No way to the no-no

There’s something about no-hitters or near no-hittersthat gets people to remember and talk about all the great pitched games they have seen. Watch a game like the one Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched on Saturday night against the Phillies and all those crazy memories come flooding back.

Dice-K came four outs away from throwing a no-hitter against the Phillies even though the hitters smoked about a half-dozen balls right at the defense. Finally, it was the No. 8-hole hitter Juan Castro who broke up the no-no with a soft, broken-bat single over shortstop.

Close but not quite there.

Having seen just one no-hitter and a couple of close ones, it would have been kind of cool to see Dice-K close it out on Saturday night even though it would have meant a bunch more work. Considering that Kevin Millwood’s masterpiece in 2003 was the only one I’ve seen—at any level—sure, pile it on.

So what were the close ones?

·         May 30, 1982 — The Blue Jays’ Jim Gott, in the fourth start of his career to get his first win, went six innings against the Orioles at Memorial Stadium before turning it over to Roy Lee Jackson to close it out. The only hit was a one-out single in the fifth by catcher Rick Dempsey, so the game was hardly dramatic. However, the game was historical because it was the very first game in Cal Ripken’s epic consecutive games streak.

·         Oct. 6, 1991 — Dave Hollins ended the no-hitter in the second inning with a double, but with six players in their first or second big-league season, plus the strikeout prone Dale Murphy all in the lineup, David Cone had one of those days. Cone got 19 strikeouts against the Phillies and had a chance to tie the all-time record against Wes Chamberlain and Murphy. Oddly, Cone didn't get that 20th strikeout, but he got Ks on the first six outs, struck out the side four times and didn't get a single strikeout in the seventh inning. Still, Cone had a chance to get 20 Ksin his 141-pitch three-hit shutout.

·         Sept. 26, 2001 — Randy Wolf shuts down the Reds at the Vet on Larry Bowa bobblehead night. This was back in the days when people would show up to collect their dolly and then turn around and walk out because they were cynical about the local ballclub. Nevertheless, this one was less dramatic than the Gott/Jackson combo piece since the only hit Wolf allowed was to second hitter of the game. Interestingly, the hit turned out to be the first one in the career of Raul Gonzalez.

·         May 10, 2002 — What did you think of Padilla this day? Well, he was pretty good. In fact, the enigmatic right-hander came four outs away from throwing a no-hitter against the defending World Champion Diamondbacks at the Vet. The first hit was a ground-rule double by pinch hitter Chris Donnels that bounced just inside the chalk line in left field and bounced into that area that jutted out in foul territory. Padilla was thisclose from getting it, but the two-hitter might be the best game of his wobbly career.

·         April 27, 2003 — Kevin Millwood got it done. The part everyone forgets about this one is that the Giants’ rookie Jesse Foppert tossed a three-hitter in just his second career start. Fortunately for the Phillies one of those hits was a leadoff homer from Ricky Ledee. Otherwise, Millwood might have had to go more than nine innings to get the no-hitter.

·         May 14, 2003 — This was just a two-hitter for Curt Schilling in his last start ever at the Vet, but  it was easily the most dominating pitching performance of any game on this list. David Bell legged out a flared double in the third inning and Bobby Abreu looped a single in the fifth, but no Phillie made solid contact. Mixed in with those two hits were 14 strikeouts from Schilling, which wasn’t as incredible as the fact that he threw 45 pitches that were completely missed by the Phillies hitters. Not a no-hitter, but it could have been.

·         July 25, 2004 — That chatty Eric Milton came the closest of anyone to getting a no-hitter at Citizens Bank Park when the lefty took one into the ninth inning only to lose it when Michael Barrett got a pop up double when center fielder Doug Glanville got a bad read and jump on the ball. The weird part was that manager Larry Bowa put Glanville in for defense in the ninth to replace Ricky Ledee, who happened to make two really good plays in center field during Kevin Millwood’s no-hitter as well as in David Cone’s perfect game in 1999. Nevertheless, Glanville went on to misjudge another fly ball in deep center that led to two runs for the Cubs. As a result, Milton didn’t get out of the ninth, missed out on the win, the shutout and the no-no. Rough day for Glanville.

