the immaculate inning

I've been following for baseball for many years, and thought I'd heard of almost everything, that was until I heard about a statistical feat that has only been accomplished 44 times.  It is called the "Immaculate Inning," in which the pitcher throws 9 pitches, all strikes, and strikes out all three batters. 

One wonders though that this feat could be accomplished many more times that it might become irrelevant if a pitcher tried for it every inning.  For a pitcher, you don't really want to throw strikes all the time.  If you did that, you might become too predictable, and the hitter may just always know that a strike is coming, giving them a better chance of getting a hit.

The game between the pitcher and batter is a game of deception.  The pitcher throwing fast or slow, in or out, high or low.  

Rays pitcher Rafael Soriano threw the 44th Immaculate Inning in 2010

Oftentimes if a pitcher has two strikes on a batter, but hasn't thrown a ball yet, commonly referred to as an 0-2 count, the pitcher will throw the next baseball in the dirt hoping the batter will swing at something they have no chance of hitting.  A pitcher knows that if he throws a strike, there's a chance he gives up a hit.  There's no chance of giving up a hit when you throw a ball in the dirt.  It is with that reasoning that a pitcher having a great inning isn't really hoping for the Immaculate Inning.