Buehrle pulls through

So we all know the stories. If you want to throw a no hitter, do it a time when I'm not anywhere near a TV or a computer. Because if I start to follow the game, your no-hitter is over. And last night was no exception. At noon today I hit up MLB.com and saw the headline, "Buehrle unlikely candidate to throw no-no." First, I couldn't disagree more. But we'll get to that in a minute. I've talked about how I literally prevent no-hitters. I've accepted the fact that I will never witness one. It's just depressing to see the evidence continue to stack up. Buehrle's no-no was another case. I was out the whole night, and I missed the thing. I didn't even know the dude was pitching. It's unbelievable. We've covered this curse before, most recently with Felix. In general, superstitions have always made me curious. I'm a curious man, and when it comes to baseball, I'm also superstitious. I wrote a whole post about superstitions near the start of last season, when Rollins had his hit streak going. This is what it's like for these ballplayers.

How many little things do you think Rollins has running around in his head right now? If you ask him, he'll say he just goes to the park every day, does his thing, doesn't even think about the streak. Either Rollins is superhuman, or he's a liar. There's no way he hasn't picked up at least seven different tricks that help him get a hit every day. Maybe the first day of the streak, he had an omelet with three slices of ham instead of the usual two. He was probably at the end of the 'roll' and didn't want that last slice to go to waste. Then he gets a hit. Think he'll ever have another two-slice ham omelet? Not a chance. It's things like that. By the end of the streak, Rollins will be so full of these little things, he'll be a basketcase.

Little superstitions. They'll get you every time. Like the Steve Finley/Darin Erstad magic bag.

Now, why do I think Buehrle was the perfect candidate for a no-no? First off, I've been saying he'd throw one for years. Shouting it from the rooftops. So much so, that as soon as I saw MLB's article I IMed my brother, (who, let it be noted, I did beat in last week's fantasy match up). "Missed that, man... Buehrle threw a no-no." Not five minutes later, I get another one from Kevin. "So your boy got a no-no last night." He already knew what I was thinking. Buehrle works fast, and he's efficient. He threw something like 105 pitches last night. Walked one guy. You get guys out that quickly, you don't lose your strength in the 7th inning. Common sense. You can make contact off the dude, but you'll pop up or dribble to short because he'll throw you some tricky off-speed. He's not that fast, so you can't just throw your stick out and connect for a 400ft blast. Interesting note, however - some major league poll found that, according to MLB batters, Mark Buehrle has one of the best fastballs. It's not fast, but it's got movement, and it's tricky. It was only a matter of time. Thanks, Mark!

Dude, it's time for a Yankee post - April 11th, 2007
The Hit Streak v. The Perfect Game: Superstitions - April 3rd, 2006