SF Giant Matt Cain pitched MLB's 22nd perfect game last week.
One of the toughest things for people new to baseball to pick up on is the lingo, mainly because a lot of people seem to be intimidated to ask what something means. Today, I’m going to tackle the perfect game/no-hitter/shutout. To a newbie, these may seem like they’re the same thing. I know when I was learning the sport, I had trouble with these guys.
Shutout:
A shutout just means that the other team did not score a run during the game. If a pitcher pitches a shutout, he didn’t give up a run. It implies that he pitched the entire game as well.
No-Hitter:
A no-hitter is just as it suggests, the pitcher didn’t give up a hit during the whole game. They can, however, walk batters. There have been 276 no-hitters recorded in MLB.
Perfect Game:
A perfect game means that a pitcher was perfect. He didn’t walk a batter AND didn’t give up a hit during the entire game. Should a baserunner reach on an error, the perfect game is not spoiled. A perfect game is quite rare. There have only been 22 in MLB history.
(Image via flickr.com user rocor. )If you have a baseball-related question or topic you’d like to see discussed or explained here, please shoot me an email at LorInBigD@gmail.com or tweet at me @LorInBigD.
“Should a baserunner reach on an error, the perfect game is not spoiled”
FYI: Author Paul Dickson in The New Baseball Dictionary describes it best with, “A no-hitter in which no opposing player reaches first base, either by a base hit, base on balls, hit batter, or fielding error; i.e., the pitcher or pitchers retire all twenty-seven opposing batters in order.”
An error can occur but a base runner can not reach. i.e. Giants’ Sanchez fires first no-no of ’09
Only an error in eighth inning keeps lefty from perfection.
Sorry not being rude just trying to help out.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0