As I said in my intro, this blog is going to be a mix of politics and sports and as you have seen if you've visited my blog in the first week of publication there's been three political posts and zero sports posts. Admittedly I was waiting to write a sports piece until the MLB All Star break, but fortunately, circumstances in the last few hours have pushed me to the point where I have to break my fast.
In all of Major League Baseball history there have been 257 officially recognized no-hitters thrown during the modern era of professional baseball. In the history of professional baseball there were 279 no-hitters before tonight. Homer Bailey decided that he wanted to own the 279 and 280 spot on that list and threw his second career no-no tonight against the San Francisco Giants.
As ESPN points out, Nolan Ryan was the last pitcher to throw one no-no and then another before any other pitcher was able to do so. Ryan did it first in 1974 and then in 1975.
Coincidently enough Homer wears number 34 in tribute to the Strikeout King.
Bailey joined the short list of pitchers to earn multiple career no-hitters after he fanned nine Giants and walked just one through a nine inning, 3-0 win for the Reds. His first no-no came last season, 278 days ago, against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he struck out 10 men and walked one.
For the first time since Tom Browning threw his perfect game in 1988, Cincinnati was graced with a hometown no-hitter and the first at Great American Ballpark. Cincinnati also recorded their 16th no hitter in franchise history. Only the Dodgers (20), Red Sox (19) and White Sox (18) have achieved more no-no's throughout franchise history.
Homer is now 5-6 with a 3.57 ERA through 111 innings this season. He also owns a 43-39 career record along with a 4.90 ERA.
As the Reds look to continue their dominance over the visiting Giants, Dusty Baker will be sending Tony Cingrani (3-0) to the hill to face off against Barry Zito (4-6).
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