Buehrle sets retrosheet record for 9x3s

As you've all heard by now, Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game today. Perhaps even more significant is that it was the third "9x3" of his career. A 9x3 is a game where the pitcher only faces 27 opposing batters, even if some of them reach base; the ones who do reach base are erased by double plays, caught stealings, etc.

I've often wondered what to call such a game; I asked my dad for a suggestion, and after his initial suggestion of a 3x3 animal style, we settled on 9x3, as in facing all 9 batters in the lineup exactly 3 times, and nothing more.

Baseball-reference recently made a list of this, and apparently as of 2007, it had only been done 35 times since 1957, exclusive of perfect games. Buehrle, at that time, was the only pitcher with two games on that list; Koufax had one plus his perfect game, so they were tied for the retrosheet lead with 2. Buehrle, of course, as I mention above, has now taken the lead.

A 9x3, even of the non-perfect variety, is quite an accomplishment, as evidenced by its rarity, but you never actually hear about it. I suspect this is because there's no snappy name for it, so I suggest from now on, we all agree to use the phrase "9x3" as casually as we say "no-hitter" or "perfect game". Okay? Okay.

The Mets trade Ryan Church to Atlanta for Jeff Francoeur.

I'm speechless.  This is like the front office equivalent of Luis Castillo dropping the pop up against the Yankees, except far worse, because the consequences extend beyond one game.  The #1 rule for any GM this season had to be "DON'T trade for Francoeur"...and here we are.  The only possible explanation I can see for this is that Omar Minaya realized he'll never be the Orson Welles of GMs, and so decided to be the Ed Wood.

Economists wouldn't have a problem with this idea...

I'm currently standing in line in Madison Square Park to get food from Shake Shack.  Shake Shack is a small walk-up restaurant in New York that serves excellent burgers and shakes.  It's extremely popular and, consequently, the lines for it often resemble those for the finer E-ticket rides at Disneyland.

This gave me a thought.  Many fast food chains, most notably Ben and Jerry's, will often have promotional days where they give away free product.  These days are, of course, accompanied by extremely long lines, because TANSTAAFL.  Many economics blogs have run commentaries on this phenomenon (I believe Freakonomics did; I'll try to add a link later).  I wonder if Shake Shack would be willing to run their own equivalent of this promotion: have a day where they charge $20-$30 for a burger, so you don't have to wait in line.

Like I said in the subject, economists would like the idea.  I suspect no one else would, though.