ESPN: Those are the only men who have thrown two no-hitters in one calendar year or thrown a postseason no-hitter. Roy Halladay just became the first pitcher to do both. Should we be surprised? Sure. Just look at that list. Talented fellows, but only one of them has a plaque in the Hall of Fame. MORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Don Larsen is the only other pitcher to throw a postseason no-hitter. He tossed a perfect game for the New York Yankees in the 1956 World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers. The 54th anniversary of Larsen’s gem is this Friday. Halladay took the Year of the Pitcher into October. The All-Star right-hander, who threw a perfect game at Florida on May 29, dominated the Reds with a sharp fastball and a devastating slow curve in his first playoff start. The overmatched Reds never came close to a hit. Halladay allowed only one runner, walking Jay Bruce on a full count with two outs in the fifth, and struck out eight. He threw 104 pitches, 79 for strikes. “It’s no fun out there,” Reds slugger Joey Votto said. “It’s like trying to hit nothing. He’s an ace among aces.” MORE
CBS SPORTS: There’s a line Rich Dubee uses about Roy Halladay. He uses it a lot, but today it seems more appropriate than ever. “The only time I’d worry about Roy Halladay,” the Phillies pitching coach likes to say, “is if he was stuck in traffic.” Funny line, and the best part of it is you can’t imagine Roy Halladay ever getting stuck in traffic. You can’t imagine Roy Halladay ever being that unprepared, leaving that much to chance. No, what you imagine Roy Halladay doing is exactly what he did Wednesday afternoon. You imagine him, in a start he’d been pointing to for only his entire life, going out and pitching maybe the best game he’d ever pitched, maybe one of the best games anyone had ever pitched. You imagine him being so good that not only does no one get a hit, but you don’t even have the slightest expectation that anyone is going to get a hit. A no-hitter in his first postseason start, only the second no-hitter ever thrown in a postseason game, against the team that scored more runs than anyone else in the National League? Yeah, you imagine that. “It seems like this guy is just in control of his destiny,” Phillies closer Brad Lidge said. MORE