King Felix and Melky show us the good and bad side of the game
Baseball was the centre of the sporting world on Wednesday following stark reminders of why people both love and hate the game.
Just a few hours after All-Star Melky Cabrera was banned for the rest of the regular season following a positive drugs test, Felix Hernandez threw the 23rd perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball, sparking joyous scenes in Seattle.
Cabrera, currently at the Giants, tested positive for enhanced levels of testosterone and later admitted that the positive test was ‘the result of my use of a substance I should not have used.’ Cabrera was having arguably his greatest season, batting .346 and challenging for the batting title. The positive test and subsequent ban throws open the drugs debate once again following the reversal of a ban on the NL MVP Ryan Braun last season.
Cabrera becomes the second Giants player to fail a drugs test this season, following the 100 game suspension handed down to veteran reliever Guillermo Mota in May.
With the Giants having 45 games left on their schedule, the remaining five games of the ban would carry forward into the post-season, should the Giants claim a berth, or next season irrespective of whether Cabrera remains a Giants player.
Those in the MLB hierarchy will be somewhat relieved, however, that a positive news story of equal significance broke just a few hours afterwards when Felix Hernandez threw the 3rd perfect game of the season, and 23rd in MLB history, as he blanked the Tampa Bay Rays at Safeco Field in Seattle.
Matt Cain of the Giants and Philip Humber of the White Sox had previously thrown perfectos this campaign.
With a lightning fastball and a knee buckling curveball, it was evident early on in his outing that Hernandez was on form and none of the Rays were able to figure out the southpaws stuff. Rays manager John Maddon even attempted to throw the 26 year old off his rhythm by arguing a call in the seventh inning that led to his ejection.
Nothing flustered him on this day though, as he wrote his name down in history as the first Seattle Mariner to throw a perfect game.