Halladay weekend: Only a few hours after perfect game, Phillies’ ace went right back to work

Perfect Halladay not basking in accomplishment

MIAMI — Only a few hours after being perfect, Roy Halladay was back at it early Sunday morning.

Beating his teammates to the Philadelphia clubhouse, as usual, the Phillies’ ace showed up for work less than 12 hours after throwing the 20th perfect game in baseball history, mystifying the Florida Marlins in a 1-0 win.

Sleeping in, Halladay said, was not an option — not for him, anyway, who has a work ethic teammates marvel about.

“I’ll do that this winter,” Halladay said.

Halladay arrived at the stadium around 8:45 a.m. Sunday, having slept for only a few hours. His phone was filled with messages from well-wishers, the Phillies tucked his cap and jersey away for safekeeping, and plenty of teammates were watching as TVs in the clubhouse kept showing the final out from the night before.

When the Phillies’ pitchers headed out to the field for stretching and light tossing a little past 11 a.m., there was Halladay, working like nothing special had happened.

“He gets to the park early and he’s already sweated and showered before we get to the field,” Phillies second baseman Chase Utley said. “There’s a reason for his success.”

Halladay didn’t have any plans for the ball he used to record the 27th out, other than saying his boys will want it as a keepsake.

“I’m not huge on a lot of the memorabilia,” Halladay said. “I think the memories sometimes last longer than the collection of stuff.”

Halladay (7-3) struck out 11 on Saturday night, needing 115 pitches to make history. He said he thought the bid was lost at the start of the ninth inning, when pinch-hitter Mike Lamb connected on a 91 mph fastball and hit it to deep center field. There’s all sorts of room at Sun Life Stadium, however, and center fielder Shane Victorino caught it with his heels at the edge of the warning track.

Two batters later, it was over, and only then did Halladay allow himself to display any emotion.

“It’s unreal how he just goes about his business,” said Josh Johnson, the losing pitcher Saturday after giving up one unearned run. “It’s all business, know what I mean? No messing around, no joking around. He’s there for one reason. He’s there to finish the game, pretty much, which is very impressive to watch.”

It was the second perfect game in the majors in May, Dallas Braden doing it for Oakland against Tampa Bay 20 days earlier. And it’s the first time in the modern era that there were a pair of perfectos in the same season.

Plus, Halladay delivered what’s already the third no-hit effort of 2010, with Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez throwing a no-hitter in April.

Phillies closer Brad Lidge said this might not be the last time the 33-year-old right-hander makes history, either.

“I think we all thought at some point this year, it’s going to happen,” Lidge said. “It might happen again. Every time he goes out there, his stuff’s so good it seems like he could do that.”