Today I had planned to finally voice my disappointment about the way the Bruins’ ended their season, as well as the general state of the NHL. But then a funny thing happened last night at about 9:30…

Usually, when a team is absolutely dominated by a great pitching performance, as the Atlanta Braves were dominated by Ben Sheets’ 18K game against them on Sunday, that team finds a way to bounce back in its next game. So what did Atlanta do Tuesday? They became the victims of only the 17^th Perfect Game in MLB history, by one of the best pitchers of his generation, Randy Johnson.

Let me throw some numbers at you that are absolutely staggering:

Johnson had only one three-ball count all night, to Johnny Estrada, the Braves’ rookie catcher. Johnson becomes only the fifth Major Leaguer to throw no-hitters in each league, joining Hideo Nomo, Jim Bunning, and a couple of guys named Cy Young and Nolan Ryan. Pretty decent company - (Bunning and Young also had a no-hitter in one league and a Perfect Game in the other). He is the ONLY person to have a 20 – strikeout game AND a no-hitter, as well as the only person to have a 20K game and a Perfect Game.

In the game last night, he threw 117 pitches, 87 for strikes, and the very last one was clocked at 98mph. Not bad for a guy pushing 41. Oh, that’s right, he just became the oldest person to throw a no hitter, passing that Young guy by almost four full years. And his 13K performance last night is second all-time in a Perfect Game to only Sandy Koufax (who was a pretty damned good lefty in his own right).

Johnson only had eight two-ball counts all night too. Not bad considering he faced 27 batters. But perhaps two of the most amazing stats to come out of this whole thing are these. He got twenty-eight swings and misses. That is an obscenely high number in today’s major leagues, where OBP and the ability to lay off the close ones are quickly rising above batting average as the primary stats. The other unreal number is this: of the 31 foul balls all night (strikingly low), 13 of them came via the bat of Johnny Estrada in his three at-bats.

Johnson’s 14 years between no-hitters also ranks as the longest such drought (if you can really call it a drought) in Major League history, but it also gives him the distinct honor of being, again, the ONLY person ever to throw the first no-no in the history of TWO different franchises (Mariners -1990 and D-Backs). And for an off-the-beaten-path stat, last night became the sixth earliest Perfect Game in a season (May 18^th), narrowly missing David Wells’ gem back in 1998 – by one day (May 17^th, 1998)

So have I missed anything? Oh, well now perhaps you can all see why I picked Johnson and Clemens to fight for the NL Cy Young award this year. Here’s a great stat: In only 3 pitchers in the NL right now, there are a combined 16 Cy Young Awards (Johnson – 5, Clemens – 6, Greg Maddux – 5). Staggering.

Tough luck for Jason Schmidt. His gem last night went virtually unnoticed unless you had him in a fantasy league. What’s that? You didn’t hear about his game? Not surprising. Let me catch you up on his line:

CG, H, BB, 13K – 144 pitches, 92 strikes.

Boy, did he get the short end of the stick last night or what? Mike Hampton, the pitcher opposing Johnson, also threw one of his best games ever (CG, 8H, 3BB, 2ER, 5K – 107 pitches with 71 strikes), but nothing could top the Big Unit’s Big Night.

When you get the time, click here to check out a cool little formula provided by those nice math geeks over at ESPN.com for figuring out a pitchers “game score”. Interestingly enough, the top three game scores in the National League this year have happened over the past three days (Johnson – 100, Schmidt, 97, Ben Sheets on Sunday – 94). And the only pitchers to have more that one of the top ten game scores in either league? Johnson, and Carlos Zambrano.

So, I guess this officially ends all of the “This guy is too old” talk, for all three of the pitchers involved in the discussion (Johnson, Maddux and Clemens). The next big topic then, logically has to be “Where will Arizona trade Randy Johnson?” Wait, trade?! He just threw a perfect game, and now he’s going to be traded? Well, truth be told, there’s been a lot of talk about Johnson in pinstripes before the season ends to finally give New York a left-handed starter, or of reuniting him with Curt Schilling up here in Boston to prove to Pedro that if he doesn’t shut up that the Sox can survive without him. But I don’t see it happening in either scenario, and here’s why:

New York – The Yankees, although they have enough money to purchase anyone they want, can’t just buy-out a contract from another team. And since their farm system is essentially devoid of anything even resembling major-league talent, Arizona is not likely to deal Johnson for a couple of has-been’s and never-will-be’s just because New York wants them to.

Boston – There was quite a hot rumor, even before last night, about Boston sending Byung Hyun Kim back to Arizona with Bronson Arroyo to add Randy Johnson, essentially making Derek Lowe the #5 starter (?!?!) on this team. First of all, seeing a guy who has more wins than everyone else in the AL other that Roy Halladay over the last three years (Lowe) move to #5 is just wrong. But it wouldn’t make financial sense for Boston either, since Johnson is a free agent after next year, and he is almost 41. It would essentially tie up $30M + in two pitchers (Johnson and Schilling) who will both be north of 39 by next season, not to mention what Pedro will command. But wouldn’t it be great to say that the Red Sox essentially would get Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson for Shea Hillenbrand, Casey Fossum, Bronson Arroyo, and career minor-leaguer Jorge de la Rosa? Wow.

