SI: Morrow's masterpiece bettered only by Halladay

[tecumseh18]

Just noticed this ESPN (how they hate us!) column yesterday from Jayson Stark.

http://insider.espn.go.com/mlb/blog?nam ... ark_jayson

It's Insider (which I don't have), but still a lot of good comparative info above the fold. Long story short, Morrow puts himself in rare, rare company with this game. Anyone with Insider want to summarize the rest?

[Hoopstarr]

Screw it, I'm gonna copy and paste the Insider piece. Technically, it's not the entire article since I'm not including the intro.

So let's take a look at the true meaning of this game, a meaning that supersedes the way-too-convenient label most people will slap on it: "Not a No-Hitter."

STRIKE ONE -- HOW DO YOU SPELL D-O-M-I-N-A-T-I-O-N DEPT.

No matter how we break this down, a 17-strikeout one-hitter is a more astounding, and more dominating, performance than your average no-hitter. Maybe not as dramatic, but indisputably more dominating. Take a look:

• How many active pitchers have thrown a no-hitter? How 'bout 16. But how many active pitchers have thrown a 17-strikeout game? That would be exactly four -- Morrow, Johan Santana (Aug. 19, 2007), Ben Sheets (May 16, 2004) and Kerry Wood (May 6, 1998). And Morrow is only the second active pitcher -- not to mention just the fourth pitcher since 1920 -- to have authored a 17-strikeout one-hitter. (The three other men with 17-K one-hitters: Wood, Pedro Martinez and Curt Schilling.)

• There have been 168 no-hitters in the live-ball era. But if we use Bill James' "Game Score" as our means of measuring dominance -- and that's a stat which is only available for games back to 1920 -- just two of those no-hitters graded out as more dominating than Morrow's non-no-hitter. Morrow's game earned a 100 score. The only two 101s earned by any games in the past 90 years:

Sandy Koufax, Sept. 9, 1965 -- 14-K perfect game vs. Cubs
Nolan Ryan, May 1, 1991 -- 16-whiff no-hitter vs. Blue Jays

• Meanwhile, three other no-hitters earned a 100 Game Score -- Randy Johnson's 13-strikeout perfect game in Atlanta in 2004, Ryan's 17-strikeout no-hitter against the Tigers in 1973 and Warren Spahn's 15-punchout no-hitter against the Phillies in 1960. In other words, that means Morrow's non-no-hitter was judged more dominating than 163 of the past 168 no-hitters. Hard to argue.

• So what was the most dominating non-no-hitter? That was Wood's 20-strikeout game on May 6, 1998. That game earned an insane 105 Game Score -- the highest in any nine-inning game (no-hitter or otherwise) since 1920. But no other non-no-hitter in the past 90 years earned a higher score than Morrow's gem.

• The Rays have been no-hit three times since July 2009. They also now have been held to one hit or none five times just this season alone -- more than any team in the live-ball era, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. But if we use Game Score as the criterion, this was the most dominating game ever thrown against them in franchise history. The runner-up wasn't a no-hitter, either. It was Pedro Martinez's 13-strikeout one-hitter on Aug. 29, 2000, which got a 98 Game Score. In the history of the Rays franchise, they've played just five other games in which the opposing pitcher even earned a 90 -- three 93s (including the Mark Buehrle and Dallas Braden no-hitters), a 92 and a 90.

• Finally, let's stack up Morrow's game against the five no-hitters that have been thrown this year. Those five games might get more hoopla, but he wins the Game Score battle against every darned one of them. And just one was even close:

Morrow, 100
Roy Halladay, 98
Braden, 93
Matt Garza, 92
Ubaldo Jimenez, 88
Edwin Jackson, 85

Incidentally, Armando Galarraga's shoulda-been-perfect game also earned an 88. So Morrow thumped him, too. And you won't be shocked to learn that 29 different pitching performances this season have been computed to have been more dominating than Jackson's messy eight-walk, six-strikeout no-hitter was. But no game since 2004 has been more dominating than this one.

STRIKE TWO -- HE WAS JUST 17 DEPT.

And now all the 17-strikeout info you absolutely, positively need to know:

• Had this been a 17-strikeout no-hitter, it would have been just the second in history. The other was by (who else?) Nolan Ryan, against the Tigers, on July 15, 1973.

• Then again, Morrow's 17th whiff came after the no-hitter was broken up. So if he'd "only" thrown a 16-strikeout no-hitter, that still would have broken the record for most K's in a no-hitter thrown by pitchers known as "Not Nolan Ryan." Ryan also tossed 16-K and 15-K no-hitters. So in the Mere Mortal strikeout annals, the most in a non-Ryan no-hitter is 15, by Spahn (Sept. 15, 1960) and Don Wilson (June 18, 1967, vs. the Braves).

• Most strikeouts in a no-hitter by any active pitcher? That would be 12, by Justin Verlander (June 12, 2007, vs. the Brewers).

• Finally, just try to appreciate the magnitude of a 17-strikeout game, regardless of how many hits Morrow allowed. Since 1969 -- i.e., the post-Bob-Gibson-1.12-ERA era -- there have been 34 games of 17 whiffs or more. But 20 of them were authored by four pitchers: Ryan (eight), Randy Johnson (seven), Roger Clemens (three) and Pedro Martinez (two). The only other right-handed pitchers who have done it in all that time: Tom Seaver, David Cone, Schilling, Wood, Sheets, Hideo Nomo, Bill Gullickson and Ramon Martinez. And now you can add one more name: Brandon Morrow.

STRIKE THREE -- IN OTHER BRANDON MORROW NEWS DEPT.

Before we go, here come all the other tidbits on this game we could round up …

• How strange is this? In their 34 seasons of existence, the Blue Jays have now had five times as many no-hitters broken up with two outs in the ninth (five) as actual no-hitters (one, by Dave Stieb). And that's become a very odd specialty of their house. Elias reports that since their birth in 1977, they've had more no-hitters busted up with two outs in the ninth or later than any other team. No other franchise has had more than three games like that. (The Cubs, Tigers and Expos have had three apiece.)

• Morrow was the fourth pitcher this year to have a no-hitter broken up in the ninth inning -- the most times that's happened in one year since 1997. And he and Galarraga have made this the first season in which multiple no-hitters were busted up with two outs in the ninth since 1995. Last time any pitcher lost a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning before this year: June 7, 2007 -- Curt Schilling in Oakland.

• I mentioned earlier that the Rays now have been no-hit or one-hit five times just this season -- the most by any team in any season in the live-ball era. But if it makes the Blue Jays feel any better, they haven't been one-hit or no-hit in nearly 1,000 games -- since their old friend Chris Carpenter threw an interleague one-hitter against them on June 14, 2005. And they haven't been one-hit (or no-hit) by an American League team since Hideo Nomo one-hit them on May 25, 2001 -- more than 1,500 games ago.

• Finally, the day before Sunday's 1-0 game, the Rays and Blue Jays played a 17-11 game. And ESPN Stats & Info whiz Jason McCallum reports that ties the all-time record for most combined runs by two teams the day before a 1-0 game. The other 28-run game that fits that description: Brooklyn Dodgers 16, Boston Bees 12, on May 28, 1939. The next day, Tot Pressnell and Johnny Lanning hooked up for a 1-0 game. Combined strikeouts in that game: Exactly seven.