When should we start talking about "The Perfect Game?"

In the past three days, we have had two instances of so-called "near perfect games" between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves (oh, and both times, the Braves were on the short end of the stick).

On Monday, Hiroki Kuroda had a perfect game through the first seven innings before being broken by the first batter in the 8th, Mark Texeira, with a double.

On Wednesday, Derek Lowe had a perfect game through six innings before being ended by a Gregor Blanco base hit.

During the "Tuesday Night Confessional" with me and a group of well-versed sports fans out in town, we talked about this very thing, and I asked the question: "When is it okay to start telling people that there is a perfect game in the works?"

One person said, "going into the Ninth inning." But the majority, myself included, said after the 7th.

See, I could be sarcastic and tell you that after the 1st inning, ANY pitcher could have a "perfect" game. But, a perfect game isn't really impressive until after the 7th. Once you start going through the order a third time around, and still get everyone out, then I can be impressed.

So, shame on you ESPN, for telling me that a perfect game was going after 6 on Monday. And shame on you for wasting a "BREAKING NEWS" crawl on the TV Screen telling me Lowe's perfect game was foiled after 6 innings. Tell me about it when it starts sounding really impressive.