DOC'S DIFFERENT KIND OF DOMINANCE

In the wake of Roy Halladay setting down the first 16 Orioles hitters yesterday on his way to win No. 16, the Toronto Star's Richard Griffin is arguing why Doc is destined to pitch a no-hitter.

The case was made here three weeks ago that Halladay's night-in, night-out consistency works against him throwing a no-hitter. There are just too many balls in play when he pitches, so sooner or later someone will always hit 'em where the fielders ain't.

Case in point: Who broke up the no-hit bid yesterday? Baltimore's No. 8 hitter, Brandon Fahey, with a 15-hopper up the middle.

The basis for this grows out of a comment Bill James made in his Historical Baseball Abstract about how pitchers with common defining characteristics can be separated into "families."

James included Dave Stieb, the only Jay to pitch a no-hitter (Sept. 2, 1990 at Cleveland) in the "Jim Bunning Family" of pitchers, and Halladay seems to fit in there. (Bunning was also a big right-hander who was as much a finesse pitcher as a power guy.) As James puts it:

"These are the guys ... who just have the whole package -- a good fastball backed up with a curve, a slider, a change and pinpoint control ... you see them on a good day and you think, 'I don't understand how this bastard ever loses,' but they do lose sometimes because they throw strikes, and if you put the ball over the plate sometimes the batter is going to hit it." (p. 894)

Sometimes the batter is going to hit it. The Halladay/no-hitter theory would then have to be that even when Halladay is on, someone will get a hold of one, or fight off a pitch and dump into the opposite field for a single or whatever.

That's not to say pitchers in "Bunning Family" haven't thrown no-hitters. Bunning, for a long time, was the only pitcher to have performed the feat in both the AL and NL. James also categorized Bret Saberhagen, Jim Palmer and Lon Warneke as members of the Bunning Family, and each has a no-hitter to his credit. However, Hall of Famer Don Sutton was also included in this group, and he never pitched one. Maybe it wasn't for nothing that Stieb had to lose three no-hit bids with two out in the ninth inning before he finally did the deed in '90.

To be honest, though, as far as Doc's performance yesterday was concerned, yours truly's imagination was running just as wild as anybody's else by the fifth inning. Never say never.

Related:
If All Pitchers Could Be Playing Halladays: Why Doc's Too Good To Throw A No-Hitter (July 26)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.