The best part of yesterday…

May 2, 2012 was as great a regular season day that you will ever see.

3 walk off homers and another extra inning game winner by the Marlins.

The Royals won in the 9th inning, and two MVPs from a decade ago launched walk off shots (Giambi and Chipper.)

The Rays came back to make James Shields a 5 game winner. And Jeff Suppan came out of nowhere to get a win.

And oh yeah, Jered Weaver threw a no hitter.

Do you know what all of that did?
It took ALL the attention from the stupid Roger Clemens trial and, as Subway Squawkers called it, Andy Pettitte’s Frankie Pentangelli moment.

I begged Roger to settle last July.
He didn’t and the trial is going on.

And I couldn’t care less. There’s too much great baseball being played.

Roger took juice and Andy wants to have his friendship back. End of story. Let’s play ball.

 

The Most Recent No Hitter For Each Franchise (Updated for May 2, 2012)

No hitters are a strange beast, aren’t they?

The Padres and Mets have had multiple Cy Young winners and have historically played in pitchers parks. Yet those franchises have never had a pitcher throw a no hitter.

Meanwhile the Angels and the White Sox just keep throwing them. Phillip Humber got one after Mark Buehrle notched a few. And less than a year after Ervin Santana tossed one for the Angels, Jered Weaver became the 6th Angels pitcher to toss one.

This might have been more of what the doctor ordered for the Angels than a Pujols homer.

Let’s update the list.

THE MOST RECENT NO HITTERS
FOR EACH FRANCHISE

LOS ANGELES ANGELS OF ANAHEIM
Jered Weaver – May 2, 2012.
9-0 over Minnesota.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Phillip Humber – April 21, 2012

4-0 over Seattle. (Perfect Game.)

DETROIT TIGERS
Justin Verlander – May 7, 2011.
9-0 over Toronto.

MINNESOTA TWINS
Francisco Liriano – May 3, 2011
1-0 over Chicago White Sox

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES
Roy Halladay – October 6, 2010
4-0 over Cincinnati. (Playoff Game)

TAMPA PAY RAYS
Matt Garza – July 26th, 2010
5-0 over Detroit.

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
Edwin Jackson – June 25, 2010
1-0 over Tampa Bay

OAKLAND A’S
Dallas Braden – May 9, 2010
4-0 over Tampa Bay. (Perfect Game.)

COLORADO ROCKIES
Ubaldo Jimenez – April 17, 2010
4-0 over Atlanta.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS
Jonathan Sanchez – July 10, 2009.
8-0 over San Diego.

CHICAGO CUBS
Carlos Zambrano – September 14, 2008.
5-0 over Houston.

BOSTON RED SOX
Jon Lester – May 19, 2008.
7-0 over Kansas City.

FLORIDA MARLINS
Anibal Sanchez – September 6, 2006.
2-0 over Arizona.

HOUSTON ASTROS
Roy Oswalt, Peter Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner –
June 11, 2003.
8-0 over New York Yankees.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS
Bud Smith – September 3, 2001
4-0 over San Diego.

NEW YORK YANKEES
David Cone – July 18, 1999.
6-0 over Montreal. (Perfect Game.)

PITTSBURGH PIRATES
Francisco Cordova and Ricardo Rincon – July 12, 1997.
3-0 over Houston. (10 innings.)

LOS ANGELES DODGERS
Hideo Nomo – September 17, 1996.
9-0 over Colorado.

TEXAS RANGERS
Kenny Rogers – July 28, 1994.
4-0 over California. (Perfect Game.)

ATLANTA BRAVES
Kent Mercker – April 8, 1994.
6-0 over Los Angeles.

SEATTLE MARINERS
Chris Bosio – April 22, 1993.
2-0 over Boston.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS
Bret Saberhagen – August 26, 1991
7-0 over Chicago White Sox.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS (AS MONTREAL EXPOS)
Dennis Martinez – July 28, 1991.
2-0 over Los Angeles. (Perfect Game.)

BALTIMORE ORIOLES
Bob Milacki, Mike Flanagan, Mark Williamson and Gregg Olson – July 13, 1991.
2-0 over Oakland.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS
Dave Steib – September 2, 1990.
3-0 over Cleveland.

CINCINNATI REDS
Tom Browning – September 16, 1988.
1-0 over Los Angeles. (Perfect Game.)

MILWAUKEE BREWERS
Juan Nieves – April 15, 1987.
7-0 over Baltimore.

CLEVELAND INDIANS
Len Barker – May 15, 1981.
3-0 over Toronto. (Perfect Game.)

Bonus
WASHINGTON SENATORS
Bobby Burke – August 8, 1931
5-0 over Boston.

Mets and Padres… you are STILL on notice. 

The Nationals are KIND of on notice. When they were the Expos, they notched 4 of them and there have been several Washington Senators to do the trick.

But do us a favor, Nats. Throw one and have it be more cut and dry.

Congrats to Jered Weaver.

Are you against instant replay? Well you are wrong.

I had a crappy day at work the other day and I made a mistake..

And someone corrected my mistake.

But nobody can correct umpire Tim Welke’s mistake today.

He called Jerry Hairston out at first on a grounder during today’s Dodgers/Rockies game.
First baseman Todd Helton was closer to second base than he was to first. He couldn’t have had his foot on the bag unless he was Mr. Fantastic, stretching out his leg.

It was a botched call.

Again, mistakes happen.

Welke isn’t perfect.

But why can’t this awful call be corrected?

Watch the clip.

About 2 seconds after the call was made, the announcers pointed out that Helton wasn’t near the bag.
Mattingly was out on the field about 5 or 6 seconds after the call was made.

Mattingly and Welke argue for a while.

Whatever Welke is saying in his defense is 100% correct.

No fault of Welke, he hasn’t seen the evidence of his mistake.

And WHILE THEY ARE ARGUING…

The TV cameras show this image.

Pretty subtle, isn’t it?

Now maybe Welke wasn’t in the right position to make the call.

Hey, as I said, we all make mistakes.

This image was beamed to TVs (and hand held tablet devices) less than 40 seconds after the call was blown.

Why can’t someone on the umpiring crew be in the TV booth? (Hey! An extra job and another member of the union!)

And he could call down and have someone with a tablet show Welke the mistake.

He would say “My bad!” and the game would have gone on. Nobody would have a beef and Hairston would be on first BECAUSE HE DESERVES TO BE!

What’s the argument against that?

It would slow the game down?

Mattingly continued to argue while the replay was happening.

So throw that argument in the dumpster. It is meaningless.

It would be good for the game?

How? How is blowing calls good? Especially in a game like this that ended on a walk off homer and that a call here or there could have affected the outcome of the game.

And think of Welke.

He made a mistake. Nobody’s fault. But instead of taking less than one minute to correct it (and it would be forgotten instantly) this bad call will be shown on TV and is already the topic of a Yahoo Sports article.

How is THAT good for baseball?

He made a mistake and no matter how much evidence you have to correct it, we can’t because… um… WHY? Someone tell me!

I seriously think Instant Replay opponents are the baseball equivalent of people who insist there were dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark. No amount of evidence or logical discussions could ever sway them.

Either way… Instant Replay Opponents… you are incorrect.

But I’ve said this before.