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Philip Humber became the 21st pitcher in major-league history to toss a perfect game as the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.

It was the third perfect game in White Sox history. That ties the club with the New York Yankees with the most perfect games in MLB history. With Don Larsen throwing a perfect game in the World Series for the Yankees, the White Sox are the only franchise with three in the regular season.

Humber became the fourth pitcher to toss a perfect game in the last four seasons. Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden threw perfect games in 2010 after Mark Buehrle threw one for the White Sox in 2009.

It was the first complete game of his career, and he tied a career high with nine strikeouts.

In fact, Humber became one of the least experienced pitchers to toss a perfect game. This was his 30th start and 12th victory of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one pitcher - Charlie Robertson in 1922 - had fewer wins and starts before retiring all 27 batters since 1900.

He recorded a game score of 96, the second-highest for the White Sox since the mound was lowered in 1969. Game score rates pitchers based on box score statistics, typically ranging from 0 to 100 with an average near 50.

Humber did not go to a three-ball count until the 9th inning. He was able to recover from both, striking out Michael Saunders and Brendan Ryan. His strikeout of Saunders was the first in Humber’s career after falling behind 3-0 in the count.

One key to Humber’s success was his slider. He threw 32 sliders against the Mariners, including 15 that ended at-bats with an out. Six of his nine strikeouts were on the slider, including both in the ninth inning. He induced batters to chase eight of 17 sliders outside the zone and miss on seven of 19 swings overall.

After throwing his slider on 5 of 37 pitches (14 percent) the first time through the order, he threw 27 on 59 pitches (46 percent) the rest of the game.

Around the Bases
• With Matt Harrison's win in the first game of their doubleheader, Texas Rangers starting pitchers improved to 10-0 this season. According to Elias, it is the first time in franchise history that their starters won their first 10 decisions. The last time it happened for any team was 2003, when the Yankees (16) and San Francisco Giants (10) each reached double figures.

• After blowing a three-run lead in the top of the 9th inning, the New York Mets won on a throwing error by Giants catcher Buster Posey. Elias confirms that it was the first win in Mets history in which the game ended on an error by the opposing catcher.

• The Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Ian Desmond. It was their third walk-off win of the season, tops in the majors.

The clock. It controls so much of our everyday lives -- what time to wake up, what time to be at work or school, what time we can leave work or school.

In sports, baseball is one of the few that's not beholden to the clock. There's no 60- or 48- or 40-minute limit. There aren't timeouts to stop the clock. We could care less about tenths of a second. When you start a game, there's no telling when it will end. To some, it's the beauty of the game; to others, it's the biggest frustration.

In these days of commercials and warmup pitches and elaborate player routines (both at the plate and on the mound), even a two-hour game is the exception. Although most games come in under three hours, you can't bank on that. Rule changes to speed games up have largely been ignored. Seriously, have you ever seen a pitcher charged with an automatic ball for violating the "12-second rule" with nobody on base? Go ahead, we'll wait.

Here at Stats & Information, we've tracked the game times of every Major League Baseball contest this season. We can recommend some pitchers and teams to see, regardless of which side of the "clock argument" you fall on. For example, it's not a myth that the Chicago White Sox's Mark Buehrle pitches quickly. Or that the Boston Red Sox's Daisuke Matsuzaka takes forever. Or that you will get a marathon out of nearly any New York Yankees game.

While the official game times do adjust for rain delays, power outages and the occasional tornado outside Citi Field, there are obviously a few other factors at play. The speed of the pitcher's opponent isn't taken into account. A starter might get roughed up and turn things over to a slow- (or fast-) moving bullpen, but when you think of fast workers and slow workers, the list is pretty accurate.

Random fact: The total number of minutes consumed by all the games this season (through Thursday) is 383,639. That's more than 266 days. If you watched every game back-to-back, starting on Opening Night (April 4), you'd already have enough baseball to last you until Dec. 27. With no breaks.

Anyhow, this got us to thinking, which teams give you the most baseball for your money? If you want to watch as much baseball as possible in terms of time, which team's season tickets should you buy? Similarly, which teams are "cheating you" by playing really short games all the time?

Adjusting for extra innings, we can get the average length of a nine-inning home game for each team this season. We didn't adjust for home victories where the bottom of the ninth doesn't get played. (We figure you'd sacrifice those extra seven minutes in exchange for seeing the home team win.)

The Cleveland Indians have been involved in both the shortest and longest nine-inning games this season. The Detroit Tigers' Armando Galarraga's near-perfect game against the Indians on June 2 was the fastest nine-inning game played this season -- one hour, 44 minutes. As for the longest? The Indians and Yankees combined to score 24 runs on May 27, a game the Yankees won 13-11. That game lasted four hours and 22 minutes. There have been just four games this season played in less than two hours, compared with six games that have lasted longer than four hours.

