Almost
| Game 59: June 7, 2007 | |||
 Red Sox |
1 | W: Curt Schilling (6-2) | 38-21, 1 game winning streak 14-5-2 series record |
| Athletics | 0 | L: Joe Blanton (5-4) | 31-28, 1 game losing streak 10-8-2 series record |
| Highlights: Well, duh. Coco Crisp made like Randy Moss in the sixth on a deep fly off the bat of Mark Kotsay. Another Mark was foiled by Mike Lowell in the seventh. Ellis was thrown out at first thanks to Lowell zipping the ball across the diamond after knocking it down. Kevin Youkilis’s attempt to outpace Marco Scutaro to third on David Ortiz’s ground ball in the eighth was comical. Youkilis saw that third base was vacant because of the shift and became a little too greedy. Someone has let an inside-the-park homer distort his perception of his speed. | |||
Some may be thankful Curt Schilling didn’t twirl a no-hitter. If he was insufferable before, imagine how he’d be after such a feat. He’d be in front of every microphone and camera for weeks on end, but he and Shonda would also find some way to use paraphernalia from that game to generate money for his various charitable foundations.
For that, and for him stanching the four-game losing skid, it’s difficult to fault Schilling for being the blowhard he is. With his braggadocio comes generosity, so it’s a forgivable fault.
In a post-game clip, David Ortiz intimated that he didn’t know that a no-hitter was in progress until the ninth. He looked up at the scoreboard, saw all the goose eggs, and turned to the dugout with the same sort of look that spectators do when they watch one of his home runs sail out of the park. He was quickly shushed.
Interestingly, the first-inning Papi bomb was the only offense of the afternoon.
Schilling shook his backstop off on the pitch that would be his undoing. He hefted over a fastball that had too much of the plate to Shannon Stewart in the bottom of the ninth with two out. Stewart got a hold of the heater and lined it to shallow right. One would think that Schilling would listen to Jason Varitek, who is renown as one of the best game-callers in the majors and has presided over two no-hitters.
The near-miss prompted me to research all of the no-hitters in the long history of the Americans, a.k.a. Red Sox.
| Boston Americans and Red Sox No-Hitters | |||
| Pitcher | Date | Notable Facts | |
| Cy Young | May 5, 1904* | Against the Philadelphia Athletics at Huntington Avenue Grounds. The Americans won 3-0. The opposing pitcher, Rube Waddell, was notorious for having wrestled an alligator. Boston won the American League pennant that season, but no World Series was played that year. | |
| Jesse Tannehill | August 17, 1904 | The southpaw was opposed by the White Sox in South Side Park. Tannehill’s brother Lee started at third base for Chicago. | |
| Bill Dineen | September 27, 1905 | The White Sox were again victimized but this time at Huntington in the first game of a doubleheader. Chicago stormed back in the second game. Home plate umpire Francis “Silk” O’Laughlin called six no-hitters, more than any other official. O’Laughlin died in 1918 in the flu pandemic. | |
| Cy Young | June 30, 1908 | Young manhandled the Highlanders at Hilltop Park. New York ended the season with the second-worst season winning percentage in franchise history, going 51-103 for a .331 winning percentage. | |
| Joe Wood | July 29, 1911 | Wood no-hit the St. Louis Browns, a team that was the Milwaukee Brewers and would become the second incarnation of the Baltimore Orioles. The game was played at Sportsman’s Park, which would become the first Busch Stadium in 1953. The next year Wood would be the first pitcher to play the Yankees in their new pinstriped uniforms on April 11. He won 5-3. | |
| Rube Foster | June 21, 1916 | Again the Yankees are no-hit by a Boston pitcher. It was the first no-hitter at Fenway. | |
| Dutch Leonard | August 30, 1916 | The hapless Browns again were the paradigm of futility against the Red Sox. Leonard was one of the 17 pitchers who were grandfathered in 1920 when spitballs were ruled illegal. | |
| Babe Ruth Ernie Shore |
June 23, 1917 | The so-called “combined no-hitter;” it was called a perfect game until a rule change. Ruth had walked Ray Morgan and was ejected from the game for punching umpire Brick Owens. On two days rest, Shore caught Morgan stealing and proceeded to retire the next 26 Senators in order. | |
| Dutch Leonard | June 3, 1918 | The lefty notched his second and final no-hitter against the Tigers in Boston. He would not pitch the entire season due to World War I. | |
| Howard Ehmke | September 7, 1923 | Ehmke pitches the second no-hitter against the Philadelphia Athletics in four days. Sam Jones of the Yankees no-hit Connie Mack’s boys on September 4 without striking out a single batter. | |
| Mel Parnell | July 14, 1956 | The South Siders were blanked by southpaw Parnell at Fenway, breaking the 33-year drought of Red Sox no-hitters. Sadly Parnell’s career came to end in 1956 because of a torn muscle. | |
| Earl Wilson | June 26, 1962 | Wilson tossed the first no-hitter against Angels and helped his own cause in the third with a home run. Malzone crossed the dish in the fourth after reaching on an error. | |
| Bill Monbouquette | August 1, 1962 | In a 1-0 squeaker, Monbouquette walked one and struck out seven at Comiskey Park. White Sox third baseman Al Smith walked in the second. The single run came in the eighth. Gary Gieger reached on a base on balls but was caught stealing second. Carl Yastrzemski struck out. Pagliaroni, Runnels, and Clinton all singled, with Clinton’s driving in the winning run. | |
| Dave Morehead | September 16, 1965 | In an otherwise lackluster 100-loss season, Morehead dominated the Indians 2-0 at Fenway, allowing one base on balls to Colavito while striking out eight. The Red Sox were opposed by Luis Tiant, who twirled a complete game loss, allowed just two runs, and struck out 11. | |
| Matt Young | April 12, 1992** | Not technically a no-hitter since he pitched only eight innings to the Indians at Cleveland Stadium. Kenny Lofton scored in the first after walking, stealing second and third, and tagging up on an Albert Belle sac fly to right. In the third Mark Lewis led off with a walk, advanced on a free pass to Lofton, ran to third on a force play at second, and was plated on a fielder’s choice by Carlos Baerga. Boston managed just a single run in the fourth thanks to Ellis Burks. John Flaherty made his debut in this game. | |
| Hideo Nomo | April 4, 2001 | In his first appearance as a Red Sox pitcher, Nomo hurled a no-hitter at Camden Yards. He was the fourth pitcher to have no-hitters in both leagues. His first was on September 17, 1996 against the Rockies at Coors Field. | |
| Derek Lowe | April 27, 2002 | Lowe had carried a no-hitter into the eighth in the start against the Orioles just prior to his no-hitter. | |
| *Perfect game **Pitched eight innings |
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Comments
Good coverage by NESN today - they toned down the strike zone tracker, and staying with the game during the middle of the ninth was a nice touch.
The annotated no-no list was great, flu pandemic and all.
jpo ∙ 8 June 2007 ∙ 10:22 AM
I really wish box scores for the games currently lacking data in Retrosheet would be discovered in someone's attic. When I have time, I am going to look for newspaper accounts of the games without play-by-play in Retrosheet. Just fascinating stuff.
Joanna ∙ 10 June 2007 ∙ 2:37 AM