Saturday Gem: Philip Humber Tosses 21st MLB Perfect Game
During the course of the past week, I heard and saw numerous promos for our “FOX Saturday Baseball” coverage. The Red Sox-Yankees series obviously got top billing and the full highlight treatment. The game between the White Sox and Mariners was an afterthought.
Both games ended up having great significance. I’ll address the Red Sox meltdown and Bobby Valentine’s status in another post. In this entry, I celebrate the perfect game tossed by Humber.
He took aim at a weak-hitting Seattle lineup (.223 team batting average). As I noted on my FOX Sports Radio show Sunday morning, this Seattle lineup had already been beaten (dominated) by the resurgent Bartolo Colon of Oakland. The Mariners are on the short list for owners streaming starting pitchers in fantasyland.
Humber threw strike after strike en route to the 21st perfect game in Major League Baseball history. He got 67 of his 95 pitches over for strikes, including the now-famous check-swing putout that ended the game. It wouldn’t have been a big White Sox moment without an A.J. Pierzynski appearance. Humber tallied nine strikeouts overall, fanning each of the starters except for second baseman Dustin Ackley.
Much has been made of Humber’s career record in the aftermath of this event. Fans and pundits are quick to forget that Humber was the No. 3 overall selection by the Mets in the 2004 Draft and that he did post a fantastic first half in 2011 (8-5 with a 3.10 ERA) for the White Sox. Of course, he then imploded in the second half.
Humber pitched well in his season debut against the Orioles prior to this gem. He’ll next face the embattled Red Sox.
