The exclusive club of Major League franchises that have never thrown a no hitter nearly got a little smaller this weekend.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ James Shields through a complete game, one-hit shutout Friday night, nearly dropping that franchise off a four-team list that includes the Rays, the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres and the Colorado Rockies.

The Rays, formerly known as the Devil Rays, began play in 1998, so their tally pales in comparison to the Mets’ 46-year-old count.

The amazing thing about Shields’ performance is he had no run support - at least until the very end. The game was scoreless until the bottom of the ninth when Evan Longoria hit a two-run dinger to give Tampa Bay a 2-0 victory.

It was the first time in Major League history that a team won a nine-inning, one-hit shutout with a walk-off homer, according to a Tampa Tribune story, quoting the Elias Sports.

Shields gave up only a third-inning single to center by the Angels’ Brandon Wood and hit Erick Aybar with a pitch in the fourth.

Our focus at NoNoHitters.com is Mets no hitters - or more accurately, the lack thereof - but we also have an affinity for hits-for-the-cycle as the feat of hitting a single, double, triple and home run in a single game is a slightly more rare feat than a no hitter.

There have been 270 no hitters thrown in Major League history, while players have had 253 hits for cycle during that period. As we all know, nine Mets have hit for the cycle during their 46 years of existence, while no Mets have every hurled a no no.

So we have to offer kudos to former Met Carlos Gomez, who hit for the cycle Wednesday night during the Minnesota Twins 13-1 pummeling of the Chicago White Sox. The speedy centerfielder - traded to the Twins in the Johan Santana deal - did it in reverse order, beginning with a homer and working his way back to a single by barely beating a throw for an infield hit.

Way to go Carlos!

With today’s off day, we delve a little deeper into New York Mets no hitters history by looking at opposing pitchers who have thrown no hitters against the Mets. Sandy Koufax, Jim Bunning, Bob Moose, Bill Stoneman, Ed Halicki and Darryl Kile have all accomplished this feat with the Mets as their victims.

This will also be kept as a permanent page here, although we hope to not have to update it this year!





Sandy Koufax

June 30, 1962 - Los Angeles Dodgers 5, New York Mets 0 - Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles

OK, so the 1962 New York Mets’ lineup wasn’t the most talented of all time (in fact the squad’s 120 losses remain a Major League record), but throwing a no hitter against any team is still an accomplishment - even for an eventual Hall of Famer.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax struck out the side in the top of the first in this June 30, 1962 Dodger Stadium matchup, but things really started going south for the Mets in the bottom half of the inning.

Starter Bob L. Miller (we use the initial because he was one of two Bob Millers in the Mets’ starting rotation) lasted just 2/3 of an inning, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits, helping to set the stage for one of Koufax’s four career no hitters.

Koufax would go on to strike out a total of 13 batters while walking 3.

Jim Bunning

June 21, 1964 - Perfect game - Philadelphia Phillies 6, New York Mets 0 - Shea Stadium, New York

I doubt when my dad headed out to Shea Stadium to watch this Fathers’ Day contest, he thought he’d be glad to witness a New York Mets loss. But how many times in your life do you get to witness a perfect game?

Sure, it would have been nice if the Mets’ Tracy Stallard was up to the challenge, but it was the Philadelphia Phillies’ Jim Bunning that would accomplish the amazing feat.

Bunning struck out 10, with the 10th coming in the bottom of the 9th against pinch hitter John Stephenson - the 27th straight batter he retired.

According to The Baseball Almanac, Bunning threw 90 pitches during the game, and 79 of those were strikes. Wow.

Bob Moose

Sept. 20, 1969 - Pittsburgh Pirates 4, New York Mets 0 - Shea Stadium, New York

The Mets were deep in a pennant race with their eyes set on winning the National League East on Sept. 20, 1969 when Bob Moose took the mound for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Moose held the Mets hitless, walking three batters while striking out six en route to no-hitting the eventual World Champions. The only real scare came in the sixth inning, when the legendary Roberto Clemente saved the day with a one-handed catch of a liner hit by Wayne Garrett.

The Mets would bounce back well from the no-no loss, winning their next nine games.

Bill Stoneman

Oct. 2, 1972 - Montreal Expos 7, New York Mets 0 - Jarry Park, Montreal

When Bill Stoneman took the mound at Montreal’s Jarry Park on Oct. 2, 1972, he already had one no hitter under his belt. (Stoneman in ‘69 had tossed a 7-0 no hitter for the Expos against the Phililes.)

Stoneman’s no-no against the Mets was the first ever pitched outside the United States. The right-hander struck out nine during the game, but he walked seven and mishandled a grounder for an error.

