The Philadelphia Phillies retired Roy Halladay’s jersey number on Sunday, and Zack Wheeler turned out to be the perfect pitcher to pay tribute.
Wheeler dominated the New York Mets, his former team, with a two-hit shutout on Sunday. He struck out 11 in a performance that would have made Halladay proud. There was even a link to Halladay. At one point, Wheeler retired 22 consecutive hitters. No Phillies pitcher has done that since Halladay, who accomplished it as part of his perfect game 11 years ago.
On one hand, it speaks to how much the Phillies have struggled since their window of contention first closed after 2011. On the other hand, it worked out in a really cool way. Obviously Wheeler didn’t go out with the aim of matching Halladay’s feats, but it just worked out that way on Sunday.
Given Wheeler’s feelings toward the Mets, he probably had some added motivation for this start as well. Clearly it paid off.
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