No hit magic

All no hitters are pure luck, but we celebrate them. So why shouldn't I? Anibal Sanchez no-hit the Diamondbacks last night on just 103 pitches. He only struckout six batters and walked four, so I think everyone with a brain is in agreement that he was extremely lucky. Still props to the kid. Still, no props to the fans in Florida. Their team is one of the best stories in baseball and I don't care what their payroll is, support the team. They are winning! The attendance for this game was a pathetic 12,561. Terrible. Anyways, ESPN has not had the balls to show a slow motion replay of the final out. Everytime I have seen it, he looked safe by a good half step.

Tomorrow the Cubs finish up their four game set against the Pirates and try to even it up. I must ask myself if that's what I really want? I don't think it is. Anyways I want to see Sean Marshall do well. He had a good start going in his return until the sixth inning and had two fabulous starts in AAA before being re-activated. The Pirates will send Shawn Chacon to the mound. Chacon's banishment to the NL hasn't gone over well. He's pitched 21 innings and has walked 21 batters. That's good for two walks for the Cubs tomorrow.

1. 89 Kansas City Royals
2. 84 Pittsburgh Pirates
2. 84 Tampa Bay Devil Rays
4. 83 Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are a half game behind the Pirates and Devil Rays. Please remember that tiebreakers are the previous' years record so the Cubs would lose any tiebreaker if needed. There is not much draft news right now. Andrew Brackman still has not announced whether or not he will go play hoops.

Stat of the Day: Top 10 ML Pitchers in Fair RA

1. 2.98 Johan Santana, LHP - Minnesota Twins
2. 3.02 Chris Carpenter, RHP - St. Louis Cardinals
3. 3.33 Justin Verlander, RHP - Detroit Tigers
4. 3.39 Roy Oswalt, RHP - Houston Astros
5. 3.54 Bronson Arroyo, RHP - Cincinnati Reds
6. 3.57 Roy Halladay, RHP - Toronto Blue Jays
7. 3.65 Josh Johnson, RHP - Florida Marlins
8. 3.66 John Smoltz, RHP - Atlanta Braves
9. 3.67 Scott Kazmir, LHP - Tampa Bay Devil Rays
10. 3.68 Brandon Webb, RHP - Arizona Diamondbacks

Seibu Lion right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka continued his hot streak this morning for the Lions in a 4-0 win over Bobby V's Chiba Lotte Marines. Matsuzaka improved to 15-4 by allowing 3 hits in 7 innings of work striking out 9 and walking none. He had struck out 14 in his previous outing and actually struckout 6 in a row at one point in this game. Not only that, Daisuke used only 70 pitches to get through the 7 innings. That's with the nine strike outs. Do the math and that pitch count is absurdly efficient. Dai-san is going to command a hefty investment if a team wants his services in 2007, but he might just be worth it. Overall in the season he has a 2.04 ERA and a 179:30 K:BB. Yes a 179:30 K:BB. No, he's probably not in line for the Sawamura award, but he's close. The Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks' Kazumi Saito is 16-4 with a 1.77 ERA and similar strikeout totals.