No No, No, No No No, No No
Posted: February 6th, 2008 | Filed under: Baseball | 41 Comments »
There are so many fun things to be found in The Bill James Handbook. I was glancing through it again in my flu-ridden stupor and ran across his pitchers most likely to throw a no-hitter along with their percentages.
1. Scott Kazmir, 24%
2. Erik Bedard, 23%
3. Jake Peavy, 20%
4. Johan Santana, 17%
5. Daisuke Matsuzaka, 13%
6. A.J. Burnett, 12%
7. Chris Young, 12%
8. Tim LIncecum, 12%
9. Javier Vazquez, 11%
10. Oliver Perez, 11%
I like this list. I thought this was a perfect excuse to come up with my own list on who I think will the next guy to throw a no-no. I have based this list entirely on … nothing except my opinion. Ha. Fooled you there. You long-timers thought I was going to come up with my own bizarre and mathematically unsound statistic to determine who I think has the best chance to throw a no-hitter. No, not this time. It’s all just off the top of my stuffed-up head.
1. Johan Santana. I’m stunned that not only has Santana never thrown a no-hitter, he’s never thrown a one-hitter. He’s never thrown a two-hitter. Of course, the reason for that is simple: Santana does not complete games — the guy has six complete games in his career so far. In case you are wondering, here are the pitchers with the fewest complete games (75 or more victories):
1. Brad Penny, 88 wins, 3 CG
2. Josh Beckett, 77 wins, 4 CG
3. Kirk Reuter, 130 wins, 4 CG
4. Jake Peavy, 76 wins, 5 CG
5. Johan Santana, 93 wins, 6 CG
6. Matt Clement, 87 wins, 6 CG
7. Jarrod Washburn, 93 wins, 7 CG
8. Carlos Zambrano, 82 wins, 7 CG
9. James Baldwin, 79 wins, 7 CG
10. Doug Davis, 75 wins, 7 CG
I do realize that times have changed and if Bob Gibson is sympathetic to the plight of today’s starting pitchers (“They’re just doing what is asked of them,”) then I certainly am not going to play Old-Man Grumpo and complain about how all the music sounds theRecord Rep. same* and how no pitchers throw complete games.
*Great pitches in pop culture history, Take III — we adjusted characters to make it more real life and to pay tribute to our friend who works with iTunes.
Record Rep.: Paul’s done it again.
iTunes Exec.: He has? That’s fabulous. What have you got?
Record Rep.: OK, imagine you’re in a house.
iTunes Exec.: Imagining it.
Record Rep.: Somebody’s knocking on the door.
iTunes Exec.: Sure. It could happen.
Record Rep.: Then they’re ringing the bell.
iTunes Exec.: OK.
Record Rep.: What do you do?
iTunes Exec.: How do you mean?
Record Rep.: Do you just let them keep knocking?
iTunes Exec.: I don’t know. Who are they?
Record Rep.: You’re missing my point. You let them in, right?
iTunes Exec.: Well, it depends, I mean, they could be selling something.
Record Rep.: Exactly.
iTunes Exec.: I’m not following.
Record Rep.: You don’t want to let them in yourself. You want someone else to open the door.
iTunes Exec.: OK, I might want that.
Record Rep.: Maybe you want the person listening to the song to open the door.
iTunes Exec.: The person listening to what song?
Record Rep.: Dig this — Someone’s knocking at the door. Someone’s ringing the bell. Someone’s knocking at the door. Someone’s ringing the bell. Do me a favor. Open the door. And let them in.
iTunes Exec.: What’s that?
Record Rep.: That’s the song.
iTunes Exec.: That’s the song?
Record Rep.: Yep. Perfect. Simple.
iTunes Exec.: What’s it called?
Record Rep.: Let ‘em in.
iTunes Exec.: Let me get this straight. This is a whole song of Paul saying that someone’s knocking on the door, let them in?
Record Rep.: Let ‘EM in. It’s folksy. And of course that’s not the whole song. You need a chorus.
iTunes Exec.: What kind of chorus?
Record Rep.: Well, obviously the mystery of the song, the brilliance, is who is Paul talking to, right? Because he could be talking to anybody, I mean, he could be talking to Sister Suzie, brother John, Martin Luther …
iTunes Exec.: Martin Luther? The theologian who challenged the papacy by nailing the 95 Theses to the Castle Church in Wittenberg?
