Matt Cain is attempting to do something tonight that only a half dozen pitchers in the past 13 years have tried: winning a game after throwing a perfect game.
Matt Cain Perfect Game: Betting Odds On Giants Vs. Angels
Matt Cain was dominant and was perfect in his last start and he’s favored to beat the Angels tonight. He has won seven straight, so why are so many baseball fans betting against him?
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And if history teaches baseball bettors anything about the Perfect Game Hangover, it’s that betting on that pitcher to have a quality start is a money-losing proposition.
Even when the pitcher is a dynamite ace like Cain.
In each of those earlier six games since 1999, the pitcher has been unable to record a win in the start following perfection.
So with the San Francisco Giants visiting the Los Angeles Angels in interleague play, baseball bettors are lining up to fade the Giants, who are small road chalk (-120 at most sportsbooks). And bettors are paying attention, siding with Angels at 54 percent in early Monday wagering, according to the OddsShark.com MLB Consensus data.
This situation occurred two months prior when unheralded Phillip Humber threw a perfect game for Chicago. His next start was a disaster, and the White Sox lost his next six starts.
Past Post-Perfecto Pitching Performances
July 18, 1999 - David Cone was perfect against the Montreal Expos and fell apart six days later. He was rocked for 12 hits and six earned runs in a 6-4 loss at Detroit.
May 18, 2004 - It took five years for another perfect game, and it was Randy Johnson with a 13-strikeout masterpiece at Atlanta. Less than a week later, he lost 1-0 to the Mets, even though he was dominant again.
July 23, 2009 - Mark Buehrle was perfect on winning 5-0 against Tampa Bay. But he lost his next start, 5-3, at Minnesota, and the White Sox lost his next four starts while recovering from Perfect Game Hangover.
May 9, 2010 - Little-known Dallas Braden, who had been clobbered in his previous two starts, won 4-0 at home, also against Tampa Bay. Talk about a hangover - Oakland lost his next eight starts in a row.
May 29, 2010 – Just 20 days after Braden’s no-no, Roy Halladay spun his 1-0 gem at Miami. He struggled six days later, giving up 10 hits, but the Phillies defense and bullpen locked down a 3-2 win over San Diego. He was hung over, but his buddies bailed him out.
April 21, 2012 – Humber strikes out nine Mariners for his perfect game and gets hammered for nine earned runs in his next outing, a 10-3 loss to Boston.
June 13, 2012 – Cain destroys Houston 10-0, striking out 14 in his seventh straight win. Tonight?
The situation is much better for pitchers who ‘simply’ threw a no-hitter and didn’t bother with the perfect-game part.
So far in 2012, pitchers who threw a no-hitter are 2-2 in their next start. Humber lost his next start, but Jered Weaver followed up his May 2 no-no with a win May 7 at Minnesota. Johan Santana threw a June 1 no-no, but got destroyed by the Yankees, giving up four homers in the process.
Kevin Millwood started a game eight days after he and four Seattle relievers combined on a June 8 no-hitter. And Seattle won again, despite Millwood’s mediocre play.
There were three no-no’s in 2011, and the pitcher’s team won the following week twice.
Francisco Liriano continued his career-long mercurial pattern by following his May 3 no-hitter at Chicago with a 10-2 loss in his next start.
Four days later, Justin Verlander visited Toronto and no-hit the Blue Jays. In his next start, he threw a complete-game win. He would go on to win the AL Cy Young.
And on July 27, Ervin Santana tossed a 3-1 no-hitter at Cleveland, which was the start of an uncharacteristic run of superb outings for him. He won his next three starts, including two complete games and one where he pitched into the ninth.
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