Talk About a Tough Luck Loss

Michael Jordan beat the Jazz with the flu. Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open with a broken leg and a bad knee. Kirk Gibson beat the A’s with two bad legs. I beat my brother one-on-one using only my left hand, and now the Dodgers beat the Angels without recording a single hit.

The Angels’ Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo combined for a no-hitter, but still lost 1-0 to the Dodgers on Saturday night.

Or did they?

Actually, according to a rule instituted by MLB’s Committee for Statistical Accuracy in 1991,the official definition of a no-hitter reads as follows: an official no-hit game occurs when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings.

In Saturday nights game in LA, the home team (Dodgers) won the game, which meant that the Angels did not take the field in the bottom of the ninth. This prevented the Angels from pitching at least nine innings of no-hit ball.

Thanks to this technicality, Ken Johnson of the Houston Colt 45’s (1964), along with the combo of Steve Barber and Stu Miller of the Baltimore Orioles (1967) are still the only pitchers credited with a no-hitter in a losing effort.

In the fifth inning of Friday nights game, Matt Kemp led off the inning by reaching base on a fielding error by Weaver. Kemp then stole second base and advanced to third, thanks to an errant throw by Angels catcher Jeff Mathis. Kemp later scored on Blake DeWitt’s sacrifice fly to right field, supplying the Dodgers with the only run they would need. Weaver was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning. Arrendondo then pitched the seventh and eighth.

Besides Weaver and Arredondo, three other pitchers have pitched eight innings of no-hit ball just to lose the game and miss out on being credited with no-hitters. The list includes:

* June 21st 1890 –  Silver King (Chicago Pirates)

* July 1st 1990 – Andy Hawkins (New York Yankees)

* April 12th 1992 – Matt Young (Boston Red Sox)

If you are a Braves fan, and are wondering what else could go wrong this season, perhaps a loss in a no-hit effort could be on the menu.