I was listening to Joel Sherman last night on MLB Home Plate on Sirius XM. One of the topics discussed was the best game that Sherman has ever seen pitched, and he immediately brought up Pedro Martinez‘s 17-strikeout game versus the Yankees at the Stadium on September 10th, 1999.
Martinez gave up a single run and hit, a second inning home run to Chili Davis, as the Red Sox won the game 3-1. Sherman was in attendance for David Wells and David Cone‘s perfect game, but still think Martinez’s performance that night stands out because of the opponent and venue. Both Wells and Cone faced very weak lineups in their performances. Especially Wells, who shutdown the then lowly Minnesota Twins.
Bill James Game Score has Kerry Wood‘s 20-strikeout game versus Houston in 1998 as the best game pitched in the last 25 years. James formula credits Carl Hubbell with the best pitching performance in baseball history when he threw 18 shutout innings on July 2nd, 1933 for the Giants versus St. Louis.
Obviously, this is a very subjective conversation as Sherman was talking about the best game he’s seen pitched while in attendance. I thought it was interesting he put Pedro’s performance over the two perfect games.
