Jered Weaver got robbed.
Last night, the Anaheim Angels of wherever-they’re-from-these-days played the LA Dodgers in Los Angeles. Since they were playing at the Dodgers Stadium, this sad excuse for a rivalry was being played under National League rules.
Weaver pitched 6 no-hit innings but Mike Scioscia saw a chance to score a run and pulled Weaver and pinch hit Chone Figgins for him in the seventh with two outs and a runner on second (didn’t work, he grounded out).
Oh and I almost forgot to mention the strange twist this game had already taken…Weaver left with the loss! Yep, a guy who was pitching a no-hitter was about to get the loss unless his team rallied to help him out.
How you might ask?
In the 5th inning, Weaver bobbled Matt Kemp’s spinning squibber. The ruling on whether it was a hit or an error seemed to be a close one, but official scorer Don Hartack ruled it an error. Then Kemp stole second and went to third the bad throw by Jeff Mathis. Kemp then scored on a sacrifice fly. Then Jose Arrendondo went out and kept the Dodgers hitless for the 7th and 8th.
So Weaver takes the loss…and the Dodgers win without getting a hit.
That doesnt happen a lot. Since 1969, there have been three no-hitters in which a run was scored by the losing team: Darryl Kile allowed one in his no-hitter in 1993, Joe Cowley in his in 1986, and Blue Moon Odom and Francisco Barrios in their combined no-hitter in 1976.
So every baseball analyst, columnist and blogger (myself included) saw a wonderful opportunity to research this and talk about what a big deal this is. Weaver predicted this reaction:
“I’m sure you guys are going to eat this up a lot more than I am. I don’t call it a no-hitter for me. I only went six innings.”
He’s right though, tons of guys go 6 innings without a hit. It’s impressive, but nothing special. So I guess he didn’t get robbed of a no-hitter, but he definitely got robbed of a win. Then again, he wasnt really robbed of a win, because he never actually had the lead…. OK so I guess he took a tough loss…
So I guess the bottom line is: Baseball is a weird game.
