So the late-blooming former Mets prospect Phil Humber threw a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, which means he should finally get the respect he deserves for being a solid Major League pitcher for more than a year now. Right?
Guess not. Even after throwing the perfecto, the public response, by and large, has been one of two things: 1.) Phil Humber threw a perfect game? That kind of cheapens the whole accomplishment, or 2.) Who is Phil Humber?
Well it turns out, he's actually pretty good, you guys. Even if the victim Seattle Mariners aren't.
On Sunday, a perfectly idiotic column in the USA Today began thusly: "They used to be masterpieces authored by the game's ultimate artists. Now they're more like kind acts of randomness."
That, my friends, is what I like to call the faint praise of idiots. How about a little respect for Humber?
As this much better column at Call To The Pen points out, since the very beginnings of baseball iteself, perfect games have generally come by random chance and were not, as the USA Today says, "authored by the game's ultimate artists."
But let's get back to Humber. Absolutely no one in baseball paid any attention last year, but Humber had a really good breakout season for the Sox in 2011.
Phil Humber, now 29, was drafted third overall by the New York Mets in 2004, a spot behind Justin Verlander, and ahead of Jeff Niemann and Jared Weaver. He made just one start in New York at age 24 before getting traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana trade. But he didn't catch on in Minnesota, and bounced from Kansas City to Oakland, before finally becoming the White Sox fifth starter last season.
And he pitched very well, going 9-9 with a 3.75 ERA and an impressive 1.17 WHIP. In other words, he was the best starting pitcher on the White Sox not named Mark Buehrle.
Last April Humber began throwing a slider, adding it into his repotoire in place of a cut fastball that White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper admits "wasn't doing much." The slider, however was an instant hit. In the very first game he brought it to the mound, he took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Yankees.
Humber relied heavily on the slider Saturday against the Mariners, and obviously, it was pretty good.
So Humber's name now sits alongside some of the all-time greats like Roy Halladay, Sandy Koufax and Don Larsen who have thrown perfect games. His name is also alongside some lesser-knowns like Dallas Braden, yes, Armando Galarraga.
So remember Phil Humber's name. He may not be the next Roy Halladay, but he makes up a part of what could actually be a pretty good starting rotation in Chicago this year, along with Gavin Floyd, John Danks and the young phenom Chris Sale.
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