Jonathan Sanchez Tosses No-Hitter

There he was, arms raised in a V, walking toward the best catcher in the National League, his teammates swarming him like a throng of kids around a piñata.

When he first toed the mound less than three hours before, Jonathan Sanchez was a man searching for his pitch command and maybe a piece of his baseball soul. He hadn't pitched six full innings in his past six starts and had allowed six hits in four of those games. The very fact Sanchez was the starter on this night was improbable. If not for an injury to 250-year-old pitcher Randy Johnson, Sanchez would've come out of the bullpen.

So it was more accident than destiny that Sanchez became the first pitcher to hurl a no-hitter in 2009. His zero-hit, zero-walks, 11-hit performance Friday proved the ancient baseball belief that it doesn't matter how talented you are. It only matters how good you are in one random moment.

Sanchez's no-hit outing also got me thinking. Which current pitcher has the best chance of pitching a surprise no-hitter? I'm not talking about guys like Roy Halladay, Johan Santana or Zack Greinke. Sanchez's two All-Star teammates - Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain - don't fit this category. That's too easy.

I'm talking about the one guy who has no-hit stuff buried under a 4.50 ERA. The one guy we'd never expect to be that good in one random night but has the chance to throw it all together.

I'm talking about Oliver Perez.

No, that's not a misprint. My judgment is clouded by my affinity for the Amazins. Ollie is like a wayward, rebellious son to me. I'm always going to love him because he's a Met, but I spend one more time cursing his name. Watching Perez has aged me two decades. I see his massive potential, which makes it even harder to watch when he lets his emotions and lack of command get in his way.

I thought the three-year, $36 million deal Mets general manager Omar Minaya served Perez in the offseason was outrageously too much. It was like an NBA GM using a top 10 draft pick on an unproven high school player. Sure the kid may have shown signs of brilliance against lesser competition, but are you seriously willing to bet the farm on him? We've seen flashes of sheer brilliance from Perez, but stretches of good pitching doesn't mean he's worth almost $1 million more than the Red Sox are giving Josh Beckett this season.

Perez is 28-30 with a 4.80 ERA and 252 walks over the past three season. Makes you wonder how a competent GM can throw $36 million at somebody with those numbers. But he's truly outdone himself in 2009. Perez is 2-2 with an 8.78 ERA and 28 walks in 26.2 innings pitched. He's been so bad the Mets had to formulate an injury so they could put him on the disabled list and let him work out his issues in the minors for two months. (I know we've spent 12 million dollars this season for a guy who spent 1/3 of it in the minors because he couldn't cut it in the Big Leagues. I'm a Mets fan, remember? I'm used to these sort of things.)

So, needless to say, we've laid out why absolutely no one in their right mind would expect Perez to throw a shutout for seven innings, let alone a no-hitter. But here's the good side of Perez, his wasted talent and the reason he's most likely to be that good in that one moment. When the left-hander is throwing strikes and commanding the strike zone, he's about as unhittable as it gets. He throws a 93 mph fastball that jams lefties and runs away from right-handers. His hard-pounding slider jams up right-handers and tails away from left-handers. And his changeup is 15 mph slower than his fastball.

(Plus, his team is due for a no-no. Since 1962, no Mets pitches has ever thrown a no-hitter. Not Seaver! Not Gooden! Not Ryan! Not no one!!! New York is the baseball franchise that's been around since 1962 to not have a pitcher throw a no-hitter. It's one of the most depressing droughts in sports history. Trust me, the Mets are due!)

I've seen good hitters utterly baffled by Perez's junk when he can control his pitches. The problem is his control comes far too infrequent.

But if Perez could put it all together for one moment, he could become the first New York Mets pitcher to throw a no-hitter.