What a Night of Baseball!

I have to share an extremely cool experience I had last night. In fact, I would have to say that this is my best first-hand baseball experience to date. Keep reading to find out why...

My wife and I were without kids last night, and decided in a crazy moment of spontaneity to drive to Round Rock and eat at Joe's Crab Shack. Well, on the way, Kim looked and me and said, "I wonder if the Express are playing tonight?" I have to give some kudos to my wife here. How many women do you know of that would suggest that we go to a baseball game on a date? I absolutely LOVE that woman!

For those of you who don't know, the Round Rock Express is the Houston Astros' Triple A affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. Since these guys are only one step away from the Big Show, it's a pretty good brand of baseball and a darn good bargain at $12/ticket for seats right behind the first base dugout. Kim called the Express office and sure enough, they had a 7:05 home game against the Nashville Sounds.

After eating dinner, we went to the game and had a great time. The Dell Diamond, where the Express play, is a great game atmosphere. I won't go into details because it would take a while, but if you ever get a chance, GO. On a side note, I was pleased to see that Mark Saccomanno, an ex-Baylor Bear, was starting first baseman for the Express. Good to see our Baylor boys doing well.

Well about the 5th inning, the score was 1-0 Nashville. Kim looked over to me and said, "That guy's pitching a no-hitter." She was referring to Manny Parra, who was making only his second Triple A start. Well, as I began to try to remember the previous four innings, I realized that not only was he pitching a no-no, he was pitching a perfect game. No walks, no hit batters, no errors, no base runners for the Express all night long.

As the game progressed and Parra continued to systematically retire Round Rock batters in order every inning, the buzz began to grow among the crowd. The tension noticeably heightened every inning as everyone began to think it might be possible.

When Parra came out of the dugout for the ninth inning, he received an ovation from the Round Rock crowd as you could feel that even the Express faithful were pulling for this kid. He retired the first two batters, and when pinch-hitter Jesse Garcia came to the plate, the entire stadium rose to their feet. At that point, the game of baseball became bigger than any team allegiance.

Garcia served up a broken-bat popup to first, inciting a mob at the mound and ending the single most dominant pitching performance I've ever personally witnessed. A perfect game at any level is an unbelievable accomplishment, and something I'll remember always.

Just for all of you fellow baseball geeks like me, here are some numbers that show just how dominant this pitching performance was. In just his second Triple A start, Parra faced the minimum 27 batters, striking out 11. The left-hander threw 107 pitches, 77 of which were strikes, the other 30 "were deemed to be balls", as Larry Little would say. Parra only fell to a 3-ball count three times in the whole game, the first of which didn't occur until the seventh inning.

Parra's achievement was only the third nine-inning perfect game in the 104-year history of the Pacific Coast League. Simply AWESOME.