MLB 2011!!

[OzzyKP]

Too bad about that one walk though.

[OzzyKP]

Apparently only 28 pitchers in the history of baseball have thrown two or more no hitters.

[Guynemer]

I don't think that's the last time he's going to do it, either. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets the perfecto within the next year or two.

[OzzyKP]

MLB.com has a nice article on him:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110507&content_id=18788816&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

How many pitchers do you know who can do this: With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth at Rogers Centre on Saturday, Justin Verlander's 106th pitch to Blue Jays outfielder Rajai Davis came in at 100 mph, according to PITCH f/x.

Verlander, the Tigers ace who has been one of the more underrated players since he emerged as a rookie, is one of very few starting pitchers in history with the ability to throw that fast that late in a game.

That Davis at-bat resulted in a strikeout, which led to the second no-hitter of Verlander's six-year career during a 9-0 win by his Tigers. With his no-hit, one-walk performance against Toronto, the 28-year-old right-hander -- who also no-hit the Brewers during Interleague Play in 2007 -- became just the 28th pitcher in baseball history to throw at least two no-hitters in his career.

That list includes Roy Halladay, Randy Johnson, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Christy Mathewson, Nolan Ryan, Warren Spahn, Cy Young, former Tiger Virgil Trucks -- and now Verlander.

It's always different when you can do something twice. The idea of a fluke is suddenly out of the picture, and validation sets in. You have to have really good stuff to throw even one no-hitter, sure; but history will say that, for the most part, you have to be great to do it a second time.

With two no-hitters, Verlander has joined a list almost as prestigious as the 24-member 300-win club.

And, as manager Jim Leyland said: "It wouldn't surprise me if he gets another one in his career. That's how good his stuff can be."

Making the leap
Aside from Saturday's historic feat, Verlander has been one of the best, most-consistent pitchers in baseball since his first full season in 2006. From that point up until Saturday, he ranked third in wins (85), fourth in strikeouts (1,009) and sixth in innings (1,101).

His name isn't thrown around among some of baseball's greats, though. Maybe it's because he's never won a Cy Young Award, or because he's never really had postseason success, or because his career ERA is a good-but-not-great 3.80.

But that mark just went down a few notches.

"He was unbelievable today," Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia said. "Anytime on your 106th pitch when you're hitting 100, I'd say it's pretty ridiculous stuff."

The only thing that kept Verlander from perfection was a walk to Arencibia, which came on a 3-2 fastball that just missed the outside corner -- and reached 100 mph.

After the free pass, Verlander got Edwin Encarnacion to bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play and continue facing the minimum the number of batters. In the ninth -- after having to cool down while the Tigers notched a two-run top half of the inning -- he induced a first-pitch David Cooper infield pop-up and got John McDonald to ground out to second base for out No. 2.

Then, finally, on his 108th pitch, Verlander got Davis to strikeout swinging on a tailing slider.

A new approach?
That strikeout was just the fourth of the game by Verlander, compared to the 12 he needed to complete his June 12, 2007, no-no.

On this afternoon, he pitched to contact, conserved his pitch count, mixed speeds effectively, and only tried to rear back and overpower when he felt he had to.

Verlander has always had great stuff. But it's his continued development as a pitcher that can put him in a whole separate category, and apparently that's taking place right before our eyes.

During the series finale between the Yankees and Tigers at Comerica Park on Thursday -- just two days before he would make history yet again -- I spoke with Verlander about not only having great stuff, but being able to hone it into successful pitching.

Here's what he said ...

"Would I rather be able to throw hard? Yes. ... But I would much rather throw slower and be successful. It's just nice to have been able to throw hard throughout my career. But a lot of guys who throw hard are very inconsistent; don't pound the strike zone. I want to be able to do that more effectively."

A new era
So, when can we go from "Year of the Pitcher" to "Era of the Pitcher"?

Verlander's no-hitter came just four days after the Twins' Francisco Liriano did the trick against the White Sox on Tuesday, and it marked the shortest amount of time between no-hitters since Al Leiter (May 11; Marlins) and Dwight Gooden (May 14; Yankees) were three days apart in 1996, according to STATS LLC.

