MLB

Reds Shortstop Says Umpire “Gave [Halladay] Every Pitch”

Hey, remember Roy Halladay’s no-hitter last night? That was awesome, no? Incredible pitching performance, utter dominance, great crowd, great moment, all that? Well, one person wasn’t quite so enamored with Halladay’s achievement, and – surprise, surprise – it’s a member of the team he no-hit.

The Reds’ Orlando Cabrera, who finished 0-3 with a strikeout, thought Halladay had some help on his big day:

“[H]e and the umpire pitched a no-hitter. He gave him every pitch. Basically, we had no chance.”

Well, he’s right they had no chance, but his reasoning is off. They had no chance because Halladay was awesome. A quick look at some actual data shows Cabrera’s complaint is full of it – this plot shows Halladay thew a full one pitch outside of the strike zone that was called a strike.

In fairness to the Reds, most gave Halladay his due and would just like to move on to the next game (and who can blame them?), but Cabrera’s remarks deserve to be looked at (and torn apart).

To that end, even Buzz Bissinger got in on the action. Bissinger said the Reds have “a lot of punks” and “a lot of crybabies,” and while we can’t vouch for that, in light of Cabrera’s complaints, we’re pretty sure they have at least one on their team. Roy Halladay was historically great last night, and any attempt to discredit what he did comes across as nothing more than bitterness at being demolished.

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