Roy Halladay Perfect Game!

As I stated in my last Phillies post, the game between the Phillies and Marlins was going to be a great pitching matchup between 2 aces; Roy Halladay and Josh Johnson. Roy Halladay ended up winning this matchup by throwing perfect, yes perfect. He retired all 27 batters in a row and didn't allow a batter to reach base. This acheivement is the toughest achievement in all of sports by an individual on a team sport. To tell you how difficult it is, Major League Baseball has been around since 1901 (Technically the National league had been in existence since 1876, but added the American league in 1901) The number of games that have been played since 1900 is 345950
Out of those games, only 20 have been PERFECT and 266 that were no hitters. The difference between a no-hitter and a perfect game is that in a perfect game, the pitcher retires all 27 batters without a hit and without allowing a batter to reach base. This also means that there are no errors by the defense as well. A no-hitter means that there are 0 hits in the game but a batter reached base either by an error, walk, or hit by pitch. The a few unwritten rules in the game of baseball, most are for superstitious reasons. When a pitcher has not given up a hit, you never reference what he is doing or it is considered a jinx. While watching the game last night, the Phillies broadcaster BROKE that unwritten rule on television in the 7th inning by announcing Roy Halladay was throwing a NO-HITTER.

Tom MaCarthy should be fired.

Thankfully, the "jinx" did not affect Roy Halladay's performance and he became the 20th pitcher to ever throw a perfect game. Roy Halladay has met expectations so far as being the ace that Philadelphia needed after trading Cliff Lee to Seattle. The Phillies still have a shot at acquring Cliff by the trade deadline like they did last year. If they end up with both Lee and Halladay, this team will be unstopable. That is if they get their offense to its potential.