>>Once again, the Doc shows what class really means.
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>It takes guts to retire when you no longer have it rather than dragging it out. He also paid for a full-page ad here thanking the fans and the city. I assume he did something similar up there?
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>And fwiw, the most exciting ballgame I ever attended was his no-hitter in game 1 on the NLDS. I was looking for something else earlier in the week (before he announced) and ran across some messages I wrote at the time. Among them that instead of being nervous in the final innings, we just considered completion of the no-hitter inevitable.
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>Tamar

I feel badly for Doc, because he never got to pitch in a World Series. He had 2 outstanding seasons (2010 and 2011) where the Phils dominated, but their offense seriously sputtered when it counted.

I remember that Game 1 no hitter - the post-game analysts were talking about Doc's cutter, and how it should be illegal for a pitcher to have stuff that nasty. I used to think Greg Maddux was the best at throwing pitches that seemed to defy nature, until I watched Doc's cutter that day.

But after last season I figured he was done - his velocity was just not there. So it's a bittersweet ending for him. I'll never forget Scott Franzke's radio call on the final out of Doc's perfect game in Miami.