After all of this, I think Randy will stay put, unless the Yankees can move Contreras for prospects, then turn those prospects around for Johnson. But don’t hold your breath. New York’s pitching is coming around, so I think they’d deal away those has-been’s and never-will-be’s for Carlos Beltran.

Of course, they can always sign Alfonso Soriano in the off-season as a free agent. Wouldn’t that make for a potent infield (Giambi, Soriano, Jeter & A-Rod… holy s$#@!)

In other news…

Like I just mentioned, Carlos Beltran is the marquis name being floated around as trade bait early in the year, but there are a couple of other notable names that could get moved as the year progresses. Teams looking for pitching will most likely be able to get players like BK Kim, Matt Mantei, and Jose Mesa, while starters Freddy Garcia and Matt Morris are looking more and more like they’ll be available based on how their teams are playing. St. Louis is by no means done, but with Houston and Chicago battling for supremacy, I don’t see the Cardinals making a big-time run this year, meaning that free-agent to be Morris could be playing on a real contender by year’s end.

Interestingly enough, staying with St. Louis, if they get a long-term deal done with Edgar Renteria, the entire population of Red Sox Nation will be watching in anticipation. The feeling around here has always been that if Nomar walks, Theo and the Trio would get Renteria by coming over the top of any St. Louis offer. But if Renteria signs during the season, the next viable alternatives would either be Montreal’s Orlando Cabrera (who is having a horrible year to date) or making a run at Soriano and moving Pokey Reese to short permanently.

Surprises and pleasantries…

How are the Marlins not getting more ink? This is a team playing in a tough division, and they’re absolutely dominating everyone they face that’s not wearing an Atlanta uniform! The Marlins have to be the best surprise in baseball this year. Detroit is a pretty close second though…

As for the worst surprise, gotta be Kansas City. Back on April 8^th, I mentioned that I gave serious thought to predicting the Tigers to finish ahead of the Royals, so I’m not completely stunned by this turn of events. But still, a 12-24 start from a team that made a serious run at the playoffs for the first time in a decade last season is a major step backwards.

Even with Randy’s Perfection, Roger Clemens (who’s official new nickname is “Iceland”, because his “Twilight” has lasted eight years now) has got to be the NL starting pitcher when the announcements are made. Anything less would be a travesty, and Jack McKeon is enough of a baseball guy to know this. It’s a script right out of a Disney film – 41-year old power pitcher comes out of retirement (brief as it was) to pitch for his hometown team, taking a severe pay-cut because he was doing it for the love of the game, and pitches so well that he is named the starting pitcher in the All-Star Game, which just happens to be in his new home ballpark, in his hometown. C’mon, any self-respecting Hollywood pitchman would shoot that down as too unbelievable. Sometimes reality is the strangest fiction…

Other “Sports”…

First, from the world of competitive BlackJack… Yes, I will be playing in a BlackJack tournament next week at lovely old Foxwoods. Wish me luck. First place is $5000. That would make for a nice little down payment on the new car I desperately need. Played just for fun and practice this past weekend in CT, turned $140 into a little over $1100 before giving back $300. Finished at plus-$660. Not bad for 4 hours work…

The NBA playoffs just never end… The first round matchups began on April 17^th, and the second round still isn’t done - 33 DAYS LATER!! I don’t have anywhere near a long enough attention span to follow this crap. Wake me up when the Lakers win the title, again…

As for hockey, it’ll be a fitting end to the NHL as we know it to have a Calgary / Tampa Bay finals series. And you thought the ratings for the NBA playoffs were low? Let’s just hope that the player’s union and the ownership can get together and get this collective bargaining agreement worked out…

It is officially golf season again, which means that on courses all over New England over the next five months you can walk around and hear the serene, tranquil sounds of me, swearing like a drunken sailor at my clubs, my bag, my tees, everything I can think of. I’ve played three rounds so far this year, each one better than the last. That’s not to say any of them were good. But they’re getting better. Might break 90 before it’s all said and done…

Finally, football. I know that it’s kinda the dead season for football news, so I’ll make this short and sweet. Kerry Collins should go to Jacksonville as a tutor for Byron Leftwich. Not as a tutor on how to play; the kid’s already got that figured out. Collins should go show Leftwich what NOT to do off-the-field... As for Tim Couch, he’s going to end up as a backup anyway, so why not go to Green Bay and back up one of the best ever to play the game? He’ll get paid to stand around the sidelines and maybe even get a few pointers on his game from Brett Favre; I think that’s a pretty decent deal... Finally, Kurt Warner is going to get cut by July, so there’s two places he can end up. First, to New York as a mentor for Eli Manning. We all know Manning will get booed out of the building after his first home interception, and by the second, the New York papers will be calling for him to be benched or sent to Europe. Or, Warner could possibly latch on in Miami, since they’re relying on, gasp, A. J. Feeley? That is of course, assuming that Miami doesn’t reverse course and give Jay Fiedler, a guy with over 10,000 yards and almost a 60% completion rating over his career, an opportunity to be the #1…

Until next time…

posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM