Edwin Jackson channels Doc Ellis; joins the no-no party

[Neato Torpedo]

Is this the worst no hitter in mlb history? I mean 8 walks, come on!

Burnett had 9.

Two things make this no-no really impressive to me:

1) Edwin Jackson is a fastball pitcher - around 70% fastballs on average. The fastball was not working last night - he could not locate, hence the walks - so he had to rely on his slider and curve to get guys out. Usually throws just over 20% slider/curve, but threw almost 40% last night.

2) I think the walk aspect is both overblown and misinterpreted. Walks have a stigma attached, but look at it this way: He still had to get 27 outs without giving up ONE hit. Walking guys just made it harder for him - he had to throw pitches with guys on base, and he had to throw a lot more pitches and therefore gave more opportunities for hits. The 149 pitch count makes it MORE impressive, to me - not less. That's 50% more opportunities given to the hitter than a 100 pitch no-no. That's a no-hitter and a half.

I didn't see the whole game but I saw at least two hard-hit balls in the one inning plus ESPN highlights. There was that deep fly to the warning track that would've been a HR if it was hit down the lines and that screaming liner that Reynolds caught. The walks (and the wild pitch, and the HBP) are also a marker that he wasn't on top of his game. If you're not pitching at the very top of your game, then you're going to need to rely on your defense a lot more than the usual no-hitter.