Not Bad for Game Two

After a dismal Opening Day, things couldn’t have looked more bleak for the Boston Red Sox. After the team suffered several crippling injuries in spring training and then lost to the lowly Baltimore Orioles with the incomparable Pedro Martinez on the mound, many fans were on the verge of writing off the Sox for this year.

That was all temporarily forgotten Wednesday night after Hideo Nomo, who pitched poorly in spring training, became the first Red Sox pitcher in 35 years to pitch a no-hitter. No-hitters are notoriously unpredictable and erratic, but this one was particularly surprising—if any Sox pitcher was going to pitch a no-hitter this season, it was going to be Martinez. Or so we all thought.

But Nomo was the one who stepped up and pitched the second no-hitter of his career. He looked like the Hideo Nomo of five years ago, firing a powerful fastball and a devastating split-fingered pitch that fooled the hapless Baltimore batters all night long.

For one short day, at least, Nomo’s stunning performance makes us forget about all the problems that plague the Red Sox. The anemic hitting, the suspect pitching, the endless injuries are all forgotten for the time being. Instead, we are left to appreciate one of the truly rare feats in baseball history and hope that Nomo’s heroics spark the 2001 Boston Red Sox to overcome last year’s disappointing finish.