NO-NO’S

 

No Hitters in Baseball

          Within the past few years the number of no hitters thrown has increased by a substantial number.  All though the number of no-no’s thrown have increased, the age of players throwing them has decreased.  Young pitchers in the past three years have thrown four no hitters.  On the contrary, some experienced pitchers have yet to throw one.  In the Major Leagues history, 256 no hitters have been thrown, only seventeen of them being perfect games.

          Among pitchers who have thrown a no hitter, there are 27 who have thrown more than one. Nolan Ryan threw seven in his playing days.  His last was at age 44.  This is twenty years older than Jon Lester was when he threw his last week.  Behind Ryan is Sandy Koufax with four.  No hitters are very rare, happening an average of twice per year but these 27 players have been able to celebrate a good performance more than once.

Along with the many no hitters thrown for wins, there have been seven, three unofficial, no hitters thrown for losses.  Many rare and strange no-no’s have been thrown.  Imagine having a stellar performance in which you don’t allow a hit, but you still end up losing the game.  On April 23, 1964, Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt 45’s became the only pitcher to lose a complete game no-hitter in nine innings when he was beaten 1-0 by Cincinnati. The winning run was scored by Pete Rose in the top of the ninth inning after an error, groundout, and another error.  On May 2, 1917, Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds and Hippo Vaughn of the Chicago Cubs pitched a hitless, scoreless tie after nine innings.  The Reds got two hits in the top of the tenth inning and scored the winning run. In the bottom of the tenth, Toney retired the side and recorded a ten-inning no-hitter.  Talk about a boring game.

Within the past three years, Aníbal Sanchez, Mark Buehrle, Justin Verlander, Clay Buchholz, and Jon Lester have thrown no hitters.  They averaged 24 years old at the time of their no hitter.  This is quite lower then players like Randy Johnson, age 35, or Nolan Ryan, age 44.  Why is it that some great players such as Roger Clemens or Curt Schilling have not thrown a no hitter, but young guns like Buchholz have?  Schilling lost his in the ninth inning two seasons ago season, but has never thrown one.  Why is this?  I feel that because they are older pitchers, that teams recognized their pitches as opposed to rookies who haven’t faced every team. 

With the scarcity of no hitters in Major League Baseball, I think that the celebration of no hitters is great and not over the top and we should not get used to them.  Although we have seen quite a few recently, they will not continue to be this common and no one will ever break Nolan Ryan’s insurmountable record of seven.

MY ALL-STAR TEAM

My All-Star Team Roster

          With the All-Star Game on the way, not until July but close enough, I have compiled my personal team that would win the ASG easily.  The team is constructed of both American League and National League players that are the best at their respected positions.  This team could contend against any team on any day the stacked that they would have from spot number one in the order to number nine.  The roster will be a thirty man extended roster for September call ups.  The head coach of this team is going to be Joe Torre because of his experience and ability to manage the roster.  Terry Francona is going to be his assistant alongside Bobby Cox.  Every team needs someone to get thrown out of a game once a week, so why not him.

          The five-man pitching rotation will be the highlight of the team pitching either complete game shutouts or seven innings of solid baseball.  The number one starter is going to be Johan Santana, current Mets ace.  Santana is the best left hander in the game and in the top five for overall pitchers in the league.  Behind him would be the play-off experienced Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox.  He’ll come in handy during tight games when the series is tied 3-3 or 2-2 and you want to get a jump ahead.  Also in the rotation will be Brandon Webb of the D-Backs, who has won eleven straight starts. Jake Peavey of the Padres will make the team as will Justin Verlander of Detroit.  Coming in to for saves will be a wide variety of relievers.  Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima will be essential in tight game situations.  Coming in from the pen will be K-Rod, Trevor Hoffman and although he is a Yankee, Mariano Rivera.  The strong point of my all-star team will be the pitching although hitting isn’t far behind.  The extra starter on my team will be the Japanese sensation Dice-K.

          As much as I like hitting homeruns and seeing them hit, my team will be both a base stealing threat and a small ball team.  Leading off is the ultimate small ball player in Ichiro Suzuki.  He swiped of forty bases last season for the seventh year in a row alongside another two hundred plus hit season.  Second is the Red Sox sophomore second baseman, Dustin Pedroia.  Both his defensive ability and hitting capabilities have earned him a spot on my roster.  Hitting third is my least favorite Yankee, Alex Rodriguez. Although he is hated by many, he is the greatest player in the league.  Behind him has to Albert Pujous of the Cardinals.  Although he has been on a bit of a slide for the past couple months and even year, his power is incredible.  Fifth is the most clutch hitter in baseball history in David Ortiz.  His late inning heroics are what make him a definite lock for the DH spot.  Following behind him is where the lineup takes a turn to less power and more of a singles double approach.  My shortstop will be Jose Reyes and he will be hitting sixth.  Not only is a base stealing threat, but also get on base all the time so he can steal.  Vladimir Guerrero  will hit seventh because of his rocket powered arm and ability to golf.  He hits everything you throw at him whether it’s in the dirt or he has to jump for it.  Following him is Manny Ramirez in left field.  Although he lacks speed and fielding ability, his swing is perfect and like Vlad, has a rocket arm.

