The Year of the Pitcher

Pitching in the MLB has been amazing this year. It has been the best in history. We aren’t even halfway through the season, and there have been two perfect games and three no-hitters! WOW! A no-hitter is a very rare event, and this season is making that rare event look a lot more common. Let’s take a look at what has happened so far in this season of amazing pitching.

The guy who started things off is Philip Humber of the White Sox. Have you ever heard of him? I hadn’t even heard his name until he pitched a perfect game. A perfect game is a game where the pitcher allows no base runners, whether it’s a hit, walk, hit by pitch, or error. In MLB history, there have only been 22 perfect games. What makes Humber’s perfect game truly amazing is that he only had 30 MLB starts before it, and he had never pitched in the ninth inning of an MLB game. What a great start to his MLB career!

Matt Cain of the Giants had one of the best performances in history. He has always been overshadowed by his teammate, Tim Lincecum, who is one of the great MLB pitchers right now. In his perfect game, Cain had 14 strikeouts, and tied the records for the number of strikeouts in a perfect game! He also had the most pitches ever thrown in a perfect game with 125 pitches. By comparison, Humber only threw 94 pitches in his perfect game!

Johan Santana had a no-hitter. A “no-no” is when you allow a base runner, but no hits. Santana accomplished that, and he pitched the first “no-no” in Mets history. What a strong a comeback after he missed the whole 2011 season due to surgery. Even more awesome is that he did it against the best hitting team in the league and the reigning MLB champion Cardinals. That is pretty impressive!

Jered Weaver of the Angels has also pitched a “no-no” this season. His was against the worst team in the league, the Minnesota Twins, and he only had nine strikeouts, but it doesn’t matter who you are playing or their record. Pitching a no-hitter is one of those rare moments that make baseball such a great sport.

Finally, six Mariners pitchers combined to no-hit the Dodgers. Starting pitcher Kevin Millwood threw six no-hit innings but was injured during the game.

Now can you see what I am talking about with this season’s AMAZING PITCHING? It is not even the all-star break yet and we have five “no-nos” for the record books including two perfect games. If things keep going at this pace, this is going to be a season of truly great baseball!