Ryan Ruocco: I was shaking during 9th inning of Domingo German’s perfect game | SportsCenter

By the way, how was your day at work today, Ryan? You know, not bad, John. I'll take it. Hey, these things simmer, they kind of boil, they take a while. Just take me through kind of the moment over those two and a half hours and nine innings. Yeah, it's interesting, John, because you're right. You don't fully know when to start treating it like it can happen, right? That's part of the decision you're making as you're calling the game. How much emphasis are you putting on each out in the fourth inning when it's 12 up, 12 down? And so one of the things I did in the middle of the game was I texted David Cohn right after Domingo Hermann had gotten out of the fifth inning because Anthony Rizzo had made a good play for the second out. And I even said, hey, with what's developing, remember that play, something like that. And I texted Coney and I said, when during what you did, and I wasn't using the word, did you start to think about it? And he said now. And I thought, OK, now we can start to lean all in on it. And so we did. And of course, you know, there's still a long way to go. And there are so many people get so close and don't complete a perfect game. But I thought getting validation from one of the 23 men who's actually thrown one was a good way to lean into the moment. He actually had time, too. He waited out a 33 minute rain delay in his game. What did you see from Hermann strictly in the baseball sense? What was good about him in this game? His curveball was electric. His curveball was incredible. And he has one of the best curveballs in baseball. He uses it at a higher percentage than just about anybody in baseball, throws it 41 percent of the time. Last couple of starts, he had gotten destroyed and his curve was not good. And tonight he had a really sharp one. He also was confident in his fastball and attacking with it. And we saw that from the start of the game. Strike one. My broadcast partner, Jeff Nelson, brought it up early, said, I think for Domingo to get back on track, it's got to be aggressive with his fastball. And he was. And then his curve was so sharp that it made him dynamic. And he just worked so efficiently the entire night. And obviously, the A's also don't have the kind of lineup where you're thinking, OK, he's got to get through this hitter. He's got to get through that hitter. You're thinking instead, wow, the way he's pitching tonight, they just may be overmatched, but there's still a million things that can happen to keep you from history. But he was just too good to keep history away tonight. If you think about it, there were many hard hit balls tonight. I can really only think of one or two. And, you know, two real good defensive plays, the one by Rizzo on the backhand for the second out of the fifth and then the final out of the eighth. And I might be stretching to call it a real good defensive play, but Rizzo keeping his foot on the bag, reaching into the baseline for the final out. But other than that, Domingo was just totally in cruise control. Yeah, you point out his last two starts, he'd gotten ten outs and the one before that he'd merely gotten six. So you're sitting there and you realize now you're in the ninth. Everybody knows we're sitting history. How nervous are you? Like, man, you don't want to blow this. You know, it's funny, John. Like, obviously, you know, in what you do and what I do, people always ask you, do you get nervous? And and I always say I only ever get nervous the first time I do something. And then once the game starts, once the action starts, the nerves go away because you're into your preparation and you're just into your performance. But in the ninth inning, I was shaking because I was so nervous about him completing it. It wasn't even about how I'm going to broadcast it. Of course, you're aware that these calls live forever, right? When you're talking about these rare moments in baseball history, and that's something we appreciate in this profession. But I wasn't even nervous about the call. I was just nervous about him completing it. So I'm shaking to the point that Jeff Nelson asked me on air. He goes, are you cold? Because it is cold tonight in Oakland. But that's not why I was shaking. I was shaking because I was nervous about Domingo Hermann getting those last three outs. What are you going to do with the scorebook? You got to keep the page, right? You know, I'm going to see right now on eBay what I can get for it. And then if it's not high enough, then we'll go a different route. No, you know, I definitely one thing I like to do in big moments. I think it's something I did for the first time when I called a triple overtime game 10 years ago with Hubie Brown, is have my partner autograph my scorebook. So right after the game, I had Jeff Nelson sign it. And, you know, maybe we'll break autograph policy and get Domingo Hermann to sign it as well, and Kylie Gaciocca. And then it can be framed and go in the office. But it's, you know, the cool thing, John, I think about, you know, we have those commercials for ESPN about sports and what they do. You know, nobody comes to the ballpark in Oakland on a Wednesday night. Nobody stays up late tonight thinking they're getting history. But that's what's cool about sports, is that you just never know. And so just being here, being able to witness this night, tonight, it's always cool to witness sports. Well, 12,479 in Oakland got to witness that. And so I think at that, you could probably have them all sign the scorebook. There's probably room. Ryan Rucco, good for you. And I don't know if you're calling the game tomorrow, 337 on Thursday, but get out of there. Get some sleep, man. Thanks. Yeah. Maybe we'll enjoy a glass of champagne first, but the sleep will be hard.