Today’s Trivia: Since September 1, 2009, Jose Bautista has 53 home runs. In the last decade, only three AL players hit 53 HR from one September through the following August. Can you name them?

Quick Hits: With August in the books, let’s take a look back at the statistical oddities of the month.

• Miguel Cabrera was intentionally walked 13 times in August. Only the Philadelphia Phillies (17) and San Francisco Giants (14) had more intentional walks as a team. In fact, over the last 50 years, only Barry Bonds’ 15 IBB in August 2004 exceeded Cabrera’s total in that month. Over the previous 50 years, no Detroit Tigers player had more IBB than Bill Freehan’s six in August 1967.

• The Los Angeles Dodgers did not have a triple in August. Their last triple-less month was June 1985.

• Eric Young Jr. had 66 at-bats in August and did not record an RBI. That’s the most in a calendar month without an RBI since Willy Taveras had 72 in September 2006.

• Overall, only 808 HR were hit in August, 170 fewer than 2009. In fact, it was the fewest home runs hit over a full August of MLB action since 1993.

• In his first full month in the majors, Houston Astros first baseman Brett Wallace was hit by more pitches (six) than anyone else. Over the last 50 years, Craig Biggio’s 10 HBP in August 1997 are the only greater total by an Astros player.

• Felix Hernandez had a 0.82 ERA and 51 strikeouts last month. Over the last 50 years, only Tom Seaver (1973 Mets), J.R. Richard (1979 Astros) and Roger Clemens (1998 Blue Jays) have had 50+ K and an ERA below 1.00 in August. Would you believe King Felix’s two losses were not unprecedented in such a month? Seaver was 3-3 despite a 0.99 ERA.

• Fausto Carmona allowed five sacrifice flies in August. Prior to 2010, he’d never allowed more than four over the course of an entire season.

• With 12 HR and 24 RBI, Jose Bautista led the AL in both categories in August. The last AL player to do that in August (without being tied in either category) was Rafael Palmeiro in 1999 (15 HR, 39 RBI).

• Aramis Ramirez hit .579 (11-19) with runners in scoring position. He had entered the month hitting just .220 with RISP.

Today’s Leaderboard: From the perspective of opponents’ batting average, August’s top four pitchers come from two teams and one state. Oakland’s duo of Dallas Braden and Gio Gonzalez were tops in baseball, while the Padres’ Mat Latos and Jon Garland were the best in the NL.

Key Matchups: It’s good to be Brian McCann right now. For one, he is 7-for-10 with a pair of HR in his last three games. That figures to continue Wednesday against Mike Pelfrey, the pitcher he has faced the most in his career. McCann is 18-for-37 (.486 BA) against Pelfrey, including a single, two doubles and a home run in his last four at-bats against him. McCann’s eight doubles are twice as many as any other batter against Pelfrey.

Among those glad to see August in the rearview mirror, Tim Lincecum ranks among the happiest. Entering the month at 11-4 with a 3.10 ERA, he went 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA. Will September be kinder? Standing in the way on Thursday is Colorado, a team he’s 0-2 against this season. With a .455 BA, Todd Helton has been a tough out for Lincecum. However, it’s Chris Iannetta who has been the toughest out. In 22 plate appearances, the Rockies catcher has six hits and eight walks against Lincecum. That’s good enough for a .727 on-base percentage.

Trivia Answer: From September 2001 to August 2002, Alex Rodriguez had 60 HR. Through those same months in 2005-06, David Ortiz had 58 HR and Travis Hafner had 53.

The Chicago Cubs' Lou Piniella managed the 3,548th and final game of his career Sunday, a 16-5 loss to the Atlanta Braves. Piniella finishes with 1,835 wins as a manager, 14th on the all-time list. The only eligible manager with more wins who is not in the Hall of Fame is Gene Mauch (12th with 1,902 wins).

As a manager, Piniella is one of:
• Two men (Dick Williams being the other) to win at least 90 games in a season with four different teams. Piniella did it with the Yankees, Reds, Mariners and Cubs.

• Three Cubs managers to make consecutive playoff appearances (2007-08).

• Four to win Manager of the Year honors in both the American and National leagues (La Russa, Cox and Leyland are the others).

• Five to be named Manager of the Year at least three times, along with Tony La Russa and Bobby Cox (4 each), and Dusty Baker and Jim Leyland (3 each).


• In Piniella’s final game in the dugout, the Braves' Mike Minor became the second pitcher this season with at least 12 strikeouts within the first three games of his career (the Washington Nationals' Stephen Strasburg being the other). Minor's 12 K’s ties the franchise record for the most in a start by a rookie.

• FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Atlanta's lead-off hitter Omar Infante and No. 2 hitter Jason Heyward each hit two home runs against the Cubs. It's the first time in since 1900 that the top two hitters in the Braves' lineup each had a multi-HR game in the same game.

