Five days ago, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay made history with the second no-hitter in MLB postseason history. His only blemish was a fifth inning walk to Jay Bruce.
Last night, his Philadelphia teammate, 26-year old Cole Hamels, did one better. He didn't walk anybody.
No, Hamels did not pitch the second perfect game in postseason history. But the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP churned out a five-hit shutout in Game 3 of the NLDS, sending the Phillies to the NLCS for the third-straight year, and sending the NL Central Division Champions, and NL Leaders in runs-scored, home.
Well, that wasn't very memorable. After waiting 15 years (since 1995) to play in the postseason, the Reds all but ran for the exit. They got no-hit by Roy Halladay in Game 1 in Philadelphia. They looked uncomfortable holding a lead in Game 2, and subsequently got rid of it as hastily as they could. Then they got stumped again, this time by a guy who lost all semblance of his 2008 self last year, losing a game in each postseason series en route to a playoff ERA over 7. All-Star Scott Rolen was the last to face Hamels, just after MVP candidate Joey Votto hit into a spirit-crushing double play with no outs and a runner on first. Hamels fired a 95-mile-per-hour fastball, Rolen swung, and the southpaw hurler pumped his fist and spun around in one motion. The Phillies gathered excitedly on the mound as fans ran for the exits.
The last time a pitcher threw a complete game shutout in the clinching game of a postseason series on the road was Josh Beckett, in 2003, winning Game Six of the World Series in the old Yankee Stadium.
The Reds went quietly, scoring just four runs in the series (in the first three innings of Game 2) and looked completely outmatched about 96 percent of the time. At least they can know they ran into some great pitching (Halladay and Hamels) that made competing a lot harder--they didn't just panic, roll over, and die like the Twins did against the Yankees.
Speaking of the Yankees, the Bronx Bombers await an ALCS opponent as they continue their quest for World Series Championship #28. The Texas Rangers dropped both games in Texas to the Rays, turning a 2-0 series in a 2-2, which culminates in a second Cliff Lee/David Price match-up in Tropicana Field tonight. Lee is 5-0 lifetime in the postseason, including two wins in last year's World Series as a member of the Phillies, and he struck out 10 Rays in seven innings Game 1 of this series.
Tonight, behind the experienced arm of Derrick Lowe, the Braves try to recover from an ugly 3-2 loss in Game Three (now-benched second baseman Brooks Conrad did his best Bill Buckner impression on a key ninth-inning ground ball; unfortunately for the Braves, said impression was spot on), to even their series. The Giants lead 2-1, and send rookie Madison Bumgarner against the ragtag sons of Bobby Cox.
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