THE BULL PEN
Within hours of the Melky Cabrera drug-suspension announcement, we were treated to Felix Hernandez’s perfect game. A bad day/good day for baseball, and what a race. With 6½ weeks left in the season, PED suspensions lead perfect games 4-3.
Of the 23 perfect games in history, 13 percent have involved the Rays, who have been perfect-gamed by Mark Buehrle, Dallas Braden and Hernandez, all on the road. Evan Longoria, Ben Zobrist, B.J. Upton and Carlos Peña need therapy; they were in all three lineups.
Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik, while heading to the clubhouse in the crowded media elevator after the perfecto, pulled out his cell phone and screamed, “No, we’re not trading Felix.” Pretty good elevator humor.
No stunner the Diamondbacks’ Trevor Bauer, the third overall pick, was the first from the 2011 draft to reach the majors. The second, surprisingly, was Indians reliever Cody Allen, a 23rdrounder who through Friday had pitched 121⁄ scoreless 3 innings since his promotion. That scout deserves a raise. It seems in every interview, Alfonso Soriano, above, reiterates his distaste for playing for the Giants, even if there wasn’t a trade to veto. Now that Soriano has cleared waivers and can be dealt, he reminds us, “San Francisco is not good weather to play in. It’s on the West Coast, and I never played on the West Coast. We’ll see what happens. I’ll talk to my family then and see.” A fan base is on the edge of its seat. The A’s have talked about using a six-man rotation, and the Braves already put one in motion. With Tommy Hanson coming off the disabled list, Hanson, Ben Sheets, Mike Minor, Tim Hudson, Paul Maholm and Kris Medlen are starting. They’ll use it twice through the rotation until an off day Aug. 30, then pick the top five to finish the season. Wonder if any of those guys knows Wilbur Wood once started both ends of a doubleheader.