Wednesday, October 22, 2008
August 31, 2008, Milwaukee vs. Pittsburgh: CC Sabathia is throwing smoke until Adam Laroche nubs a ball out in front of the plate, one of those little rollers that just crawls off the bat; Sabathia pounces to make the play, and as Laroche rolls down the first-base line, the ball rolls up CC’s arm – no play, safe at first. The scorekeeper botches the call as badly as Sabathia did the ball, and that little squibber goes into the books as a hit... the only hit, it turns out, that the big lefty gave up that day, a would-be no-hitter turned complete-game, one-hit shutout. I saw Steve Phillips lament the scorekeeper’s bad call about a month later, saying, and I paraphrase: "CC Sabathia has a no-hitter as far as I’m concerned." This is good news for those looking to Mr. Phillips for their baseball history, though I’d take a perusal of the Steve Phillips page on Fire Joe Morgan before I’d take him with even a grain of salt.But I digress.
July 26, 1991, Montreal vs. Los Angeles: Two days before teammate Dennis Martinez throws his Perfect Game, Mark Gardner goes 9 hitless-innings against the Dodgers before giving up singles to the first two batters of the tenth, losing the no-no and, eventually, the game in the process. Gardner’s hard-luck story prompted a loud and sometimes boisterous reexamination in the media of what, exactly, constituted a "no-hitter", and the name Harvey Haddix kept appearing like a specter hovering over the conversation...
May 26, 1959, Milwaukee vs. Pittsburgh: After shutting the Braves down for 12 innings, Haddix suddenly finds himself pitching with a man on first after an error by his third-baseman, the first baserunner of the day for Milwaukee. Eddie Mathews sacrifices the runner over, and then Haddix is forced to intentionally-walk Hank Aaron; next up is Joe Adcock, and he wallops a run-scoring, game-ending double: 12 perfect innings for Haddix, followed by an error, a walk, and a hit that led to a loss on a single unearned run.
Some argued that Haddix had thrown a Perfecto because he recorded 27 consecutive-outs through 9 innings; other scoffed at the idea of calling it a "Perfect Game" when the actual game went for another 3 innings. The sides were drawn, and the battle was fierce... and for what?
As of this writing, there are 102 individual-members of the No-Hit Club since 1947, and 12 of those guys are lounging with Perfect Game tiaras. Suffice it to say, throwing a no-hitter is an amazing accomplishment, but hardly the kind of thing that could be called "infrequent". In fact, in terms of single-game dominance, "hits allowed" is only one of the factors that should warrant consideration. Compare Tom Browning’s 1988 Perfect Game, in which his fielders got him 20 of the 27 outs, with Kerry Wood’s 20 strikeout-game ten years later: the fireballing Cub didn’t walk a soul and only gave up a measly infield-single in what was, perhaps, the most untouchable performance in history... but, having allowed that itty-bitty hit, Wood can’t get past the bouncer at the No-Hit Club.
In 2001, AJ Burnett threw a 7 K no-hitter for Florida but somehow managed to walk NINE for a single-game WHIP of 1.00, an absolutely unheard stat for a no-no, but there he is, sitting next to Bob Gibson; a few months later, future teammate Roy Halladay punched-out 8 in a complete-game, 2-hit shutout in which he walked none, but, oh, those twin base-knocks... the shame. Hell, Tom Seaver’s no-hitter wasn’t even the best game of his career, a tepid 3-walk, 3-strikeout effort that pales in comparison to his 19 K complete-game in which he traded a solo-homerun for 10 consecutive-strikeouts to end the contest.
What I’m getting at is that a no-hitter doesn’t define a pitcher’s career unless he’s thrown 7 of them and his name is Nolan Ryan; nobody’s going to look at Pedro Martinez’ name on the Hall of Fame ballot and say, "sure, but where’s his no-no?" Mostly, it’s the stories that go with the performances that people care about, the Perfect World Series Game of Don Larsen, the no-hitter Dave Stieb finally threw three years after getting burned by two-out, ninth-inning hits in back-to-back starts, the 3 hits and 3 ribbies Catfish Hunter contributed to his own cause while spinning a Perfecto of his own; it’s Toothpick Sam Jones walking the bases full in the ninth and then fanning the side for his no-no, or Rick Wise mashing 2 homeruns to help himself and his no-hitter, or Ewell Blakwell following his no-no with 8 more no-hit innings in his next start, or Milt Pappas retiring 26 straight before walking the 27th on a 3-2 pitch, or Virgil Trucks in 1952 throwing 2 no-hitters, falling a leadoff-single short of a third, and somehow finishing the season with a record of 5-19.
At least the aforementioned CC Sabathia won his game; in 1964 Ken Johnson threw a no-hitter and lost. So don’t cry for Sabathia, and certainly don’t cry for Harvey Haddix, either; he’s not just a name on a list somewhere on Baseball-Almanac, but, instead, he’s a singularity, the name that will be mentioned forevermore when someone has to go longer than 9 for a shot at a no-hitter, he's Harvey Haddix: The Man Who Threw 12 Perfect Innings Only To Lose In 13.
Nobody else can even come close to that. ¶ 12:40 AM
