Edwin Jackson's Effectively Wild Ride

Two pitchers have already thrown perfect games this year - three if you include Armando Galarraga. That’s incredible considering there have only been 20 perfect games in the entire history of the MLB. Maybe it's because we’ve witnessed two of these incredible feats already this year but I was thoroughly unimpressed with Edwin Jackson’s no-hitter on Friday night. Or maybe I was unimpressed because it was so patently brutal.

Jackson no-hit the Tampa Bay Rays, the same team both Mark Buehrle and Dallas Braden threw perfect games against. But instead of dominating the Rays, like Buehrle and Braden did, Jackson walked an astonishing eight batters, hit one, and threw a wild pitch. Additionally, two Rays stole a base. There was even a moment in the third inning where Jackson had walked the bases loaded with none out, yet somehow managed to escape unharmed. Despite his no-hit bid there were relievers warming up for almost the entire game. It wasn’t pretty.

By the time the game ended Jackson had thrown 149 pitches, the most thrown in the majors since 2005 when Livan Hernandez threw 150 against the Marlins. As a result, Jackson will have his next start pushed back from Wednesday to either Friday or Saturday. This is a good decision considering over Jackson's last 10 starts he has averaged over 7 innings and close to 116 pitches per game.

As the Diamondbacks recorded the final out and Jackson’s no-hitter was preserved the team rushed the pitcher and he let out an exuberant cry. I understand that no-hitters are fun, but celebrating something this wacky seems more than strange.

We’re living in the Sabrmetrics era where there is such an emphasis placed on OBP, so why do we still cheer for no-hitters, especially ones as poor as this? The no-hitter just seems to be archaic in today’s game. Sure, I guess it’s a fun thing to celebrate when it happens since they won’t happen every week, but they’re nothing to lose it over.

This isn’t actually the worst no-hitter ever thrown. A.J. Burnett threw a no-hitter in 2001 when he was still on the Marlins, except he walked 9 batters. And Doc Ellis no-hit the Padres in 1970 while walking eight and hitting one – all while high on LSD. Sorry, that’s actually the best no-hitter ever thrown.