Ubaldo Makes Mile-High Hisotry

Jimenez' No-No - With the NFL Draft and a handful of other more significant sporting events going on such as the NBA & NHL Playoffs, not many fans were glued to their television when a Saturday night game took place in Atlanta between the home team Braves and the visiting Colorado Rockies. But little did we know that a baseball game just two weeks and 11-games into the season would steal all the headlines. At least in my book. A rare feat that was overlooked on April 17th, was the no-hitter thrown by Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez. In a 4-0 win over the Braves, the 26-year old Dominican born right-hander who's entering his fifth season in the bigs, threw nine hit-less innings and collected all 27-outs to become the first player to throw a no-hitter in Rockies franchise history.

Capped off by a career high 128 pitches, Ubaldo managed to reach the century mark on the radar gun 3 times during the game and ended up striking out 7 batters while walking 6. 5 of which coming in the first 4 innings. His biggest transformation was made in the fifth inning when he switched from the windup to the stretch delivery. Backed by 4-runs of offensive support including a 2-out RBI single of his own, Jimenez logged the first no-hitter of the 2010 season, less than 20 games in. Although a no-hitter is a no-hitter, those thrown in April often tend to be more forgettable than those thrown in August or down the stretch and in the midst of a pennant race. Something the Rockies are expected to be in come the final month or so of the 2010 season.

Ubaldo's masterful gem finally put the Rockies on the no-hit map, after the team's first 18 seasons without one. It also couldn't have came at a better time, given the franchise is in need of as much motivation as possible after receiving the unfortunate news of it's team president Keli McGregor passing just days earlier. With the Rockies now off the hook in terms of ball clubs who've been yet to throw a no-hitter, only three teams out of the 30 big league ball clubs remain on the list. The New York Mets who lead the pack entering their 49th season, the San Diego Padres in their 42nd and the Tampa Bay Rays who are still young barely in their 13th season. But it's only a matter of time before another franchise is checked off the list. Question is, who will it be?


Don't call Jimenez' stellar performance a fluke either, as he went on to win his next starts by giving up only 3 runs combined. So far this season Jimenez has won all five of his starts, while posting a jaw dropping 0.79 ERA. All numbers that could make for a great Cy Young race within the NL West alone between San Francisco's Tim Lincecum and Arizona's Dan Haren. Sorry L.A. and San Diego.