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ATLANTA (July 26) — The Atlanta Hilltoppers march toward immortality continued today as 22-year-old ace authored the UL's seventh perfect game, and the first with 15 strikeouts, in what was immediately characterized as the single best pitching performance in UL history. Pedro came into the game with a 12-3 record and 1.98 ERA. He was roughed up for three runs in Seattle—a poor outing by his standards—on July 20, but had lost just once in his last 15 starts.

"I don't know what to say," he said in a postgame press conference. "I didn't do anything different in this game. Really. I just pitched the ball and everyone did what they had to do and somewhere along the way, fate stepped in and took control. I was very aware I was working on a perfect game from the sixth inning on," he said. "But it didn't faze me because I really didn't expect to pitch one. I was worrying about winning, not trying for a perfect game."

Brooklyn's Lew Burdette threw the UL's first perfect game on June 12, 1961. San Francisco's Dick Bosman pitched the second in 1969. Then for 15 years, the feat was not repeated, until Washington's Frank Viola was perfect on May 2, 1984. Since then, there have been four perfect games in the last decade, the last by Havana's Mark Langston in 1990. Jose Rijo had the previous record for most strikeouts in a perfect game, with 14 in 1987.

Pedro is on pace for an historic season: 333 strikeouts and a 1.88 ERA. There have been only 11 sub-2.00 ERAs in league history. Bill Singer set the single-season record with a 1.67 ERA in 1970 with Chicago. Rich Gossage has the record for most strikeouts in a sub-2.00 ERA season, with 237 in 1983.

Most Strikeouts in a Sub-2.00 ERA Season
Year Pitcher        Team   ERA     K
1983 Rich Gossage   CLE   1.xx   237
1965 Johnny Podres  CLE   1.xx   232
1967 Johnny Podres  CLE   1.xx   226
1968 Bob Moose      SF    1.xx   219
1959 Gene Conley    BRO   1.xx   218
1970 Bill Singer    CHI   1.xx   206

Atlanta has allowed just 307 runs in 109 games, 42 fewer than the next best team, or 2.82 runs per game. They are on pace to break the UL record of 2.92 runs allowed per game by the 1963 Brooklyn Superbas. That ballclub famously won 115 games and scored 5.2 runs per game for an unfathomable run differential of 2.3 runs per game. The '94 Toppers are averaging 4.8 runs per game, for a 2.0 run differential, which could be as good as the second best in UL history.

The Toppers cooled off in late July, winning just 7 of 12 and dipping below .700 with a 11-3 loss to Boston on July 31. The club suffered another loss that day, losing 3B Wade Boggs for the season with a ruptured ligament. Boggs was batting .346 with a .405 OBP in his first year with Atlanta, and is five points behind Detroit's Dave Nilsson for the batting lead. His 474 plate appearances as of the injury falls 22 short of the minimum required for the batting title.

At their current .697 clip, the Red Blogs would finish with 112 wins, second only to those '63 Superbas. The loss of Boggs is a worrying development, as lack of offense was the culprit in their recent losses. The Toppers were shut out by Chicago in back-to-back contests July 18-19 and managed just one run in a loss at St. Louis five days later. Another concern is Atlanta's less-than-specatular record against certain playoff-level teams. They are 4-4 against St. Louis, 3-3 vs. Detroit and Keystone, and 2-4 vs. Brooklyn. Meanwhile, they are a combined 42-4 against seven teams (CLE, DET, FLO, HAV, MON, SF, WAS). Of these seven, only Detroit currently resides in the Hex. Take away those seven opponents and the Toppers record is a pedestrian 32-29.

While Atlanta extended its West Division lead to 14 games with a 17-7 July, the East Division tightened up, with five teams within four games of division leaders Boston. The Boston Federals were 19-6 and overtook both Brooklyn and Detroit for first in the division. The Toronto Polar Bears were the hottest teams in the league in July, going 20-5 to trim their gap from seven to three games. And the Keystone Starlings were 18-7 to likewise close the gap on second place Brooklyn and third place Detroit.

Of the five contenders, Brooklyn has the best pitching, Toronto the best offense, and Detroit the best balance as the only team in the division in the top four in both runs and runs allowed.