Monday, April 29, 2002
A wonderful weekend for pitchers
By MIKE FITZPATRICK
AP Sports Writer
What a weekend for pitchers! From Fenway Park to Wrigley Field, from Shea Stadium to Safeco Field, fans across the majors were captivated by the high drama of low-hit pitching.
In a two-day span, five starters held opponents hitless into at least the seventh inning, although only Boston's Derek Lowe finished the job.
And the pitchers were pulling for each other.
“I was rooting for him. Good for him,” said Florida's A.J. Burnett, who threw his own no-hitter last year and watched the final three outs of Lowe's performance in the Marlins' clubhouse. “It's an awesome feeling.”
With one no-hitter and four near misses, it seemed as if every few minutes the TV broadcast of one game was interrupted to cut to another for a no-hit update.
“I can't figure it. I mean, if you had Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson and Greg Maddux all pitching on the same day, then maybe you could explain it,” said Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, who tossed a no-hitter for the Cincinnati Reds and is now an analyst on New York Mets' telecasts.
“When you look at the trend in baseball the last few years, the way hitting and scoring and offense are up, what's happening this weekend is an aberration,” Seaver said. “But, I like to see it.”
These mound masterpieces weren't crafted by the likes of Clemens or Johnson, although both The Rocket and The Big Unit won easily Friday night.
No, the top performances were turned in by No. 3 starters such as Odalis Perez and Pedro Astacio. They came from a converted closer, a spot starter and the often-erratic left arm of Shawn Estes.
Lowe, a bust out of the bullpen last season, pitched Fenway's first no-hitter since 1965 and the first in the majors this season, leading the Red Sox over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays 10-0 Saturday.
“I was thinking Tiger Woods in the Masters — finish the deal,” Lowe said. “That's what I kept telling myself — you've got to finish it.”
In the end, he was the only guy who did.
Yankees lefty Ted Lilly, pitching in place of injured Andy Pettitte, took perhaps the most unlikely gem into the eighth inning against Seattle on Saturday night before Desi Relaford broke it up with an RBI single.
Coming just hours after Lowe's no-hitter ended, Lilly's bid brought back memories of that summer night in 1990, the only time in modern major league history two no-hitters were thrown in one day.
On June 29 of that year, Oakland's Dave Stewart beat Toronto 5-0, and Dodgers lefty Fernando Valenzuela shut out St. Louis 6-0.
Lilly eventually lost not only his no-hit bid but the game, as Freddy Garcia and Kazuhiro Sasaki combined to shut out New York 1-0.
“I went at it today with everything I had and came up a little short,” Lilly said.
Perez was perfect for six innings as Los Angeles beat the Cubs 10-0 Friday at Wrigley, but he wound up with a one-hitter after speedy Corey Patterson beat out a bad-hop infield single leading off the seventh.
Chris Stynes then hit into a double play, and Perez faced the minimum 27 batters in his first career shutout.
“It's a bad hop from being a perfect game,” Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said.
Estes, seeking the first no-hitter in New York Mets history, gave up a clean single to Eric Young leading off the seventh of a 1-0 win over the Brewers on Friday night. The only other runner Estes allowed came on an eighth-inning walk.
“It doesn't get any better than that,” Mets manager Bobby Valentine said. “It gets one pitch better than that, maybe.”
Estes, who watched Perez's one-hitter in the clubhouse, was preparing to bat in the fifth when the Shea Stadium scoreboard flashed that he pitched four no-hitters in high school.
“You're not supposed to do that. Isn't that a jinx?” Estes said.
Astacio made another bid for the Mets the next afternoon, holding Milwaukee hitless until Geoff Jenkins lined a single with one out in the seventh of New York's 2-1 win.
“We've got guys who are capable of doing it,” Estes said.
This past weekend, it seemed as if everybody did.
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A wonderful weekend for pitchers