Had a feisty Arencibia not worked a 12-pitch walk with five outs remaining, it would've been the third perfect game over the last two seasons. And had Daniel Descalso's hard grounder not found its way up the middle against the Brewers' Yovani Gallardo to lead off the eighth in St. Louis, we would've had two no-hitters thrown within minutes.

As it stands, Verlander's no-hitter was the second of the season. It was the 10th time a pitcher had held a team hitless through six in 2011, and it was the eighth no-hitter since the start of the 2010 season, which, before 2009, is the most in a two-year span since a gaudy 14 from 1990-91.

And it's only early May.

The long ball dominated baseball for a little over a decade recently. Now, suddenly -- be it from mere happenstance, philosophy, drug testing or a combination -- it's the guys who are on the mound who are having the most fun.

They say hitting is contagious?

So is pitching.

[-Jrabbit]

Verlander, the Tigers ace who has been one of the more underrated players since he emerged as a rookie...
[snip]
His name isn't thrown around among some of baseball's greats, though.

Crazy talk. No way is he "underrated," and his lack of post-season awards is entirely deserved. I don't know any baseball fan who doesn't consider Verlander extremely talented and one of the top young pitchers in the game. He's had some issues with consistency, but is clearly learning to be more of a pitcher these days. If he can stay healthy, I expect him to be dominant for years to come. If he can't, he'll be the next Kerry Wood -- plus stuff and a broken body.

[OzzyKP]

He hasn't had issues with consistency, nor has he had health issues. 2008 was his only down year in his career and he has otherwise been consistently great.

[SlowwHand]

Apparently only 28 pitchers in the history of baseball have thrown two or more no hitters.

I doubt that Nolan Ryan will have his record of 7 broken.

[EPW]

God hates the Rangers

[Imran Siddiqui]

Crazy talk. No way is he "underrated," and his lack of post-season awards is entirely deserved. I don't know any baseball fan who doesn't consider Verlander extremely talented and one of the top young pitchers in the game. He's had some issues with consistency, but is clearly learning to be more of a pitcher these days. If he can stay healthy, I expect him to be dominant for years to come. If he can't, he'll be the next Kerry Wood -- plus stuff and a broken body.

This. Underrated with respect to Verlander is absolutely foolish.

[SlowwHand]

Bad deal. I remember him as being a decent enough guy.

Killebrew ends fight vs cancer, looks to hospice (AP)

AP - Harmon Killebrew announced Friday that he no longer plans to fight his esophageal cancer and has settled in for the final days of his life, saddening friends and fans of the 74-year-old Hall of Fame slugger.

[SlowwHand]

If you don't have a pro baseball team favorite, I have one to recommend. Even if you do, take on a second team to cheer. Go Rangers.

Texas Rangers draft paralyzed Georgia player

The Texas Rangers drafted University of Georgia outfielder Johnathan Taylor on Wednesday in the 33rd round of baseball's amateur draft.

Doesn't sound like anything out of the ordinary until you know this: Taylor, a junior from Acworth, Ga., was partially paralyzed this spring when he suffered a broken neck in an outfield collision with teammate Zach Cone.

The Rangers had selected Cone in the second round of the draft.

Cone and Taylor are friends, but their collision March 6 in a game against Florida State left Taylor paralyzed. According to The Dallas Morning News, he is unlikely to walk again and is considered a tetraplegic, because the paralysis affected all his extremities.

He is being treated at Atlanta's Shepherd Center, the newspaper reported.

Meantime, Rangers director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg told ESPNDallas.com that his team was trying to do something nice, though had Taylor not been injured he likely had the talent to play professionally: "He's a great kid, and he's going through a terrible time in his life and we thought this would be something to uplift him. I've seen the kid play since high school, he was a great player at Georgia."

Taylor's college coach, David Perno, echoed what Fagg said, according to ESPN.com: "J.T. is definitely a player worthy of getting drafted. He's been a big part of our program, and we are all very excited for him. When I talked to him after he got the call, he was in the middle of his rehabilitation work, laughing and having a good time and was thrilled to be drafted."

He prefaced that comment to the website by saying, "This was truly a classy move and a great gesture on the part of the Texas Rangers organization."

Wow. I guess it's a Texas thing.

