Welcome to Philly, Michael

 

So we're just doing these every week now? I'm fine with that. It takes me back to 2021, where there was a no-hitter every few days, and then senior sportswriters complained and argued it was ruining the game and suddenly there stopped being no-hitters. For a while it was hard for people who throw as hard as they do to sustain success long-term, let alone for more than 5 innings, and it's something I still worry about, as many of the 2021 no-hitters were thrown by people who've struggled to stay healthy ever since [Spencer Turnbull, Corey Kluber, John Means, Carlos Rodon]. The people that have sustained success have mostly been the ones with combined no-nos, though there are some outliers [and even then, Joe Musgrove and Wade Miley have missed time this year as well].

Yet so far this year we've now had three solo no-nos. And while Domingo German won't be pitching anytime soon, at least it's not because of any injuries. 

I got to watch the last inning of the Lorenzen no-no, because if something was gonna happen I might as well tag along. There have been Phillies no-hitters that have flamed out right when I've started watching, and I was there for an Aaron Nola start this year that was looking really good til he gave up a hit. Michael Lorenzen, however, was coming off an incredible debut start for the Phils, and was having the best season of his career. After all this time waiting for the opportunity to start, Lorenzen has become just as trusted as our core four, and has a very important place in the Phillies' rotation. So just putting away the Nats for 5+ innings alone would have kept him in our good graces.

But Lorenzen wanted to go all out. And in that last inning, he showed very few signs of slowing down, managed to absolutely flabbergast Joey Meneses with a well-framed strikeout, and while he looked to be juuust reaching his limit on the final batter, Dom Smith, he at least geared it well enough to go right to Johan Rojas, as it had numerous other times that night. 

This was a no-no that I wanted so badly to happen, and when it did I was overjoyed. This was the first Phillies no-hitter since 2015, and the second no-hitter for one of my teams this year. Lorenzen I already really enjoyed before he came to Philly, and he seems to have a nice head on his shoulders. I'm glad this happened to him, and I'm glad he could do this for the home crowd. I hope he can build on this start and use it to build his way towards some even scarier stuff in the postseason.