It was Labor Day perfection.
I was sitting on the deck, listening to the sounds of summer as the cicadas and crickets provided a constant hum, when I realized one sound was missing.
In my rush to luxuriate in the last real day of summer, I had totally forgotten that the Phillies were playing a special Monday afternoon game in Atlanta on the holiday.
I was actually running an errand in the car when it hit me. The radio as usual was tuned to 94-WIP sports talk radio, which also broadcasts the Phils.
When I turned on the engine, the radio came on and alerted me to what I missed.
The Phillies were three outs away from a no-hitter.
My heart started pounding.
I knew that Cole Hamels was the starter on Monday, and a no-hitter by the Phils' ace was going to be big news.
I started racing back home when I got a few more details, which promptly threw cold water all over the big effort by the Phils.
Hamels was long gone. He exited in the sixth inning after throwing 107 pitches. In a season when he often has been unhittable, he did not have his best stuff vs. the Braves on Monday.
What he did have, however, was a no-hitter through six innings.
Then a fairly amazing thing happened. Three successive Phillies relievers - Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon all held up their end of the bargin, retiring the Braves without a hit. Dennis Deitch has all the deails here.
It is the first time in the history of the Phillies franchise that pitchers have combined on a no-hitter.
But for some reason it just didn't hold the same magic for me as it would have if Hamels had gone the distance.
Still, on a year when so much has gone wrong, it was a nice later-summer interlude.
Now, the Phillies can exit the stage and make way for Eagles season.
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