“I wouldn’t say my control was very sharp that day,” Stoneman wrote in a 2005 article for Baseball Digest.

Ed Halicki

Aug. 24, 1975 - San Francisco Giants 6, New York Mets 0 - Candlestick Park, San Francisco

The Mets actually had 12 hits the day that San Francisco Giants pitcher El Halicki hurled his no hitter against the team.

Unfortunately, all 12 hits came in the first game of the doubleheader at Candlestick Park. The Mets won the opener 9-5, thanks in part to a fifth-inning Grand Slam by Dave Kingman.

Halicki struck out 10 and walked 2 in the nightcap, which turned a bit controversial in the fifth inning when the Mets’ Rusty Staub hit a line drive up the middle.

The ball ricocheted off of Halicki’ shin and rolled to second baseman Derrel Thomas. Thomas bobbled it before throwing to first, allowing the far-from-fleet-footed Grande L’Orange to beat the throw. The official scorer received cheers when he ruled the play an E4, a call that New York Daily News columnist Dick Young took issue with. Halicki has since said he thought the call was correct.

Darryl Kile

September 8, 1993 - Houston Astros 7 New York Mets 1 - The Astrodome, Houston

Darryl Kile, who tragically died of heart trouble in 2002 while he was with the St. Louis Cardinals, pitched a no hitter against the Mets in 1993 when he was wearing a Houston Astros uniform.

Kile struck out nine while walking one in the game. He had retired the first 10 Mets batters, but the Mets got a run in the fourth thanks to a walk followed by an Astros defensive breakdown.

After walking Jeff McKnight, Kile threw a wild pitch, which catcher Scott Servais thought hit Joe Orsulak on the foot. It didn’t, and as McKnight ran to third, first baseman Jeff Bagwell grabbed the ball and threw it off-line, allowing McKnight to score.

Today marks the 46th anniversary of the New York Mets’ first ballgame, or - from our ridiculously narrow perspective - the 46th anniversary of the origin of the Mets’ streak of games without a no hitter.

The date was April 11, 1962, and the Mets were playing their first ever regular season contest against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman’s Park.

Starting pitcher Roger Craig got leadoff batter Curt Flood to fly out to center, but then second-baseman Julian Javier stepped into the box and hit a line drive single to left, thus killing Craig’s quest to ensure his place in New York Metropolitan Baseball Club history. The count advanced to “1.”

A mere 7,327 games later, we’re still waiting for the Mets’ first no hitter!

Well folks, today just could be the day!

After Oliver Perez gave up a leadoff single during the Mets 13-0 rout of the Florida Marlins on April 2, our friends at Mets Walk-Offs (and other minutiae) were wondering how many of the mets 7,320 games without a no hitter (through 2007) were broken up immediately.

I thought that would be quite a monumental task to research since it would require more than standard box scores, but Mets Walk-Offs passed the question on to David at Retrosheet, who came up with a incredible breakdown:

Of the Mets’ 7,320 games without a no hitter from 1962-2007:

• 878 games began with a leadoff hit by the Mets’ opponent
• 662 of those were singles, 140 were doubles, 32 were triples and were 44 homers
• 468 of those games were on the road and 410 were at Shea (or the Polo Grounds)

If you haven’t yet checked out Retrosheet (which I hadn’t before Mets Walk-Offs passed it along), you should. The site was founded in 1989 for the purpose of computerizing play-by-play accounts of as many pre-1984 major league games as possible, and it’s awesome.)

We’ll add these numbers to our static pages and keep them up-to-date through the 2008 season. Thanks David!

The MRI results aren’t yet in, but the
Daily Record is reporting that the New York Mets have placed Pedro Martinez on the 15-day disabled list.

Martinez pulled his left hamstring in the fourth inning of Tuesday night’s game against the Florida Marlins, saying he heard a pop.

The Mets are bringing up Nelson Figueroa to fill Martinez’s roster spot, but speculation is they could go with a four-man rotation for the near future.

We all know that no New York Mets pitcher has ever thrown a no hitter.

So why have nine Mets been able to accomplish a feat that’s slightly rarer than a no hitter?

A batter “hits for cycle” when he gets a single, double, triple and home run in the same game. There have been just 252 hits for cycle in Major League history, yet there’s been 270 no hitters thrown during that same period.

The Mets who have hit for cycle are Jim Hickman (Aug. 7, 1963), Tommie Agee (July 6, 1970), Mike Phillips (June 25, 1976), Keith Hernandez (July 4, 1985), Kevin McReynolds (Aug. 1, 1989), Alex Ochoa (July 3, 1996), John Olerud (Sept. 11, 1997), Eric Valent (July 29, 2004) and Jose Reyes (June 21, 2006).

