first base. They were good seats, as are most at the gorgeous ballpark.
The Phillies were up by 1-0 in the series, and as this game unfolded the team staked Halladay to an early lead, scoring a run in the 1st and then 3 more in the 2nd to go up 4-0. Halladay himself had knocked in the 2nd run, and then scored the 4th. It was now up to him to hold that lead, and put the Phillies up 2-0 in the series, within one of advancing to the National League Championship Series.
On this night, there was nothing to worry about. Not only would Halladay hold that lead, he would make history. Somewhere around the 6th inning my father called my cellphone from his home in Florida, asking if I knew what was happening. Did he really think that we were not all aware that Doc Halladay was tossing a no-hitter? I told him brusquely: "Yes, and don't say anything!"
A lifelong baseball fan, as my Dad well knew, I was not going to be the one to jinx our hero.
So the game continued into the 9th inning with Halladay just three outs away from Major League Baseball's first post-season no-hitter since Don Larsen's legendary 'Perfect Game' in the 1956 World Series. That Larsen perfect effort was the only no-hitter in MLB playoff history up to that point. Halladay was going for history here, and we were there to see it.
I had been attending Phillies games since Veteran's Stadium opened back in 1971 in my old South Philly neighborhood. I had attended hundreds of games between the years at 'The Vet' and then at Citizens Bank Park once it opened in 2004. I had never, ever been this close to experiencing a no-hitter 'live' as a spectator. It was thrilling to feel the electricity in the air, and to be experiencing it with my best friend, my wife Deb.
The first two batters of that 9th and final inning went down fairly easily, both popping out. So there was just one batter between Doc, we Phils fans, and the no-hitter, the Cincinnati Reds tough and talented 2nd baseman Brandon Phillips. Doc got the first two strikes, and the fans, already on our feet the entire inning, roared for that final strike to end it.
We all know that good pitching stops good hitting most of the time, and that games start to get tighter and more tense as pennant races begin to heat up in mid-August and on into September. But three teams battling in a pennant race (well, at least two really are) all playing a 1-0 game on the same night?
Here in Philly we all witnessed the Fightin's latest frustrations at the hands of a knuckleballer. This time it was Mets righty R.A. Dickey tossing a 1-hitter, of all things. And the one hit was a simple flare that dropped in off the bat of pitcher Cole Hamels. Meanwhile the Braves and Mets were both winning 1-0 games on the same night, the Atlanta win opening up a 3-game lead for them in the division race.
The Phils are playing a bit shorthanded still with both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley out of the lineup. But no hits from anyone in the lineup against a guy who throws most of his pitches at maybe 75mph? You can't smartly adjust your approach for one game in a known situation like that, especially when it's already happened to you multiple times in 2010?
A couple of months ago my wife and I had the misfortune of watching the Phils get similarly shut down by the Red Sox extremely hittable veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in person at Citizens Bank Park. I remember clearly turning to her around the 3rd inning after she said "They better start hitting soon" and telling her something to the effect of "They'll have 7-8 runs at least before this game is over." The joke was on me.
Doc was all smiles on his perfect night in South Florida
Florida Marlins' catcher Ronnie Paulino smashed a ball into the hole between 3rd base and shortstop, and for a brief moment everyone watching the game at Sun Life Stadium, players and fans who were in attendance as well as those of us watching at home here in Philly on television, held our collective breaths.
There had been two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning when Paulino came to bat, and the Philadelphia Phillies new ace starting pitcher Roy Halladay had a 'perfect game' going.
This meant not a single batter had reached base during the game. Against the Phillies ace, 26 men had come to the plate with a bat in their hands that night for the Fish. All 26 had returned to the dugout having made an out. No hits and no walks. No one had reached on an error.
So history was in the offing when Paulino struck the ball.
There had been only 19 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball going back well over a century. There had been just one in Phillies franchise history. That was pitched by Hall of Famer Jim Bunning on Father's Day in 1964.
As Paulino's smash left his bat, playing third base was the Phillies regular backup shortstop, Juan Castro. Castro had been inserted as a defensive replacement for regular 3rd baseman Placido Polanco. The move would prove a stroke of genius by manager Charlie Manuel.
Castro quickly ranged to his left, stabbed the hard shot grounder, wheeled, and gunned a throw to first baseman Ryan Howard. The throw beat Paulino easily, and Halladay's historic night of perfection was complete.
The usually calm and reserved Halladay let loose with a big smile as he was embraced by catcher Carlos Ruiz and the rest of his teammates on the mound.
Back in the locker room, his teammates called on him to make a speech. Halladay simply pointed at Ruiz and said "Chooch is the man!", referring to Ruiz' nickname and the fact that the catcher had called pitches during the game.
Ruiz later said that he had learned some lessons regarding the Marlins hitters during an effective start the previous night by Kyle Kendrick. Ruiz decided that he would utilize those lessons in calling Halladay's start.
Whatever it was that Chooch picked up, it worked, and Doc delivered by executing his pitches to perfection. He rarely left the ball out over the plate, needed just a couple of big defensive plays, and struck out a number of hitters on the night.
The Phillies traded for Roy Halladay in the off-season to become a bona fide ace for the Phillies rotation. He has lived up to every bit of the expectations that a veteran former Cy Young Award winner can bring with him.
Though the Phils have struggled somewhat with injuries and inconsistent play, they remain on top of the National League to this point. Halladay is the main reason. He makes the Phillies favorites to win every fifth day. On this particular fifth day, Roy Halladay was perfect.
