Friday, August 11, 2006
E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter™
It is time to put an end to Mark Hendrickson's run as E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter. He now becomes the third Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter to not throw a no-hitter. And he was the worst at not doing it. He had the longest run of any of the three former NPTTANHs, going more than one-and-a-half season's worth of pitching without a no-no. Of course, no pitcher has thrown one in the last two-plus years, and only Randy Johnson has thrown one ever since E.K. Nation started annointing NPTTANHs.
Wade Miller lost his title in May of 2004 when Johnson threw his no-hitter. Brad Penny ceased being the NPTTANH when a new season began in 2005. And we forgot to change it up for this new season. So better late than never. Your new E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter is...
Jon Lieber of the Philadelphia Phillies. Get crackin', Jon.
Some random neat facts about no-hitters, compiled by yours truly, E.K. Nation (not our real name):
• There have been three no-hitters involving interleague matchups, and all of them occurred at Yankee Stadium. (Don Larsen's World Series gem, David Cone's perfect game against the Expos in 1999, and the time when 4,008 Astros pitchers combined to no-hit the Yanks in 2003.
• We've pointed this out before, but might as well do it again. Three times in MLB history a pitcher named Kevin (Brown, Greene, Millwood) has thrown a no-hitter, and all three times it was against the Giants.
• How could the last batter in a no-hitter hit a home run, you ask? Or maybe you didn't ask. But we'll tell you at least one way. Ricardo Rincon followed Francisco Cordova's nine no-hit innings with a tenth no-hit inning in Pittsburgh on July 12, 1997 and the Pirates' Mark Smith hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th for a 3-0 win.
• Hideo Nomo is the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in both Camden Yards and Coors Field.
• Lots of people mistakenly assume that when Gaylord Perry and Ray Washburn threw no-hitters on consecutive days in September 1968, that was the only time a team threw a no-hitter in one game and then the team that got no-hit came back to no-hit them the very next day. In April 1969, Jim Maloney of the Reds no-hit the Astros, and then the next day, Don Wilson of the Astros no-hit the Reds. This might not be easily noticed in a list of no-hitters, because of the dates involved: Maloney's occurred on April 30 and Wilson's occurred on May 1.
• Some say Cy Young's record of 511 wins is the most unbreakable record in baseball. Others say maybe it's Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak. We here at E.K. Nation contend that the toughest record to break in baseball just might be Johnny Vander Meer's two consecutive no-hitters. After all, how the hell is anyone ever going to throw three consecutive no-hitters, especially in this era? In space? At this hour?
Wade Miller lost his title in May of 2004 when Johnson threw his no-hitter. Brad Penny ceased being the NPTTANH when a new season began in 2005. And we forgot to change it up for this new season. So better late than never. Your new E.K. Nation's Next Pitcher To Throw A No-Hitter is...
Jon Lieber of the Philadelphia Phillies. Get crackin', Jon.
Some random neat facts about no-hitters, compiled by yours truly, E.K. Nation (not our real name):
• There have been three no-hitters involving interleague matchups, and all of them occurred at Yankee Stadium. (Don Larsen's World Series gem, David Cone's perfect game against the Expos in 1999, and the time when 4,008 Astros pitchers combined to no-hit the Yanks in 2003.
• We've pointed this out before, but might as well do it again. Three times in MLB history a pitcher named Kevin (Brown, Greene, Millwood) has thrown a no-hitter, and all three times it was against the Giants.
• How could the last batter in a no-hitter hit a home run, you ask? Or maybe you didn't ask. But we'll tell you at least one way. Ricardo Rincon followed Francisco Cordova's nine no-hit innings with a tenth no-hit inning in Pittsburgh on July 12, 1997 and the Pirates' Mark Smith hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th for a 3-0 win.
• Hideo Nomo is the only pitcher to throw a no-hitter in both Camden Yards and Coors Field.
• Lots of people mistakenly assume that when Gaylord Perry and Ray Washburn threw no-hitters on consecutive days in September 1968, that was the only time a team threw a no-hitter in one game and then the team that got no-hit came back to no-hit them the very next day. In April 1969, Jim Maloney of the Reds no-hit the Astros, and then the next day, Don Wilson of the Astros no-hit the Reds. This might not be easily noticed in a list of no-hitters, because of the dates involved: Maloney's occurred on April 30 and Wilson's occurred on May 1.
• Some say Cy Young's record of 511 wins is the most unbreakable record in baseball. Others say maybe it's Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak. We here at E.K. Nation contend that the toughest record to break in baseball just might be Johnny Vander Meer's two consecutive no-hitters. After all, how the hell is anyone ever going to throw three consecutive no-hitters, especially in this era? In space? At this hour?
