Flurry of no-hitters and perfect games reflect changes in baseballIs the no-hitter becoming so common that it's losing its luster? Over the past three seasons, no-hitters are about as common as your cable bill: they come almost once a month. The perfect game by Matt Cain Wednesday in San Francisco was the 14th no-hitter in the past 2 1/3 seasons.
Back at the start of May, when Jered Weaver threw the second no-hitter of this season, I wrote, "At the rate we're going these past three years, you can expect three or four more no-hitters before the season is over." I didn't expect we would get three more just within a 13-day span this month.
This seems crazy, but it's actually nothing we haven't seen before. You just have to go all the way back to the late 1960s, when hitting was so bad they had to make two huge rules changes: they lowered the mound (1969) and added the designated hitter (1973). It is tougher to get a hit in the major leagues this season (.253) than any season since 1972 (.244), the last year without a DH.
How much more common have no-hitters become in the past three years? This quick look at the rate of no-hitters in the Modern Era will give you an idea:
1901-2009: 1 every 794 games
2010-2012: 1 every 414 games
So the rate of no-hitters has increased 48 percent in the past three seasons as compared to the modern era up to that point. But what if we compare the past three years to baseball late-1960s doldrums? Here you go:
2010-2012: 1 every 414 games
1967-1969: 1 every 345 games
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/06/14/no.hitter.craze/index.html+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
