But the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Juan Uribe broke up San Diego’s no-hitter with a two-out double against Luke Gregorson in the ninth inning, and so there are still two in the club. The Dodgers wound up winning the game 1-0.

Padres starter Aaron Harang made it through six, and Josh Spence, Chad Qualls and Mike Adams kept L.A. hitless through eight.

The Mets have gone 7,896 regular season games without a no-no since 1962. The Padres have gone 6,717 games sice 1969.

The Rockies and Rays were also in the no no-hitter club at the start of the 2010 season but broke free with gems by Ubaldo Jimenez and Matt Garza that year.

The Padres actually could have exited the club early in the franchise’s history. On July 21, 1970, the Mets were beating the Padres 1-0, but Padres starter Clay Kirby still had a no-hitter going through eight innings. With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, San Diego skipper Preston Gomez decided to pull Kirby for a pinch hitter, Cito Gaston. Gaston struck out, reliever Jack Baldschun gave up a ninth-inning leadoff single to Bud Harrelson and the Mets rallied to pad their lead to 3-0, which would be the final score.

Would Kirby have reached base and started a rally that would have given them a 2-1 lead and an eventual no-no win? Would Kirby have struck out, yet kept the no-hitter alive through the top of the ninth to set up a ninth-inning Padres walk-off victory? We’ll never know, and both clubs still have no no-no.

But the Padres have one more dubious distinction than the Mets. They’re the only Major League franchise without a no-hitter AND without a player hitting for the cycle.

Brothers, Enberg and Allen.

The MLB Network broadcast was a reunion of sorts, as Costas and Michaels hadn’t called a baseball together since the 1995 World Series.

But did the pairing of the two mark the most star-studded broadcast booth of all time?

No. Far from it.

That honor was achieved during a 1988 fictional match-up between the California Angels and the Seattle Mariners during the Leslie Nielsen police comedy, “The Naked Gun.”

Calling that game at Dodger Stadium were Curt Gowdy, Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver, Dick Vitale, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg and … of course … Dr. Joyce Brothers.

“How about that?”

Humber, now a Chicago White Sox pitcher, took a no-no into the seventh Tuesday night against the New York Yankees. It was broken up by Alex Rodriguez, who sent a clean single up the middle with one out.

It would have been typical … a little known journeyman … against the Yanks … with Santana (the guy most expected to break the curse) on the DL.

We decided to look at each candidate’s no-hitter credentials. No one shines, but we give Backman the advantage.

Backman has never led a Major League club, spending his time since 2001 managing minor-league ballclubs in Winston-Salem, Birmingham, Lancaster, Joliet and Brooklyn. He was hired to manage the Arizona Diamondbacks during the 2004-2005 offseason but was fired four days later after it was learned that he had twice been arrested twice and had been dealing with financial problems.

Backman, however, did play second base during a game on the winning side of a no-hitter, going 1-for-4 from the leadoff spot for the Philadelphia Phillies on May 23, 1991 as Tommy Greene no-hit the Montreal Expos during a 2-0 win at Olympic Stadium.

Collins managed for six years – three with the Houston Astros and three with the Anaheim Angels, but none of his teams ever hurled a no-no. He was on the receiving end of one though, when the Minnesota Twins’ Eric Milton no-hit the Angels on Sept. 11, 1999 during a 7-0 win.

Melvin managed for seven years – two with the Seattle Mariners and five with the Arizona Diamondbacks – but also. He was at the D’Backs help when Anibal Sanchez no-hit the club during a Sept. 6, 2006 match between the Marlins and Arizona. Florida won 2-0. Sanchez in that game actually broke the longest no-hitter drought in Major League baseball history in terms of number of games played, with the games between Randy Johnson’s 2004 perfect game and Sanchez’s 2006 no-no reaching 6,364.

Hale was a member of the Minnesota Twins in 1994, but he was not in the lineup when Scott Erickson blanked the Milwaukee Brewers 6-0 on April 27, 1994 without allowing a single hit.

I guess Nolan Ryan isn’t looking for a job. Sigh.

Check it out!

Sports often can bring out the worst in people, so it’s such a nice surprise to see how the different actors in this near-perfecto tragedy played their parts.