• With his win at home over the Nationals, the Philadelphia Phillies Roy Oswalt remains perfect in seven starts at Citizens Bank Park (7-0, 2.03 ERA). Oswalt is now 31-7 in 48 career starts in the month of August. That’s a win percentage of .816, the best among active pitchers who have made at least 45 starts.

• The St. Louis Cardinals' Jaime Garcia shut out the San Francisco Giants, 9-0. He's the first left-handed Cardinals rookie to throw a shutout since Bud Smith's no-hitter against the Padres in September of 2001.

• The San Diego Padres' Adrian Gonzalez has now hit at least 25 home runs in each of the last four seasons. The only other player with such a streak in team history is the late Ken Caminiti. Gonzalez is on the verge of also becoming the Padres’ all-time leader in home runs. He now has 155, one shy of Phil Nevin for second in franchise history and is eight shy of Nate Colbert’s team record of 163.

• In the Chicago White Sox's 3-2 loss in 10 innings to the Royals, Bobby Jenks pitched the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. It’s the third time in Jenks’ career that he pitched three innings of relief and the first since Sept. 9, 2005.

• Dallas Braden allowed three earned runs in six innings in the Oakland Athletics' 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. It was the 15th straight quality start by an A’s pitcher, extending the longest streak in Oakland history.

Another weekend day game between AL East foes at Rogers Centre, some more history for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Brandon Morrow struck out 17 Tampa Bay Rays and was just one ground ball away from one of the more dominating no-hitters in MLB history on Sunday. Alas, Evan Longoria's grounder bounched off of Aaron Hill's diving attempt at it and Morrow was forced to strike out Dan Johnson to secure the 1-0 win.

Morrow joins an elite club of Blue Jays pitchers to lose a no-hitter when they were just one out away. Roy Halladay gave up a hit to Bobby Higginson of the Detroit Tigers back in 1998 when he was one out away. But Morrow has nothing on Dave Stieb, who lost three no-hitters in a two-season span between 1988 and 1989, including two in back-to-back starts.

The only Blue Jays no-hitter ever thrown was by Stieb on September 2, 1990 at the Indians.

Maybe we should have seen an effort like this coming from Morrow. On September 5, 2008, Morrow threw 7.2 hitless innings against the New York Yankees in his first MLB start. It was broken up by a Wilson Betemit double that actually scored a run. Morrow is now the ONLY pitcher to take a no-hitter through five innings three times this season.

The Tampa Bay Rays seem to have no-hitters on their brain as they narrowly escape becoming the first team in MLB history to be no-hit three times in a season. In fact, of the last six no-hitters across the bigs, the Rays have been involved in four of them (one by Matt Garza while three have come against them).

Instead of wallowing in what might have been, we should celebrate what Morrow did achieve. 17 strikeouts is one shy of the club record that Roger Clemens set against the Royals back in 1998. The list of pitchers with a one-hit shutout along with 17 Ks in the live-ball era (since 1920) is just three names deep. Curt Schilling in 2002 with the Diamondbacks, Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game back in 1998 and now Morrow.

Some other crazy facts:

•Home plate umpire Jeff Kellogg was also behind the dish for Anibal Sanchez and Ubaldo Jimenez's no-nos. The last umpire to have home plate for two no-hitters in a season was Drew Coble in 1990.

•On July 26 (two weeks ago tomorrow), Morrow turned 26 years old. Check out the ages of the pitchers who threw the five no-hitters this season: Ubaldo Jimenez (26), Dallas Braden (26), Roy Halladay (33), Edwin Jackson (26) and Garza (26). From July 30, 1973 until the end of last season, there were just five total no-hitters thrown by a pitcher who was exactly 26 years of age.

•According to Bill James' metric "Game Score," which is a one-number summary of how good a pitcher's single-game performance is, Brandon Morrow's 17-strikeout, 2-walk, one-hitter got a score of 100. That is tied for the 4th-best single-game pitching performance since 1920. It was the highest by any pitcher in a single game since Randy Johnson scored 100 in his perfect game back in 2004.

It should come as no surprise that Angels catcher Mike Napoli homered in their game at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that his career OPS against the Yankees coming into tonight's game was 1.142. That's the highest OPS vs the Yankees in the live-ball era (since 1920) among those with at least 85 PA.

The Baltimore Orioles put on an impressive offense explosion against Tampa Bay tonight. Especially Luke Scott, Ty Wigginton and Adam Jones who hit back-to-back-to-back HR in the bottom of the second inning. It ties a record for the most consecutive HR for the Orioles in a game (done 6 times previously).The most recent occurrence before Tuesday: September 5, 1995 vs the California Angels (Jeff Manto, Mark Smith and Brady Anderson did the trick). Even more notable from September 5, 1995 for the Orioles? Cal Ripken tied Lou Gehrig's streak for consecutive games played at 2,130.

But the most notable and impressive trend that has continued on Tuesday night so far? Armando Galarraga struggled once again, which is nothing new since his memorable shutout and near-perfect game of the Cleveland Indians on June 2. Since that "Jim Joyce Game", Galarraga is 1-2 with a 5.61 ERA in his six starts.


While it didn't go down in the books as a perfecto, Galarraga may be suffering from the same curse that is affecting those pitchers who DID pitch perfect games the last two seasons. Mark Buehrle was 10-3 last season when he twirled his gem on July 23, 2009, and since then he is just 4-9. Roy Halladay is 3-5 since his perfect game on May 29 and has dropped his last three starts. And then there's Dallas Braden who is 0-5 since his history-making effort on May 9.

Braden is pitching against the Boston Red Sox later tonight as he hopes to end this strange curse.

The rash of pitching performances for the record books continued on Friday night with Arizona’s Edwin Jackson no-hitting the Tampa Bay Rays.

It is already the fourth no-hitter/perfect game in the Majors this season, and the All-Star Game is still over two weeks away. The only other season in which there were four no-hitters prior to the All-Star break (since All-Star games began in 1933) was 1990.


Jackson joins Randy Johnson as Diamondbacks pitchers to throw a no-hitter. Johnson hurled a perfect game against the Braves in 2004.

On the other side, it’s been a rough go for the Rays. Not only have they dropped seven of their last nine games – all against NL opponents, but Tampa Bay has now been the victim of three of the last five no-hitters in Major League Baseball. And all three of those have come in the last year, making the Rays the first team ever to be no-hit three times in a 12-month span. Tampa Bay was on the wrong side of perfect games by Dallas Braden on May 9 and Mark Buehrle on July 23, 2009.

To add insult to injury, Jackson used to be a member of the Rays. He went 19-26 in 2007-08 for Tampa Bay.


The no-hitter may be a historical feat, but it was far from a pretty pitching performance by Jackson – he threw 149 pitches, faced 36 batters and walked eight batters. Only Jim Maloney (10) in 1965 and A.J. Burnett (9) in 2001 gave more free passes in a no-no than Jackson did on Friday.

Seventy of Jackson’s 149 pitches were balls – according to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jackson is the only pitcher to throw 70 balls in a game since records of pitch counts began in 2000. Only 53 percent of Jackson’s pitches went for strikes.



Next-Level notes:

- Jackson relied on his offspeed stuff. Inside Edge classified 77 of his 149 pitches as fastballs, a season-low percentage of 51.7 for Jackson. Entering Friday’s game, Jackson had averaged 63.1 percent of his pitches being fastballs.

- Jackson had success on low pitches, with five of his six strikeouts coming on pitches low in the zone or below it. The Rays missed on 10 of their 20 swings against pitches in the zone or below.

Additional no-hitter notes:

- The Rays have been no-hit four times since their inception in 1998, the most in the majors in that span.

- Tampa Bay is the first team since the 2001 Padres to be no-hit twice in the same season.

- It’s the fourth no-hitter in interleague play. The last came on June 12, 2007 when Detroit’s Justin Verlander held the Brewers hitless.

- The 149 pitches were the most by any pitcher since Livan Hernandez threw 150 for the Nationals in 2005.

Stephen Strasburg - much hyped prior to throwing a pitch in the big leagues - has gotten off to quite a start this season. Strasburg rang up 10 more strikeouts Friday in a no-decision, giving him a total of 32 since he was called up. It's the most strikeouts ANY pitcher has had in his first 3 games dating back to 1900. The old record was 29 by J.R. Richard. We break down how the phenom is getting it done in this edition of The Closer.


Strasburg regained his control after issuing five walks last Sunday as he went to a 3-ball count to just two hitters. The main difference in Strasburg’s approach was the increased use of his changeup, especially with two strikes. Strasburg struck out 6 batters with his changeup Friday after getting just a total of 3 with the pitch in his first two starts.

Nine of Strasburg's 10 strikeouts came on offspeed pitches. This was the fifth start this season in which a pitcher had double digit K's with at least 60% on the changeup and at least 90% on off-speed pitches. The others to accomplish the feat were Ricky Romero, James Shields, Tim Lincecum and Dallas Braden.

Since Stephen Strasburg made his MLB debut on June 8, the Nationals starting pitchers are 3-5. Strasburg has 2 of the wins. His numbers dwarf what the rest of the starters have done in that span. The rookie is 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA and 22 strikeouts. The rest of the Nationals rotation has a 1-5 record with a 7.92 ERA and just 14 strikeouts total.

It was a star-studded evening on the mound Friday.

Seven of the night's starting pitchers had no-hitters and/or perfect games under their belts (Roy Halladay, Dallas Braden, Clay Buchholz, Jonathan Sanchez, Anibal Sanchez, A.J. Burnett, Carlos Zambrano). The septet combined to go 3-3 with a no-decision.

