Congratulations to Randy Johnson for throwing a perfect game last night against the Braves. It’s his second career no-hitter (the 14-year span between his first no-no and this game is the longest ever), and the 17th perfecto in major league history. I will dispute anyone who calls this the “icing” on his Hall of Fame career, though. Johnson’s enshrinement has been a sure thing for a couple of years now, and he didn’t need this to make his case. Call this the chocolate-dipped strawberries on top of the icing.
By the way, for those who think there’s no pitching any more in MLB, yesterday also featured a one-hitter by Jason Schmidt of the Giants, and an 11-inning 1-0 win by the Angels over the Yankees. It’s just as well that Schmidt was a near-miss – wouldn’t it suck to throw a no-hitter and be overshadowed by a perfect game on the same day?
I think all the hitting was in the Dodgers-Phillies game last night (7 home runs between the two teams). I chose to watch that instead of the perfect game.
Anyway, if Randy Johnson can pitch a perfect game at the age of 40, then there’s hope for us old geezers yet!
Well, the good news is that Randy Johnson is on my fantasy baseball team.
The bad news is that Dontrelle Willis is, too, and he laid a stink bomb against the Astros last night. So it’s pretty bad when you have a pitcher throw a perfect game and get 13 Ks for you…and overall, you had a mediocre day.
Thanks, Dontrelle.
Randy Johnson is truly amazing, though by rights Jason Schmidt shoulda had a no-no, too — badly whiffed 3rd strike call by the ump right before the infield single. But Jason’s effort was a real grind — 144 pitches (compared to 117 for RJ). They’ll be fishing his arm out of McCovey Cove before the next start.
Fantastic day for pitching, though — gotta love it. That Bonderman kid in Detroit is a looker, too.
Mac at BravesJournal was bemoaning the fact that in successive games his team had a) been struck out 18 times and b) had a perfect game thrown against it. “What’s the record for innings without baserunners,” he asked.