After umpire Jim Joyce motioned the safe sign to strip Galarraga of the perfect game he rightfully deserved, Galarraga just stood there smiling as if thinking “freakin’ unbelievable” (or something worse). Yet he strolled back to the mound, got the final out and later tipped his hat to the crowd.

His teammates and manager took a different tact, but they were sticking up for their guy, which is more than understandable in that circumstance.

Then Joyce, after realizing the call was wrong, sought out both Galarraga and Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland to personally apologize and admit his mistake. In a heavily bleeped radio interview given later, Joyce essentially said: I screwed up, I feel terrible and the kid deserved that moment in history. It would be nice if that stand-up-and-take-responsibility response were the norm, but it’s not, and it took guts.

In a post-game interview, Galarraga, showing no sign of bitterness, recognized Joyce for the gesture.

Two class acts, in my opinion.

Now it remains to be seen if baseball – specifically Bud Selig – will do the right thing, which would clearly be to grant Galarraga his perfect game.

There is already precendent for changing the record books related to no-nos, though in 1991 it went the other way.

That’s when the Committee on Statistical Accuracy, chaired by then MLB Commissioner Fay Vincent, changed the official definition of a no-hitter, declaring it a game of nine innings or more that ends with no hits. That leaves 266 sanctioned no-hitters, 243 in the A.L. and N.L. The stringent definition eliminated 38 no-hitters from the books that were shortened by rain or darkness and losing efforts by the away team in which the home team doesn’t bat in the bottom of the ninth.

(See our Close, but no cigar: No-hitters not officially recognized page for more details and a list for these now unrecognized efforts.)

We’ll probably make Galarraga the poster child for this page if he doesn’t get his kudos.

Here’s the full list, with some research help from the The Society For American Baseball Research and Retrosheet:

May 30, 1962, Los Angeles Dodgers at New York Mets
6-4-3 triple play in top of the sixth inning

The Dodgers’ Willie Davis lines out to Mets shortstop Elio Chacon, who makes a leaping catch and throws to second-baseman Charlie Neal, who doubles up Maury Wills and throws to first-baseman Gil Hodges, who catches Jim Gilliam off first.

May 31, 1964, San Francisco Giants at New York Mets (23-inning game)
6-6-3 triple play in the top of the 14th inning

Orlando Cepeda lines out to shortstop Roy McMillan, who steps on second to double up Jesus Alou, then throws to first-baseman Ed Kranepool to catch Willie Mays off first.

April 15, 1965, Houston Astros at New York Mets
9-2-6 triple play in the top of the 2nd inning

Jimmy Wynn hits a fly ball to right-fielder Johnny Lewis, who catches the ball and throws home to catcher Chris Cannizzaro, who tags out Walt Bond after tagged up and tried to score from third, then Cannizzaro throws to shortstop Roy McMillan, who nabs Bob Aspromonte while he was trying to decide whether to advance from first.

Sept. 28, 1966, Chicago Cubs at New York Mets
5-4-3 triple play in the top of the 6th inning

Joey Amalfitano lines out to third-baseman Eddie Bressoud, who throws to second-baseman Chuck Hiller, who doubles up John Boccabella and throws to first-baseman Jim Hickman, who catches Ron Campbell off first.

Aug. 3, 1982 New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
6-4-3 triple play in the bottom of the 8th inning

Larry Bowa hits a fly ball to shortstop Bob Bailor, who flips the ball to second-baseman Wally Backman to double up Jay Johnstone, and Backman throws over to first-baseman Dave Kingman, who catches Gary Woods off first.

Sept. 29, 1982, Chicago Cubs at New York Mets
4-4-3 triple play in the top of the third inning

Keith Moreland hits a grounder to second-baseman Brian Giles, who tags Bill Buckner as he was running from second, steps on second base to force Jay Johnstone from first, then throws to first-baseman Rusty Staub to get Moreland.

June 6, 1989, New York Mets at Chicago Cubs
3-6-3 triple play in the bottom of the fifth inning

First-baseman Dave Magadan fields Vance Law’s hard-hit short-hopper and tags Lloyd McClendon running from first, throws to shortstop Kevin Elster who gets Damon Berryhill from second, then throws back to Magadan to get Law.

Aug. 5, 1998, San Francisco Giants at New York mets
3-6-3-2 triple play in the top of the fifth inning

J.T. Snow hits a hard grounder to first baseman John Olerud, who checks Barry Bonds at third and then throws to shortstop Rey Ordonez to force Jeff Kent running from first. Ordonez fake throws home to hold Bonds and then throws to Olerud to get the batter, then Olerud throws home to get Bonds.

