One of baseball's longest standing traditions is that if a pitcher starts taking a no-hitter in the latter innings, no one is supposed to mention it.
Last night, a national TV audience tuned in for the ballyhooed home debut of Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. He didn't pitch poorly, but his mound opponent, the Mariners' Felix Hernandez, stole the show by hurling the first seven innings without giving up a hit.
Around that time, my son came upstairs, annoyed at the poor performance of his favorite Pittsburgh Penguins in their playoff-opening loss. I told him, "Hey, there's a no-hitter in progress."
"Who?"
"Hernandez," I said. "The good one, not Livan or ..."
At that point, J.D. Drew whacked a single up the middle for what turned out to be the only hit off Felix. My son shook his head and returned to the Penguins' agony of defeat.
I watched Hernandez wrap up his one-hitter, and kudos to Seattle manager Mike Hargrove for letting him pitch all nine innings. (Hargrove was a teammate of Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, who tossed 29 complete games in 1974 and 22 in '75 for Texas.)
And next time I watch a no-hitter in progress, I plan to keep my mouth shut.
Trivia question 16: Felix Hernandez celebrated his birthday on Easter. How old is he now?
You cringe when you hear it: "Baseball ... it's so boring." Don't tell that to the people who help set new records each year attending games in the majors and minors. There's something about baseball that keeps folks coming back for more, even if football is harder-hitting, basketball is faster-paced, and you might see a wreck at a NASCAR race. Join me for various observations and history lessons about America's pastime. -- Harry Funk
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The man beyond third base
- Harry Funk
- • Online editor, The Observer-Reporter, Washington, Pa. • Member, Society for American Baseball Research • Guitar & bass player
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Trivia answers
- 56. Dallas and Chicago
- 55. On Oct. 1, 1933, Babe Ruth pitched a complete game for the Yankees against the Red Sox. According to Boston Post writer Paul Shannon, "though hit hard at times, and seemingly very tired toward the end, [Ruth] was able to steer his hard-hitting teammates to a 6-5 win in the season's final contest."
- 54. Gaylord Perry, San Francisco Giants, April 27, 1971
- 53. Rolando Arrojo went 14-12 for the Devil Rays in 1998, the team's first season. That represented 22.2 percent of the Rays' total victories.
- 52. Chester "Red" Hoff (1891-1998), who pitched for the New York Highlanders from 1911-13 and St. Louis Browns in 1915
- 51. George Steinbrenner, New York Yankees, 1974
- 50. Barry Lamar Bonds, 2002, age 38, breaking the previous record held by another ex-Pirate, Al Oliver
- 49. Manny Trillo, George Vukovich, Jay Baller and Jerry Willard
- 48. Dean Stone. In the eighth inning of the 1954 All-Star Game, the Washington rookie came in to pitch with two outs and runners on first and third. As Stone wound up, Red Schoendienst raced toward home. Stone threw to the plate to catch Schoendienst stealing. The American League scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to take an 11-9 lead, and Stone got the win in his only All-Star appearance.
- 47. Carlton Fisk, 1972
2 comments:
21 or 22, maybe 23. i think i heard it during the game on ESPN but forget exactly... but he's a youngin'. And if the season ended today he'd win the Cy for A.L.... Long way to go, of course, he could collapse in on himself. And even if he does have a stellar season and someone else has an equally stellar season, someone who plays east of the Mississippi, well, east coast bias will win out and Hernandez won't get the prize... just what methinks, could be wrong but then again, a LONG way to go and I'm an N.L. guy so I won't be payin' too much attention to anything the Mariners do.
P.S. how many people were at [whatever the corporate name is of the] stadium for the Pirates game yesterday? Couple thousand?
They were saying a lot about Hernandez's potential last year, when he was just 20. He pitched all right, but nothing like the start he's off to this year.
I'm with you about the National League as opposed to the DH League.
Between the cold weather and the losing streak PNC Park looked mighty bare.
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