JUGGERNAUT Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 In case you've been asleep the last 24 hrs let me fill you in. Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game Tues night in ATL. Mark the day: May 18, 2004. In doing so he joined a new very exclusive list: no-hitter games in both leagues since 1900. Cy Young, Nolan Ryan, & Nomo are the only other members. But more importantly he's closing in on the ultimate dominator stat: Number of double digit strike out games. He's now at 195 & trails Ryan by 20. If not this year he will in all probability eclipse Ryan in 2005. As SOX fans we are well aware of how difficult it is for any pitcher to have double digit strike out games. To say it's a rare event is an understatement. To have better than 215 in one's career is one the greatest wonders of the world. A phenom in which there is no youngster in sight of such a feat. A double digit strikeout game for a starting pitcher is as equally as difficult as having 20+ rebounds in an NBA game or a near shutout as a goalie in the NHL or 3 sacks in a game in the NFL. That's why when it's all said & done I believe Randy deserves a special place in the HOF as the dominator. He might not be the best ever, but certainly he is the most dominating. What's even more incredible about Randy Johnson is how he's done it. In 1990 he threw a perfect game for the M's on basically 2 pitches: heater & slider. In 2004 he threw a perfect game for the D'backs on 4 pitchers: heater, slider, breaking ball, & splitter. His evolution in 14 yrs is now at age 40 is the closest thing in the league to being unhittable. Are there other pefect games or no hitters in store for 2004? Who knows. With a range of speeds betw 84 (breaking ball) & 98 (heater) the only way a heater is likely to get a hit is by mistake or by chance (guessing where to swing). I hope that ESPN has the sense to televise more of his starts because when he retires the league will surely feel the void. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoxAce Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game Tues night in ATL. Mark the day: May 18, 2004. Also the same day as BeGood and Spiff's Birthday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Umm there is a couple issues with your post. No one has ever pitched more than one perfect game. Also Nolan Ryan and Hideo Nomo have never pitched perfect games, only no hitters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSoxShuf Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Umm there is a couple issues with your post. No one has ever pitched more than one perfect game. Also Nolan Ryan and Hideo Nomo have never pitched perfect games, only no hitters. busted Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUGGERNAUT Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 busted You are correct. The short list of 4 applies to pitchers with no-hitters in both leagues. Not perfect games. Randy's no-hitter in Seattle was less than perfect: 7 walks. Does any one have a link to the perfect games list? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 You are correct. The short list of 4 applies to pitchers with no-hitters in both leagues. Not perfect games. Randy's no-hitter in Seattle was less than perfect: 7 walks. Does any one have a link to the perfect games list? MLB perfect games Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUGGERNAUT Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 This is what I've found so far: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...ance&vi=reviews More than 150,000 major league games have been played in the modern era, Coffey (The Irish in America, etc., and PW's senior managing editor) tells us in this marvelous book, but only 14 have been "perfect games." A game is perfect when "a pitcher pitches at least nine innings of a complete game victory and allows not a single runner to reach first base." The 14 men who have thrown perfect gamesâ€"from Cy Young in 1904 to David Cone in 1999â€"provide the focus for Coffey's lively history. But it takes more than a pitcher to create a perfect game: superb fielding plays a part, as necessarily does some winning-team offense, and Coffey elucidates these factors in his colorful game-by-game commentary. More notably, Coffey, like other great baseball writers (Angell, Kahn), realizes that the sport, despite its embrace of eternity (in theory a baseball game can last forever) and inward gaze (all runs are scored at home plate), is played within the larger context of players' lives and the ever-evolving socioeconomic climate. So Coffey frames each pitcher's life and perfect game within the larger picture. Addie Joss's 1908 gem, for instance, occurred inside a sport that, like America, was transforming from rude ruralism to greater urbanity. Sandy Koufax's 1965 featâ€"perhaps the most perfect of perfect games, as Koufax struck out 14 and triumphed despite his team recording only one hitâ€"is configured against the changing economics of the sport, driven by new media revenues. Throughout the book, baseball holds the center, with each remarkable game springing to roaring life via Coffey's diligent research and vivid prose (Coffey is a poet as well as journalist: 87 North, etc.). The rarest achievement in baseball has here gained a rare companion: a brilliant book that's about baseball but also about life, one told with such care and passion that it, too, gives a glimpse of perfection. This was published on April 6, 2004 so Randy's performance makes it 15. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUGGERNAUT Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/piperf.shtml This is an interesting list because it includes un-official perfect games as well. Either because the game was shortened or went into extra innings. The official-list: (17) (all-time) Randy Johnson Cy Young Addie Joss Charlie Robertson Don Larsen Catfish Hunter Len Barker Mike Witt Kenny Rogers David Wells David Cone Lee Richmond John Ward Jim Bunning Sandy Koufax Tom Browning Dennis Martinez The un-official list: Broken Up In Extra Innings (2) Harvey Haddix Pedro Martinez Less Than Nine Innings (4) Rube Vickers Dean Chance Ed Karger David Palmer Several pitchers have taken no-hitters & perfect games into the 7th. Some did it last night. So I don't think they should be included. The extra innings guys probably deserve to be included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JUGGERNAUT Posted May 19, 2004 Author Share Posted May 19, 2004 AL no-hitters list: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/pinohit1.shtml NL no-hitters list: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/pitching/pinohit2.shtml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 I believe Randy deserves a special place in the HOF as the denominator. who's the numerator? GIGGITY GIGGITY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Queen Prawn Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 who's the numerator? GIGGITY GIGGITY LMAO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkeyKongerko Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 Baseball has to be the best sport. I mean what other sport has something called a "perfect game". There is no comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrimsonWeltall Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 What if you threw a perfect game with 27 strikeouts, all on 3 pitches swinging? WHAT WOULD THAT BE CALLED? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonkeyKongerko Posted May 19, 2004 Share Posted May 19, 2004 What if you threw a perfect game with 27 strikeouts, all on 3 pitches swinging? WHAT WOULD THAT BE CALLED? Collusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YASNY Posted May 20, 2004 Share Posted May 20, 2004 What if you threw a perfect game with 27 strikeouts, all on 3 pitches swinging? WHAT WOULD THAT BE CALLED? "Today's starting pitcher: Clark Kent" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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