E.K. NATION

I love the no-hitter. There's just something about that zero in the hit column late in the game. In fact, whenever I go to a baseball game, I always pay close attention to those zeroes until both teams have gotten a hit. There's always that initial letdown once I know I won't be seeing a no-hitter in person that day. After that, I relax a bit. But I always think about it.

No other sport has anything like it. What would the equivalent be in football? No yards gained? How about basketball? Never having the ball stolen from you? Not exactly dramatic, is it?

Golf has its hole-in-one; that's possibly the closest thing. But that doesn't involve nine innings and 27 outs' worth of skill and luck. And it seems every pro golfer is going to get one, or five, or ten, in a career. For pitchers, though, once you throw that no-hitter, your name gets enshrined in that list in the Encyclopedia. Recently, guys like Mike Warren, Bud Smith, and Jose Jimenez, otherwise unnotable, have gotten a dose of fame. And in the case of Bo Belinsky, a no-hitter can help get you dates with the likes of Mamie van Doren and a Playboy Playmate.

Even guys who break up no-hitters in the ninth inning get a certain bit of notoriety. I can think of a guy by the name of Jimmy Qualls, who, if not for a ninth-inning single that broke up Tom Seaver's attempt at a perfect game, would be entirely unremembered by those not related to him for an otherwise undistinguished 63-game-long career that resulted in a .223 average and all of ten runs batted in. I remember the frightful game in 1988 when Dave Stieb was one out away from a no-hitter, and an easy ground ball hit right to second baseman Manny Lee suddenly took a bad hop and flew over Lee's head for a cheap hit.

Last night, Randy Johnson threw the second no-hitter of his career, but this time he went one better by pitching a perfect game. I was fortunate enough to arrive at the horrifically-unsmoothly-named Boston's The Gourmet Pizza in Vancouver, Washington, just in time to see the last two outs. And then, later, I arrived at The Stockpot to discover that were it not for an infield single, the Giants' Jason Schmidt might have thrown a no-hitter himself. Turns out he nearly struck out Michael Barrett one pitch before Barrett grounded one down the third-base line that Edgardo Alfonzo couldn't send over to first quck enough. And that was the only hit.

It reminded me that since I became a Giants fan in 1978, no Giants pitcher has thrown a no-hitter. Ed Halicki threw one in 1975 and John Montefusco did the same a year later, but that's been all she wrote. Never have I had the joy of seeing my team toss one. Of course, the Giants have been no-hit seven times since then. (The last three times it was by pitchers named Kevin: Gross, Brown and Millwood. And those are the only no-hitters ever thrown by men named Kevin.)

I haven't really come close to seeing a no-hitter. I saw Oakland's Barry Zito go four-and-two-thirds innings into a perfect game last season, and I also witnessed the Giants' Don Robinson take a perfect game into the sixth inning against Philly in 1988 before Jackie Gutierrez tried to bunt his way on--an unwritten rule: Don't do that during an established no-hitter--and reached on an error by Bob Brenly. Next batter doubled and that was the end of that.

Which reminds me, now that Johnson has gone perfect, E.K. Nation needs to select a new E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter. Wade Miller of the Astros will have to relinquish his title, having been unsuccessful since his annointing last July 23. Alas, Wade, we will miss you. The new E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter is...Brad Penny of the Florida Marlins. Congratulations, Brad. We await your moment in the sun! He is next scheduled to go this Saturday against Arizona, Randy Johnson's team.