Larry Brown Sports

One of the great side stories to the MLB playoffs this year was Roy Halladay getting his first shot at the postseason after spending 12 years in Toronto. Who could have ever imagined that he would throw a freaking no-hitter in his first career postseason start?

The Phillies Cy Young candidate threw the first playoff no-hitter since Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees in 1956, beating the Reds 4-0 in Game 1 of the NLDS. As if that stat wasn’t impressive enough, the no-no comes four and a half months after he threw a perfect game against the Marlins! To place that in context, only four pitchers have thrown two no-hitters in the same season, and the last was Nolan Ryan who’s now an executive with the Rangers.

Halladay needed only 104 pitches to make history happen. Aside from a walk to Jay Bruce in the 5th, Halladay was perfect facing just 28 batters in the game. He only had three three-ball counts and threw 79 of his 104 pitches for strikes. After the game, Doc described his performance as “surreal,” saying “to be able to go out and have a game like that is a dream come true.” It is a dream come true, and it makes the game so special for the fans to enjoy.

With a no-hitter in his postseason debut, the only question is where does Doc and the Phillies go from here? Anything less than winning the World Series would have to be a disappointment. Good thing they’re our World Series favorite. What an incredible start to the 2010 MLB Playoffs!

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There has never been a pitcher in Major League Baseball history that deserves a shot at taking the mound in the postseason more than Roy Hallday.  For years, Halladay was one of the best arms in the American League.  As luck would have it, he was stuck pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Jays have not been to the playoffs since 1993.  The last time they were there, they went on to win a title by defeating — get this — the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.  For almost 20 years, Toronto has been stuck behind the Red Sox, Yankees, and more recently the Rays.  They’re a franchise that just hasn’t managed to get back on track since winning back-to-back titles in the early 90s.

Yet, Halladay never complained.  Anyone who knows anything about baseball saw a perennial Cy Young contender wasting away in a city where baseball fans have become an endangered species.  All Toronto’s ace did during his 12-year stay was take the mound and pitch.  More often than not, he did his job better than any other starter in the AL during that tenure.

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Also check out Alan Hull’s AL Playoff Preview

As the season wraps up and the National League contenders begin to separate themselves from one another, here is a look at some key players to watch down the stretch and through October.

ATLANTA BRAVES
Derrek Lee: There is no better way to add zeroes to the back of your next contract than to perform in the post-season when the stakes are the highest and all of baseball is watching. Lee will be looking to sign one last lucrative contract after this season. He had an opportunity to reinvent himself upon being traded to Atlanta, with the hopes he would replace some of the production lost when Chipper Jones went down. Lee responded by hitting a decent .289/.375/.433 since the trade. He will get another chance to start over in October and a few big hits will go a long way for his financial future.

Tommy Hanson: Tim Hudson has had a big season for the Braves, but has faded a bit down the stretch. Hanson, however, is the Braves most talented pitcher and has flown under the radar due to a mediocre win-loss record. This post-season may be a coming-out party for the 23-year-old future ace.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE WINNER

C.C. Sabathia, New York Yankees (20-6, 3.05)

Sabathia will win the American League Cy Young at the end of the season.  With a 21-6 record, he’s certainly a worthy candidate.  The fact that he plays for the New York Yankees has made him a shoe-in, however.  Not to take anything away from Sabathia, but the Yankees offense deserves plenty of credit for his success this year.  There are a ton of pitchers in the A.L. who would be worthy of the Cy Young Award any other year.  Those same pitchers would be worthy of it this year if they played for the Yankees.

Sabathia also helped his own cause by pitching deep into games.  That, on the other hand, is not owed to his teammates.  The Yankees’ workhorse has thrown 224 innings so far this season, which is second only to Felix Hernandez.  To be able to pitch at such a high level with that large of a workload is truly remarkable in this day and age.

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With baseball at the All-Star break, we assembled the staff here at LBS to select our mid-season baseball awards. Yesterday, we posted the AL awards. Today, it’s the NL awards.