          On the bench will be great players that could easily be starting.  Ryan Braun, Kevin Youkilis, Derek Jeter, and Orlando Hudson will be the back up infielders, mostly for their defensive abilities.  In the outfield are some of my favorite players.  Torii Hunter is in center, Jim Edmonds in right and some raw speed with Jacoby Elsbury.  My all-star team can contend with anybody and would easily win any world series.

NCAA Baseball vs. MLB

Differences in NCAA and MLB Baseball

Recently I attended a Boston College baseball game against Florida State, in which they were crushed, and I started making connections between high school baseball and college ball.  Then I made an immediate leap to the differences in college and the Majors.  Last season I attended two Red Sox games, one of them was a walk-off double by Coco Crisp, and the other was the best game possible.  I attended Clay Buckholtz’s no hitter, which happened to be on my birthday.  My seats were less than stellar but Buckholtz’s performance was just the opposite.  Back to my point, there are many noticeable differences in NCAA baseball and the MLB.

          While watching the Red Sox, you notice many players lackadaisically walking out to their positions where the just a little warming up and also walk back to the dugout following a strikeout.  Well in college, players sprint to their positions where they throw laser beams to each other and warm up the way they should.  Major league ball players get paid millions of dollars to look good in their uniforms and keep fans taking out a second mortgage to go to a game.  On the contrary, college players go out to fight for a spot on the team, their starting position, and in many cases, the future occupations.  In the MLB, ten year veteran players show up every day and go through the actions as the do in spring training as well.  College ball players do not get paid and are hoping to get drafted so they’ll have the chance to play in the big leagues.

          The style of game that the two leagues play is completely different.  In the majors, pitchers work slowly and at whatever pace they would like.  In college, pitchers keep the game moving along making most close games only two and a half hours at most.  Pitchers also go more innings and pitch on a regular basis.  The use of relievers is slim to none in most games, no matter the circumstances.  Hitting is the highlight of all differences in the two leagues.  The majors use wooden bats where the college teams use metal.  In high school we use metal and have played other divisional teams that use wood.  The ball definitely seems to come harder off the bat and in fact it has been proven that the use of metal makes the ball go farther.   In last years College World Series games I recall there being a substantial increase in the number of players that were hit by pitches.  It almost seemed as though players were leaning into balls to get on base.  Last years CWS average was 3.7 HBP’s per game!  3.7 per game! In last seasons MLB World Series, only five players were hit in four games.  That’s a remarkable difference.  The other major difference from the two is the ability to bunt and the commonness of giving yourself up.  In the MLB, players hit for the bettering of their stats.  In college the bunt is used much more often and the advancements of runners by groundballs is much more common.  I enjoy watching the sport of baseball, but get much more satisfaction of watching real baseball, college, instead of MLB where it is a power serge.

How Players Seasons Begin

In this 2008 season there have been players who have had their ups and downs or continue on perfectly.  There has been the common outstanding start, and the slump that lasts a month.  Pitching has been the highlight of the season while hitting seems to be struggling.  Players will succeed while others fail, but the season will always be a struggle.

          Pitching has become the highlight of Major League Baseball through this point.  There have been players in both leagues that have met expectations and others that have gotten roughed up.  In the American League, the Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay has started in six games, completing four in a row, and losing three of those four.  In his complete game efforts, Halladay has gotten and average of three runs scored for him and four against him.  The less than stellar Blue Jays haven’t met their standards over their past ten seasons although they are constantly getting good efforts from veterans like Halladay or rookies like Jessie Litsch.  Currently the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have three pitchers in the top five for wins in the AL.  Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana both have five and John Garland has four.  The Angels record definitely reflects their record as they have hopped out to an early lead in the less than amazing American League West.

          In the National League, pitching has always been the key to victory because well, there is no designated hitter.  Do you remember when Pedro Martinez used to be a Red Sox and would win twenty games annually and every fastball would reach close to one hundred miles per hour?  Well this season Pedro pitched in three games, after getting hurt…again.  He was 0-3 with an earned run average peaking at 10.80.  What has ever happened to him?  On the contrary, Brandon Webb has picked up where he left off last season winning his first seven starts.  Remind you of someone last year who was taken away from their first Cy Young Award?  Oh that’s right; it’s this seasons Josh Beckett.  Webb has and ERA of 2.50 and is dominant in every one of his starts.  In second for the league lead is the Los Angeles Dodger star pitcher Brad Penny who is 5-1 with a respectable ERA of 3.00.

          What a shock the hitting throughout both leagues has been.  The most clutch hitter in baseball history started of at .071.  He has turned around since then and is currently hitting .250 and is in third for the league in runs batted in.  Manny is in shape and hitting .322 and sophomore sensation Dustin Pedroia returned from his Rookie of the Year award with an amazing month of April, which he struggled in last season.  Leading the League in batting average is Victor Martinez with a .341 average after having a power serge last season.  The aging Chipper Jones is leading the NL in BA with a shocking .421 average and has hit nine homeruns and brought in 23 RBI.  The Biggest surprise in the MLB has got to be either Jason Giambi or Alex Rodriguez.  Both of the Yankee sluggers have sub-three hundred averages and under five homers.  Following A-Rod’s homerun rampage last season, he has cooled off substantially.  Is it his contract possibly?

          The 2008 season has had its noticeable surprises as players come out of the gate hot or struggling.  All players look to end successfully and have their teams find their way into the playoffs.  As many current players are feeling, the teams need to pick up their gloves and shake of the dust of a long offseason.