Technicalities

[sgt_majorette]

Pardon me for being such a girl about this, and a party pooper to boot, but how is it a "perfect game" if bat impacts ball?

It seems to me that the game isn't perfect unless it consists of no more than twenty-seven pitches, all called strikes.

(Has that ever even happened? I'd ask my little brother but he's dead.)

Comments

[mijan]

I don't think there's ever been a major league game with 27 straight strikes, start to finish.

And the bat impacting the ball is as good as a strike if it's a foul ball. If the batter can't put the ball into fair territory, without it being caught, and without getting thrown or tagged out, then the pitcher succeeded. A perfect game is quite simply where no batter on the opposing team reaches the base. Whether that's by an out with three straight-up strikes, a combination of strikes and foul balls, a caught fly ball, or throwing the runner out at first, the effect is that the pitcher defeated the batter because the batter never made it on base. Some pitches are thrown with the INTENT of being fouled-off, because that's as good as a strike. It's strategy.

Anyway, that bit of baseball rambling was assuming that you were actually asking, not being sarcastic. If your question was rhetorical, please disregard. :D

[sgt_majorette]

I knew that foul balls counted as strikes, but it still seems to me that they ought to call a game with foul tips and good fielding something other than "perfect", as it's more a team thing than perfect pitching.

Of course, I also hate it when they say the pitcher lost the game. Poor lad shouldn't have to take all the blame, should he?

Yeah, yeah, I'm being a girl again.