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Unbelievable. What more can you say on a day like this? Roy Halladay, in his 323rd game as a major league pitcher, did the unthinkable.
Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game.
He faced 27 batters and retired every single one of them. That means in 27 at-bats, the Florida Marlins did not get one single player to reach base. Or look at is this way: every single starter went 0-for-3. No matter how you describe it, Roy Halladay was simply amazing.
Halladay became just the 20th pitcher in major league history to throw a perfect game. He also joins Jim Bunning as the only Phillies pitchers to throw a perfect game. It was also the second perfect game this year.
Halladay struck out 11 batters and didn't issue a walk despite getting into seven three-ball counts.
You need to give some credit to the defense, too. Wilson Valdez picked up a tough grounder to his right and just barely nailed Cameron Maybin at first base. Juan Castro made a nice play at third on a short-hop from Jorge Cantu.
Halladay came into the ninth with 103 pitches. Mike Lamb batted first and hit a high fly ball at least 400 feet into deep center field, but Shane Victorino caught it right in front of the warning track. Out number 1.
In a brilliant move, Marlins manager Freddie Gonzalez decide to bring in good old Wes Helms to bat next. No problem, he caught Wes Helms looking. Two outs.
And last but not least was another former Philly in Ronny Paulino. With a 1-2 count, Paulino hit a grounder toward the hole and to the left of Juan Castro. He picked it up, spun around, and threw a strike to Ryan Howard to seal the deal.
Halladay threw 12 pitches in the ninth and 115 total for the game.
But Halladay was lucky he didn't have to pitch another inning. Josh Johnson started for the Marlins and was just a notch below Halladay. If it wasn't for an error, we might have seen Halladay pitching in the tenth inning. The Phillies scored their only run in the third when Cameron Maybin missed the ball, which allowed Valdez to score from first base.
Unbelievable.
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