While Hernandez's gem is the sixth no-hitter thrown this season one shy of the record it did set a record of its own. It was the third perfect game of the 2012 season; San Francisco's Matt Cain and Philip Humber of the White Sox both previously threw perfectos this year. No other big league season has seen more than two.
(Note: In 2010, Dallas Braden of the Oakland A's and Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies both threw perfect games. In addition, that was the season which saw the controversial 'imperfect game,' in which umpire Jim Joyce blew a call on the final play that would have otherwise given Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga a perfect game.)
Hernandez is a Cy Young Award winner and has made multiple All-Star teams. His dominance has been such that it was only a matter of time before he put a masterpiece like this together especially given the pitcher-friendliness of his home stadium at Safeco Field. In fact, he's the least surprising pitcher to throw a no-hitter this season.
The rundown thus far:
- April 21 Philip Humber, White Sox (perfect game)
- May 2 Jered Weaver, Angels
- June 1 Johan Santana, Mets
- June 8 Kevin Millwood (and six others), Mariners
- June 13 Matt Cain, Giants (perfect game)
- August 15 Hernandez
So where does this leave us? Will 2012's individual pitching dominance end with these six? We've already seen history with the three perfect games; will the next six weeks find pitchers digging down and finding a way to express that dominance once more? Twice more?
My guess would be yes. We're just a few days from the September call-ups. Rosters are going to expand from 25 to 40. That's a whole lot of new players, many of whom will be seeing major league action for the first time. Combine that with a time of year when many teams will be out of contention and just playing out the string (sadly, I'm looking at you, Boston) and you've got a very real possibility that one or more of the top-flight pitchers out there will shut a team down.
Two whole months without a no-hitter is far too long. Thanks for coming up big, King Felix. I was starting to get the shakes.
