No-Hitter!

 

Florida rookie pitcher Anibal Sanchez on Wednesday threw the major league’s first no-hitter since Randy Johnson’s perfect game on May 18, 2004 – turning the trick against the very team Johnson threw his perfecto for.  Joe Borchard (6-for-his-last-12 with 2 HR and 5 RBI) and Miguel Cabrera each homered. The Marlins’ 2-0 win over Arizona helped pull the Fish back over .500 and kept them within 3 games of San Diego in the Wild Card.  But the big news was Sanchez’ gem, which broke the longest no-hitter drought since baseball went 538 game days from August 8, 1931 to September 21, 1934 without one.  This streak lasted 469 game days, 69 short of the record and ended just two days after Ramon Ortiz took a no-hitter into the ninth for Washington.  It also ended a record streak of 6,364 games between no-no’s, besting the previous mark of 4,015 set between September 30, 1984 and September 16, 1986. 

 

The no-hitter was the fourth in Marlins franchise history.  A.J. Burnett was the last to throw a no-no for Florida, spinning his gem against the Padres on May 12, 2001.  Al Leiter and Kevin Brown both tossed no-no’s for the Fish in 1996.  Sanchez is the first rookie to throw a no-hitter since Bud Smith no-hit the Padres on September 1, 2001. It was the second time the D’Backs have been no-hit, the first coming at the hands of Jose Jimenez – then a rookie for the Cardinals – in 1999.

 

Sanchez’ performance leaves DN&N ashamed for having left him off our ROY preview on Wednesday, though with so many great contenders, it’s not hard to see how we missed one.  Surely Sanchez won’t win, but his impressive numbers deserved previewing along with the others.

 

NL ROY	TM	W	L	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	G	GS	CG	SO
Sanchez	Fla	7	2	2.89	87.3	65	30	28	7	39	53	14	13	1	1

 

NL ROY	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	H/9	HR/9	BAA	OBP	SLG	OPS	GB/FB	GDP	RS
Sanchez	1.19	5.46	4.02	6.70	0.72	0.208	0.303	0.339	0.641	0.94	7	3.40

 

 

Rookie No-Hitter Trivia Question – Anibal Sanchez became the 17^th rookie pitcher since 1900 to throw a no-hitter, doing so in his 13^th major league start.  Can you name the only rookie ever to throw a no-hitter in his very first major league start?  (Answer Below)

 

No-Hitter #2?

 

Just as Sanchez completed his gem, Randy Johnson – perhaps inspired by the rookie’s accomplishment – was flirting with one of his own, tossing 6 no-hit innings at the Kansas City Royals before David DeJesus led off the 7^th with a triple to end the Unit’s bid for his third career no-hitter.  DeJesus was quickly erased when Jorge Posada picked him off third, and Johnson would get out of the inning unscathed, allowing just 1 hit in 7 shutout innings to earn his 16^th win of the year and 279^th of his HOF-worthy career.  Posada hit two home runs in the 8-3 win and has 19 on the year.

 

Double No-Hitter Trivia Question – With Johnson’s near miss, MLB just missed having two no-hitters in the same day for the first time since 1990 – the year Johnson threw his first for Seattle.  Can you name the two pitchers who achieved the dual feat that year? (Answer Below)

 

Daily News

 

Mere minutes after the Tigers 5-4 loss to Seattle on Wednesday, the club unconditionally released designated hitter Dmitri Young.  Young missed more than two months of the season on the disabled list with a quadriceps injury and for what was described at the time as personal reasons.  Young later confirmed he spent 30 days in a treatment center for substance abuse.  Though GM Dave Dombrowski and manager Jim Leyland stressed the move was made based on play, Young entered Wednesday’s game hitting .300 with 7 HR and 19 RBI in 32 games since rejoining the team in July.  He was 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts in the loss and was removed for a pinch hitter in the 8^th with the tying runs on base and nobody out.

