It's The Bigs Blog #13 - Domingo German's Perfect Game

Hey Yankees fans!  Something big to celebrate this season as Aaron Judge nurses his toe injury and the Rays continue to run off with the AL East.  It's the first time we've seen perfection since 2012 when the King of Seattle, Felix Hernandez, twirled perfection against the Tampa Bay Rays on August 15th, 2012.  Over a full decade without perfection and I thought it might be a nice idea to see where Domingo's perfection ranks among those we've seen in this generation of players.  I'm going to count the perfect games since May 23rd, 1998 when David Wells threw his perfecto and was carried off the field "half drunk."  Oh yes, stories to be had during this entry.

1)  Domingo German - June 28th, 2023 in Oakland facing the A's
99 pitches, 9K, 2 3-ball counts. 

* Ryan Noda,  4th inning, ended in K.  
* Jonah Bride,  8th inning, ended in ground out. 

The final two batters of the game were retired on the first pitches to get him under 100 pitches for the game.  In front of just 12,500 people tonight, Domingo turned in his career best game against a lineup that probably should've been no-hit earlier this season.  This is not a good team being moved to Las Vegas to start next season, but they're still professional with bats in their hands.  Domingo was untouchable.

2)  Felix Hernandez - August 15, 2012 at home against Tampa Bay Rays
113 pitches, 12 K,   3 3-ball counts.

* Ben Zobrist in the 2nd, ended in a ground-out.
* Sam Fuld in 4th, ended in Lineout
* Matt Joyce in 7th, ended in groundout

Tampa would go on to finish 3rd in the AL East with a 90-72 record where the Mariners would finish 4th in the West at 75-87.  This is peak Felix Hernandez dominance having won the Cy Young just two years prior.  He was one of the best pitchers in baseball at the time and this was simply another very loud message to the Mariners front office that the team built around him was wasting his talent.  Felix would never see another jersey at the MLB level and, after 15 seasons in Seattle, he retired without having ever seen the post-season.

3)  Matt Cain - June 13, 2012 at home against Houston Astros
125 pitches, 14K, 4 3-ball counts.

* Brett Wallace in 2nd, ended in K.
* Jordan Shafer in 7th, ended in flyout
* Jed Lowrie in 7th, ended in K.
* Brett Wallace in 8th, ended in looking K.

Matt Cain solidified himself as the new ace of the Giants dynasty in 2012 as he would go on to have a 16-5 season with an ERA of 2.79.  The Giants had seen their fair share of success on the mound over the previous few seasons leading to this, seeing Tim Lincecum rack up two Cy Young Awards in 2008 and 2009...  World Series titles in 2010, 2012, and 2014 of which Cain was an incredibly integral part of the 2010 and 2012 wins.  Cain, unfortunately, would only see the peak of his success to 2012 as he would fall apart in 2013 and have very shortened seasons across 14, 15 and 16.  A failed attempt at a comeback in 2017 saw him throw 125 innings for the Giants but was not very effective.  

4)  Philip Humber - April 21, 2012, in Seattle against the Mariners.
96 pitches, 9K, 1 3-ball count

*  Michael Saunders, 9th inning, ended in K.

Who?  Philip Humber?  Drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round, (3rd overall) by in 2004, Humber came as the next big pitching prospect for the Metropolitans in 2006 and 2007 with very light workload.  He was then one of the key pieces sent to Minnesota in 2008 for future Mets no-hitter thrower Johan Santana.  It was not with Minnesota that he flourished, but rather with the Chicago White Sox when he was claimed off waivers in 2011.  You'd think that starting off the 2012 season in late-April with a perfect game would set him for a great season, right?  Not exactly.  2012 saw him through to a 6.44 ERA across 26 games and just 102 innings.  A failed and busted prospect who bounced around to 5 teams across an 8 year career had one afternoon where he was absolutely unhittable.

5)  Roy Halladay - May 29, 2010, in Miami against the Marlins
115 pitches, 11K, 6 3-ball counts:

*  Hanley Ramirez, 1st inning.  Groundout to 2nd.
*  Jorge Cantu, 2nd inning, K.
*  Dan Uggla, 5th inning.  Flyout to CF.
*  Cameron Maybin, 6th inning, Groundout to SS.
*  Gaby Sanchez, 7th inning.  Lineout to LF
*  Hanley Ramirez, 7th inning.  K Looking.

The great Doc Halladay carved up the Marlins lineup en route to one of his 21 wins in the 2010 season.  A 2.44 ERA, 250+ innings pitched and over 200 strikeouts on the season made Halladay a dominant force for the Phillies and a man who would not be denied his NL Cy Young Award that fall.  It's simply the highlight of a career year for the good Doctor punctuated by this game in May and, later, a post-season no-hitter against the Reds on October 6th.  He may not be the best pitcher all-time that will appear on this list, but his 2010 season very well might be the best season with a perfect game on this list.  Halladay is also the first Hall of Fame pitcher we see on this list being inducted posthumously in 2019 after his tragic death in a plane accident in 2017.

6)  Dallas Braden - May 9th, 2010 home in Oakland vs Tampa Bay Rays
109 pitches, 6K, 4 3-ball counts:

*  Evan Longoria, 2nd inning.  Flyout CF.
*  Jason Bartlett, 4th inning.  Groundout 3b.
*  Ben Zobrist, 4th inning.  Groundout SS.
*  Gabe Kapler, 9th inning.  Groundout SS.

