Giant No-Hitter Gets Giant No-Coverage
If a mediocre pitcher on a West Coast team throws a no-hitter on the Friday before the All-Star break against one of the worst offenses in baseball, does anyone notice?
Nope.
At least not if you’re Jonathan Sanchez, who tossed the first no-hitter for the Giants in 33 years on Friday night. It was also only the 13th no-no since 2001.
But none of that matters because – and Heath Bell knows what I’m talking about – the no-hitter happened while everyone east of the Rockies were sloshed at their local pubs or asleep (lame). And because it wasn’t Hall of Famer-in-waiting Randy Johnson or Cy Young-winner Tim Lincecum or even my fantasy third-tier keeper for next year Matt Cain who pitched kept the San Diego Padres hitless, it wasn’t really worth reporting heavily the following day either. Sanchez, in fact, is the least promising and least well-known part-time starter on the fine San Fran rotation, which is a shame for him because he pitched a doozy. A doo-zee.
Remember the last no-no in the majors? When Carlos Zambrano etched his name into the record books against Houston last summer (in Milwaukee), no three hour period went by in any sports fan’s week that followed in which they didn’t see him kneeling on one knee and point to the sky.
Remember that? Of course you do.
Friday night? Nothing. A few write-ups. Then by Saturday at noon, the story was buried under a half-dozen other stories. Look at the Yahoo! Sports front page (pictured right). No graphics. No premium position. Buried. The Kidd signing is nearly four days old, Seles entering the Hall of Fame isn’t timely and it’s only one of the three tennis stories on the front page. Three tennis stories, Yahoo!? Wimbledon was last week.
Sanchez’s performance won’t be the biggest baseball story of the year or maybe even the month, but it’s big. Big enough to deserve more play. It won’t get it. It’s already a dead highlight after fewer than 24 hours. Nevermind the human interest angle that Sanchez’s father happened to be on hand to see his son pitch for the first time (left), or that Sanchez was only inserted back into the rotation because Johnson is hurt. Nevermind that he was one error away from throwing an 11 strikeout, no walk perfect game and nevermind that if he had, it would have been only the sixth of its kind in MLB history.
And why all this neverminding? Because the Padres can’t hit and 3/5 of the country weren’t paying attention when it happened and Jonathan Sanchez isn’t a known name.
Yeah, and nevermind that throwing a no-hitter will do little to change that.
If you’re interested, here are some additional facts about Sanchez’s outing on Friday care of Elias Sports Bureau, Inc:
- It ended the Giants streak of 32 straight seasons without a no-hitter, the third-longest in the majors entering 2009. The Mets and Padres have never had a no-hitter.
- Jonathan Sanchez pitched a no-hitter Friday night for the Giants, but it would have been a perfect game had it not been for an error by Juan Uribe with one out in the eighth inning. The last pitcher to lose a perfect game because of an error that late in a game was Fritz Peterson for the Yankees on July 4, 1966. Peterson, a rookie, was perfect for 7 1/3 when Jerry Adair topped a pitch toward the third base line; Peterson fielded it and threw high to first base for an error. Peterson settled for a two-hitter.
- Sanchez, born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, is the second Puerto-Rican born pitcher to throw a no-hitter. Juan Nieves was the other.
- Sanchez entered the game with a 2-8 record before tossing the no-no. That hadn’t happened to a pitcher six games below .500 in 17 years. L.A.’s Kevin Gross was 5-12 when he did it on August 17, 1992.
- Tim Lincecum threw six no-hit innings for the Giants on Thursday night. It’s the first time the Giants had no-hitters through six innings in back-to-back games since May 13-14, 1959 when both Sam Jones and Mike McCormick lost no-hitters in the seventh inning.
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Photos courtesy of Yahoo! Sport via AP
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