Scott Rolen was ready and willing to answer just about any question asked of him last Friday when he was inducted onto the Philadelphia Phillies Wall of Fame. And unlike as is often the case these type of press conferences, there were a fair amount of questions that weren’t fluff that the Hall of Fame third baseman had to answer.
But there was one question Rolen was asked Friday that he didn’t have an exact answer to: What was it like being in the batter’s box to face off with Roy Halladay during Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS?
“Here we go,” Rolen said jokingly when asked to recall facing Halladay during the postseason no-hitter.
Rolen hit cleanup for the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS, where Halladay made the first postseason start of his career. This was hardly an undeserving playoff lineup. The Reds won the NL Central title with 91 games in 2010. Rolen is in the Hall of Fame. First baseman Joey Votto — the NL MVP in 2010 — has a good chance to join him in Cooperstown one day. Jay Bruce posted a career-high .846 OPS in 2010. Brandon Phillips made his first of three All-Star Game appearances that season. And Orlando Cabrera and Johnny Gomes were mercenaries that seemed to be on a different playoff team every year.
Halladay carved up Dusty Baker’s talented lineup, looking more dominant than he did during his perfect game against the Florida Marlins in May of that season. He was a Bruce walk away from a perfect game, but Halladay ended up tossing the second no-hitter in postseason history, striking out eight batters and really never allowing the Reds to make any sort of hard contact.
“I don’t remember much,” Rolen said with a laugh. “It was his first postseason game, right? Yeah, his first postseason game, and it was miserable getting into the box and facing Doc. He’s just gonna chew you up in so many ways. When he’s doing that and just moving the ball both ways, it was unbelievable.”
Rolen was no stranger to Halladay’s dominance, as the two were teammates for parts of two seasons with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2008 and 2009. But his familiarity with Halladay didn’t help him at all in Game 1, as Rolen went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts
It wasn’t an enjoyable for Rolen and the Reds. The Jasper, Indiana native grew up rooting for the Reds, and likely envisioned winning his second World Series title with what amounted to his hometown team. But Cole Hamels struck him out to complete a sweep of the Reds two games after Rolen and company were no hit. Rolen went just 1-for-11 in the 2010 NLDS.
Most players would be upset and/or unwilling to relive such a low moment in their career. But as is the case with many players from that era, there seemed to be an amazement with Halladay’s dominance, even if Rolen found himself on the wrong end of it in this case.
“Just the fact that a ball didn’t actually drop … that we didn’t get a hit is amazing. Even the swinging bunt at the end of the game looked like a hit, right?
“So, I don’t know, I don’t think I made contact that day. He was pretty damn good.”
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