 

Blue Jays owner Ted Rogers told reporters on Wednesday that the team will raise its payroll for the 2007 season.  The team added $27 million to the payroll last season – from $45 million in ’05 to $72 million this year – and GM J.P. Ricciardi told reporters that the Blue Jays would need to spend more if they wanted to unseat the Yankees and Red Sox.  "I think you can be competitive and you can have some good years, but I think these two teams, with their payroll, it's going to be really tough to catch them if we stay at $70 million," Ricciardi said. "If everything goes right, we might find a way to make the playoffs, but a lot has to go right to overtake those two teams. It's not sour grapes or anything -- it's just the reality. We'll be competitive, but up to a point."  Team President Paul Godfrey said that ’07 payroll had not been finalized and cautioned against “jumping to conclusions of what that number could be.”

 

Already assured a spot in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the U.S. team beat Cuba 8-5 to win the gold medal at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Havana on Tuesday night.  Bobby Hill, Brandon Wood and Jarrod Saltamacchia all hit home runs and Michael Bourn hit two as the U.S. team finished at 8-1 for the tournament.  Wood’s 2-run shot in the 8^th broke a 5-5 tie and Saltamacchia added an insurance run with his HR in the 9^th.  Lee Gronkiewicz got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.  Cuba, by virtue of reaching the finals, also qualified for the ’08 Olympics. 

 

Mark Mulder – 0-3, 29.57 ERA in his last three starts – will undergo an arthroscopic procedure to repair his damaged rotator cuff, the club announced on Wednesday.  Mulder received a conformational second opinion from Dr. David Altchek, the Mets’ team doctor, and decided in favor of the procedure.  Mulder’s agent said rehab should take 10-12 weeks and the southpaw free agent to be is expected to be ready to go when the ’07 season kicks off. 

 

The Chase is Wild

 

American League Wild Card leader Minnesota lost 4-2 to Tampa Bay on Wednesday despite getting home runs from Rondell White and Joe Mauer, plus six one-hit shutout innings from Carlos Silva.  Rookie Pat Neshek allowed two home runs in the 7^th inning, his second and third allowed in his last two outings, as the D’Rays erased a 2-0 Twins lead.  The loss dropped the Twins’ lead over the White Sox in the Wild Card chase to just a half a game as the Sox beat Boston 8-1 behind home runs from Jim Thome (39) and Jermaine Dye (40) as well as 8 strong innings from ace Jose Contreras (12-7, 4.09). 

 

The win for the White Sox not only pulled them to within a half a game of the Twins, but also to within 4 ½ of the struggling Tigers (15-20 since August 1) who lost 5-4 to Seattle in 10 innings after rallying to tie it with three runs in the 8^th.

 

Boston and Los Angeles, who were 8-4 winners over Baltimore on Wednesday, trail the Twins by 6 games each.

 

AL - Wild Card Leader

Minnesota        – 80-58   –

Chicago            – 80-59 0.5

Los Angeles     – 75-65 6.0

Boston             – 75-65 6.0

 

Rookie Paul McAnulty, recalled on Tuesday from the minors, hit a two-run pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the 11^th inning to break a scoreless tie and give the Padres their fifth win in a row.  Rookie Clay Hensley threw 7 shutout innings for the Pads.  The win kept the Friars’ lead in the Wild Card at 3 games over Florida and extended their lead over Philadelphia to that same margin. 

 

They also remain just 1 game behind L.A. in the West.  The Dodgers beat the Brewers 2-1 behind 8 strong innings from Derek Lowe and Takashi Saito’s 18^th save.

 

The Phillies dropped even with the Marlins, losing 5-3 at home to Houston when Lance Berkman cleared the bases in the ninth with a two-out double, breaking a 2-2 tie.  The Astros remain 5 games behind San Diego with the win.

 

The Giants got 5 2/3 strong innings from rookie Jonathan Sanchez (including 4 hitless innings) and two home runs from Ray Durham.   They beat Cincinnati for the second time in three days and remain 3 ½ games back of San Diego.  The Reds with the loss, fell to 4 ½ games behind the Padres in the Wild Card chase.

