Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels have a tough act to follow.


Roy Halladay, the Philadelphia Phillies' prized offseason pick-up via trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, got his first postseason start Wednesday evening in Game 1 of the NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds.

And Wednesday night, Halladay became just the second pitcher in MLB postseason history to pitch a no-hitter.

So much for playoff inexperience and nerves getting the best of him, huh?

Even with NL MVP Joey Votto coming to the plate three times, Halladay did not allow a single Reds hit, and didn't allow a baserunner until the fifth inning with two outs. The runner was Jay Bruce, who walked on six pitches.

It was the only thing that came between Halladay and his second perfect game of the season.

And if the no-hitter wasn't enough, Halladay accounted for one of the Phillies' four runs when he hit an RBI single in the second inning to make it 2-0 and put the nail halfway into Edinson Volquez's playoff coffin.

Volquez would give up two more runs and survive only 1.2 innings as the Phillies offense did just enough to earn a 4-0 win and put the Phils up 1-0 in the five-game series.

Shane Victorino(2 RBIs) and Chase Utley(1 RBI) both contributed to the final score, as well.

Getting Game 1 is always the most important part of a playoff series, but the Phillies bats are going to have to be better if they're going to realize their dream of making their third straight World Series and winning their second in only three years.

Doc can't pitch every game -- even though there's no much of a drop-off to Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels -- so the offense will not be able to get by on only four runs for the entire series.

But, for now, Phillies fans were able to witness history and watch their team take one small step toward their ultimate goal.