Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay, middle, celebrates with Carlos Ruiz, right, and Ryan Howard after Halladay threw a perfect game on May 29 in Miami, the second such performance in 20 days. (Wilfredo Lee/Associated Press)

Buck Martinez has a theory for why the major leagues have seen three perfect games this season, two of them official.

The athlete is returning to baseball.

Now a broadcaster, the longtime big-league catcher took Toronto's Jim Clancy into the ninth inning of a perfecto in 1982 before Randy Bush broke it up. And he was in the lineup when Len Barker threw a no-no at the Jays in 1981.

So he's seen them. But nothing like this month.

"We went through that steroid era and drugs and everything else, and obviously we're not completely through that yet, but athleticism has returned," he told CBCSports.ca on Friday night, standing behind the batting cage before the start of a three-game series with the New York Yankees at Rogers Centre.

"Pitchers have become dominant [again], and you are seeing athleticism come back to the game."

John Buck, the current Toronto catcher, says it's also indicative of "the quality of the pitchers we have in the game now."

And, he adds, it's pretty darn cool.

This sudden run of superb pitching began May 9 in Oakland, when Dallas Braden gave up no runs, no hits and no base runners to the Tampa Bay Rays. That was just the second perfect game in Athletics history.

Statistically, that should have been it for the year, but Roy Halladay, the ex-Blue Jay, pulled the trick 20 days later as his Philadelphia Phillies beat the Florida Marlins 1-0.

Two in one year (there have been 20 overall) tied a mark that was set 130 years ago when Lee Richmond of the Cleveland Blues beat the Worcester Ruby Legs 1-0 on June 12, 1880.

Five days later, John Montgomery Ward of Providence, a giant of early baseball, stoned the Buffalo Bisons 5-0.

How's that for a record standing the test of time?

Then this week, Armando Galarraga of the Detroit Tigers had the perfecto in hand when with two out in the ninth, first base umpire Jim Joyce blew the call and called the runner safe.

Three would have been so far past the statistical curve it might have set a mark that would never be broken.

Or to steal (badly) from Winston Churchill, it would have been an enigma, surrounded by a statistical anomaly that was buried by a bizarre umpire's call.

So much has to happen

Chatting with Yankee catcher Jorge Posada, who caught David Wells's perfect game on May 17, 1998, and Mike Mussina's effort on Sept. 2, 2001, that was broken up with two outs in the ninth, you start to get a picture of everything that has to come together to create one of sport's most difficult tasks.

There's great execution of the pitches. Great location. Pinpoint control. Then there has to be an excellent scouting report of the opponent so the defence is exactly right.

You have to attack the lineup, get great plays behind you, and on top of all that, toss in a nice gift from good old Lady Luck.

That defence seems the most important outside of what the pitcher can control.

Martinez and Posada both mentioned how so many great plays have been made near the end of perfect and near-perfect games because no one out in the field wants to be responsible for wrecking things.

"I can remember [infielder] Cookie Rojas pounding his glove, several times, as he waited for the last out on [Steve] Busby's no-hitter in Milwaukee (June 19, 1974)," said Martinez, about his time as a Kansas City Royal.

"It was like 'Hit it to me … hit it to me … hit it to me …' and everybody feels like that. There's always tremendous focus."

And tremendous plays.

Such as a year ago, when Dewayne Wise went up and almost over the outfield fence to bring back a home run and preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect 5-0 victory for the Chicago White Sox over the Rays.

Not to mention a little common sense from everyone else.

Buck remembers catching a perfecto, two outs into the ninth, back in the minors at Louisville, when the stadium announcer chimed in "one more strike folks, and this is a perfect game."

End of perfect game.

Psychology of the perfecto

Catchers have nearly as much, if not more, to do in looking after a potential no-no-no.

You have to look after the defence, remember the hitters tendencies and keep the pitcher from losing his head. That means making sure everything goes along as normal — no changing things just because history is knocking at the door and wants to come in.

At the same time, you have to be ready for when the nearly inevitable occurs and the chance goes awry.

"[Then], you talk to the pitcher," Posada says. "You try to get him to focus on trying to win the game now … you go out there and calm him down … just finish the game, and let's have a good night."

Hard to think of a good night when history is gone and a mere victory is now the goal.

A bloop single here (Clancy, for example, ending an incredibly quick one hour 33 minute outing), a seeing-eye pinch-hit single there (Mussina) and it's all over. Baseball history is littered with almosts and oh-that-was-so-darn-close-too-bad-fella moments.

Most of all, a perfect game is simply, well, amazing.

"We almost had three already this year, and they're very special," Posada says. "They are unique. You will never forget about it, never forget them, and always talk about them."

Almost deserves a World Series-type ring to commemorate it.

"David Wells did get me a ring," Posada says, and you can hear the pride. "He had a ring made for him, and for me."