No Hitters

Matt Garza pitched a no hitter on Monday night in Tampa for his Rays against the Detroit Tigers. Garza obviously went the distance striking out six batters and only walked one batter to give Major League Baseball it's fifth no-no of the season (sixth if you count the Tigers Armando Galarraga's 28 out perfect game).

- I have expressed at great length my reasoning behind this recent incline in no-hitters. One highly discussed and overly debated word sums it all up; Steroids. Although I think MLB should rectify it's issues with the immediate past as it relates to steroid users (see our poll question), it's tough not to give Commissioner Bud Selig credit for the new crack down on all performance enhancing drugs. Once testing became regular and once public perception of users ruined careers (see Palmeiro, Rafael - McGwire, Mark, - Sosa, Sammy - Clemens, Roger - Bonds, Barry) players, one could assume, became afraid to cheat.

- As the game has weened itself of PEDs statistics have come back down to earth which has led to five no-hitters before August this year alone. Is it fair to say that only hitters were juicing back when testing was non-existent? No, not at all, especially when you factor in how many pitchers that have been implicated by either gossip or failed tests. It is, however, impossible to ignore this trend. It seems like there are one or two run games every night in baseball and it also seems like we have had just as many no-hitters as we have had near no-hitters. Pitchers losing their bid for history in the eighth or ninth innings.

- Take Garza for example. A talented pitcher with a wealth of potential, but the Rays pitcher, after pitching his and Tampa Bay's first ever no hitter has a 4.06 ERA. 4.06 earned runs after nine scoreless and hitless innings on Monday. In fact Garza gave up seven earned just seven days ago in his last outing. He's young (26) and he is on a team in the Rays that is loaded with young talent similar to him. The issue for me, any other year a pitcher like Garza doesn't pitch a no-no.

- 'Roids came into baseball and ruined many of the great All Time record and I think, as a whole, the sport has ignored those players. That is going to have to change soon - especially with Cooperstown losing so much revenue on a regular basis. Now, with baseball closer to an even playing field than in the past 20 plus years, baseball has to deal with the impact of consistent no-no's. For decades batters exploited avenues to find an edge over the pitching in the game. Now pitchers are benefiting, but once again history is suffering.

- I have said repeatedly on the show that although the steroids in baseball seem to be close to done, the Steroid Era is not over. Not yet, not when record holders aren't allowed in to the Hall of Fame and not when pitchers are putting their dent into the record books on an every game basis. Garza is the latest pitcher to go nine without allowing a hit, but you can expect he won't be the last.