·         April 2, 2008 — How about this… the year the Phillies won the World Series, they lost the first two games of the season to the lowly Washington Nationals. The Nats won just 59 games in 2008, which means after the first series of the year they went 57-101. One of those wins was a combined one-hitter from Tim Redding, Luis Ayala and Jon Rauch in which the Phillies whiffed only twice and scratched out just a second-inning single by Pedro Feliz. Worse, Cole Hamels allowed just one run in eight innings on a homer from Ryan Zimmerman.

So aside from Kevin Millwood and the time I took a no-hitter into the final inning of a fifth grade little league game for the Lancaster Township Phillies against the LT Giants (10 Ks and a run before the first hit), there really haven’t been too many near misses. Perhaps that’s why people tend to go a little crazy over no-hitters or why guys like Charlie Manuel don’t want to see them against his team.

According to Manuel, he has never managed a team that has been the victim of a no-hitter. Moreover, Chuck says the only time he was on the losing end of a no-hitter was in the minor leagues against the Cocoa Astros’ ace, Don Wilson.

Now Charlie says the no-hitter against his Orlando Twins of the Single-A Florida State League was in 1964, but considering the fact that Wilson only had two starts and one win in ’64, it’s more likely that Wilson’s no-hitter against Manuel and his teammates was in 1965.

Aside from the minor detail of the year, Charlie remembers the more important details.

“We had two people in the stands — a scout and a lady that was selling hot dogs. Seriously,” Charlie said.

No sense selling hotdogs when the only person in the stands is a scout, right?

“She started giving them away,” he said, noting that he probably took one considering he didn’t get much in meal money in those days.

“I might have, but I didn’t have any meal money back in those days,” Charlie said. “Maybe a buck and a half.”

Charlie likes to tell the story about the time he broke up a no-hitter from Catfish Hunter if it can be called that. No, his story isn’t completely inaccurate, but it wasn’t the most dramatic setting in baseball history, either. Manuel got Catfish with a leadoff single in the fifth during a game in Oakland on April 16, 1972 to start a two-run rally in a Twins’ 3-2 victory over Catfish’s A’s.

But, technically, yes, Chuck broke up the no-hitter. However, he might have been the only one to notice what was happening.

Oh no, Vinnie

From the "now you see why we traded him for nothing" file, we give you the latest from Vicente Padilla. This time, instead of an arrest for suspicion of DUI, Padilla decided that throwing fastballs at the Los Angeles Angels was a smart thing to do. Here's what happened according to ESPN's Buster Olney:

On Tuesday night, Vicente Padilla stunk, and rather than just take some responsibility and do his job and try to make better pitches, Padilla started firing fastballs at the hitters. Then last night, with the Angels getting blown out, they felt the need to answer back, to retaliate, and that's how Kennedy wound up going after Feldman with two outs in the ninth inning.

That's what happened with Tino. In 1995, when he was with Seattle, and in 1998, when he was with the Yankees, Benitez made bad pitches, he got hit around and so he fired fastballs at Tino. To me, there's nothing more gutless in the sport.

You're mad because you're giving up runs? Well then, make better pitches. Don't take it out on the next hitter.

As the benches cleared in both instances when Tino got hit -- during play, while the players were still grabbing and pushing -- some of Benitez's Orioles teammates were apologizing to their opponents for the actions of the pitcher. And I suspect that this took place last night, in some form or fashion. The Rangers are a good team that plays hard, and they probably were almost as angry at Padilla as the Angels were. (And remember, the White Sox have had their issues with Padilla, too.)

Padilla will likely be suspended, but until he is manager Buck Showalter gave him an earful, while Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News ripped into the former Phillie.

Padilla is slated to be a free agent at the end of this season, and it's my guess that he won't be pitching for the Rangers in 2007.

On the subject of Padilla, I'll never forget the time last September when a uniformed member of the Phillies not-so subtly passed on information that it was highly unlikely that Padilla would return for 2006. The team had just grown tired of him.

