Outside The Confines: Nobody’s perfect? Well . . .

And a happy Friday to all of you out there.

• You’ve undoubtedly heard this already, but Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán threw a perfect game against the Athletics on Wednesday night. It was baseball’s first perfect game since Felix Hernandez did it in 2012.
• Here are 13 things to know about the perfect game.
• And here are seven more facts about Germán’s perfecto by Mike Axisa.
• Chris Kachner profiles Germán as the “imperfect” perfect game pitcher. (The Athletic sub.req.)
• Michael Clair takes a look back at Ernie Shore’s “perfect” relief game—after Babe Ruth punched out an umpire. Shore’s game has been called a perfect game at various times in MLB history. It’s now considered a combined no-hitter.
• Before we move on, the All-Star Game starters were announced yesterday.
• Mets owner Steve Cohen had a press conference about the team’s disappointing season, but he reiterated that the jobs of manager Buck Showalter and general manager Billy Eppler are safe through the rest of the season.
• Sam Neumann calls Cohen’s press conference “a waste of time” that had no real news.
• Hannah Keyser writes that Cohen needs to think beyond 2023, which could mean that the Mets might need to sell at the trade deadline.
• Anthony DiComo has three strategies the Mets might use at the deadline. He also reports that Max Scherzer would consider dropping his no-trade clause if he was going to the right team.
• Dan Szymborski asks, what future do the Cards hold? He argues that the Cardinals will most likely need to sell and start a rebuild.
• Mark Feinsand answers several fan questions about the trade deadline.
• The Angels’ Shohei Ohtani keeps doing things that no one has done in decades. On Tuesday night, he became the first American League player to strike out 10 and hit two home runs in the same game since Pedro Ramos in 1963. Admittedly, Zack Greinke did it for the Diamondbacks as recently as 2019.
• Ben Lindbergh writes that you can forget about questioning whether Ohtani is the Most Valuable Player. Instead, start asking if Ohtani is the greatest player of all-time.
• Gabe Lacques has the MVP of each team so far.
• Will Leitch has the ten biggest surprises of the first half.
• Bradford Doolittle has mid-season awards. (ESPN+ sub. req.) Yeah, I think Ohtani is on his list.
• Chris Gilligan thinks we’re going to have a great second half of the season. And he writes for Fangraphs, not MLB dot com.
• Liz Roscher has some amazing stats from the month of June.
• Ken Rosenthal has his choices for the All-Star rosters. (The Athletic sub.req.)
• Jeff Passan profiles Reds’ rookie phenom Elly De La Cruz. Honestly, if he didn’t play for the Reds, I’d love this guy. He’s a true talent.
• Davy Andrews has a look at this year’s crop of rookie third baseman and how they’re doing so far.
• Scouting reports for every player selected for the Futures Game. Yes, this includes Pete Crow-Armstrong and BJ Murray Jr.
• Mike Axisa has a mock first-round MLB draft.
• Keith Law also has a mock draft. (The Athletic sub.req.)
• Anthony Castrovince has a profile of LSU outfielder Dylan Crews, widely considered the top talent in the upcoming draft. Although there are many rumors that the Pirates will take his teammate, right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes, with the first pick instead. That’s mostly because Skenes’ seems more willing to agree to a slightly-underslot deal. But Skenes is also considered to be the best pitching draft prospect since Stephen Strasburg, so it’s not like the Bucs would be going bargain bin here.
• Kiley McDaniel introduces us to Florida high school shortstop Arjun Nimmala and his journey from cricket to baseball. I’ve seen a few mock drafts with the Cubs taking Nimmala, including McDaniel’s.
• The all-time best draft pick of each team.
• Howard Stutz reports that many people are questioning whether the parcel of land allotted for the A’s new stadium in Las Vegas is actually big enough for a ballpark. This is apparently delaying MLB’s approval of the move.
• Also, it looks like there is some grassroots opposition to the A’s new ballpark in Las Vegas. It sounds like some are looking to get a referendum on the ballot that would overturn the state money for the stadium.
• Dan Moore has the long, sordid history of the theft of the A’s from Oakland. Also his personal experience as an A’s fan and with the “reverse boycott.”
• Gabe Lacques looks back at Moneyball on its 20th anniversary and how it affected the game. And also, how much of what it said actually proved wise?
• Commissioner Rob Manfred said that MLB would consider going to a 154-game schedule to accommodate overseas games in the future.
• Leo Morgenstern has a quick look at the Phillies’ Bryce Harper’s home run drought.
• Guardians manager Terry Francona was briefly hospitalized after feeling ill before Tuesday night’s game.
• The Athletic ranks all 20 “City Connect” uniforms. (The Athletic sub.req.)
• And finally, most of us consider that the introduction of the pitch clock has been a huge success this year. By mid-season, we aren’t even talking much about it. A lot of people put in a lot of work to get it right, but Jen McCaffery has a great story on the unsung heroes of the new rule—the “field timing coordinators” (FTC) who actually operate the clock. (The Athletic sub.req.)

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.