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Perfect Perfection

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Matt Cain did not just throw a perfect game last night. No, he threw one of the most perfect perfect games. One of the greatest games in history, in fact. It had everything: drama, close plays, a legendary catch and the final out, where, as always, there is that one second of worry that somebody is going to screw it up.

Oh, sure, Don Larsen’s perfect game came on the sport’s greatest stage, against a team of future Hall-of-Famers, but statistically, the greatest perfect game has long been Sandy Koufax’s brilliant game in 1965. It’s game score was 101 (out of a possible 114), second only to Kerry Wood’s 20-K one-hitter (105).

Cain has tied Koufax. Let that sink in: Matt Cain’s game was, statistically speaking, as good as Koufax’s magnum opus.

In other words, Giants and Dodgers fans now have another thing to argue about.

In short, there have been perfect games, and no-hitters. But of the many recent ones, this one is perhaps the one that is the most… perfect.

Baseball needs a better trophy

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On Monday, the Stanley Cup was handed out. It is a a nearly 120-year-old trophy that is more revered than the actual event that is played for the right to have it. People have drunk out of it, had their kids baptized in it, it’s been thrown in rivers and pools and knocked off tables. There are names on it that are misspelled or put on as gags. Wherever it goes, it has at least one concierge with it. Every year, it produces a instant image that would become etched in the mind of that team’s fans: the captain hoisting it above his head, parading it around the ice.

In October, the winner of the World Series will receive the Commissioner’s Trophy (did you even know it had a name?), a rather uniconic statuette that has a new copy made every year for the champion, unlike the Cup, which goes from team to team. It only dates back to 1967. There are no iconic images of the Commissioner’s Trophy: no hoistings by the team leader, no images of a unflappable star weeping as they hold it and certainly no thrustings into the air as confetti falls. Why, the default pose with the Commissioner’s Trophy is just kind of holding it, like Lance Berkman did. Although Pedro used it as a hat, which is kind of cool.

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Somebody get Harper and Trout into the All-Star Game

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The two great young stars of baseball right now, I mean the really young stars, are the Angels’ Mike Trout (20) and Washington’s Bryce Harper (19). They are in opposite leagues, hit from opposite sides of the plate, play on opposite coasts and have received the opposite amounts of hype (Harper was hailed as the second coming, Trout’s emergence in the bigs has been far more subdued), but they both have been playing like they’ve been in the Majors for years, instead of months.

To pick which one is “better” is a fool’s errand, it is too early to really project the (hopefully long) careers of the two, and although Trout is having the better season (.354 BA/.412 OBP/.565 SLG compared to Harper’s .295/.381/.527), who knows what the future may hold for them?

I personally hope the future involves the 2012 All-Star Game in Kansas City.

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Stony Brook: The North will rise again

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Stony Brook made it to the College World Series yesterday, defeating perennial power LSU, on LSU’s home turf, and in near-dominating fashion too. The super-regional series went to the full three games, but Stony Brook easily could have swept, having blown leads several times in game 1 before LSU won it.

This is, even in the relatively-niche college sport of baseball, a big deal. The Seawolves (previously best known for having been the college team of Joe Nathan) were a number 4 seed in regionals, and, as ESPN constantly pointed out, that makes them the equivalent of a number 13 or lower/higher (it’s hard to keep your directions straight with seeds sometimes) making it to the Elite Eight during March Madness. In 2008, Fresno State became the first and only regional 4-seed to win the entire tournament, but Fresno, unlike Stony Brook, had been to the CWS before, and had in fact ended up coming in second on three previous occasions. Stony Brook… hasn’t. In fact, they hadn’t even made it to the Super Regionals before this year.

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The War for the (AL and NL) East

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The greatest division races are already shaping up to be in the (AL and NL East). Teams that had been afterthoughts are now in the mix, perennial powers have found themselves in the cellar. Things are changing quickly, so by the time this goes up on the afternoon of June 10, it may already by obsolete: teams that were in first may have fallen to second or even third. A team who was in it could not be out of it. A team that was out of it could be in it. It is just that volatile.

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They call the AAA team the Norfolk Tides (but the All-Stars don’t wear blue)

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Miguel Tejada (left) chats with Brian Roberts before a ballgame in Rochester. Photo by Dan Glickman.

Brian Roberts. Miguel Tejada. Nate McLouth. Jamie Moyer. Between those four players, there are 10 All-Star Game selections. And yet, all four of them are currently at Baltimore’s AAA affiliate in Norfolk. There are several other ex-MLBers on the Norfolk roster as well, such as Bill Hall.  I recently saw three games involving the Tides. Here are some impressions of this unusual group of players who all have found their way to the International League, whether due to injury, poor play, bad luck or an attempt to make a comeback.

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No-Hit Fever!

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After six Mariners combined to no-hit the Dodgers last night, it is now official: America has no-hit fever. And the only solution is… I have no idea. It was enough when no-hitters were getting thrown against bad teams like the Twins and Mariners, but now we’re having no-hitters thrown against the defending champion Cardinals and the Dodgers, who have the best record in the league. Even the Rangers were almost no-hit by Jarrod Parker not that long ago. In other words, this is getting close to ridiculous.

Not bad, really, just ridiculous. We have come to the point where, every night, we feel as if a no-hitter could happen. This is one of baseball’s great strengths: anything could happen at any time, in the most unexpected places.

Still, this made me curious as to what season saw the most no-nos. The fact is, the four we have seen so far in 2012 actually aren’t that many, historically. The pre-modern 1884 season had eight no-nos, while 1990 and 1991 both saw seven no-nos. In fact, June 29, 1990 saw two no-hitters thrown (one by Dave Stewart, one by Fernando Valenzuela), which brings up the question of what ESPN led off with that night.

So, when will the next no-hitter happen, and is there a chance we could see seven or eight of them? I don’t know, but that’s the beauty of it: we could see another no-hitter tomorrow, or there might not be another one for a few years. They just… happen.

Bizarre Baseball Culture: Doll Man fights the Baseball Bandits

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It’s time for another installment of Bizarre Baseball Culture, where we look at some of the weirdest uses of the National Pastime in the history of pop culture (no matter how low or high-brow). This time, continuing the series of unusual old comic book adventures that featured baseball, we have the story of Doll Man and the “Baseball Bandits.”

Read more after the jump.

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Some interesting names from the MLB draft… and why it might not matter

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The draft is over, so, of course, there are some stories here and there about some of the ballplayers who were drafted. Mainly, those stories about those who are the offspring or other relatives of former big leaguers.

This is all well and good, and it is always great to hear about how baseball continues to be passed from one generation to the next, but, well, the fact is is that these draftees are unlikely to make it to the majors (especially if drafted in the later rounds) and, in many cases, aren’t even going to sign with the teams that drafted them and instead head to college.

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The Mauer deal is still worth it

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Joe Mauer is still the face of the Minnesota Twins, and one of the faces of baseball in general, but he’s been under siege ever since he signed his 10-year extension and the Twins moved to Target Field. He’s not playing up to his contract, he no longer hits for power, he’s no longer a perennial MVP candidate, merely an All-Star (and even that might be stretching it- Matt Wieters and Cleveland’s Carlos Santana have better Wins Above Replacement on the Baseball Gauge).

He’s probably not worth the $23 million a year he’s getting, I understand that. I also think that the deal had to be done. Not for on-the-field reasons, but for off-the-field reasons. Psychological reasons. Go below the jump to see why.

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