No. 4: Roy Halladay's October no-no, Oct. 10, 2010
Roy Halladay's 2010 season was something special.
In his first year with the Phillies, "Doc" led the majors with 21 victories while also pacing MLB with 250 2/3 innings pitched and topping the NL with 231 strikeouts. He twirled a major league-leading nine complete games and four shutouts, which of course included his perfect game against the Marlins. For his efforts, he was awarded the Cy Young and finished sixth in NL MVP voting, which was actually a bit of a travesty because he led the NL in WAR.
All those accolades aside, Halladay reached a new level when he took the mound for the Phillies' first game of the 2010 playoffs, which also happened to be the first postseason appearance of his big league career. He did not disappoint.
The Phillies plated a run in the first inning, followed by another three in the second inning to stake Doc to a 4-0 lead, and the game was never in doubt after that point. The only suspense was whether or not Halladay could achieve a feat not seen in the MLB playoffs since Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series.
Halladay was uber efficient, needing just 104 pitches on the night, as he frequently got ahead in counts and induced weak and early contact. He only managed eight strikeouts for the game, but three of them came against Hall of Famer Scott Rolen, which was extremely satisfying revenge for Phillies fans.
A fifth inning walk to future Phil Jay Bruce would prove to be Halladay's only blemish through eight innings, and he reached the ninth just three outs away from playoff immortality. Two popouts later, only Brandon Phillips stood in his way. After Halladay got ahead 0-2, Phillips hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Carlos Ruiz gobbled up and fired from his knees to Ryan Howard to seal the deal.
What a moment. What a game. What an ace.