Record Rep.: I’ll ask Paul. I think it’s just a guy who knows. Marty Luther. Sweet guy. Does Paul’s taxes.
iTunes Exec.: So that’s it. The chorus involves door-opening candidates?
Record Rep.: Well, there are others. Phil and Don. Uncle Ernie. Auntie Jin …
iTunes Exec.: Auntie Jin? What kind of name is Jin? What is that short for?
Record Rep.: I think that’s just there because it rhymes with “Open the door and let ‘em in.”
iTunes Exec.: I see. So that’s everything?
Record Rep.: No … well, yeah, actually. Paul repeats that like five times.
iTunes Exec.: He misses John a lot doesn’t he?
Record Rep.: Pretty much. All he does is write silly love songs.
iTunes Exec.: Well, with a little luck, this will still sell a lot of records. He is Paul, after all.
Record Rep.iTunes Exec.: Exactly. You know my philosophy. Live and let die.
Still, you can’t throw a no-hitter if you can’t go nine innings. Santana has allowed one hit three times in his career –in seven innings twice, and eight innings once. I imagine he will have a no-hitter going late into a game, and I think he will do it this year in the NL. Then we’ll see if he can finish the job.
2. Chris Young. He has led the major leagues in fewest hits allowed per nine innings each of the last two years, which is pretty amazing. But when it comes to pitching into the late innings, he makes Johan Santana look like Robin Roberts. Young had made 99 starts in his still young career and he has completed exactly 0.0 of those games. Not one complete game. He currently ranks fifth on that all-time list, most starts without a complete game (behind Tony Armas, Casey Fossum, Shawn Chacon and Claudio Vargas) and I would say he is by the most accomplished starter to never complete a game.
Again, though, with Young’s heavy stuff, you have to figure he will go into the seventh or eighth with a no-hitter at some point real soon and at least be a no-hit threat. They can’t take him out with a no-hitter, right?
3. Scott Kazmir. One complete game in young Kaz’s career. You know, I realized that the complete game is way, way down and everything, but I guess until I started looking at young pitchers, I had never really put it in proper perspective.
Pitcher of the 1950s: Warren Spahn (215 complete games) or Robin Roberts (237 CGs).
Pitcher of the 1960s: Juan Marichal (196 CGs) or Bob Gibson (165 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1970s: Jim Palmer (175 CGs) or Tom Seaver (147 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1980s: Jack Morris (133 CGs) or Fernando Valenzuela (102 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1990s: Greg Maddux (75 CGs) or Roger Clemens (57 CGs)
Pitcher of the 2000s: Randy Johnson (30 CGs), Pedro (18 CGs), Johan Santana (6 CGs) or Clemens (3 CGs).
We’re there — we’re at that ground floor in baseball now where the complete game is so outdated that it’s possible that the best pitcher in the 2010s might not complete a single game. Or maybe, who knows, some manager and GM will figure that the best way they could score runs would be to go to the old Earl Weaver and Casey Stengel method of platooning, and that will mean the need to have more hitters, thus fewer pitcher, and that would lead to more complete games. I doubt it — as Bill James will tell you the complete game has been dwindling pretty consistently since the beginning of the 20th Century. It seems unlikely now for that trend to ever get reversed.
Anyway, Kazmir’s stuff is so overpowering, he will — assuming he stays healthy — have more than one shot at a no-hitter, I think. I have him below the other two only because it seems to me that an American League guy — especially on an American League team with 19 games against the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays — will have a tougher time throwing the no-no. Of course, that might be wrong. All three no-hitters in 2007 were by American Leaguers (though Justin Verlander threw his against Milwaukee).
4. Carlos Zambrano. I’m surprised he’s not on Bill’s list, though I’m certain there’s a sound reason for it. Zambrano seems to me one of the rare guys in today’s game who — even though he has never actually thrown a no-hitter — is a legitimate threat any time he pitches*. He’s thrown a couple of eight-inning one hitters, two complete game two hitters, if he was pitching in San Diego or LA or somewhere like that I would bet on him being the No. 1 choice to get the next no-hitter.
*In my mind, the Top 10 “I’m going to see Pitcher X tonight because I might see a no-hitter” pitchers of the last 50 or so years would be:
1. Nolan Ryan. Of course.
2. Sandy Koufax.
3. Sudden Sam McDowell. He never threw a no-no, incredibly, but he threw four one-hitters and nine two-hitters from 1965-1971.
4. Pedro. Threw the four one-hitters, and remains the most unhittable pitcher I ever saw live. People forget this, but young Pedro was a workhorse — he led baseball with 13 complete games in 1997 (nobody else even had 10). And he was Top 10 in complete games in ‘99, 2000, ‘03 and ‘05.