NL MVP

Steve DelVecchio says Joey Votto, 1B, Reds: The Reds, yes the Reds, are in first place and much of it is because of the bat and glove of Votto. He’s hitting .314 with 22 HR and 60 RBI and has made only two errors, yet somehow it took the fans voting him in on the final vote to earn a spot on the NL All-Star team. I’m giving it to him for now because he has the Reds in first, but I’m sure he’ll come back to earth at some point. My honorable mentions are Albert Pujols and David Wright. Isn’t it just a tradition to give it to Pujols? He’s got the stats for it at .307 with 21 HR and 64 RBI. As for Wright, he’s been raking even though the Mets could be the streakiest team in the history of baseball. He has a .314 average with 14 HR and 65 RBI. To top that off, he’s mixed in 15 steals which is just outside the top 10 in the NL.

Alan Hull says Joey Votto: The batting average, home runs and RBI are impressive and he plays on a winning team. Pujols or David Wright are keeping pace and can’t be counted out in the second half.

Jake Walker says Joey Votto: Never has a snub for the All-Star Game proven to be more powerful. When he got left off the roster and relegated to the fan vote, it made everyone wake up to realize how much he was dominating the NL this year.

Larry Brown says Joey Votto: Much like Miguel Cabrera in the AL, Votto has some of the best numbers in the NL across the board. He finished the first half strong by homering in seven of his team’s last 15 games to give him 22 on the year. I’m guessing Albert Pujols catches him and wins it, but Votto’s putting up one heck of a fight.

NL CY YOUNG AWARD

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It’s been an unbelievable year for pitching accomplishments in MLB this season. Things got started with Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter for the Rockies against the Braves. That was only the start of things to come as A’s pitcher Dallas Braden then tossed the 19th perfect game in modern MLB history against the Rays on Mother’s Day. Then on Saturday night, Roy Halladay threw a perfect game in a 1-0 win over the Florida Marlins, the second perfecto in Phillies history and the 20th in MLB history.

Halladay of course retired all 27 batters he faced, doing it by throwing 115 pitches, 75 of which were strikes. Doc struck out 11 batters, got eight groundouts, and six flyouts in the win. Halladay’s perfect game obviously stands out on its own, but it’s just another example of Roy’s all-around brilliance. Halladay has made 11 starts this season and this was his third complete game shutout. While the chances of Halladay winning 25 games is slim since he’s 7-3 on the year with about 23 starts left to make on the season, there’s no doubting his brilliance. Roy’s breaking ball was sharp, his sinker was dropping like a mofo, and everything he threw was moving. You know what? Things really weren’t all that much different for Halladay on the hill this time around from every other time he makes a start.

Halladay is one of the best pitchers in baseball and he’s been that for a long time now. I’m glad he now has a perfect game on his resume to go along with his numerous other accomplishments and I’m glad he got the closure he hasn’t had since his rookie season. MLB Network explained that Halladay came within an out of tossing a perfect game against the Tigers in his rookie year but Bobby Higginson burned him with a home run. This time around, Halladay got Ronny Paulino to ground out to third to finish off the job. Roy Halladay now has a Cy Young Award, six All-Star selections, two 20-win seasons, and a perfect game on his resume. There’s no debating his greatness.

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Major League Baseball hasn’t seen a 25-game winner in 20 years.  The last time the feat was accomplished, in 1990, Bob Welch went on to win 27 games for the Oakland Athletics.  The game of baseball has changed.  Pitchers no longer go deep into games on a regular basis.  It’s highly unlikely that a pitcher will ever win 300 games over the course of their career  again.  Roy Halladay, who will turn 34 in a month, certainly isn’t going to reach that mark.  He’s only half way there after winning his 151st game on Friday.  However, that doesn’t mean the Doc isn’t a little behind the times.

By that I mean Halladay is the ultimate work-horse – a true bulldog who has nine innings on the brain every time he takes the mound, in an era where general managers go into cardiac arrest every time a starter eclipses the 100-pitch mark.  He’s thrown over 200 innings each of the past two seasons, seasons in which he won 20 and 17 games for the lowly Toronto Blue Jays.  After a 3-0 start to the 2010 season with his new club — the National League powerhouse Philadelphia Phillies — you’d be silly to think it would be unrealistic for Doc to win 25 games before the season’s over.

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