With the exception of playoff baseball, I’m not sure the Phillies are capable of taking us on a regular season roller coaster as unpredictable, annoying and ultimately exhilarating as the week we’ve just been through.

It started last Saturday night with the Phils being nearly no-hit by Red Sox righthander Daisuke Matsuzaka. Then a rubber match on Sunday looked very winnable on paper with Phillies ace Roy Halladay matching up against Tim Wakefield. The Phillies couldn’t connect with the flutterball all day, and only scored runs in the 9th inning when it hardly mattered.

An off day Monday preceded a 3 game set with the Mets in Flushing. By the time the Phillies headed south from New York to Florida on Thursday evening, they were mired in an epic hitting slump, having been shutout in all three games by an uninspiring Mets pitiching staff. In the final game of the series, the Phils had runners on base, but couldn’t help but hit into double play after double play, destroying any momentum that could have developed courtesy of baserunners.

Finally, on Friday night in South Florida, the Phils offense finally broke through, albeit in modest fashion. They scored 3 runs and held on for a 3-2 win to not only end a 5 game losing streak, but more importantly they got off the scoreless schneid.

Then on Saturday night, a pitching duel between Halladay and Floirida ace Josh Johnson lived up to the billing, with the only run being scored off an error by Marlins’ centerfielder Cameron Maybin. Johnson’s strong start will always be just a footnote in baseball history, as Halladay went the distance in recording just the 20 perfect qame in MLB history.

After a tumultuous week that tested even the most hardened of the Fightins’ players, Halladay’s gem was an opportunity for the team to celebrate. It was great to the see all of the smiles and back slapping amongst the Phils as they celebrated the perfect game. Halladay was class personified, crediting Carlos Ruiz for leading the way to history:

“We felt like we got in a groove early and about the fifth or the sixth I was just following Chooch,” (Halladay) said. “I can’t say enough about the job he did today. Mixed pitches. For me it was really a no-brainer.”

The Marlins weren’t thrilled with home plate umpire Mike DiMuro’s strike zone, but they were quick to not make a big deal of it:

Chris Coghlan tossed his bat aside on the Marlins’ first plate appearance of the night, thinking he’d drawn a walk, only to hear plate umpire Mike DiMuro call strike three.

Coghlan wasn’t pleased, and that was a theme for the Marlins throughout.

“I thought they were balls, that’s why I took them. But obviously they’re too close to take,” Coghlan said. “I don’t want to talk about the strike zone because that’s discrediting what he did.”

The Marlins dug up the pitching rubber to give to Halladay, and their owner personally congratulated Doc, as did Vice President and most powerful Phillies fan in the world, Joe Biden.

It was the second perfect game in Phillies history, joining Jim Bunning’s Father’s Day gem in 1964, also his first season with the Phils.

A couple more stats on perfect games:

There have only been 8 in National League history, and the Phillies are now the only team in National League history to have 2.

There have been 6 perfect games to end with a 1-0 score, and in all 6 games, the lone run was unearned.

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The Phils couldn’t keep the good times going for long, losing today in another shutout. That is now 5 shutouts in their last 8 games, which is a historically bad stretch of baseball. The middle of the Phillies lineup is mired in a collective slump, led by Jayson Werth, who is hopefully hitting himself into a much more affordable contract extension for the Phils. Hey, I can hope.