Wednesday night at Wrigley could have been special… According to everything I saw, it was… but it wasn’t the same. I don’t care what anybody says, a combined no hitter is BS; it’s nowhere near what a pure no hitter is. Sure, it’s nice and all, but… who the hell remembers combined no hitters? I don’t. I think it’s crap. Why take Shota out of the game when he’s no hitting the Pirates in the 7th inning? I’ll never understand it.
Sure, I “understand” why they took him out. Pitch count, yada yada. How many pitches do guys throw on game day? 100s counting warm ups, between innings, etc. What’s another dozen? Is Shota’s young arm still developing that we don’t want to ruin him? He’s a grown man, that has thrown 1000s of pitches in his career… and he was on the doorstep of something that would have etched his name in MLB history, until Counsell used his ball-less sack to take him out. I’m telling you… if I was the manager of a team (technically I do manage my fantasy baseball teams), this is something I’m stating up front. I will not take you out if you’re going for a no hitter; I don’t care if it’s 200 pitches, seriously…. unless that pitcher WANTS to come out. What pitcher would WANT to come out of a no hitter? Will Shota be remembered for the 7 no hit innings he threw on this night? No. It will be logged as a combined no hitter, period. A chance at history thrown away.
When the “no-hitter” was completed in the 9th, I wasn’t happy; I was upset. Sure, Pat and Ron tried to convince us that it was OK, but I’m sorry… I’m not buying it. To each his own of course, as with anything, but it was more of a letdown than anything once it was official; Shota could have done the same thing. He wasn’t even at 100 pitches… what garbage. Give the guy a chance. He gives up a hit, take him out immediately. If not, let him go for it. Why are you robbing Shota of history? I’d be furious if I was pitching (I did pitch batting practice to my son’s baseball team). I wasn’t counting hits or anything… actually, I almost threw a no-hitter in high school… a one hitter to be exact. Give Shota a chance. Are we “saving him” for the playoffs? That’s bullshit too.
I didn’t listen to any postgame. I changed the station as soon as it was over, almost like we had lost the game. I didn’t expect to react that strongly, but I did. Can you imagine being there and getting robbed of this opportunity to see a true no hitter in person… when you’re 6 outs away!?!? It’s just one of the many changes to the game that I don’t like; that seems to be happening across all sports… maybe I’m just getting old, or I guess old school at the very least. This combined no-hitter was bullshit; it’s just another W, which at this point in the season, I should be happy for. After all, the Cubs are still making their playoff push; excuse me if I’m not celebrating yet. Shota throwing a no-hitter would have been awesome; thank you to everyone who prevented this from happening. Pitch counting assholes.
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