5. Randy Johnson.
6. Sid Fernandez. Maybe this is just because my best friend growing up was a Mets fan, but whenever El Sid was pitching we would think, “Hey, we might see a no-no tonight.” Man did that Mets fan want a no hitter (more on this in a minute). El Sid threw a couple of eight inning one hitters, and five complete game two hitters, so numbers-wise I guess he isn’t quite up with the rest of these guys. But I always saw him as a no-hit threat.
7. J.R. Richard.
8. Jose Deleon. I remember that span when Deleon seemed to go into the late innings with a no-hitter practically every time out.
9. Tom Seaver. I mentioned my best friend in high school was a Mets fan. One of my best friends now is a Mets fan. So I’ve heard all my life about the curse of the New York Mets having never thrown a no-hitter — I guess the total is now up to 10 pitchers who threw for the Mets and have thrown no-hitters for other teams. Seaver threw his for the Reds in ‘78.
10. Dwight Gooden (1984-86). He threw one, finally, but that wasn’t until he was a different guy with the Yankees in 1996. Another former Met throwing his no-hitter for somebody else — and this one might hurt the most. In 1985, it was surprising whenever Gooden gave up a hit.
5. Jake Peavy. Another guy who doesn’t complete games. He deservedly ran away with the NL Cy Young Award last year even though he did not throw a shutout nor complete even one game. Last guy to win the NL Cy Young without a single complete game? Roger Clemens in 2004.
But Peavy was a lot better than Clemens in 2004 — he became the 30th pitcher since 1900 to win the League Triple Crown — most wins, most strikeouts, best ERA. He was the first to do it without a complete game* — (only Johan Santana in 2006 has done it without throwing a shutout).
*Another sign of the times.
Here is a sampling of those Triple Crown winners:
Lefty Gomez, 1934: 26-5, 2.33 ERA, 25 CGs, 6 SHOs.
Bob Feller, 1940: 27-11, 2.61 ERA, 31 CGs, 4 SHOs.
Sandy Koufax, 1965: 26-8, 2.04 ERA, 27 CGs, 8 SHOs.
Steve Carlton, 1972: 27-10, 1.97 ERA, 30 CGs, 8 SHOs.
Dwight Gooden, 1985: 24-4, 1.53 ERA, 16 CGs, 8 SHOs.
Roger Clemens, 1997: 21-7, 2.05 ERA, 9 CGs, 3 SHOs, x HGHs
Pedro Martinez, 1999: 23-4, 2.07 ERA, 5 CGs, 1 SHO.
Randy Johnson, 2002: 24-5, 2.32 ERA, 8 CGs, 4 SHOs.
Jake Peavy, 2007: 19-6, 2.54 ERA, 0 CGs, 0 SHOs.
6. Erik Bedard. My favorite Erik Bedard story so far was hearing Brian Bannister talk about facing him in spring training. Banny — what a guy. He takes a lot of pride in his hitting, and he said he was facing Bedard and the guy was throwing serious gas. Banny says that what makes Bedard’s gas so much more effective than most is that he hides the ball really well so that when you’re swinging, it’s ON YOU before you even know what happened.
Anyway, Banny’s telling the story and he says (I’m paraphrasing), “So Bedard throws me a pitch, and I’m right on it. I mean I’m right on it. And I hit a hard line drive — I’m right on it, this is the best I can do — and it goes foul over the first -base dugout. And then I’m like, ‘Uh, OK, I don’t think I’m hitting this guy.”
7. Tim Lincecum. He just seems sort of a modern day Jose Deleon — I think he’ll have no-hitters going into the sixth and seventh inning for as long as he can stay healthy.
8. Matt Cain. I guess a 22-year old stud who consistently allows fewer than 8 hits per nine innings and has been good for one complete game each year he’s been in the big leagues should be on this list.
9. John Maine. I don’t know why … I just think this is the guy who is going to break that Mets curse. He’s thrown a shutout each of the last two years, he keeps hits way down, he strikes out people. Here’s the second preseason call of 2008 — John Maine throws a no-hitter for the Mets.*
*Brilliant reader Jeff P. already points out the contradiction that if I think Maine will throw the first Mets no-hitter, he should be ranked ahead of Santana. It’s true. However, it’s a mind-heart thing. My mind says that Santana is the most likely guy in baseball to throw a no-hitter in 2008. But my heart says he’s another Mets great who won’t throw a no-hitter for the team (while young and up-and-comer John Maine will). The rankings are more based on mind. The opinions are more based on heart. I know this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but there you go. It’s like Eddie told Tom Berenger. Words and music, man. Words and music.