May 17, 2002, New York Mets at San Diego Padres
5-4-3 triple play in the bottom of the fifth inning

Wiki Gonzalez grounds to third-baseman Edgardo Alfonzo, who who steps on the bag to force Deivi Cruz from second and throws to second-baseman Roberto Alomar to force Sean Burroughs from first, then Alomar throws to first-baseman Mo Vaughn to get Gonzalez.

May 19, 2010, New York Mets at Washington Nationals
8-2-6-3 triple play in the fifth inning

With the Nationals’ Livan Hernandez at second and Nyjer Morgan at first, Washington sent the runners while Cristian Guzman hit a short fly ball center. Angel Pagan hustled in to make a great shoestring catch, and Hernandez was already standing on third and Morgan on second when Pagan tossed the ball toward shortstop Jose Reyes in an effort to begin the sequence. Pagan’s errant throw sailed past Reyes and landed near the mound, but both runners stood still as if confused about whether it was indeed a catch. Mets’ catcher Henry Blanco picked up the ball, threw to Reyes for out No. 2 and then to Ike Davis at first for out No. 3. One of the umpires was about to rule it a single (it was clearly a catch), but a colleague overruled him and signaled three punch outs for the triple-play.

But as I was updating the site’s pages today after the Oakland Athletics’ Dallas Braden’s threw his perfect game, I came across a tidbit of information that really illustrates the Mets’ no-no woes:

The New York Mets have played a little over 48 years in the National League and have never had a no-hitter. … the Louisville Eclipse (later renamed the Colonels) played 17 years in the American Association and the National League from 1882 through 1899 and have thrown four no-hitters.

That’s right … Louisville, which lasted about a third as long as the Mets, had four more no-hitters. That’s kind of sad, isn’t it?

And, the Eclipse/Colonels are just one of 16 defunct franchises that have thrown a total of 24 no-nos. Here’s the full list:

• 4 Louisville Colonels, Louisville Eclipse (AA, NL)
• 3 Baltimore Orioles (AA, NL – different than the current AL franchise)
• 2 Buffalo Bisons (NL)
• 2 Columbus Buckeyes (AA)
• 2 Providence Grays (NL)
• 1 Toledo Blue Stockings (AA)
• 1 St. Louis Brown Stockings (NL)
• 1 Cincinnati Outlaw Reds (UA)
• 1 Kansas City Packers (FL)
• 1 Cleveland Spiders (AA, NL)
• 1 Worcester Ruby Legs (NL)
• 1 Brooklyn Tip-Tops (FL)
• 1 Chicago Federals (Chi-Feds), Chicago Whales (FL)
• 1 St. Louis Terriers (FL)
• 1 Kansas City Cowboys (AA)
• 1 Rochester Broncos (AA)

Well we checked the record books and found that of the 264 no-hitters sanctioned by the baseball gods, 39 of them have been thrown as part of twinbills. And, oddly enough, pitchers threw more no-nos in openers than nightcaps. Of the 39, 23 happened during Game 1s while just 16 occurred in Game 2s.

Here are some other interesting twinbill no-no tidbits:

• Of the 10 doubleheader no-hitters thrown since the Mets have come into existence, 3 have been thrown against the Mets – Jim Bunning’s 1964 perfect game in Game 1 of a Father’s Day doubleheader at Shea, Bill Stoneman’s 1972 Game 2 no-no and Ed Halicki’s 1975 Game 2 no-hitter.
• Two members of the Mets all-time roster threw doubleheader no-hitters before joining the team: Don Cardwell Dean Chance.
• Dock Ellis’ infamous June 12, 1970, no-hitter thrown when he was tripping on LSD was thrown during Game 1 of a twinbill.
• Babe Ruth’s no-hitter was during Game 1 of a doubleheader. (Well, Ruth played a VERY small part. On June 23, 1917, Ruth (Then a Red Sox pitcher) was ejected for arguing with ump after walking first batter. Ernie Shore picked the runner off of first and then retired the next 26 Washington Senators for the combined no-no.

Here’s the full list of the 39 no-hitters pitched as part of Major League Baseball doubleheaders: