MJH2

...and the rest of you Cub fans.

Mark Buehrle just threw a perfect game for the Sox.

Choke on it.

jsharr

I do not watch soccer..........

MJH2

No, but TQ does. And I think he may still be banned. Poor guy. Hope he got to see the game today.

CyLowe97

Awesome!

I can't wait until Buehrle signs with the Cardinals to finish out his career. I don't even care if he throws junk at that point.


TQ's back at the end of the month to tell us about his non-forum total world domination.

MJH2

If he ever signs with the Cards it won't be for long. He retires as one of the Men in Black. He has to.

slim_77

...total luck. Tell him he can open his eyes now.

MJH2

The purpose of this thread is to celebrate. Not to denigrate.

Should we start a Cub thread? Maybe call it "Go Cubs: 100+ years of bitter"?

johnknappcc

I had no idea they played basketball this time of year?

aham23

uh, who you crapping?


later.

thump55

It's easy for American league pitchers to throw perfect games....they never have to face pitchers.

Congrats to Mark, that is one of the truly coolest things in sports. (Cool for me also as he is on my fantasy team.)

Kimbercop

Not sure how this makes it easier. Pitchers are generally poor hitters and by having a DH batting, makes it 9 solid hitters faced Vs. 8 + a pitcher.

MJH2

Agreed. NL pitchers have one less batter to deal with. And, in theory anyway, the DH should have an effect on at least those batters around him (forcing pitchers to throw them better pitches).

The only way I could reasonably see a NL pitcher having a harder time is if he had a perfect game going into the late innings of a VERY late season game, them game is tied or within one run, and there is a playoff spot on the line... and the pitcher is coming up to bat.

Absent that I don't see any manager ever pulling out a pitcher who's got a perfect game going.

Either way, it's not "easy" to throw a perfect game in either league.

CyLowe97

Apparently it is (ahem) easier to pitch a perfect game in the AL....

Of the 16 perfectos since 1900, 11 were pitched in the AL to 5 in the NL.

6 of those 11 AL perfect games have been since the addition of the DH. Only 3 perfect games by NL pitchers in that same stretch.

So, the stats do bear it out that it's 'easier' (tongue in cheek there) in the AL.

And I'd like to submit this as further evidence that the DH rule sucks eggs should be abolished.

MJH2

Um, no. The stats show that it has been done more. Not that it is easier. And, if you run the numbers (total games played in each league, blah, blah, blah) I'm not so sure that the variance between the leagues is statistically significant.

And that's without even getting into the relative horribleness of a large number of AL teams for waaaaaaaaaay too long from the 70's to the 90's (from '72-'87 the AL won exactly 2 All Star games).

The DH rule is great as it allows pitchers to pitch and not get pulled out because they have to bat. The only way to get rid of the DH on logic that would make sense would be to also get rid of the pinch hitter rule. And that's not ever going to happen.

Edit: And I should point out that one of those AL perfect games was in an interleague game played with the DH. It shouldn't really count for comparison purposes as NL teams don't typically carry a DH and usually throw some hapless scrub in there to fill in the spot. It was definitely an anomaly.

CyLowe97

Dude, did you miss where I typed the words (tongue in cheek there)?

I realize that perfect games are extreme statistical outliers and can't be used to justify one league versus the other. I was pointing out that it has been done twice as many times in the AL than the NL.

And the DH rule suck eggs, but that's a better argument over a few beers than over a cycling website.

Psimet2001 

Remember....you're talking to a lawyer here. A good one at that. Word of advice....food can distract him easily. I suggest doughnuts or pizza.

MJH2

Oh, no. I caught that. But, I had already started looking at the stats so there was some stuff I had to say, and you people are going to hear it!

For a second there I even started to do the math on games played in each league, etc... too much of a pain with all the expansion, though.

We can all at least agree that the next Cub perfect game will probably come the same year as the next Cub world series, right? I'm predicting that year will be Two Thousand and Never.

MJH2

Dude, I was just about to post how I need to go get some pizza.

(PS- please leave the baseball thread).

slim_77

lets bring it back to original point: Good ole Mark was lucky...statistically speaking.

CyLowe97

He came close to perfection three years ago against Texas in his first no hitter.

He walked Sosa (WTF??? Yeah, Sosa) and then promptly picked Sammy off at first. So yesterday was the second time he's faced the 27 batter minimum.

That's amazing.

MJH2

Actually I heard it was the 3rd, if not the 4th. I guess there was a 2 hit game with 2 double plays in there somewhere, and possibly another similar game.

Crazy.

It's amazing what this guy has done considering he can't throw any heat.

thump55

I was JOKING! Didn't mean to start WWIII

I would fully expect it be a tougher feat in the AL. Now, managing in the NL is a whole different story.

cyclpsycho

Baseball

Isn't there a bike race somewhere? . . . France per chance?

CyLowe97

That ended on Tuesday. Pay attention.

cyclpsycho

My bad