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A game like yesterday’s no-hitter by Roy Halladay doesn’t come around very often. In fact, this is only the second time in baseball postseason history fans were able to witness a no-hitter.
Exactly how rare was Roy Halladay's NLDS no-hitter for the Phillies? There have been a total of 1,255 postseason games in major league history and exactly 2 no-hitters. In other words, a no-hitter has been thrown in 0.159% of all baseball playoff games. Add to that the fact that Halladay is the fifth pitcher to throw two no-hitters in the same season puts Doc in some pretty exclusive company, indeed.
In order to give Halladay’s performance the credit it deserves I will overanalyze the heck out of it. And in true Roy Halladay fashion, let's let the numbers speak for themselves.
Halladay's General Pitching Statistics
104 total pitches
79 strikes
25 balls
2+ ball counts: 6
3+ ball counts: 2
Groundouts: 12
Fly Balls: 7
Strikeouts: 8
Strike/ball ratio per pitch number
1st pitch - 25 strikes, 3 balls (28 total)
2nd pitch – 18 strikes, 8 balls (26 total)
3rd pitch – 19 strikes, 3 balls (22 total)
4th pitch – 6 strikes, 5 balls (11 total)
5th pitch - 4 strikes, 4 balls (8 total)
6th pitch – 5 strikes, 1 ball (6 total)
7th pitch – 1 strike, 1 ball (2 total)
8th pitch – 1 strike (1 total)
Halladay's Strike Types
22 Looking
19 Swinging
19 Fouls
Halladay's pitch types:
Fastball - 41 (39%)
Cutter - 31 (30%)
Curveball - 22 (21%)
Changeup - 10
(10%)
Halladay's strikeout pitch types:
8 Strikeouts Total
3 Called Strikeouts: 2 Fastballs and 1 Cutter
5 Swinging Strikeouts: 3 Change-ups and 2 Curveballs
Pitches by Inning
1st - 10
2nd – 12
3rd – 9
4th – 12
5th - 18
6th – 8
7th – 18
8th – 7
9th - 10
Finally, as Roy Halladay was quick to point out himself, Carlos Ruiz played a huge part in the no-hitter. The number show that Chooch did a remarkable job of mixing pitches. The analysts on MLB Network also mentioned how his amazing ability to "receive" Halladay's pitches in such a way that it nearly forces an umpire to call strikes. Doc and Chooch are quite a pair.
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