June 9th, 2012 at 11:58 am 
by Ron Cervenka Why is it that whenever your team falls victim to a no-hitter, it seems that the media goes out of its way to rub your face in it? I mean it’s everywhere – ESPN, Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, MLB.com, Yahoo Sports… EVERYWHERE. You can’t go to any sports web site and not see it as the top headline. How come this doesn’t happen when your team no-hits somebody else? (Ok, in reality it does, but it just seems like it’s a bigger deal when it’s against your team rather than by your team – not to mention that is has been quite a while since the Dodgers have thrown a no-no).
The line score of the Dodgers beating the Angels on June 28, 2008 in spite of being no-hit.
In my lifetime, I have witnessed exactly one live in person no-hitter and it wasn’t even considered an “official” no-hitter. It was when the Angels no-hit the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on June 28, 2008 during interleague play… and the Dodgers won. It was actually a combined no-hitter by Jered Weaver and Jose Arredondo and the reason it wasn’t considered an official no-hitter is because the Dodgers did not bat in the bottom of the 9th because they were leading 1-0 and didn’t need to bat (like that was their fault).
Like most loyal baseball fans, I have seen no-hitters and even perfect games on television, but the unlikely Dodgers/Angels no-hitter on June 28, 2008 is still the only one that I actually witnessed in person. (Note: I did witness a one-hitter by Hiroki Kuroda on July 7, 2008 in which Mark Teixeira [then with the Atlanta Braves] hit a lead-off double in the 8th inning but was stranded there. It was the only base runner allowed by Kuroda, so not only would it have been a no-hitter, it would have been a perfect game. In fact, Kuroda never had a 3-ball count on any batter during that incredible game – Damn you Mark!).
Well sure enough, the headlines everywhere today are about the Dodgers being (combined) no-hit by the Seattle Mariners last night and, as you might have guessed, I am sick of seeing, reading and hearing about it EVERYWHERE; not necessarily because it happened, but because it shouldn’t have happened.
In the 8th inning, Mariners rookie reliever Stephen Pryor issued consecutive walks to Bobby Abreu and Jerry Hairston Jr. to lead off the inning. Pryor was replaced by yet another rookie reliever, hard throwing lefty Lucas Luetge to face left-handed hitting James Loney. Loney laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt moving Abreu and Hairston over to third and second base respectively. This brought the hot hitting A.J. Ellis to the plate with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position and only one out. Manager Don Mattingly replaced Abreu with the speedy Alex Castellanos and the stage was set for yet another (possible) no-hit win for the Dodgers, something that I believe no team has ever done twice in MLB history. All Ellis had to do was hit a fly ball anywhere out of the infield (or even hit a ground ball anywhere, as the Mariners had their infield back indicating that they were willing to concede the run for an out). I mean the ONLY thing that could possibly go wrong in this situation would be for Ellis to strike out (which he rarely does) or hit a pop-up in the infield or a short fly ball to the out field… which is exactly what he did. He could have hit the ball anywhere but where he did and the Dodgers would have tied the game – even without a hit. Tony Gwynn Jr. followed Ellis by striking out for the second time in his three at bats on the night… and the rest, as they say, is history.
In spit of A.J. Ellis' woulda... shoulda... coulda at bat in the 8th inning of Friday night's combined no-hitter, he has helped the Dodgers to several wins this season, including this 3-run walk-off home run against the Astros on May 26. (Photo by Gary A. Vargas - US Presswire)
It’s pretty hard to pound on A.J. Ellis for his (basically) game-losing at bat last night, Lord knows he has won several games for the Dodgers this season – including his exciting walk-off three-run home run on May 26 against the Houston Astros; and in all honesty, anyone who follows the game closely knows that there was no way that Ellis could maintain his incredible (if not impossible) torrid pace for the entire season. After all, A.J. Ellis is human… and we still love him.
Posted in 
Kind of think you’re stuck in the moment on this one, 53. The way Seattle was pitching yesterday, you have to give them credit on what they accomplished.
It was the only “moment” in the game in which the Dodgers had their only chance to score (because of the great pitching) but were unable to capitalize on it. Regardless, I encourage you to read the last sentence again
I did, I just wanted to air my concerns that you, and perhaps other bloggers, were zoomed in too much on this one. I think part of why has to do with the fact that we were embarrassingly no-hit. That makes the loss sting even more, however we have to pick ourselves up and move on, which unsurprisingly we did today. Oh and when I checked, A.J. had 2 hits in the game so I think he bounced back quite nicely as well.
In a less serious note, the one thing we can take from that game is to never ever bat A.J. Ellis 8th again
I rarely zoom in on any one thing (at least not for very long) but I do focus on missed opportunities, which separates good teams from great teams. That moment (as you called it) was a huge missed opportunity and could have been what Kevin Kennedy calls “a momentum changer.” But alas, it is water under the bridge and the Dodgers are guaranteed of at least a .600 road trip and possibly .700.
That said, I am concerned with A.J. swinging at the first-pitch a lot more lately and even more concerned that he has struck out 12 times in his last 10 games while walking only 3 times; not to mention that he is hitting .222 during this stretch. He is clearly pressing too much and needs to “stay within himself” as he describes it.
Also, I believe that A.J. is batting 8th solely because of the DH, although that .222 thing isn’t helping him any.
How concerned are you with him after that HBP he suffered? He seemed to be really affected by it.
If A.J. is hurt he shouldn’t be in there. There is a big difference between toughing it out and being foolish.
I understand how much you like A.J., Brandon, we ALL do; but set your emotions aside for a minute and look at his recent numbers. I know that you are unable to watch the games on TV, but if you were, you would see that A.J. is really struggling (and pressing) right now. If this is a result of him being hurt, he needs to sit until he is healthy; if it is merely a slump (as I suspect it is), I have absolutely no doubt that it will pass and he will soon get his stroke back.
I’m out.