10. Cole Hamels. I’m a huge no-hit fan of Fausto Carmona, King Felix, Jered Weaver, but for whatever reason I can already see the headline: “Cole Hamels Throws No-No.”
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If you think Maine will be the Met to break the curse shouldnt he be ranked ahead of Santana?
Great list tho.
I definitely agree with what you wrote about Big Z. Every time he goes two innings without giving a hit, it feels like a no hitter is coming.
Interesting that from that list there’s about a total of 1.5 no-hitters. I’ll take the “under”.
Seems to me that K rate is probably the best determinant of no-hitting potential. Not K/9, but PA/K. People who walk guys are going to have to face more batters, so that’s why I think someone like Zambrano – high strikeout, high walk – won’t make this list.
Peavy and Burnett are my picks. Both are solid K guys, Burnett tends to walk a few too many guys but I feel like he has a fair amount of 10+ strikeout games. And in addition, the “scout” in me says that they have the best “stuff” of anyone in baseball. Peavy in particular just makes some ridiculous things happen with the ball.
I gotta go with King Felix…. he is very young and still “putting it together” but already when he is on he is dominant (see April game @ Fenway last year).. plus he pitches in a pitchers park in a relatively weak hitting division….
Royal mostly likely to throw no no? Got to be Greinke.
Hey Joe, hope you’re feeling better.
Personally I’d add Brandon Webb to that list. He conceivably could throw 27 ground ball outs and already has that great scoreless inning streak.
The Mets’ inability to throw no-hitters?
The Curse of Nolan Ryan
I saw Kaz’s only complete game live at home two years ago against the Red Sox. He was brilliant that night. He gave up a hit fairly early to Alex Gonzalez, but then the other one was in the 9th inning when you could tell he was amped up and ready to get the shutout. He’d been sitting at 93 most of the night, and then all of a sudden was throwing ‘em in there at 95 with less command. Manny connected for a double, then Maddon came out to calm him down and he finished the job. As he gets more experience, he won’t overdo it like that when he’s tense, and I’m sure that sooner rather than later he’ll end up with no hits rather than one heading into the 9th inning.
Speaking of Chris Young, I remember the game he threw on September 22, 2006. He was just two outs away from a no-hitter when he walked Jose Bautista. Up came former Royal Joe Randa and what happened? Randa blasted the ball over the wall to not only end Young’s no-hitter but also his shutout. In the end, Young was replaced after a 2-out walk to end his complete game. It’s just good to see Joe Randa ruin a no-hitter, kind of like what Mike Sweeney did to Scott Baker last year.
Looks like a good list. I’m calling two no-hitters in 2008 – Santana will no-hit the Giants, and Kazmir will no-hit the Orioles. I’d call for Young to no-hit the Giants, too, but they’re my favorite team and I just can’t do it, historically weak offense or not.
If I were less lazy, I guess I’d calculate the % of CG that are SHO or no-hitters, and trend this over time.
I imagine that the % is going up fairly dramatically, and we’ll probably get to the point where the only CG are SHO or no-hitters.
Anyone care to do the math?
All these numbers on CG’s really put Roy Halladay’s dominance (in this respect) into perspective.
Halladay has 31 career CG’s, which places him 12th among active players. All of the players ahead of him have way more starts.
Check it out. Here is the leaders in CG for 2002-2007, along with how many games they’ve started…
Player | CG | GS
Halladay | 28 | 173
Livan | 25 | 203
Colon | 20 | 162
Unit | 19 | 165
Mulder | 19 | 141
28 complete games over 6 seasons won’t seem like much to old-school guys, but it’s enough to lead the league pretty handily.
Rob Neyer used to write that he had never seen a no-hitter, so he would watch Randy Johnson as often as he could. And, after a few years of his writing this, it worked…one day, at a SABR convention I think, he went to a Randy Johnson game and he saw his first no-hitter. It was pitched by Jose Jimenez.
There’s a moral in this, even before you get to Bud Smith.
Joe,
You should do a blog about all the guys that threw no-hitters and then pretty shortly vanished into obscurity. There are a lot like that. Mike Warren of the 83 A’s, Bud Smith on the (I think) 02 Cards, Juan Nieves of the 87 Brewers, etc.
