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STRIKE ONE -- MR. PERFECT DEPT.

Well, Dallas Braden finally found the perfect solution Sunday to make sure no misguided baserunners cut across his mound:

Just don't allow any baserunners.

On a day when that mound was the center of the whole sport's universe, Braden literally gave us the perfect ending to a fabulous baseball weekend. So here's Three Strikes' look at his perfect game:

• If Dallas Braden wasn't the first name you thought of when you heard that term, "perfect game," there were reasons for that. Like this one: The career batting average of hitters who have faced this man is .274. That's the highest against any pitcher who pitched a perfect game in almost 90 years. The only Mr. Perfect in history who was more hittable than that: Charlie Robertson (.293), who pitched his perfect game back in 1922. On that note, here are the five highest career averages in history against perfect-game pitchers:

Charlie Robertson, .293
Dallas Braden, .274
David Wells, .271
Mark Buehrle, .271
Kenny Rogers, .270

• Before he achieved perfection Sunday, Braden's lifetime record was only 17-23. So how often does a pitcher with a losing record for his career go out and throw a perfect game? Only three other times in history, as a matter of fact. The other three pitchers who were on the wrong end of .500 before their perfectos: Don Larsen (30-40) in the '56 World Series, Mike Witt (37-40) in 1984 and (coincidence alert) the only other A's pitcher to throw one, Catfish Hunter (28-34) in 1968. Well, unlike those guys, Braden even threw his classic against the team with the best record in baseball. Crazy.

• At least Braden still has a chance to avoid becoming the second perfect-game pitcher in history to wind up with a sub-.500 record. The only guy who has ever done that was, strangely enough, the man who threw probably the most famous perfecto ever -- Larsen (81-91).

To read more of Jayson Stark's Three Strikes, you must be an ESPN Insider.