Well whattaya know? The day I start a blog devoted to baseball, Matt Cain of the Giants throws a perfect game. Coincidence? I think not.
I'm actually watching the replay of the game right now on MLB.tv, because I've never watched a no-hitter or perfect game before. It's just funny watching these early innings, the announcers just sort of talking about the game, talking about the games each team will have into the weekend, not knowing what they are watching, which is history.
Twenty-two. That's how many perfect games have been thrown in major league baseball history. 20 in the modern era, and the modern era is what matters to me. To me, everything that happened in baseball history before the year 1900 is irrelevant to me. Just knowing how much the game was in a state of flux before 1900, to me, makes all the crazy weird stats that happened before then should be noted as such. The fact that it was a time when, at one point, you could run to first no matter which direction the ball was hit, because there was no such thing as a foul ball. Anyway, that number of perfect games, I think it gets a little lost on people, since there have been a number of perfect games that have been thrown in the past couple years. Five have been thrown in the past three calendar years. But when you think of the number of baseball games that have been thrown in the history of the game, 120 years or whatever, just throwing out a number, multiple games played every day for six months, every team playing every day, and just how many chances there have been to have a perfect game. To think that this is only the 22nd time that it has happened is just incredible.
The reason I think this gets lost on some people, I've witnessed it. I remember when Armando Galarraga was one out away from having his Perfecto, and it was taken away on a bad call, one of my facebook friends took to facebook to say that it wasn't a big deal that he didn't get his perfect game. It was a big deal, and Matt Cain's perfect game is a big deal, too.
Matt Cain, to me, has always been one of my favorite pitchers in the game. I like probably like Lincecum better, because of his awesome delivery motion, but Cain has always impressed me with his control and his command of his pitches. When I read this morning when I woke up that Matt Cain had pitched a perfect game, I was surprised to see someone had thrown another one, I wasn't too shocked that it was him. I mean, not as surprised to wake up to find out Phillip Freaking Humber had thrown one. The sad thing about watching this game is that it's the 3rd inning, and it's 7-0, and the bases are loaded. I'm sure there were a lot of fans that didn't bother to watch the rest of the game because they figured it's a blowout, and they don't need to watch. Also, people like me would be scrolling through the active games on MLB.tv and saw it was a blowout and didn't even bother to turn it on in the first place. So I wonder how many people missed this and are kicking themselves this morning? I think we all need a no-hitter alert system. Anyone know of a good one? This has to exist, right?
Anyway, I'm going to continue to watch the game, and enjoy it more and more as it gets to the later innings, because I know what happens. Also, thankfully, this game is being called by Duane Kuiper and Jon Miller, who is probably my favorite baseball broadcaster of all time (no offense to Vin Scully and Ernie Harwell and their fans. I just really like Jon Miller, okay?)
(As I'm watching this game, I just watched Jordan Schaffer hit a ball down the first base line that was called foul, and it was really, really close. As it happened, the play was called as "huh, close play." But knowing how this game ends, I'm like "WOW THAT WAS CLOSE HOLY CRAP.")
I'm actually watching the replay of the game right now on MLB.tv, because I've never watched a no-hitter or perfect game before. It's just funny watching these early innings, the announcers just sort of talking about the game, talking about the games each team will have into the weekend, not knowing what they are watching, which is history.
Twenty-two. That's how many perfect games have been thrown in major league baseball history. 20 in the modern era, and the modern era is what matters to me. To me, everything that happened in baseball history before the year 1900 is irrelevant to me. Just knowing how much the game was in a state of flux before 1900, to me, makes all the crazy weird stats that happened before then should be noted as such. The fact that it was a time when, at one point, you could run to first no matter which direction the ball was hit, because there was no such thing as a foul ball. Anyway, that number of perfect games, I think it gets a little lost on people, since there have been a number of perfect games that have been thrown in the past couple years. Five have been thrown in the past three calendar years. But when you think of the number of baseball games that have been thrown in the history of the game, 120 years or whatever, just throwing out a number, multiple games played every day for six months, every team playing every day, and just how many chances there have been to have a perfect game. To think that this is only the 22nd time that it has happened is just incredible.
The reason I think this gets lost on some people, I've witnessed it. I remember when Armando Galarraga was one out away from having his Perfecto, and it was taken away on a bad call, one of my facebook friends took to facebook to say that it wasn't a big deal that he didn't get his perfect game. It was a big deal, and Matt Cain's perfect game is a big deal, too.
Matt Cain, to me, has always been one of my favorite pitchers in the game. I like probably like Lincecum better, because of his awesome delivery motion, but Cain has always impressed me with his control and his command of his pitches. When I read this morning when I woke up that Matt Cain had pitched a perfect game, I was surprised to see someone had thrown another one, I wasn't too shocked that it was him. I mean, not as surprised to wake up to find out Phillip Freaking Humber had thrown one. The sad thing about watching this game is that it's the 3rd inning, and it's 7-0, and the bases are loaded. I'm sure there were a lot of fans that didn't bother to watch the rest of the game because they figured it's a blowout, and they don't need to watch. Also, people like me would be scrolling through the active games on MLB.tv and saw it was a blowout and didn't even bother to turn it on in the first place. So I wonder how many people missed this and are kicking themselves this morning? I think we all need a no-hitter alert system. Anyone know of a good one? This has to exist, right?
Anyway, I'm going to continue to watch the game, and enjoy it more and more as it gets to the later innings, because I know what happens. Also, thankfully, this game is being called by Duane Kuiper and Jon Miller, who is probably my favorite baseball broadcaster of all time (no offense to Vin Scully and Ernie Harwell and their fans. I just really like Jon Miller, okay?)
(As I'm watching this game, I just watched Jordan Schaffer hit a ball down the first base line that was called foul, and it was really, really close. As it happened, the play was called as "huh, close play." But knowing how this game ends, I'm like "WOW THAT WAS CLOSE HOLY CRAP.")
No comments:
Post a Comment