We’ve prepared a
side-by-side comparison of these two rare feats and added it to our static pages.

… a site devoted to the New York Mets’ dubious streak of having never pitched a no hitter in franchise history. The streak has now lasted:

7,320 games 46 seasons

The San Diego Padres (circa 1969), Colorado Rockies (circa 1993) and Tampa Bay Rays (circa 1998) are the only other franchises never to throw a no-no.

A Mets pitcher has never hurled a no hitter?

That’s correct. A pitcher on the mound for the New York Mets has never thrown a No-No.

Really? What about Ryan, Seaver and guys like that?

Yes, Nolan Ryan pitched seven no hitters during his Hall of Fame career, but they all came after he was traded by the Mets. And Tom Seaver finally got his sole no hitter as a Cincinnati Red during his first season away from the Mets. In fact, six former Mets pitched no hitters after leaving New York. Mike Scott (Houston Astros), Dwight Gooden (New York Yankees) David Cone (Yankees) and Hideo Nomo (Boston Red Sox) round out the list. Click here for more details.

Were there also Mets pitchers who threw no hitters prior to joining the Mets?

Yep. Don Cardwell (Chicago Cubs), Warren Spahn (Milwaukee Braves), Dean Chance (Minnesota Twins), Dock Ellis (Pittsburgh Pirates, while tripping on acid), John Candelaria (Pittsburgh Pirates), Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City Royals), Al Leiter (Florida Marlins), Kenny Rogers (Texas Rangers) and Hideo Nomo (Los Angeles Dodgers) all did it. Note that Nomo is the only pitcher to hurl No-Nos before and after his stint with the Mets. Click here for more details on this group’s no hitters.

OK, so why launch a Web site devoted to this?

To break the curse.

Yeah … right

I understand the skepticism, but hear me out. I am a lifelong Mets fan, but my football team is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On Dec. 5, 2007, I launched PointOfNoReturns.com, a site dedicated to the Bucs’ equally dubious streak of never returning a kickoff for a touchdown. Eleven days later, Michael Spurlock returned a kickoff for a touchdown, ending 31¾ years of futility. Coincidence? Who knows, but I thought a Mets no hitters site was worth a try.

So are the Mets really cursed? How did that happen?

Well it’s no surprise that the Mets didn’t throw a no hitter through most of the 1960s as they simply weren’t that good of a team. But with Ryan, Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Jon Matlack on the roster, the Mets surely had enough talent on the roster from the late 1960s to the mid 1970s to get it done. Some trace the curse back to Dec. 10, 1971, when the Mets traded Nolan Ryan along with pitcher Don Rose, catcher Francisco Estrada and outfielder Leroy Stanton to the California Angels for infielder Jim Fregosi. Ryan went on to throw seven no-nos and the Mets still have none.

Hey, back up a few sections there. Did you say that Dock Ellis pitched a no hitter while tripping on acid?

Yes, and it’s apparently not an urban legend. He thought the Pirates had a day off and decided to drop a few tabs before realizing that Pittsburgh had a doubleheader and he was scheduled to pitch Game 1. The Dallas Observer, an alternative weekly, has a comprehensive retelling of the odd feat, quoting a now drug-free Ellis. The win apparently wasn’t pretty, as Ellis walked eight and hit at least one batter.

Back to the Mets, I’m pretty sure they’ve had some one hitters, right?

Yes, 27 to date, including two taken into the ninth inning by Tom Seaver. See the full list here. Most recently, Tom Glavine in 2004 took one into the eighth against Colorado before Kit Pellow hit a double. In 2007, John Maine no-hit the Marlins for 7 2/3 innings before Paul Hoover got an infield single down the third base line, ending Maine’s quest. Maine had 14 strikeouts in the 13-0 win, but he doesn’t make the Mets’ one-hitter list as Manager Willie Randolph pulled him in the eighth.

Wow, will I ever get to see a Mets no hitter?

I sure hope so. I have high hopes that either Pedro Martinez, Johan Santana or John Maine will break the curse this year. (Note that as an Expo in 1995, Martinez threw 9 innings of no-hit ball in a game that was 0-0 after nine, but he gave up a leadoff double in the tenth. Mel Rojas replaced Martinez and the Expos won 1-0.) In the meantime, check out this YouTube video of a perfect game thrown by a New York Mets pitcher during an “MLB 2K7″ game on Xbox 360.

Is the Mets’ no hitter drought the longest in Major League Baseball history

No. Well, not yet anyway. The Mets streak has lasted 46 seasons. The Philadelphia Phillies were void of a no hitter for 57 seasons between 1907 and 1963.