Here's a look at how a few of them - and some others - won:

Why Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright beat the Brewers:
- As usual, his curveball. The Brew Crew was only 1-13 (.077) against the pitch Friday - that lowers the opposition's average to .138 (15/109) vs Wainwright's deuce this season.
- Put hitters away. Wainwright got two strikes on 15 hitters - he retired all 15 (100 pct; MLB average: 72 pct).
- Attacked. Of the 30 batters he faced, Wainwright went to 3-ball counts on only two hitters (7 pct; MLB average: 19 pct).

Why Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz beat the Orioles:
- Hitters were 0-5 with a strikeout against Buchholz's slider. The right hander only threw 13 sliders, but recorded 11 strikes and 3 fly outs.
- The Orioles swung on the first pitch nine times, putting six in play for outs. Buchholz has not allowed a hit on the first pitch in his last three starts (0-10) and is holding opponents to a .062 batting average in the last five starts.
- Did not allow a hit with runners in scoring position for the second straight start and opponents are now hitting .209 in that situation
- The 3.26 pitches per plate appearance was the lowest in Buchholz's 11 starts, allowing him to get his first complete game shutout since his no-hitter on September 1, 2007 against the Orioles.

Why Astros starter Felipe Paulino beat the Cubs:
(He's not exactly used to the winner's circle. It's his first win this season and he had only won 1 of his previous 14 decisions, dating back to June 27, 2009)
- He battled. In 2-0, 2-1 and 3-ball counts, he retired 67 percent of hitters (MLB average: 54 pct). Heading into the game, he allowed a .327 average on "non-2-strike counts." Friday, hitters were 2-11 (.182) in such spots.
- He was efficient. Of his 8 innings, 4 were of the 1-2-3 variety (50 pct; MLB average: 31 pct).
- Effective with fastball. Heading into game, hitters were .306 against Paulino's fastball. Friday, the Cubs were 2-13 (.154).

Why Phillies starter Roy Halladay beat the Padres:
- Got ahead of hitters, throwing a first pitch strike to 78 percent of batters faced (25 of 32, which is a season high. "Doc" also threw a strike on the one of the first two pitches to 94 percent (30 of 32).
- Had good command of his fastball, throwing a strike on 74 percent of pitches with the heater. Halladay also showed good command with his slider and curve, registering a strike on 74 percent of those pitches as well.
- Although it's his most infrequently used pitch, Halladay threw more sliders today (11) than in any start this year, recording 2 strikeouts to give him 10 with the pitch this season.
- Threw 50 pitches in the lower region of the zone, recording 30 strikes and 6 strikeouts. Of Halladay's 18 K's in his last two starts, 12 have been in the lower third of the zone.
- As he did in his perfect game, six of Halladay strikeouts were on pitches out of the zone.

Why Blue Jays starter Brett Cecil beat the Yankees:
- Continued dominance with off-speed stuff. Friday, Cecil held Yankees hitters to a 1-14 (.071) mark against non-fastballs. For the season, Cecil has limited hitters to a .118 average (12-102) against non-fastballs.
- They couldn't lay off it, either. His chase pct on non-fastballs was 52 (MLB avg. - 31 pct).
- Lots of air. Of his 70 strikes, 18 were swings and misses (26 pct). The MLB average is only 14 percent.
- Over his last 4 starts, Cecil is 4-0 with a 1.52 ERA. He has 19 strikeouts and only 4 walks over that stretch.

Quick Hits: According to Inside Edge, Ubaldo Jimenez threw 13 split-fingered fastballs on Monday. Hitters swung at seven of them and failed to put any of them in play. On the season, opponents are batting just .185 against Jimenez’s splitter. Here’s a look at others who’ve had success with the slitter this season.

• Dan Haren, who’s scheduled to start on Tuesday, has struggled this season but his splitter remains effective. Opponents are batting just .206 against the pitch.
• Opponents are batting just .184 against Mike Pelfrey’s splitter. Pelfrey is also scheduled to take the hill on Tuesday.
• Carlos Zambrano’s splitter has been one of the only pitches working for him this season. He’s allowed just one hit in 17 at-bats which have ended with a splitter – a .059 BA.
• J.J. Putz has thrown 55 two-strike splitters, 15 of which have resulted in strikeouts. That’s a 27.2 putaway rate – the highest in the majors with the splitter (min. 50 pitches).

Today’s Trivia: Today is the 69th birthday of Dean Chance, the Angels first Cy Young winner in 1964. Since Chance won the award, only two other Angels have finished in the top two of the Cy Young voting. Can you name them?

Today’s Leaderboard: Who are the best pitchers at shutting the door on an inning? It should come as no surprise that two of the top three are guys who have gone a perfect 9-for-9 in a game this season. Dallas Braden leads the majors with a .171 opponents OBP with two outs. The only surprising name on this list may be Brett Myers, who has quietly put together a 3-3 record with a 3.22 ERA this year.

