Perfect Game Streak Comes To An End

Anthony Velazquez’s historic perfect game streak ends at two:

The perfect game is a stunning achievement by any pitcher in baseball, and two in a row had never been done before in high school, experts said. Yet yesterday afternoon, Anthony was trying to throw a third, against Bayside’s rival, the powerful Cardozo High School.

His stage was a perfectly groomed baseball diamond at Cardozo, also in Bayside, with a perfectly partisan crowd of family and friends to soothe his perfect case of nerves. He even had the perfect umpire for striking out batters.

“I’m giving a nice, big strike zone today, I’m calling all the corners,” Richie McCarren, the home plate umpire, said while polishing his shoes in the parking lot before the game, as news crews and reporters dashed to the field. “I don’t want to be the guy who calls a borderline walk and ruins this kid’s shot at history.”

But in the end, the only thing remaining perfect was the weather, as Anthony’s streak of sending batters back to the dugout lasted only two-thirds of an inning. After getting the leadoff batter out on a grounder to third and striking out the second, something got in the way of his streak: Jamie Liebowitz’s rear end. Anthony hit him in the left buttock, leaving the Cardozo senior on first with a historic welt and Anthony without his perfect game.

Bayside still shut out Cardozo 11-0.