Lester’s no-hitter with the Red Sox last night is certainly a great feel-good story, but I can’t help but get frustarted and angry when I see another team get yet another no-hitter. In 46 years seasons Mets pitchers have yet to throw a no-hitter. For a team that a) has had a pretty good history in developing young arms, and b) plays in a pitchers park, this is amazing.
It gets worse. Seven pitchers who threw for the Mets had no-hitters after the Mets traded them away: of course Nolan Ryan (7), but also Tom Seaver (a year and a day after the Monday Massacre), Mike Scott (to clinch the NL West in 1986), Dwight Gooden (with the Yankees), David Cone (perfect with the Yankees), and Hideo Nomo (who threw one before and after being with the Mets). Ok, so Nomo was never really a Met – but that still leaves six that have tossed a no-no.
And as long as we’re feeling frustrated, throughout their history Mets picthers have tossed 30 one-hitters – including 5 from Tom Seaver (one a perfect game through 8.2), 3 from David Cone, and 2 each from Gary Gentry, Jon Matlack, and Terry Leach.
The Mets lack of success in tossing a no-hitter was probably best expressed by Mets play-by-play man Gary Cohen. During a John Maine start in 2007, Ron Darling said that he had “no-hit stuff.” Cohen replied by saying, “no he doesn’t, he’s a Met.”
