| 2010: The Year of the Pitcher |
By Sally Haase
July 27, 2010
Baseball history was made yet again Monday night when Tampa Bay Rays
pitcher Matt Garza threw the fifth official no-hitter this season. It was Garza’
s first no-hitter and the first for the Rays, leaving the New York Mets and San
Diego Padres as the only two teams in baseball without a no-hitter in its
record books. Not since the 1991 season has baseball seen five no-
hitters. So, what’s changed this season? The absence of performance
enhancing drugs? It’s possible. But it could just be a lucky year for pitchers
this season and there has been some great pitching this season, heck,
even Carl Pavano looks to be back to his pre-Yankees form. Lately it
seems everything is for the hitters, from ballparks built for hitters to teams
bringing the fences in to create more offense. It’s all for the hitters. It is
great to see baseball stories that are not about great offensive feats.
For pitchers like Roy Halladay and Ubaldo Jimenez whose stuff is so nasty
it was only a matter of time before they threw a no-hitter or a perfect game,
they just happened to reach that goal in the same season. Dallas Braden,
Edwin Jackson, Garza, and Armando Galarraga, who threw a perfect game
if it was not for human error are all pitchers who are good, but baseball
analysts were not predicting no-hitters or perfect games for the four, now all
four have a place in baseball history. Jackson’s game could have been
spoiled by that pesky pitch count, thankfully he was left in to complete his no-
hitter. This is the great thing about baseball; you don’t need to be the
second coming of Walter Johnson, Cy Young, or Nolan Ryan to make
history. (Look at all the greats who never threw a no-hitter or perfect game.)
You just need to get into a groove, have a good defense behind you and a
little luck.
July 27, 2010
Baseball history was made yet again Monday night when Tampa Bay Rays
pitcher Matt Garza threw the fifth official no-hitter this season. It was Garza’
s first no-hitter and the first for the Rays, leaving the New York Mets and San
Diego Padres as the only two teams in baseball without a no-hitter in its
record books. Not since the 1991 season has baseball seen five no-
hitters. So, what’s changed this season? The absence of performance
enhancing drugs? It’s possible. But it could just be a lucky year for pitchers
this season and there has been some great pitching this season, heck,
even Carl Pavano looks to be back to his pre-Yankees form. Lately it
seems everything is for the hitters, from ballparks built for hitters to teams
bringing the fences in to create more offense. It’s all for the hitters. It is
great to see baseball stories that are not about great offensive feats.
For pitchers like Roy Halladay and Ubaldo Jimenez whose stuff is so nasty
it was only a matter of time before they threw a no-hitter or a perfect game,
they just happened to reach that goal in the same season. Dallas Braden,
Edwin Jackson, Garza, and Armando Galarraga, who threw a perfect game
if it was not for human error are all pitchers who are good, but baseball
analysts were not predicting no-hitters or perfect games for the four, now all
four have a place in baseball history. Jackson’s game could have been
spoiled by that pesky pitch count, thankfully he was left in to complete his no-
hitter. This is the great thing about baseball; you don’t need to be the
second coming of Walter Johnson, Cy Young, or Nolan Ryan to make
history. (Look at all the greats who never threw a no-hitter or perfect game.)
You just need to get into a groove, have a good defense behind you and a
little luck.
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