MLB Daily: Max Scherzer Has His Harvey Haddix Moment
By Mike Cardillo
Welcome to MLB Daily on a Monday, a place where we’re *always* perfect …
Tough …: Per Baseball-Reference, 208,394 official “Major League” baseball games have been played since 1876. Only 23 of those have resulted in Perfect Games. Do the math and it happens roughly 0.00011037 percent of the time — i.e. almost impossible. Max Scherzer came close to number 24 which would have upped the percentage to a whopping 0.00011517.
As we know now Scherzer hit Jose Tabata, the Pirates’ 27th batter, in the elbow on a 2-2 count costing him a chance at perfection. Something to disclose before we continue, I had the weekend off and took “shore leave” from the Internet so I didn’t look at Twitter (other than to RT Shamburger) or read any of the opinions afterward. I didn’t realize that many were upset that Tabata dropped his elbow into the pitch until talking with my dad on the phone to arrange plan’s for Father’s Day — and he was mostly upset because his friend called him angry about Tabata, likely at the prompting of Nationals’ analyst F.P. Santangelo.
So that’s my way of saying I’m not sure what the agreed upon, hip person Internet opinion is for the Scherzer/Tabata thing. Watching in real time, to me, it looked like a slider that got away from Scherzer. Credit Tabata for battling in a 6-0 game, fouling off pitch-after-pitch during the at bat and forcing Scherzer to come inside to try to finish him off.
Reviewing the play, in Vine form — yes, you can certainly argue Tabata made minimal attempt to get out of the way and perhaps by rule the umpires could have called it a ball, but the odds of that happening in a situation like that are minimal and create a completely different controversy.
Baseball has a weird tendency to go down these “unwritten rules” wormholes when anything of this nature happens. Nobody exactly quite knows the definition of these rules but we talk about them nonetheless. Standing logic says it’s not kosher to bunt to try to break up a no-hitter, but is what Tabata did or did not do the same thing? Isn’t one of the same unwritten rules that you always want to play to win and as such isn’t getting on base just that? Theoretically, you want players playing the same way in the first, fifth, seventh, ninth, etc. Same for the umpires. If the Tabta hit-by-pitch happened in the third inning, nobody bats an eye. There’s no talk of the umpires calling it a ball.
Admittedly we’re not going to get anywhere. It’s all hypotheticals. The bell in this case can’t be unrung and Scherzer, at least, still finished with a no-hitter.
Scherzer himself took a philosophical approach afterward, telling the Washington Post:
"“Just didn’t finish the pitch,” Scherzer said. “Backed up on me and clipped him. It’s just one of those things that happened. Just focus on what you can do next.”"
I’ve used this space to repeatedly mention how pitching in the National League helps Scherzer immensely. Those easier innings with the No. 8 batter and pitcher help keep his pitch count low. Saturday he finished with 106, making Washington look pretty smart investing $200+ million into his right arm. Schezer came up with Arizona in 2008 and didn’t throw his first complete game until last season — now he’s already got two with Washington.
As a Tigers fan it’s extremely depressing that Scherzer and his pinpoint control are in DC, whereas Detroit is saddled with the husk of Justin Verlander for the foreseeable future. Part of me was excited for Scherzer as he stomped across the mound looking like a madman on a mission. Scherzer is on pace to join Gaylord Perry, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and Roy Halladay as the only pitchers to win the Cy Young Award in both leagues.
Bigger picture, the dramatic ending Saturday in Washington reminded us how difficult it is for a pitcher to retire 27 batters in a row. Saturday also made me think of one of my favorite baseball stories as a kid — the story of Harvey Haddix. On May 26, 1959 Pirates’ Haddix carried a perfect game into the 13th inning, retiring 36 straight batters Milwaukee Braves. An error in the 13th ended the shot at history.
What always stuck out to me — I can’t remember which baseball book it came from (perhaps “The Ball Hall of Shame”?) was that afterward Haddix received all sorts of letters and well-wishes, but one stood out which simply read, “Dear Harv: tough shit.” Haddix reportedly laughed about it, although I’m not sure Scherzer would be so gregarious if you tweeted him similar sentiments in 2015.
Really what else can you say?
On the bright side, Scherzer is probably the first pitcher in baseball history to throw a no-hitter and get covered in chocolate sauce afterward. Silver linings.
Highlight reel: J.D. Martinez hit three home runs Sunday in New York, helping the Tigers avoid a sweep in the Bronx.
Gordon Beckham made Hawk Harrelson happy with a walk-off blast, perhaps the White Sox should save some offense for the games Chris Sale pitches. Just a thought.
From Saturday: It’s Carlos Correa’s world … we’re all just living in it.
This & That: For all the moves the Dodgers made over the winter, adding Yasmani Grandal might be their best. Grandal homered twice Sunday against the Giants and is now slugging .494. … General fantasy baseball advice, avoid using any pitchers when the Blue Jays and Orioles play, especially North of the Border. … Good for A-Rod making his 3,000th hit a home run of Justin Verlander. Wonder if the YES Network will ever show it again considering its aired Derek Jeter’s 3,000 roughly eight million times since it happened. … Jake Arrieta shut out the Twins and continues to be among the most-underrated pitchers in the National League.
[Yards and yards]