 

The Mets swept a doubleheader with Atlanta, lowering their magic number to clinch the East to 8 and effectively killing whatever hope the Braves had left to make the playoffs.  They are now 7 games under .500 and 7 games behind the Padres.  Atlanta’s run of 14 consecutive division titles will end with any combination of Mets wins and Braves losses totaling 4.

 

NL – Wild Card Leader

San Diego        – 73-66   –

Philadelphia      – 70-69 3.0

Florida             – 70-69 3.0

San Francisco   – 70-70 3.5

Cincinnati         – 69-71 4.5

Houston           – 68-71 5.0

Atlanta             – 66-73 7.0

 

Rookie No-Hitter Trivia Answer – While Sanchez’ no-hitter came in his 13^th big league start, Bobo Holloman on May 6, 1953 for the St. Louis Browns, became the first – and so far only – rookie to throw a no-hitter in his first major league start.  Holloman made his big league debut in a relief appearance for the Browns on April 18 of that year and made just 9 more starts in his major league career, all in 1953.  He was 3-7 with a 5.23 ERA in 22 appearances that season and never pitched in the majors again.

 

Double No-Hitter Trivia Answer – Johnson and Sanchez just missed becoming the first pair of pitchers to throw a no-hitter on the same day since Dave Stewart of the A’s and Fernando Valenzuela of the Dodgers both did it on June 29, 1990 – 27 days after Johnson’s first career no-hitter and 18 days after Nolan Ryan’s 6^th.

 

All-Time Leaderboard Quick Hits

 

Shawn Green’s two home runs in the Mets’ doubleheader sweep on Wednesday gave him 316 in his career.  This propelled him into the top 100 all-time, leapfrogging Jeromy Burnitz (315 career, 1 since July 29) and tying him with Ron Cey for 99^th all-time.

 

Moises Alou has 313 career HR, one behind Reggie Smith and two behind Burnitz, putting him in 103^rd all-time.

 

Jim Thome, 4-for-4 in the Sox win, hit the 469^th HR of his ML career, tying him with Manny Ramirez for 26^th on the all-time list.  Both are six HR behind Stan Musial and Willie Stargell.  Frank Thomas is next after that pair with 480.

 

Thomas’ 480^th career HR on Wednesday left him 1 RBI shy of tying Willie McCovey (1,555) for 35^th all-time.  The run scored moved him past Joe DiMaggio and tied him with Sam Crawford for 80^th on the career list with 1,391.

 

We know that Barry Bonds needs just 3 HR to tie Hank Aaron for the NL record, and with 730 in his career, he is just 25 shy of the all-time mark.  But he also needs just 2 RBI to tie Eddie Murray for 8^th on the all-time list in that category.  With 509 career stolen bases, Bonds needs just 1 to break a tie with Harry Stovey for 32^nd all-time. 

 

Speaking of stolen bases – as we know thanks to Asher – Kenny Lofton is just 8 SB shy of becoming just the 16^th player in history with 600.  He’ll need to pass Dummy Hoy, though, before he gets there, needing two to tie and three to overtake him.

 

Brad Lidge picked up his 102^nd career save on Wednesday, leaving him one behind Braden Looper, Ron Reed and John Wyatt for 100^th all-time.

 

Craig Biggio continues his climb up the all-time hit list and is now just 84 hits away from becoming the 27^th player with 3,000 in his career.  He needs 11 to tie Al Simmons for 33^rd all-time.

 

Andy Pettitte needs ten more strikeouts to reach 1,700 in his career, and is currently 14 behind Jim McCormick for 100^th all-time.  Jason Schmidt tied and passed McCormick in his last start and is now 99^th all-time with 1,705.

 

Ichiro needs just 7 more hits to reach 2,600 in his professional career (1,315 ML hits, 1,258 NPL hits). 

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.