“King” Felix Hernandez last night tossed MLB’s third 2012 perfect game.
Here we go again … for the record-setting third time this season, we’re talking about a perfect game. Last night, King Felix (Hernandez) threw a “perfecto” (break out the cigars and champagne once more) against the Tampa Bay Rays in a 1-0 win in Seattle. Hernandez threw 113 pitches in his 12-strikeout performance – becoming the third major leaguer to toss a perfect game in 2012. Hernandez was preceded in perfection on April 21 by the White Sox Phil Humber, who achieved perfection versus Seattle (at Seattle) 4-0 and the Giants’ Matt Cain, who threw his perfect nine innings in a 10-0 win over Houston at San Francisco. Notably, these events make Seattle the first team to be on both the winning and losing sides of a perfect game in the same season and Matt Cain the winner in the most lopsided perfect game ever.
So, what’s it take to reach perfection (again, accomplished only 23 times in MLB history)? From BBRT’s perspective great stuff, a bit of luck and plenty of pressure (not just the pressure that comes near the end of the performance, but pressure from the opposing hurler along the way.) The fact is, the most common score of a perfect game is 1-0 (seven perfect outings have ended in that score) – and 1-0 and 2-0 contests make up nearly half the perfect outings (11 of the 23). Here is the tally: 1-0 (seven perfect games); 4-0 (five); 2-0 (four); 3, 5 and 6-0 (two each); 10-0 (once). Clearly, a close game can help keep the pitcher hurling toward perfect sharp.
For more on perfect games and no-hitters, see the posts of April 21, May 3, June 9, June 14 and July 15. Wow, with all these post on mound gems, it does seem like the year of the pitcher doesn’t it?