Key Matchups: After a 19-game homerless drought Manny Ramirez has gone deep in two of his last four games. He figures to stay hot tonight against Dan Haren. In his career against Haren, Ramirez is batting .548 with three homers and a 1.609 OPS

Chipper Jones has owned Cole Hamels through his career, perhaps more so than any other hitter. Jones is 9-22 with two home runs against Hamels. His 1.364 OPS is the highest Hamels has allowed to any batter he’s faced at least 20 times.

Trivia Answer: Bartolo Colon won the award in 2005 and Nolan Ryan finished second behind Jim Palmer in 1973.

Roy Halladay threw the 20th perfect game in MLB history on Saturday. The visiting Phillies defeated the Marlins 1-0.

It is the second perfect game of the 2010 season after Oakland's Dallas Braden turned the trick on May 9. This is the only season with multiple perfect games in the modern era. (There were two in 1880.)

Here are some other notes from Doc's gem:

• Halladay is the fifth pitcher to throw a perfect game and win a Cy Young Award, joining Randy Johnson (five Cy Youngs), Sandy Koufax (three), David Cone and Catfish Hunter.
• It's the first perfect game by a right-hander since David Cone on July 18, 1999 (6-0 vs. Expos).
• It's the first perfect game by an NL right-handed pitcher since Dennis Martinez on July 28, 1991 (2-0 vs. Dodgers).
• The Phillies have joined the White Sox, Yankees, Indians and Athletics as teams with two perfect games. Jim Bunning had the other one for the Phillies on June 21, 1964, against the Mets. (This does not include Don Larsen's World Series perfecto,)
• The last perfect game thrown on a Saturday was the first one, Lee Richmond's, on June 12, 1880.

BEST CAREER WIN PCT. AT TIME OF PERFECT GAME

	Wins	Losses	Pct.
Lee Richmond	14	6	.700
Roy Halladay	154	79	.662
Cy Young	380	201	.654
Monte Ward	81	43	.653
David Cone	177	97	.646





• Last Phillies no-hitter: Kevin Millwood, April 27, 2003, vs. Giants.
• Only other time Marlins were no-hit: July 14, 1995, against the Dodgers by Ramon Martinez.
• Mike DiMuro was the home-plate umpire. It was his first no-hitter behind the dish. His father, Lou, umpired Jim Palmer's no-hitter against the Athletics in 1969.
• Halladay is the sixth pitcher to throw a 1-0 perfect game (Tom Browning, 1988; Mike Witt, 1984; Sandy Koufax, 1965; Addie Joss, 1908; Lee Richmond, 1880).
WHY HALLADAY WON

• Seven of the 27 batters Halladay faced reached a three-ball count, and three of them ended up striking out. Halladay’s strikeout percentage on three-ball counts is now 23.5 (MLB avg.: 14.5).
• He struck out four batters with his sinker, the most in a start this season.
• In his four previous starts, Halladay allowed 30 hits while striking out 12 with his fastball. On Saturday, he retired 19 of the 27 Marlins hitters with the heater, including six strikeouts.
A HIDDEN STORY

Halladay got 26 called strikes in this game and struck out six batters looking. Using Pitch F/X technology, a technology set up in conjunction with MLB, we had Doug Kern of ESPN Stats & Information look at whether those strikes were really strikes.

Of the 26 called strikes, seven were, via Pitch F/X standards, out of the strike zone, or close enough that they would be "borderline strikes."

There was a pattern:

Six of these called strikes were off the plate to the right side (looking in from the pitcher's view). But more notably:

Of Halladay's six strikeouts, five came on pitches that were not in the Pitch F/X strike zone.

* Strikeout pitch to Chris Coghlan in the first inning was outside.

* 2-1 pitch to Josh Johnson in the third was low.

* Strikeout pitch to Hanley Ramirez in the fourth was inside.

* First pitch to Johnson in the sixth was outside.

* Strikeout pitch to Coghlan in the seventh was outside.

* Strikeout pitch to Ramirez in the seventh was inside.

* Strikeout pitch to Wes Helms in the ninth was inside.

Daisuke Matsuzaka dazzled Phillies hitters Saturday night, throwing 7 2/3 hitless innings before Philadelphia's Juan Castro ended the bid with a bloop single just over the reach of Red Sox shortstop Marco Scutaro. That starting stint without a hit is the longest no-hit bid of Matsuzaka's career, surpassing his four innings without a hit vs the Angels on September 15, 2009. It has been 32 years since the Phillies have been no-hit (Bob Forsch, 1978).

Matsuzaka's outing also ties CC Sabathia for the longest no-hit bid this season that did not go on to finish as a no-hitter. In other words, only two pitchers have no-hit bids longer than 7 2/3 innings this season -- Ubaldo Jimenez and Dallas Braden.