While his 07 numbers don’t help, and I may get bashed for this, but for years the Indian I have been expecting to throw a no-no is Jake Westbrook. He has 62 wins and 11 CG. Anyone remember a couple years ago when he came in in relief down 6 with no outs in the first after a rain delay and threw 7 perfect innings before getting the hook?
Joe,
the McCartney bit had me laughing out loud, but I think you got the characters wrong. Artists don’t have agents who pitch songs to a producer. I’d have the Artists & Repertoire (A&R) guy talking to the label president. The A&R guy and the producer are already sold on it being a hit just because of the hook, they need to sell it to the higher-ups now. But I’m just anal about those things – one of your funniest digressions, for sure.
As for the topic of the post, how come Clay Buchholz doesn’t get a mention? I mean, he did it in his second major league start, so he has the stuff and the mental fortitude, he isn’t likely to do it again when he becomes an established star?
Every Greg Maddux start I have ever watched in my mind is a count-down to a no-hitter. 23 outs to go. I know the odds are really slim but I’m faithfully waiting.
Santana almost never throws a complete game, but he also almost never doesn’t go deep into a game. He has pitched more innings than anyone over the last four or five years. Perhaps one of these (lack of complete games) explains the other (never a clunker).
I was at the Dome last year when Santana set a team record with 17 strikeouts. Yeah, it was against the Rangers, but still an amazing performance. Sammy Sosa was the only Ranger to get a hit. So…17 strikeouts in eight innings and the manager does not let Johan pitch the ninth! Yarrgh.
It’s a chicken-or-the-egg problem with platoons and huge bullpens. If you’re facing a team with two lefties and four righties in the ‘pen, they can mix-and-match against your platooned hitters, giving them the advantage.
How about the most underrated pitcher in baseball: Aaron Harang? Lots of Ks and CGs, anyway.
I think the #1 thing keeping Kazmir from throwing a no-no is that he doesn’t get to pitch against his own team.
My top two would be Santana and Lincecum.
Santana because of his more advantageous park, lack of a DH, and NL hitters unfamiliarity with him.
Lincecum because I’m just infatuated with his stuff and have kind of a man-crush on him. Most exciting young player for me since Eric Davis. And as a born-and-raised Buc fan I appreciate the comparison to the all but forgotten Jose Deleon.
No love for Roy Halladay? As Ryan J L points out above, Roy’s had more complete games over the last six seasons than anybody, including seven last year. He’s a ground-ball pitcher with excellent control; his philosophy is to keep his pitch counts low by pitching to contact.
April 13, 2007 – Pitches 10 innings, allows six hits including a home run, doesn’t walk a soul, throws only 107 pitches.
April 30, 2007 – 9 innings, 5 hits, one run, no walks, eight SO, 110 pitches.
July 22, 2007 – 9 innings, three hits, no runs, one walk, three SO, 111 pitches.
August 14, 2007 – 9 innings, five hits, one run, one walk, two SO, 99 pitches.
With such an economy of pitches, he’s always a candidate to go the distance. If he can just get lucky with where the ground balls go (and the Jays have a very strong defense), he could have not only a no-hitter, but with his control, a perfect game.
How about Jeremy (#10) with the ballsy call that Santana will no-no the Giants?
Chances are he’ll only get one start against the Giants all season!
I’m surprised that you chose Paul for your “pitch” gag instead of Ringo, given that Ringo had “The No-No Song” which would be oddly appropriate for this post.
The closest Zambrano has come to a no-hitter was in 2003 against Arizona, some time in August… the first hit he allowed was an infield single in the 8th. Replays later indicated that the batter should have been called out. Z didn’t allow another hit until there were 2 outs in the 9th (so the game would have been over if the correct call had been made), ending up with a 3-hitter.
Mikey,
Sorry I can’t think of another word to describe this, but your comment about Kaz not being able to throw a no-hitter because he can’t face his own team is stupid. I’m sure you’re not a stupid guy, but that remark was ridiculous. The Rays had a middle of the pack and improving offense last year. If you’re going to criticize a team, criticize it for accurate reasons. We’ve been a historically bad franchise, yes, but that doesn’t make us terrible at everything we’ve done, especially not in the last few years. Again, sorry if this came off as harsh, but that was an utterly indefensible remark.
the mets’ inability to throw no hitters is the Faustian bargain they made in ‘69. the marlins thought they’d made a better deal – they’ve had their no-no, after all – but look at that franchise and imagine being a fins fan. those Faustian bargains are a bitch.
my bet for first mets no hitter is ollie perez. streaky ol has some fabulous low/no walk days, and with a full season of pedro and johan in his head, he’s the man.
