HAVE A FEEL

BY MIKE RIFKIN

Sunday in Sacramento fans had history ripped away from them. Marlins Pitcher Eury Perez pitched seven perfect innings against the Athletics. He was pulled at 92 pitches, so he didn’t even hit the 100 pitch threshold teams love to use. Lake Bachar came in and gave up five runs, without recording an out, the Marlins did hold onto win 9-8. But taking out a starter with an 8-0 lead and a chance for a perfect game feels wrong to me.

We are a week away from the All-Star Game, they could’ve found a way to potentially push his next start back. Guys like Nolan Ryan, Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson they don’t give the ball up, they try to finish the game. Now maybe it’s the era we’re in now but too often pitchers are being taken out of games with a no hitter or perfect game intact. Yes, I understand the arm injuries that can occur, but this is a chance at history. There is the possibility of long term issues look at Johan Santana with the Mets after his no hitter, but at least Terry Collins had the guts to leave his guy in to finish the job.

We all know where this comes from, it comes from front offices and whether it’s analytics or something else the fact that people don’t appreciate potential history is beyond parody. Have a feel for the game or for the moment. The Marlins are one of the biggest surprises in baseball, you give them this moment and it will always be special. That was taken from the fans on Sunday and unfortunately it’s happening too often across the sport we love.