Filthy!

In Baltimore we know our defense and we've had a front row seat for some of the best.  In 1966 Jim Palmer, Wally Bunker and Dave McNally all threw shutouts to help the Orioles win their first World Series with a 4-game sweep of the Koufax-Drysdale Dodgers.

I don't think we'll ever see anything like that again. How good was the Baltimore pitching? The Dodgers scored 2 runs in the entire Series and didn't score a run after the 3rd inning of game one. The Orioles blanked LA for the last 33 innings of the Series, unbelievable!

Unbelievable can also be used to describe what we saw in  the Divisional Playoffs. Help me if you have a better word to describe what we saw from pitchers Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum in just over 24 hours.

Halladay got the pitching party started with just the 2nd no-hitter in major league post-season history. Halladay, after 12 years without a post-season pitch in Toronto, was near Don Larsen perfect.  The only thing between Doc and perfect was a full count walk to Jay Bruce with 2-out in the 5th inning. Halladay faced 28 hitters and all but three saw first pitch strikes, the Reds hit only 4 fair balls out of the infield.  Considered one of the games top competitors, Halladay answered a 12-year wait with a dramatic no-hitter.

As good as Halladay was Tim Lincecum may have been better the next night. He didn't throw a no-hitter but "The Freak" was full-house F-I-L-T-H-Y!   Halladay looks like a Cy Guy, Lincecum looks like the kid up the street on the skateboard.  He's maybe 5-10 with spikes on, and weighs 160 something soaking wet, but boy can he deal.

He was untouchable pitching the Giants to a 1-0 win over the Braves with a 14 strikeout, masterful 2-hitter.  At one point Lincecum when through the heart of the line-up striking out 5 straight Braves who all went down swinging. I'm not sure if they could see it but I know they couldn't hit it!

In a 24-hour span we likely witnessed 2 of the top pitching performances in over 100 years of post season baseball. Yankee Don Larsen gets top billing for his perfect game in the 1956 World Series, Halladay with the only other no-hitter gets the 2-spot. Lincecum is top 10 and maybe closer to 5 than 10.

Here are a few others from my memory bank; The Cardinals Bob Gibson, game 1 of the 1968 World Series blanked the Tigers 4-0. Gibson who threw 12 shutouts during that regular season struck out 17 Tigers, walked one and gave up 5-hits. The guy he beat that day was Denny McClain who won 31 games that season (the last pitcher to win 30).

Roger Clemens was magnificent in-game 4 of the 2000 ALCS between the Yankees and Mariners. The Rocket shutout the Mariners, pitching a 1-hitter with 15 K's and 2 walks.

Closer to home. Mike Boddicker was brilliant in-game 2 of the 1983 ALCS in Baltimore. The Oriole right-hander pitched a shutout and struck out 14 as the Orioles beat the White Sox 4-nothing at Memorial Stadium. Boddicker evened the series and propelled Joe Altobelli's Orioles to the club's last World Series title.

Mike Mussina wasted one of the best pitched post-season games in the 1997 ALCS in Cleveland. Moose struck out 15 in just 7  innings, but the Orioles couldn't get to Orel Hershiser and the Indians survived the Mussina gem with a 2-1 win in 12 innings.

These are some of the best when they've meant the most. The Halladay-Lincecum back to back beauties may come along only once in a lifetime.