ASYLUM POLL: Do you enjoy a pitchers’ duel?
This might sound arrogant, misguided, or just silly, but I typically judge the quality of one’s fandom by how that fan answers one predominant question–Can you enjoy low-scoring games? If you thought the first three quarters of Super Bowl XLII were boring, then I’d generalize you as somebody that doesn’t appreciate the nuance of sport. Hey, it’s nothing personal.

Some people can go to games and cheer whenever the scoreboard tells them to and have a good time. And that’s fine–we need those people. And that brings me to yesterday’s pitchers’ duel between the Mets’ Johan Santana and Florida’s Josh Johnson. Johnson had a no-hitter going through six innings and finished the game. From Yahoo! Sports:

Johnson persevered through a shaky finish to close out a five-hitter Sunday, and the Florida Marlins scored two unearned runs to hand Johan Santana his first loss since June 28 by beating the Mets 2-1.

“I said before the game I was going to go eight or nine innings,” Johnson said. “I finished what I started out to do. That’s huge for me.”

While Johnson pitched his second complete game in 45 career starts, Santana was just as good, allowing only three hits in seven innings and striking out 13. But left fielder Daniel Murphy dropped a fly ball in the second inning for an error that led to both Florida runs.

Baseball, like any other business, enjoys more success when its casual consumers show up and are entertained, and that doesn’t always happen in games like this. That doesn’t make them boring. Having sex with your mother? That’s boring. And by the way, could you tell her to stop calling me?