Why Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsuzaka won:
- Had three innings of fewer than 10 pitches and zero with 20 or more. In his first four starts, Matsuzaka made it through just one inning with fewer than 10 pitches.
- The Phillies swung at 33.9 percent of Matsuzaka's offerings outside the strike zone, a season-high for Daisuke. Two of Daisuke's three swinging strikeouts were on fastballs outside the strike zone.
- Matsuzaka had success working up in the strike zone against the Phillies. Four of his five strikeouts were on high pitches, and the Phillies missed on five of their 15 swings against his offerings up in the zone.

Why Cubs starter Randy Wells deserved the win:
- Effective with off-speed stuff, particularly his slider. Rangers hitters were only 1-7 (.143) against the slider and the opposition is hitting only .204 against Wells' slider this season. His strike pct on all off-speed pitches was 74 (MLB average: 61 pct). Plus, Rangers hitters chased 46 pct of off-speed stuff out of the zone tonight (MLB average: 31 pct).
- Economical. Five of his 8 completed innings were 1-2-3 (62 pct; double the MLB avg.)
- Control. Went to a 3-ball count to only 4 of 31 batters faced (13 pct; MLB average: 19 pct).

Why Rockies starter Jeff Francis won:
- No solid contact. Of the 21 pitches that ended at-bats, Inside Edge determined only 2 balls were "well-hit." That .095 well-hit percentage is miniscule compared to the MLB average (.267).
- Dominated with slow stuff. Royals hitters were 0-11 against Francis' curveball and changeup. For the season, hitters are 2-for-21 against Francis' off-speed deliveries.

Why Athletics starter Gio Gonzalez won:
- Season-high first pitch strike percentage of 70.4. Giants hitters were 0-5 when putting the first pitch in play.
- The Giants were 0-7 with four strikeouts against Gonzalez's curveball and took just eight swings against it, despite the fact that he threw 38 of them on the day. Gonzalez got 12 called strikes with the curve, including three for strikeouts.
- Gonzalez retired the leadoff hitter in each of his eight innings..
- Gonzalez kept his curveball down in the zone, throwing 31 of his 38 curves in the lower third. The Giants were 0-4 with three strikeouts on low curveballs. For the season, opposing hitters are 0-35 with a whopping 29 strikeouts against Gonzalez curveballs in the lower third. On the season, Gonzalez has thrown 84 low curveballs before two strikes, and not a single one has been put in play. With two strikes, Gonzalez has thrown 85 low curveballs, with only six being put in play, all for outs.

Why Giants starter Matt Cain deserved better:
- Dominated with his curve and changeup. With a combined 0-for-7 performance against the two pitches today, opposing hitters are now 6-48 (.125) vs. Cain's curve and change in 2010.
- He got out of trouble. Cain retired only 3 of 8 leadoff hitters (38 pct; MLB average: 68 pct) but only allowed 1 to score - however it ended up being a big one.
- He put hitters away in all situations. When counts got to 2 strikes, 88 pct of at-bats ended in outs (MLB average: 72 pct). When counts got to 2-0, 2-1, or 3-ball, 82 percent of at-bats were outs (MLB average: 54 pct).

Why White Sox starter Gavin Floyd won:
- Commanded the inner half of the plate: 20 of Floyd's 24 pitches on the inner third went for strikes, and the Marlins were just 1-12 against those pitches. Six of Floyd's seven strikeouts came on inside pitches.
- Fooled the Marlins with his off-speed pitches (curveball, changeup, slider): Floyd threw 35 of 54 off-speed pitches for strikes, with 14 of the 35 strikes being of the called variety. The Marlins took 21 swings against Floyd's curveball, changeup, and slider, missing on 11.
- Five of Floyd's seven strikeouts were with off-speed pitches.
- Floyd retired the first six leadoff hitters he faced.

Why Angels starter Scott Kazmir won:
- A season high 79.5 pct (89 of 112) of his pitches were fastballs, with the Cardinals hitting just 2-18 against the pitch. Cardinals hitters missed on 14 of their 42 swings against Kazmir's fastball.
- Kazmir retired six of seven leadoff hitters he faced and retired the side in order in five of seven innings.
- Kazmir reached a 2-0 count on just one of the 27 hitters he faced.
- All five of Kazmir's strikeouts came on pitches on the outer third of the strike zone, with the Cardinals hitting just 2-16 against outside pitches.

Quick Hits: Here’s a look at some players who are crushing fastballs this season [source: Inside Edge]:

* Marlon Byrd is hitting .422 off fastballs this season, tops in the majors among players with at least 50 at-bats.

* Jose Bautista, Paul Konerko and Kelly Johnson are tied for the MLB lead with 9 HR off fastballs this season.

* Chase Utley leads the majors with a well-hit average of .450 against fastballs

* John Buck leads the majors with a 1.298 OPS vs fastballs

* Juan Pierre has swung and missed on just 2.6 percent of fastballs he has offered at this season.

