As CC Sabathia was easing through another lineup, this time the nine men for the Seattle Mariners, one number kept piling up and it wasn't hits. As the strikeouts continued and the hits remained non-existent a phone call was made after Franklin Guttierez struck out looking for the final out of the fifth. It was a quick, yet a direct phone conversation and perhaps similar to other conversations or text message exchanges and it went like this:

Me: Are you watching the Yankee game?

Other end:  No, I’m watching a movie.

Me: Well you might want to put the game on.

Other end: Why?

Me: Well, Sabathia has one of those games. Actually he has one of thooose games going on.

Other end: Oh, I got what you’re saying, thanks for alerting me.

One of those with an added emphasis on the letter O meant Sabathia was throwing a perfect game. It’s a way to express it without saying it but doing so in a manner that the other member of the conversation gets exactly what is being said.

There’s little doubt in my mind and virtually everyone else’s mind what would have happened if there was not any weather interference that delayed things for a total of 44 minutes, 30 minutes in the fifth and another 14 in the middle of the seventh.

Sabathia lost the perfect game with one out in the seventh when Brendan Ryan lined a 2-0 fastball into left field for a clean single that nobody was getting. Other than that and walking the bases loaded in the eighth after the second delay it was a flawless night for Sabathia.

How flawless has Sabathia been? Consider the following tidbits about a man so outgoing that while a perfect game is happening he is engaging in lively conversations with teammates.

•  His 14 strikeouts were the most by a Yankee lefty since David Wells fanned 16 against Oakland on July 30, 1997.
•  He is the first Yankee to become the first 15-game winner in two different seasons. He also did that in 2009 when he was 9-6 at the All-Star break.
•  He has allowed five earned runs in his last seven starts, going 6-1 with a 0.82 ERA since June 25. That totals 54 2/3 innings, 31 hits, 16 walks, 72 strikeouts, one home run and a .166 opponent batting average.
• He is 8-1 with a 1.70 ERA (68 2/3 innings, 13 earned runs, 17 walks, 81 strikeouts) in nine starts since June 14.
• He is 12-2 with a 2.06 ERA (109 innings, 25 earned runs) in his last 14 starts since May 19.

You get the idea. That is a sampling of how dominant Sabathia has been overall but here’s a sampling of how Sabathia was so overpowering even against the worst offense in the game in the midst of a 17-game losing streak.

• He threw 71 of 102 pitches for strikes

• He had two balls hit into the outfield

• He had 17 swings and misses

• He had 18 foul balls

He had four at-bats go past five pitches and half were the final two of the game after the second rain delay

You get the idea. No matter the opponent, this was a masterpiece of the first degree and here’s one more thing. At one point he struck out seven straight hitters and it took 30 pitches to do so.

I’ve never seen a no-hitter in person. I have seen a few go into the seventh inning with some luck due to good defensive plays. This was the first time having no doubt it was going to happen because of how dialed in Sabathia was and has been over the last two months.