Rangers, Astros draft paralyzed players

By DENNIS WASZAK Jr. AP Sports Writer

NEW YORK (AP)—Johnathan Taylor and Buddy Lamothe may never play baseball again after accidents left them partially paralyzed.

That didn’t matter to the teams that picked them Wednesday during the final rounds of the Major League Baseball draft.

Taylor, an outfielder from the University of Georgia, was a 33rd-round pick of the Texas Rangers, while Lamothe, a reliever from San Jacinto College, was the Houston Astros’ 40th-round selection.


Taylor was left paralyzed from the chest down after he broke his neck in March during a game when he collided with teammate Zach Cone, the Rangers’ supplemental-round pick Monday. Texas director of amateur scouting Kip Fagg said the team’s selection of Taylor was “something we felt was right.”

“We would have drafted him either way, regardless of any other circumstances involving his injury or Zach’s draft status,” Fagg said. “Our area scout in Georgia, Ryan Coe, has had a relationship with Johnathan since he was a high school player. The club has always liked his passion and ability as a player.”

Taylor hit .335 last year as a sophomore for the Bulldogs, and was hitting .182 with two RBIs in 11 games at the time of his injury.

Fagg added that he and a few other Texas officials visited Cone during “the course of normal pre-draft activity” and gave him a Rangers jersey to give to Taylor that was signed by the entire Rangers team.

“This was truly a classy move and a great gesture on the part of the Texas Rangers organization,” Georgia coach David Perno said. “J.T. is definitely a player worthy of getting drafted. He’s been a big part of our program, and we are all very excited for him. When I talked to him after he got the call, he was in the middle of his rehabilitation work, laughing and having a good time and was thrilled to be drafted.”

Taylor was injured March 6 against Florida State and has been undergoing outpatient treatment at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta. He also attended a pair of Georgia games since his accident.

“We’re all very proud of him,” said Tandra Taylor, Jonathan’s mother. “It’s just amazing, and when he got the call, his face lit up and we were all very excited. It was awesome news.”

Cone, taken by the Rangers with the 37th overall selection, was thrilled the team also took his injured buddy.

“I was pumped up when the Rangers told me they were thinking about drafting J.T., and then I got a call saying that they had drafted him,” Cone said. “I was already planning on going over to see him and now we can talk about the Rangers. This made my day. It’s just awesome, and I’m so happy for him.”

Lamothe, in his first season at San Jacinto, was injured last month in a diving accident in San Marcos, Texas. The hard-throwing right-hander from Lyndonville, Vt., was 0-2 with a 0.77 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 23 1-3 innings pitched.

According to an update on a website dedicated to him, the 20-year-old Lamothe is undergoing inpatient rehabilitation in Houston, with the hope he’ll be released for outpatient therapy in the next few weeks.

A total of 1,530 players were selected during the three-day draft, with rounds 31-50 held via conference call Wednesday.

Three big league managers saw their sons get taken by their own teams in the later rounds, including Oakland’s Bob Geren (Brett, in the 42nd round), the Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Scioscia (Matthew, 45th round) and Toronto’s John Farrell (Shane, 46th round). The Blue Jays also took Jacob Wakamatsu, the son of bench coach Don Wakamatsu, in the 48th round.

Philadelphia general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. drafted his nephew, Andrew, in the 47th round.

St. Louis took Liberty catcher Casey Rasmus, the brother of outfielder Colby Rasmus(notes), in the 36th round.

The sons of former major leaguers Bobby Bonilla, Alex Fernandez and Charlie Leibrandt were also among the players whose names were called Wednesday.

Pitchers were the most commonly picked players this year with 793, including 575 right-handers. Every state except Maine was represented, and 61 foreign-born players were taken, led by 33 from Canada. Vanderbilt University had the most college players drafted with 12, including first-rounder Sonny Gray.

Pittsburgh took UCLA right-hander Gerrit Cole with the No. 1 overall pick Monday night.

AP Sports Writer Paul Newberry in Atlanta contributed to this report.

[OzzyKP]

[rah]

Yeah, thanks for a warm fuzzy moment.

[SlowwHand]

You're welcome. I know that in Chicago, warm fuzzies are rare.

[EPW]

Bob Geren fired