It Just Got 'Funner'

Roy Halladay. That name is now a synonym for spectacular, Roy Halladay last night had a 'Roy Halladay' performance. I think that works.

It's all been said in the past 24 hours about, Game 1 being his first playoff start, how he has been one of the best pitchers in the NL and will be a shoo-in for NL Cy Young, the first 20 game winner for the Phillies since the 80's and of course the perfect game he threw against the Marlins, but Roy had to find a way to top all that and he did.

Not very often is the result of a playoff game overshadowed by a singular performance, but Halladay made it so that all the talk this morning wasn't about the Phillies picking up an important Game 1 victory over a scrappy Cincinnati Reds team, but about a man who threw the 2nd no-hitter in postseason, I can see why that would get a little more press.

"It's surreal, it really is," Halladay said. "I just wanted to pitch here, to pitch in the postseason. To go out and have a game like that, it's a dream come true."

Halladay is only the fifth pitcher to throw two no-hitters in the same season and obviously is the first to have one during the regular season and one in the playoffs. 

Believe it or not, there was criticism of Halladay's no-hitter, from the esteemed Rob Parker of ESPN First Take who rated Halladay's achievement a 5 on a scale of 1-10 and his reason was how weak the Reds lineup was. Well, in the regular season the Reds led the NL in average (.272), homers (188) and runs (790). As a team you can say they won the triple crown, but it wasn't impressive enough for Mr. Parker.

It just shows that people are still resistant to what the Phillies are doing here in 2010 and yet it's so impressive that the Phillies continue to flex their October muscles.

The Reds can swipe their brow now and look ahead to Game 2 because it couldn't get any worse right? We'll see what Roy Oswalt has to say about that.

Wednesday Lineup

Phillies Start Playoff Run

Quick note: I apologize for the lack of posts over the past week, sickness mixed with stress isn't a good combination. But this time of the year is too exciting to not post on this fine blog. There will be daily updates throughout the playoff run for the Phils and the season for the Birds, not to mention continued WVU football and basketball coverage and now that basketball and hockey seasons are getting underway there will be posts on those sports as well. It's time to get ill again.

This never gets old, the Phillies are once again in the playoffs and are the decided favorites this playoff season because of the hot streak they went on in September and the three aces they possess.

Today marks Roy Halladay's first playoff start against the Cincinnati Reds and he's aiming to show just how good he can be in postseason even though he's never made an appearance.

"It's definitely something I've thought about a lot, but you know, I think since we've got ourselves in the playoffs, it's been more of a preparation mode more than anything, and that's great for me," Halladay said.

It's a 5pm start time for Game 1 of the National League Division Series and Jimmy Rollins is saying that he'll be able to go today. There's not much that compares to Citizens Bank Park in October and it'll be rocking again today as the Phillies look to go to their third consecutive World Series, which I think would turn the tide from the town being pro-Eagles to being pro-Phillies.

It's amazing just how much of a football town this is that even after one championship and two World Series appearances and four straight division titles, football is still king. I have a feeling that no one can deny the Phillies the top spot if they can pull off another postseason run.

Photo Courtesy: Associated Press