Just a reminder: we're about five weeks from the anniversary of what I consider THE best pitched game in MLB history. July 2, 1963, Giants v. Braves, Candlestick Park. Giants won 1-0 on a Willie Mays homer in the bottom of the 16th inning. Both starting pitchers, Warren Spahn and Juan Marichal, pitched complete games.
@Night Hides Not 
Only one game was ever pitched better: Sandy Koufax's September 1965 perfect game---not only did Koufax nail the perfecto (and, since it was his fourth no-no in four tries in four straight seasons, you could call it practise makes perfect), but Chicago Cubs pitcher Bob Henley got
thatclose to pitching a no-hitter on the
backside of the game: the game's only hit (a two-double by Dodger outfielder Lou Johnson in the seventh, followed at once by an inning-ending ground out) didn't factor in the 1-0 final score---the Dodgers scored the game's only run in the fifth on a walk (Johnson leading off), a sacrifice bunt (Ron Fairly), a stolen base (Johnson stealing third), and a throwing error (Cubs catcher Chris Krug, the future designer of the
Field of Dreams field overthrew third base trying to get Johnson). Not to mention Koufax striking out the eighth and ninth innings in order, a called strikeout followed by five straight swinging strikeouts.
Postscript to that game: Decades later, Sandy Koufax received an old newspaper clipping including a photograph from the game, courtesy of Bob Hendley's son. Koufax sent it back signed and attached a note, "Say hello to your father." On a subsequent anniversary of the game, Hendley was stunned to receive a package: a 1965 National League baseball inscribed
WHAT A GAME! on the meat of the hide, and a handwritten note included: "We had a moment, a night, a career. I hope life has been good to you. Sandy." It's why, to this day, when he's asked about how it felt to lose a game like that, Bob Hendley will tell you, "It's no disgrace to be beaten by class."
