The past is past, the future is perfect… perfect game #20

When ever I go to a ball game, or turn on a ball game… that by default that is of course baseball… I always thing… maybe this time… who knows….

Will I see an unassisted triple play?
Will I see the cycle?
Will I see… and this in a hushed whisper…. perfect game?

Today there was a perfect game… and I could have been watching!!

Halladay throws MLB’s 20th perfect game

By Alden Gonzalez / MLB.com

05/29/10 9:09 PM ET

MIAMI — Phillies right-hander Roy Halladay retired all 27 batters he faced to pitch the 20th perfect game in Major League history on Saturday night at Sun Life Stadium.

Halladay is coming off a rough outing against the Red Sox, when he gave up seven runs (six earned) in 5 2/3 innings. But the Marlins were unable to figure out his mix of cutters, fastballs, changeups and curveballs while striking out 11 times.

The 33-year-old came into the game 6-3 with a 2.22 ERA. The last Phillies pitcher to hurl a no-hitter was Kevin Millwood on April 27, 2003 against the Giants. The only Phillies pitcher to throw a perfect game is Jim Bunning in 1964.

The Phillies held a 1-0 lead through five after Chase Utley’s line drive bounced off the glove of Marlins center fielder Cameron Maybin in the third inning, allowing Wilson Valdez to score from first base. 

 

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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20 Comments

  1. ray from mn says:

    The first major league baseball game I ever saw, in August of 1962, was Jack Kralick’s no-hitter against Kansas City.

    He walked a batter in the 9th inning to spoil his perfect game.

    We had seats right behind home plate in third deck right behind home plate on a gorgeous sunny afternoon. ‘Twas a great day.

  2. ray: imagine! You never know.

  3. orthros says:

    Wow. Is this the first perfect game where neither team gave up an earned run?! That may be one for all time.

  4. Emilio III says:

    That’s pretty good, though I find it hard to cheer for any team from Philadelphia. (Go Hawks!)

  5. JohnMa says:

    orthros,

    No, it is not. Lee Richmond’s perfect game was also a 1-0 game in which the only run was also unearned. Of the 20 perfect games, 6 have been 1-0. This is only the second year that 2 have been thrown in the same season. The other was back in 1880.

  6. torch621 says:

    congrats to him

    Now if only the Red Sox pitchers could throw half as good.

  7. jesusthroughmary says:

    JohnMa –

    In both cases, both perfect games were thrown in the same month. In fact, the two in 1880 were five days apart.

  8. jesusthroughmary says:

    By the way, I’m guessing 80% to 90% of the Delaware Valley (including myself) didn’t know about the perfect game until the 6th or 7th inning, when the 1st period of the Flyers game ended and everyone flipped from NBC to Comcast SportsNet.

  9. Andy Milam says:

    It was one heckuva game to watch. For some reason we had it on MLB channel in Iowa.

  10. DdC says:

    Favorite game Father, u will like this. Iwas a kid and Dad took us to the 69 Series in Shea…watched Tommy Agee make that ice cream cone catch… went to every game at Shea. Dad’s company had box seats spoiled, eh??

    Sat behind Jackie O and Onassis and could have cared less. There was a miracle happening on the field and I was THERE!!!

    Like yesterday…my Muttsies love em so…

    ah, Latin Mass, baseball, Jane Austen and Jersey pizza it’s wonderful life folks!!

    Congrats to the Phillies (?!?)

    Just this one, Im a baseball purist…now today is a different story. Let’s Go Mets!!

  11. Thomas in MD says:

    Wow. Sorry I missed that. I saw Boston’s Hideo Nomo no-hit the Orioles in 2001, and it had me on my feet cheering even though though it violated my rule: Favorite team-the Yankees; second favorite-whoever is playing the hated Red Sox. Great baseball sometimes transcends those deeply held rivalries.

    By the way fellow fans, Thomas Boswell wrote a great piece this week in the Hell’s Other Bible the importance of the count. Here’s the link:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/26/AR2010052604973.html

  12. FrCharles says:

    I have to share my favorite baseball tale: Before entering religious life, I lived in West Haven, CT, sometime home to the AA New Haven Ravens. (As well as various teams prior.) I used to go to the games and keep score. Ten years later I’m a priest in my first assignment, and it turns out that one of our parish ushers is the father of one of the players I used to watch. (Now playing in Japan) So I turned over all of my scorecards to the family for their memorabilia, and hit it off with the ushers!

    I also once saw a switch-pitcher. I think it was Yale v. Dartmouth, but I’m not sure.

  13. Andrew says:

    For those of you (Europeans?) who don’t know much about this game let me explain a few things: when the batter does NOT strike the ball thrown at him by the pitcher, it is called a “strike”. So remember, no strike is a strike. When he hits the ball, it is called a faul, not a strike. The object of the game is to loose the ball altogether somewhere in the surrounding neighborhood: everybody cheers when that happens and the players run around the entire field in a circle. There are many other hard to understand wonders associated with this game and no one knows all of them. Some universities are offering advanced degrees for those who wish to explore the game further. But first you have to understand statistical analysis and the science of mathematical probabilities.

  14. mibethda says:

    This bring back memories of when I was home from school in 1956, recovering from measles, and, for lack of anything better to do, I defaulted to watching game 5 of the World Series -Yankees v. Dodgers – and just happened to see Don Larsen pitch all nine innings.

  15. maynardus says:

    I always tell my kids something like that when we go to a ballgame or even sit down together to watch one – you never know what you’re going to see. Missed a no-hitter once because the weather was lousy – my wife and I were newly married and we were out in San Francisco. I wanted to go to a game, but she said: “The weather’s lousy today, it’ll be freezing at Candlestick, let’s go hiking today and we’ll go to the ballgame tomorrow”. When we returned from our hike we discovered we’d missed Kevin Brown’s no-hitter! We did get to see a perfect game in AAA a few years ago though.

    Actually the most unusual thing I think I ever witnessed was at a game at Fenway about 20 years ago in which your Twins turned TWO triple plays against the Sox! Can’t beat baseball!

  16. Will D. says:

    I’m pleased to say I’ve attended games with an unassisted triple play, Troy Tulowitzki’s on April 29, ’07, and a perfect game, Brandon Hynick’s for the Colorado Springs Sky Sox on June 30th of last year. Both are very fond memories.

  17. colospgs says:

    Will D, I was at that Sky Sox game too. Of course we must mention that it was part of a double-header, so the game was a seven-inning perfect game. But yes it does count as a perfect game!

  18. maynardus: What a memory! And despite that the Twins lost!

  19. biretam says:

    I WAS THERE!!!

    A server at work that morning was talking about going to the game… I thought it would be nice to see a major league game. Then I ended up getting off of work early and decided to take my 6YO and 4YO to their first major league game. Too bad they’re not old enough to appreciate it yet. (Of course they’ve been talking about the fireworks.)

    And sooo close. The first pinch hitter for the Marlins in the top of the 9th hit one to the center field warning track!!!

  20. Penguins Fan says:

    While others can ruminate about their baseball teams, here in the baseball wasteland that is Pittsburgh…….we must wait until 2011 and/or 2012….for the arrival of Pedro Alvarez, Jose Tabata, Tony Sanchez, Brad Lincoln and Bryan Morris, because outside of Andrew McCutcheon, there is almost nothing entertaining about Pirates baseball except Fireworks Nights and the ultra-cool Skyblasts.

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