Community Corner

Matt Cain's Perfect Game, From Alone on a Couch

Wednesday night was all about Matt Cain and the Giants — and perhaps much more: A window on one quintessential American moment.

 

Editor's Note: Normally, we strive to put exclusively Los Altos and Los Altos Hills news on Los Altos Patch. There are always exceptions, and they are prosaic: Santa Clara County news that affect Los Altans, big events that we think Los Altans are experiencing with the rest of our community, and have some kind of Los Altos connection.

And then there is the ineffable. In this case, the rare sharing of a private moment during a big event. My colleague, Capitola-Soquel Editor Jacob Bourne has written a piece that grasps at such a moment. 

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Pitching a "perfect game" is one of those big events in baseball, the most American of sports. For those of us who have never played the game, didn't grow up watching it, or grew up with "the beautiful game," soccer, such moments may be hard to grasp. In a nation of immigrants, feeling the rhythm of summer ebb and flow over the course the 162 games is perhaps one of the most esoterically American experiences that seemed rooted in a different time.

Yet, how many times does anyone attain "perfect?" Read on. Like baseball or not, understand it or not, we think you can take away something from this essay.

Find out what's happening in Los Altoswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

- L.A. Chung

Few things make me cry. Sad movies won't do it — unless there are dying dogs involved. 

It's usually the happy moments that get me choked up. Reunions are the worst culprit of my embarrassing man tears. Two other masseuses of my tear ducts: the Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants. I'm too emotionally involved.

So Wednesday night, when I sat alone in my living room watching Matt Cain face just 27 batters, striking out 14, it was game over — not just for the Houston Astros, but for me. In retrospect, maybe it's a good thing I only had my dog around to witness my emotional reaction to men playing a game (perfectly). I'm not saying I needed tissues, but there was certainly some welling up of the ocular region. 

There's a reason it's called a perfect game. There have been just 22 in over 140 years of baseball. That works out to about one every 11,000 games. Even if someone managed to watch 162 games per year every year (which is impossible), probability says they'd be lucky to see more than one perfect game every 68 years. 

Maybe my jubilee was in part a redemptive moment. I'm convinced that missing big events is written into my DNA. I have a knack for leaving the room every time the Giants hit a home run (an uncanny feat considering their anemic offense).

In the end of the 2010 season as the Giants were making a run at a playoff spot, and it wasn't clear who their NLDS opponent would be, I bought three Game 1 tickets for the Phillies first round series, in case the Giants ended up playing in Philadelphia. Living in Washington, DC at the time, it was my best option. Of course, they ended up facing Atlanta in the first round, not Philadelphia, so I sold my tickets. That night, Roy Halladay pitched the first playoff no-hitter since 1956 and I had a ticket. But I missed it. 

But like I said, it's in my DNA. My great-great grandfather decided to immigrate to the U.S. from Lithuania in 1912. His ship of choice was called the RMS Titanic. Perhaps you've heard of it? By the grace of whomever (Matt Cain?) he lost his tickets. And I am alive today because of it. Hard to believe, but it's true. 

Given my history with big moments, I'll take alone on the couch watching an unequivocally unreal pitching performance any day. 

That moment after the game when Cain's wife ran into the dugout to congratulate her husband — remember what I said about reunions? Perfect.

Some people don't understand baseball. They say it's too slow. They can't reconcile that a beer-bellied pitcher is, in fact, an athlete. But baseball is beautiful. It is nuanced and complicated, painful and gut-twisting, inspiring and poetic. And every 11,000 games, baseball is perfect.  

Did you watch the game? Have you ever seen a perfect game before? What did you think? Tell us in the comments!


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here