Does Matt Cain's perfect game
belong among the greatest ever pitched? According to Bill James' Game Score method, Cain is tied with Sandy Koufax's perfect game (1965) and Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter (1991) for the second-best pitching performances of all-time -- behind Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game (1998). But many believe Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series trumps them all. How do you rate Cain in the pantheon of great pitching performances?
KidBlackthorn: "Greatest of all time? Was this during the World Series or the playoffs? Sorry. Despite it's ultimate awesomeness, that places it second automatically. That being said, nothing can be taken away from this perfection. Great game, great pitcher, great guy. Congrats, Mr. Cain! "
dparks45: "As much as I hate the yankees, Don Larsen gets the nod for this one. Perfect game in the world series. Extremely hard to top that. "
Patriot5150: "Simple answer.. Yes. Tied koufax's feat but did it against far superior talent. With todays hitters, batting coaches, supplemets, ect. Cain is, was and will be a BEAST. Cy young candidate"
JWill2847: "That's a hell of a game, but it doesn't touch the 20K's by Wood. In terms of sheer dominance, there has never been a greater performance than Wood's. Including the defensive play made on the 1 hit, only a maximum of 8 balls were put in play! The defense only had to make 8 plays the entire game. Not even 8 throws the entire game. Just 8 plays."
abermen: "As far as the greatest of the performances listed, Kerry Wood's is my choice. 20 strikeouts, 1 hit allowed, in a high-offense environment, against the NL's highest-scoring team."
jbhill23: "It turns out that no hitters and perfecto's were thrown in every era, respect the game. Cain was dominant, PERIOD! It's a major league team regardless. If this were against the Cubs who have several/former All-stars would we be mentioning how terrible of a team they were? It's pointless to compare individual perfection...it's perfect, let it be."
jaythescrub: "When Larsen pitched his perfect game against a slew of future Hall of Famers (Reese, Snider, Robinson), only one batter even got to a 3-ball count. And, oh yeah, it was in the WORLD SERIES! Cain's was impressive but who was it against, when did it happen. Against a terrible team in the first half of the season. "
IrishFlyer247: "look up Harvey Haddix's 12 inning perfect game performace. he gave up one hit to end the game but had retired 36 straight batters. greatest performance ever"
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