Poifect!
"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Well, by now it's no secret that the 40 year old intimidator, Randy Johnson, pitched history's 17th perfect game, but also became the oldest in history to do so, surpassing none other than CY YOUNG, and, did so against my own privately hated Atlanta Braves, whose rapid demise I have watched with glee so far this season.

Oddly enough, not even this accomplish, nor being the ace of the staff will likely save Randy Johnson from Pinstripes by September.

And please, let us stop the whingeing about the bad luck of pitching a one-hitter on the night a perfect game is thrown. Jason Schmidt, in case you hadn't heard, "almost" doesn't count - unless you're hunting for WMDs, one supposes...

In case you were interested, here are all the perfect games ever pitched:

American League

Cy Young
05-05-1904
Boston 3, Philadelphia 0

Addie Joss
10-02-1908
Cleveland 1, Chicago 0

Charlie Robertson
04-30-1922
Chicago 2, Detroit 0

Don Larsen
10-08-1956
New York 2, Brooklyn 0*

Catfish Hunter
05-08-1968
Oakland 4, Minnesota 0

Len Barker
05-15-1981
Cleveland 3, Toronto 0

Mike Witt
09-30-1984
California 1, Texas 0

Kenny Rogers
07-28-1994
Texas 4, California 0

David Wells
05-17-1998
New York 4, Minnesota 0

David Cone
07-18-1999
New York 6, Montreal 0

* - Game 5, 1956 World Series

National League

Lee Richmond
06-12-1880
Worcester 1, Cleveland 0

Monte Ward
06-17-1880
Providence 5, Buffalo 0

Jim Bunning
06-21-1964
Philadelphia 6, New York 0

Sandy Koufax
09-09-1965
Los Angeles 1, Chicago 0

Tom Browning
09-16-1988
Cincinnati 1, Los Angeles 0

Dennis Martinez
07-28-1991
Montreal 2, Los Angeles 0

Randy Johnson
05-18-2004
Arizona 2, Atlanta 0

If you're like me, you're probably wondering, who the fuck is Lee Richmond? Well, if you're keeping score, on June 12, 1880 John Lee Richmond of the Worcestor Ruby Legs pitched the first perfect game in Major League history.

*****
Vive La Midwest

In the ongoing battle between Cincinnati, Detroit and Chicago of which city has the most resurgent baseball team in the Midwest, the Cincinnati Reds remain slightly ahead of the pack.

Even with their 21-18 record, there's plenty of excitement now that Austin Kearns has returned from DL after batting .357 (10-for-28) with two home runs and eight RBIs during a Triple-A rehab assignment in Louisville.

Ryan Freel, the new Charlie Hustle, according to the Post's Lonnie Wheeler, and is hitting .367 (11-for-30) in nine consecutive starts.

But he is just pure excitement:

"Were you watching the seventh inning Saturday night from Los Angeles? Did you see the Reds right fielder disappear into the stands? It was like science fiction, somebody slipping through a force field into another dimension, the way he vanished from the playing area. Didn't even slow down. This man will be the undoing of the warning-track industry.

Freel didn't catch the ball, but that was beside the point. He did catch an elderly woman in the face with his leg, then, as her head snapped back, he caught her again with the other leg. He felt terrible about that. He kept saying he was sorry and coming back and checking on her, until they wheeled her out. He gave her a bat. He was deeply relieved when the man next to her gave him a thumbs-up, indicating that she'd be all right."

In Cleveland, "The New American City", the Indians are six games off the pace in the AL Central at 18-21 but there is still plenty to root for.

Why just this week Victor Martinez was named the American League Player of the Week (along with the Twins Joe Nathan). According to the Cleveland Indians Report, in five games last week, the Tribe backstop had four multi-hit games and raked to the tune of .429/.458/.762 (9-for-21) averages with four doubles, one longball, and a league-leading 10 RBIs.

And just so you know the Indians didn't get nuttin' for Bartolo Colon, have a look at Cliff Lee, who was a virtual nobody when he came to Cleveland in June of 2002 as part of the package of players the Indians received in exchange for ace Bartolo Colon. Lee is now 5-0 with a 2.96 ERA in 8 starts for the Indians.

Which brings us to the The Motor City home to the 19-20 Detroit Tigers AND of course, The White Stripes.

"Soft hair and a velvet tongue
I want to give you what you give to me
and every breath that is in your lungs
is a tiny little gift to me
is a tiny little gift to me" - from Dead Leaves And The Dirty Ground.

Anyway, Detroit might be a little preoccupied with thoughts of tonight's Game Seven against the NJ Nets, but the rebirth of the Tigers is a story not to be missed.

If the current season isn't exciting enough for you, The Tiger Blog is doing a retro on their 1984 World Championship season.

Is Ivan Rodriguez the best free agent pick-up two season's running or what? After helping lead the Marlins to a World Championship last season, he's got the Tigers looking exciting whilst hitting .352 with 7 bangers and 32 ribbies. Oh yeah, and with three stolen bases, he's stolen more bases than he's allowed.


*****

For those who missed it, following Sammy Sosa's sneezing back spasms, Tom Boswell had a good article on The Weird, Wacky World of Baseball Injuries:

"Sosa now joins the great tradition of comic "disabled" Cubs outfielders, which is led by Jose Cardenal, who couldn't play on Opening Day in 1974 because he said he slept wrong and his eyelid was stuck shut. Two seasons earlier, Cardenal had told manager Whitey Lockman he couldn't play because crickets in his hotel room kept him up all night."

On the other hand, the ever-quixotic But it's a Dry Heat Diamondbacks blog notes:

"Elsewhere, thanks to David B for bringing this up over on Diamondbacks Bullpen. "Jason Giambi sat out last night's game with back spasms. On the same day, Sammy Sosa is placed on the disabled list with...back spasms [Allegedly caused by a sneeze, which is right out of the Brian Anderson playbook!]. That followed on the heels of Barry Bonds missing last weekends series with the Pirates due to...back spasms. And Bret Boone sat out five of six game on last weeks road trip on account of...back spasms. Giambi...Sosa...Bonds...Boone. I wonder....nah, must just be coincidence."

A subsequent post says that these are one of the symptoms of withdrawal from steroids - it's the muscles in the body crying out for their little helper. I also note with interest that Bonds' last homer was on April 29th, which is 20 days and counting. He's now surpassed his 23 June-12 July 2001 drought, and that one included the All-Star break. Yep: just a coincidence."

*****

Before the cost of tickets get too prohibitive, can I be one of the first to jump on the Daniel Cabrera Bandwagon?

Daniel Cabrera, a 6-foot-7 right-hander who was pitching at the Class A level a year ago, earned his second win since he was called up from the minors last week, leading Baltimore over the Seattle Mariners 7-2 Tuesday night.

So far, Cabrera is 2-0 with a 1.42 ERA in 12 2-3 innings spanning two starts.