{"id":13289,"date":"2012-04-22T11:44:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-22T10:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=13289"},"modified":"2012-04-28T12:07:22","modified_gmt":"2012-04-28T11:07:22","slug":"following-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=13289","title":{"rendered":"Following perfection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The early games in MLB have a lot to live up to today after yesterday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s excitement and drama.<\/p>\n

The two 21.05 BST first-pitch games were both memorable encounters.<\/p>\n

Philip Humber pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox against the Seattle Mariners.<\/p>\n

Humber had bounced around several organizations before White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams took a chance on him a year ago. He responded with a very respectable 2011 campaign at the back of the rotation, which would have been reward enough from a waiver-claim pick-up; however adding a perfecto to his White Sox resume makes it look like an insprired decision.<\/p>\n

Humber\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s perfect game reminded me of the previous one achieved in the American League by Dallas Braden.<\/p>\n

With all due respect to them, neither would have been likely candidates to etch their names into baseball history with a perfecto as they are not dominating pitchers. One of the joys of baseball is that players like Humber and Braden can have exceptional days where all the stars align and they do something special.\u00c2\u00a0 While it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always great to see star pitchers like Roy Halladay and Justin Verlander adding no-hitters to their glittering careers, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just as fun to see the journeymen types enjoy their day too.<\/p>\n

Humber certainly enjoyed his Saturday; the Boston Red Sox certainly did not.<\/p>\n

Despite knocking Yankees starter Freddy Garcia out of the game after only 1.2 innings and taking a 9-0 lead, the Red Sox somehow found a way to lose the game 15-9.\u00c2\u00a0 Boston\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s bullpen, primarily Vicente Padilla and Alfredo Aceves (both conceding 5 earned runs), was torched by the Yankees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 batting lineup, leaving manager Bobby Valentine under increasing pressure only 14 games into the season.<\/p>\n

The Win Probability Added game graph on the FanGraphs website shows just how incredible the comeback was from the Yankees, and just how devastating a collapse it was by the Red Sox.<\/p>\n