Josh Beckett throws no-hitter vs. Phillies

On Sunday, Josh Beckett of the Los Angeles Dodgers threw both the first no-hitter of the 2014 season and the first no-hitter of his career. There have been 109 no-hitters in my lifetime, and while I haven’t been called upon to write on all of them, of those that I have I think I’ve expressed a similar sentiment each time: No-hitters fall about the future Hall of Famers and the soon-to-be-forgottens, they fall on the healthy and the ill, they fall on the dominant strikeout pitchers and those who somehow induce weak contact, but most of all they fall on the fortunate.

Last season, as well as at various other times of his career, Josh Beckett couldn’t get anyone out. By my estimate he has been on the disabled list 16 times since he made his major-league debut in 2001. Last year he had surgery to relieve thoracic outlet syndrome and it wasn’t clear how well he was going to pitch upon his return, or if he was going to pitch, or if his stuff would bear any resemblance to that which made him a three-time All-Star.

The Dodgers backed up their starter with six runs and strong defense to combine for the first no-no of the year, the 21st in franchise history and the 11th since the club moved to Los Angeles.

The last big league no-hitter was thrown by the Marlins’ Henderson Alvarez on Sept. 29, 2013. This season, there have been some close calls -- most notably, Yu Darvish’s near no-no in which he allowed a hit with two outs in the ninth for the second time in his career.

With just three outs to go, Beckett will almost certainly get a chance to finish out the game, but considering the Dodgers are comfortably in the lead, he will presumably hand the ball off to the bullpen if Philadelphia manages to get a hit.

Beckett, 34, was activated from the disabled list in April after missing the beginning of the year with a thumb sprain. His promising turnaround this year could always be derailed by another trip to the disabled list, so the Dodgers might not want to push their luck. He has posted a 2.89 ERA and had 46 strikeouts through 46⅔ innings before Sunday’s game.