With a masterful 134-pitch effort against the St. Louis Cardinals, Johan Santana just tossed the New York Mets' first-ever no-hitter tonight at Citi Field. The accomplishment occurred in the franchise's 8,020th game.
NoNoHitters.com, a website devoted to the entire notion that no Mets pitcher had ever done this one thing, honored the feat by looking back to the past:
The Mets drought stretched into the team's 50th season, starting when the St. Louis Cardinals' Julian Javier singled to left off Mets starter Roger Craig on April 11, 1962, during the Mets franchise's first Major League game.
In addition to Ryan, Seaver, Gooden, Cone, Mike Scott and Hideo Nomo also pitched no-hitters after leaving the Mets. Nomo is the only pitcher to hurl no-nos both before (Los Angeles Dodgers, 1996) and after (Boston Red Sox, 2001) his stints with the Mets.
The rest of the cast pitching no-hitters before joining the Mets includes Don Cardwell (Chicago Cubs), Warren Spahn (Milwaukee Braves), Dean Chance (Minnesota Twins), Dock Ellis (Pittsburgh Pirates), John Candelaria (Pittsburgh Pirates), Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City Royals), Scott Erickson (Twins), Al Leiter (Florida Marlins) and Kenny Rogers (Texas Rangers).
Thank you, Johan for finally breaking the curse.
As a lifelong Mets fan, I can't even believe this has happened. Finally.