* Travis Hafner is batting .545 (6-11) off fastballs 95 mph or faster.

* Shane Victorino leads the majors with four HR off fastballs 93 mph or faster.

Today’s Trivia: Today is the six-year anniversary of Randy Johnson’s perfect game. Can you name the only player other than Johnson to throw a perfect game while wearing No. 51?

Today’s Leaderboard: Sticking with the fastball theme, here are the leaders, according to Inside Edge, in slugging percentage vs fastballs 93 miles per hour or faster. Thanks to his league-leading four home runs, Victorino also leads in slugging percentage.

Key Matchups: Miguel Tejada is one of the few hitters who have Zack Greinke figured out. In his career against Greinke, Tejada is 5-9 with a home run.

It’s doubtful that anyone on the Red Sox is looking forward to facing CC Sabathia tonight, but two guys should be particularly uneasy about tonight’s matchup. Dustin Pedroia is batting .053 (1-19) in his career against Sabathia. Adrian Beltre hasn’t been much better, posting a .063 average (1-16).

Trivia Answer: Dallas Braden

Behind every perfect-game pitcher is a good defense, and Dallas Braden’s perfect game on Sunday was no different. Kevin Kouzmanoff made a few nice plays in support of his pitcher, including one foul catch that led him right into the third base dugout. Similarly, Mark Buehrle can thank DeWayne Wise for turning in the top Web Gem of 2009, robbing a Gabe Kapler home run to preserve the perfect game in the ninth last July 23.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could take an objective look at the defense played in each of these two games? Fortunately, we have the Plus/Minus system to do just that. (I took you inside the Plus/Minus and Runs Saved systems on this blog last week, if you want a refresher.)

In his perfect game, Mark Buehrle struck out six batters, and induced 11 ground balls, four fly balls, four fliners, and two line drives. Based on the Plus/Minus system, the White Sox defense totaled +4.3 plus/minus points on the day. In other words, with average defensive play we’d expect an average of 4.3 of these 21 balls in play to fall in for hits. The White Sox were a below average defense last year (totaling -9 Runs Saved), but for whatever reason they stepped it up that day.

Braden is one of the more extreme fly ball pitchers in baseball and relied on his outfielders again on Sunday, retiring six on fly balls, six on fliners, and two on line drives in addition to six via the strikeout and seven on grounders. Fortunately, the A’s defense didn’t have to work too hard to support Braden. When we add up the Plus/Minus for the A’s defense during the game, we find they only needed to contribute +1.8 plays above average to preserve the perfecto. Braden succeeded in inducing lazy fly balls right at his outfielders and high pop-ups on the infield. There was no single play that had a plus/minus value greater than 0.50, while there were three such plays in the Buehrle game (including Wise’s catch in the ninth).

Of course, Kouzmanoff’s foul catch late in the game was replayed on highlight reels all night long. Though we don’t rate fly balls in the Plus/Minus system, we know that Braden was somewhat fortunate to be playing in Oakland this weekend. The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is notorious for the amount of foul territory in play, and Kouzmanoff needed every inch of it to reach the Carlos Pena pop-up in the eighth. If that foul ball falls into the stands, the at bat would have been prolonged and Pena would have had another shot to break up the perfect game.

So, hats off to Dallas Braden, not only for throwing the 19th perfect game in history but also for making it relatively easy on the defense behind him.

Dallas Braden threw the 18th regular-season perfect game in major-league history (against the Rays) on Sunday, less than a year after Mark Buehrle of the White Sox threw a perfecto against Tampa Bay (last July 23). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that's the shortest time span separating a pair of perfect games since Worcester’s Lee Richmond (vs. Cleveland) and Providence’s Monte Ward (vs. Buffalo) threw the first two perfect games in major-league history within a one-week span in 1880 (June 12 and June 17, respectively).

Braden was also the first pitcher to throw a perfect game against a team that entered the day with the best record in the major leagues. The Rays began Sunday with a 22–8 mark, one-half game better than the Yankees (21–8).

Career games started includes perfect game start

Source: Elias Sports Bureau

>>Does not include Don Larsen's perfect game in 1956 World Series

Source: Elias Sports Bureau

>>Perfect game

Source: Elias Sports Bureau

Why Dallas Braden threw a perfect game:

- Let his fielders do the work. Braden induced only five missed swings all game, the lowest total of the last nine no-hitters, and his six strikeouts is tied for the third-lowest total of the 19 perfect games in MLB history.

- Threw strikes. 63.3% of his pitches he threw in the zone, the highest percentage of his seven starts this season. Braden only went to a 2-0 count once all game (Jason Bartlett leading off the seventh inning, who lined out on the next pitch to left field).

- Mixed in his changeup effectively. Braden recorded three of his five missed swings and three of his six strikeouts on the changeup. 19 of his 25 changeups thrown Sunday were with two strikes (76%), and Tampa Bay hitters finished 0-9 against the pitch.