I'll also never forget when he came four outs away from tossing a no-hitter against the Diamondbacks or sitting in the dugout during a simulated game at the Vet a few days after Sept. 11 when hitters refused to go to the plate to face Padilla. His stuff was just too nasty.

I'll also remember how Scott Rolen took a weird shine to the moody Nicaraguan. Rolen had taken to playfully teasing "Vinnie" on the field and in the clubhouse as a way of making the pitcher feel involved or part of the team... you know, one of the guys. The goofy part was that Rolen's jibes were often lost in translation since Padilla never took much of an interest in speaking English in public or communicating to teammates. Rolen said: "He has no idea what I'm saying and I have no idea what the hell he's saying. That's the beauty of it."

Padilla was also the last National League pitcher in the 2002 All-Star Game in Milwaukee that ended in a tie.

Friday morning musings

Here's one from a columnist named Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch where he writes that it could be worse for the Cardinals and their fans during the current losing skid -- they could be Phillies fans. Yeah, ouch. Either way, Gordon doesn't shed new light on anything. It's included here because I thought it was interesting how the Phillies and their organization are viewed outside of the vortex of the Delaware Valley. Judging from the column, it's safe to say that it's not very different.

Meanwhile, the Phillies have won three games in a row, six of their last seven and eight of the last 10 games to climb out of oblivion to just 2 1/2 games off the pace in the wild-card race. That makes the Phillies and the Yankees the hottest teams in baseball.

And to think, all it took was a little trade for both teams.

Ex-Phillie watch Vicente Padilla, who general manager Pat Gillick shipped to Texas for, well, nothing, during the off season, was picked up for a suspected DUI last night.

Soapbox time: As a father of a two-year-old boy and uncle to three kids all under the age of three, irresponsibility while driving is very troublesome -- and this has nothing to do with Padilla because he hasn't been indicted and is only a suspect. Nevertheless, it's hard to have any sympathy for jackass drivers who could do damage to themselves or a child. I've lost one too many friends because of car accidents that could have been avoided.

Rant over.

Back to Padilla -- now does everyone understand why the Phillies cast him out for nothing? Certainly, Padilla's habits in Philadelphia were no secret and this doesn't take into account his fitness, or lackthereof. In fact, a bunch of writers knew that the team was going to let him walk as early as last September when the Phillies were still in the wild-card race and Padilla was pitching quite well. But whether he pitched well or not, the enigmatic Nicaraguan just wasn't worth the trouble.

Padilla definitely has a few demons brewing beneath the surface. After all, he was in the car during a car accident in his native Nicaragua where his best friend was killed a few years ago. Through it all, the Phillies always denied -- at least officially -- that Padilla had a problems. It always seemed as if the Phillies were more concerned about touting Padilla's potential as a pitcher than anything else. Yes, he was very talented -- actually, there was a time when hitters feared Padilla like no other pitcher. I still remember Padilla coming four outs away from a no-hitter in a game at the Vet against the Diamondbacks.

But Padilla, from a severely rural and poor upbringing in Nicaragua, never really knew how to fit in with his teammates on the Phillies or the media. He spoke English and could communicate with teammates, but often refused to do it. Sometimes it seemed as if he was from another planet.

Lets hope the Rangers are less worried about what Padilla can do on the mound and help him get himself together.

More Abreu trade fodder In today's edition of Baseball Prospectus, Jim Baker wrote a story about how Bobby Abreu and his penchant for drawing a walk per game makes the Yankees almost unbeatable. Almost.

Here's a graf from the opus:

I'm not saying that Abreu in and of himself makes the Yankees unbeatable, but he assures them of having more of the type of individual games where the records show teams have a much easier time winning. Ideally, that is what all deadline deals should do for those in competition.

Abreu had another multi-hit game for the Yankees last night and the Bombers are undefeated since his arrival. Based on wins and losses it appears as if the trade worked out well for both clubs.

Reading:

Lidle’s First Win as Yankee Comes With a Sweet Reward -- The New York Times Looks like the Yankees like ice cream, too.

Best Hitters Still Chasing Yankee Clipper -- The New York Times Every one is taking notice of Chase Utley.

Abreu Is Just the Latest to Get in Line for a Ring -- The New York Times