Look at that final name, Giants fans.  Your manager once made the final out of a perfect game on Mother's Day in Oakland.  Dallas Braden is one of my favorite characters in baseball and still does commentary for Oakland Athletics broadcasts.  He's one of the most likable dudes in baseball and his home run call of "Next Stop, Pound Town!" is just splendid.  As for Braden's career, well... that's another matter.  He only threw 5 seasons for Oakland with this being by far his career highlight.  He is a career 26-36 pitcher with an ERA of 4.16.  He certainly didn't embarrass himself on the mound during his career, but this outlier is far-and-away his best start.

7)  Mark Buehrle - July 23rd, 2009 at home vs Tampa Bay Rays.
116 pitches, 6K, 5 3-ball counts

*  Carlos Pena, 2nd inning.  Pop Out to 1B
*  BJ Upton, 4th inning.  K.
*  Jason Bartlett, 6th inning.  Groundout to SS.
*  Ben Zobrist, 8th inning.  Foul out to 3B.
*  Michael Hernandez, 9th inning.  K.

Gabe Kapler flew out in the 9th inning of this one as well.  The Rays simply were not the powerhouse franchise they are now during the late 00s and early 10s.  They have three of the first 7 entries on this list and were consistently a bad team during this period.  Buehrle, however, was a bona fide ace at this point of his career having put up double-digit wins for each of his first 9 full seasons coming into 2010.  He'd do the same in 2010 winning 13 games.  He'd then go on to put up another 5 straight seasons having double-digit wins in every season of his career aside from his rookie season in 2000 when he only threw 51 innings.  The man was the epitome of consistency with an ERA over his lifetime of 3.81.   Not a Hall of Fame resume, but if there were a "hall of really good" this guy would be a shoe-in.  He was an obvious choice to have the White Sox retire his number 56 in 2017.

8)  Randy Johnson - May 18th, 2004 in Atlanta vs the Braves
117 pitches, 13K, 1 3-ball count

*  Johnny Estrada, 2nd inning.  K.

This might be the most dominant performance on this list and it might not be all that close.  Only once did the batter stand between a mistake and being awarded first base that would end the perfect game.  Johnson was locked in from the very beginning on this one and faced a lineup including Andruw and Chipper Jones, Julio Franco, JD Drew and even solid hitting pitcher Mike Hampton.  Johnson struck out Chipper Jones, fellow hall-of-famer, 3 all three times he faced him.  Looking at the bad Diamondbacks lineup, it's a surprise they scored enough to support Johnson on this night as they had such legends as Matt Kata and Shea Hillenbrand in the top 4 hitters.  Do I need to go down Randy Johnson's career resume?  10 time all-star, 5 time Cy Young Winner, pitching Triple Crown winner, 4 time ERA leader, Co-World Series MVP in 2001 and a Hall of Fame member in 2015.  Guy is, arguably, the best left-handed pitcher this generation has ever seen.  Oh and he also killed a bird with a pitch once.  Look it up.

9)  David Cone - July 18th, 1999 at home vs Montreal Expos
88 pitches, 10K, NO 3-BALL COUNTS

Okay, so first one like this where the pitcher didn't even have the opportunity to screw himself up.  David Cone never saw a 3-ball count against him in this start against the Expos back in 1999 which, in and of itself, is a testament to his ability to work the strikezone and keep hitters off the bases IN GENERAL.  Cone had won 20 games for the Yankees in 1998, 10 years after winning 20 games for the Mets in 1988.  Cone also secured a 1994 Cy Young Award in the strike-shortened season having put up an ERA of 2.94 and 16 wins for the Kansas City Royals.  Here, a 36-year-old veteran, Cone was simply untouchable.  The no 3-ball counts simply blow my mind as it takes quite a control freak to throw a ball over 85mph and hit a cereal box sized target as often as he had to in this one.  Add in this one being on Yogi Berra Day (who Yogi himself caught a no-hitter in the World Series -- first and still only of its kind) and this day was supremely magical for the Yankees.  Fun story:  I started watching this game and shut it off in the second inning to play Playstation.  15 year old Joe was very pissed at himself for not watching the game all the way through.

10)  David Wells - May 17th, 1998 at home vs Minnesota Twins
120 pitches, 11K, 4 3-ball counts.

*  Javier Valentin, 3rd inning.  K looking.
*  Matt Lawton, 4th inning, Pop out to SS.   (started 3-0 to this guy)
*  Brent Gates, 7th inning.  Groundout to 1B.
*  Paul Molitor, 7th inning.  K.

The final perfect game I'll be highlighting is one with plenty of back-story in it.  "Boomer" as David Wells was commonly known as, came to the ballpark knowing not that he was pitching this day.  In fact, this bright Sunday in May was preceded by a night of debauchery after Wells attended a Saturday Night Live performance as well as an after-party that left him quite hung over coming into the game.  His previous start on May 6th was atrocious, with Wells giving up 7 runs in under 3 innings of work.  Wells reported before the game he had a "raging, skull-rattling" hangover headache.  It was also NOT A SECRET to the Yankees that Boomer was under the weather from his previous night's escapade.  27 outs later, Wells was carried off the field by his teammates having been mobbed by them and given a hero's ovation for being the second pitcher to ever throw a perfect game for the Yankees.  For his career, Wells was a pedestrian 4.13 ERA across 21 seasons, but was always a reliable arm teams could turn to having won over 230 games.  

Some years were made for the perfection.  2010 had two within 20 days of each other.  2012 had 3 in the season. But until tonight, we had been dry of this amazing feat for over 10 years.  Congratulations to the Yankees for their fourth perfect game in franchise history and congratulations to MLB for getting one of the greatest feats to occur in June, in the worst ballpark in the league defeating the worst team assembled in a decade.  I don't sell it short by any means... as getting 27 consecutive batters out is a Herculean task.  Enjoy it, Domingo.