It's Not a "No No"

Friends,

One of the strangest ballgames you will ever hear about was played last night between the Angels and the Dodgers. This is the time of year when the schedule calls for interleague games between the National and American Leagues...and this makes quite a contribution to the circumstances surrounding last night's game. Jared Weaver was pitching a no-hitter for the Angels last night but was losing 1-0. How can this be, you ask? The Angels had not scored a run on the Dodgers pitcher, but the Angels pitcher (Weaver) committed an error on a ground ball (which very well could have been ruled a "hit"), and so the runner makes it to first base. The runner then steals second base and as the catcher tries to throw him out, he airmails the ball into center field allowing the runner to advance to third (much like what happens in church league softball :-). Then, since there are less than two outs, the next hitter hits a sacrifice fly to the outfield, allowing the runner to score from third. So, no hits, but the Dodgers have a run.

Now, an interesting twist is that Weaver, who is pitching the no-hitter comes up to bat in the bottom of the sixth, but he gets pulled from the game. Why? The Angels are playing in Dodgers Stadium (a National League park), so there is no designated hitter...all of this to say, the pitcher has to hit. And since, American League pitchers rarely hit (unless it is an interleague game like last night or the playoffs), and the Angels need a run, it is more important to get a genuine bona fide hitter in the game in order to try to get a rally going. In other words, it is more important to win the game than to get the no-hitter. So Weaver, who is obviously unhappy, gets pulled and another pitcher goes in to the game in the 7th inning.

Now, this new pitcher manages to pitch the last two innings (7th and 8th) without giving up a hit. So he and Weaver combine for no-hits over 8 innings. Since the Dodgers are the home team and their pitcher shuts down the Angels in the top of the 9th and the Dodgers have the lead, there is no need for them to bat in the bottom of the 9th. All of this means (if you are actually still following all of this :-) than the Angels get an 8 inning no-hitter...but lose. This is only the 7th time in Major League Baseball history that this has happened, and it has been over 15 years since the last time.

The clincher...several years ago, MLB changed the rules on no-hitters -- they have to be 9 innings in order to be legitimate. So, the Angel pitchers, for all of their work, not only lose, but do not get to have the no-hitter on their resume. Bummer. Yet, a pretty cool game...especially if you are the Dodgers. It reminds a lot of several soccer games that I have seen and been a part of where one team dominates and does not score and the opposing team gets one or maybe two shots on goal and one of them goes in. It may not seem right...but that's why they play the game ;-). Blessings,

Don


P.S. I know that I could draw all kinds of spiritual analogies from all of this (but then this gets longer than it already is...and more cumbersome, and I know that many do not like to read long blogs, so)...the discerning are welcome to make the applications :-). See ya.