Dan V.,
Ringo didn’t write “The No-No Song,” Hoyt Axton did.
Joe,
changing it to i-tunes exec makes even less sense than an agent pitching to a producer. I-tunes doesn’t care what the song is, if its produced on a major label (or even a non-major), it will offer it. I’m telling you, A&R man to Label Pres.
Shouldn’t Steve Busby be on the top 10 list somewhere? 2 No Nos in 127 starts pre-blown rotator cuff. (He had 27 more starts after the rotator cuff but was of course never the same).
“Ringo didn’t write “The No-No Song,†Hoyt Axton did.”
Learn something new every day. Thanks, guy with the same name as me.
Mikey – thanks!
It may seem ballsy at a glance, but really, look at the Giants’ projected lineup. It’s quite remarkable.
Joe K.,
That did come off pretty harsh.
While the Rays did have a mid-pack offense, I guess personally I think that a team playing in the AL East that lead the league in strikeouts is a better than average candidate to get no-hit.
But let’s make it interesting. I’ll offer you a bet on the Rays getting no-no’d this year.
American League teams have been no-hit 108 times in history, close enough to once a year. Given that, fair odds on any given AL team getting no-hit in a single season should be 13-1, right?
If you’ll give me 13-1 odds, I’ll send 50 bucks to Joe (if he’ll hold the dough) and you can send in $650, and at the end of the year one of us can collect.
It’ll be fun.
What do you say?
Mikey,
the thing with your “Kazmir doesn’t get to pitch against his own team” thing, is that you go on to name Lincecum as a no-hit candidate.
If there is any pitcher whose chances are hurt by not pitching against his own team, Lincecum has to be way up there.
HaHa….yes, that’s true. Good call by you, Kyle.
Still haven’t heard if Joe K. is going to take me up on that bet.
Stakes not high enough for you, Joe K?
We can push it up to $100 vs. $1300 if that draws your interest……
Nah, sorry, I’m a college student without the kind of dough to even risk it. At another time, I might take you up on it, even though in a way, you’re right; the Rays have nights when they’re anemic with the bats and can’t hit anything. My point is that there are more suitable candidates for your claim than Kazmir, such as Lincecum, Webb, and Peavey. When you follow a team that’s been terrible since you were a kid, and you can finally start to see the pieces fitting, you get kind of pissed off when people make blanket statements based on the franchise and not the team.
Johan Santana pitched a triple crown in 2006. And he didn’t just get the AL either, he beat all of MLB in those 3 categories.
He had 19 wins which tied Ching Ming Wang for first. Then he had a 2.77 ERA, Oswalt was second with a 2.98 ERA (Halladay was second in the AL with a 3.19 ERA). Finally he had 245 strikeouts with Aaron Harang coming in second with 216 (Bonderman was second in the AL with 202).
So yeh Santana is really really good, and will probably throw a no-hitter at some point.
Love, love, LOVE Let ‘em In! And, yes, Paul has been known to crank out some odd lyrics. My theory is he writes one of his characteristically great melodies, maybe throwing in some dummy lyrics as he composes and then thinks to himself “You know, that’s bloody good enough. I’ve done it again!” My wife will certainly never let me forget the lyrics to Driving Rain:
“1,2,3,4,5 Let’s go for a drive,
6,7,8,9,10 Let’s go there and back and again.”
Anyway, the Phil and Don in the song are the Everly Brothers.
And, oh yeah, no-hitters are great too. I can’t get over the fact Clemens never threw one. Nor Maddux, though that one is certainly a bit more understandable. What were the odds of Clemens and Maddox winning roughly 700 games and 11 Cy Youngs and never tossing a no-no between them?
How many no hitters/perfect games were pitched by journeymen pitchers like Don Larsen? I was in First Grade in ‘56 and remember listening to updates and excerpts of the game over the loudspeaker in school!
There’s hope for the Royals! Mike Maroth pitched a one hit shutout against the Yankees in 2004. Maybe he’ll get a no-no this year for KC. It’s ok as long as it’s not against the Tigers.
If 17 percent is Santana’s likelihood that he’ll throw one sometime in his career, than I like our odds of breaking the 46-year streak! He hasn’t thrown one yet and we have a six-year contract, so that percentage should go up each year he doesn’t throw one.