I ran into one of my colleagues at the coffee stand and asked him how things were going. He said that Wednesday was his wife’s birthday, and he asked her if she wanted to do anything special. “Let’s catch a baseball game,” she suggested. So off they went to watch a baseball game. Turns out they chose a good game to watch: Seattle Mariners pitcher Félix Hernández threw a perfect game. (I like how Wikipedia has a page dedicated to the 23rd perfect game in baseball history, but no page for the first perfect game in baseball history. Because Wikipedia covers pop culture prior to 2001 very differently from pop culture after 2001.) For some reason, the photo caption in the Associated Press article says that the Rays won the game. The Mariners can’t get any respect. Their pitcher throws a perfect game and the AP still reports that they lost. Puzzle: Describe conditions under which a starting pitcher can throw nine complete perfect innings in a nine-inning game and not be credited with a perfect game. One possible answer: The pitcher for the home team pitches nine perfect innings. The game enters the bottom of the ninth scoreless. During the bottom of the ninth, the home team forfeits the game. According to the rules, the game ends immediately, and since the pitcher did not receive credit for a victory, a perfect game is not awarded.

(For some reason, I enjoy thinking about these bizarre baseball scenarios.)