Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice; shame on me.
Jake Arrieta pitched his second no-hitter in nine regular season starts yesterday. It's often been said that a no-hitter is a lucky three-hitter. Many of them are lucky eight-hitters.
But two of them in so short a span? Does that mean something? Particularly in the context of Jake Arrieta, who, after an early career as Nino Espinosa, has, over the last nine months, morphed into Walter Johnson.
Since August 1 of last season, Arrieta is 15-0, 0.49 with 20 BB and 115 K. He's thrown 24 consecutive quality starts. Steven Strasburg is second in baseball -- with nine.
The answer, as you might have guessed, is that two no-hitters in consecutive seasons is the domain of the dominant. Other than Johnny Vander Meer's legendary back-to-back no-hitters, the list of pitchers with a pair in consecutive seasons looks like this:
Warren Spahn, Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, Steve Busby, Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Max Scherzer and -- wait for it -- Homer Bailey.
Arrieta's accomplishment is shrouded in the fairy dust of good fortune, sure, but it was built on heat and command that flummoxed Reds batters. If a no-hitter is a lucky three-hitter, pitchers are more likely to achieve the feat if, like Arrieta, they can throw a lot of three-hitters.
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