Let's revisit the magic and pitching mastery of Felix Hernandez's perfect game

The afternoon of Aug. 15, 2012, was a special one in the Pacific Northwest, for it was the day of King Felix's coronation. 
The Mariners right-hander had a pretty good outing against the Rays. Or to put it another way, he threw a pretty perfect game against Evan Longoria and his Tampa Bay teammates with some just straight-up filthy pitching. Hernandez's fastball blazed, his slider slid, his changeup changed up, and so on. It was the stuff of legend, and made Felix the 23rd pitcher in MLB history to accomplish the rare feat. 
In the end, it was a tidy 1-0 win by the Mariners, which made for a spotlessly clean box score:

And it's impossible to reminisce about this magical day without pausing to shout-out Hernandez's emphatic, Where The Wild Things Are-themed mound celebration after catching Sean Rodríguez looking to seal the deal: 

Seattle's catcher that afternoon was John Jaso. In the ensuing offseason, Jaso was traded to the A's ... who faced Felix on Opening Night in Oakland. As a token of his appreciation for that big day in Seattle, Hernandez gifted Jaso a Rolex, even though the two were now on rival AL West teams. Jaso, who joked with MLB.com's Jane Lee that the Rolex was a bit of an "upgrade" from his regular wristwatch, was awed by the gesture.
"Getting to be a part of it is way bigger than this, but this is definitely a really nice gesture," Jaso told Lee. "He really didn't have to. I was really just happy with being behind the plate. He came through."

"He came through" is a decidedly understated way of referring to the flat-out dominance Hernandez showed that day. His game score was 99, tied for the 14th-highest ever in a nine-inning start, and he spread his outs evenly -- inducing eight ground balls and seven flyouts to go with 12 strikeouts. It was a master class in pitching, really. 

Afterward, Hernandez and his teammates let it all out in the clubhouse -- a group exhale, of sorts, after what went down on the diamond:

Definitely one of the greatest days in Seattle sports history.