The American Spectator

Last night, Los Angeles Angels pitcher Jered Weaver threw a no-hitter against the Minnesota Twins en route to a 9-0 victory.

Weaver’s no-no comes less than two weeks after Chicago White Sox pitcher Philip Humber tossed a perfect game against the Seattle Mariners. The 29-year old righty was very nearly perfect. Only two batters reached base against Weaver. After striking out, Chris Parmelee reached first base on a passed ball by Angels catcher Chris Iannetta in the second inning. The only other base runner was Josh Willingham who walked in the seventh. Otherwise, Weaver was dominant striking out nine.

This no-hitter is the tenth in Angels’ history and comes almost exactly fifty years after the late Bo Belinsky (better known for spending his nights with the likes of Mamie Van Doren) spun the first in franchise history against the Baltimore Orioles. Nolan Ryan threw four of the Angels no-hitters while Mike Witt tossed a perfect game against the Texas Rangers on the last day of the 1984 season. Witt would also get credit for pitching the last two innings of Mark Langston’s no-no against the Seattle Mariners early in the 1990 season although those no-hitters would no longer count if they were thrown today. Prior to Weaver’s gem, the most recent Angels no-hitter came last season when Ervin Santana tossed one against the Cleveland Indians.

The Twins have seen better days. They have not scored a run in 19 innings. On Tuesday, the Twins were shutout by journeyman pitcher Jerome Williams. It was Williams’ first big league shutout since 2003. The Twins own the worst record in MLB. The Angels, of course, have had a rough start as well in 2012. But thanks to the Twins they have won three in a row for the first time this season.

As it turns out, Weaver’s next start will also be against Minnesota on Monday when the Angels visit the Twin Cities. Could Weaver be the second coming of Johnny Vander Meer?

Even if Weaver doesn’t throw back to back no-hitters, he has nearly half of the Angels’ 10 wins this season. He is 4-0 and leads the AL in both ERA (1.61) and strikeouts (45). Weaver was the runner up to Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers in the AL Cy Young Award balloting in 2011. I picked Weaver to win the 2012 AL Cy Young Award. We’ll see where Weaver is at in September but he’s making a good case for himself so far.