Pena’s hit bigger than you think

Extreme embarrassment for the Yankees in the baseball world was inches away from happening. Roy Halladay would have had a no-hitter last night if it weren’t for Ramiro Pena’s one-our double in the sixth inning.

Yes, it’s Halladay, and he’s that good. And yes, the Yanks were playing sans Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher. But this is the New York Yankees we are talking about here. A team who leads the majors in OBP, SLG, HR, RBI, R, TB, BB and second in hits and BA. If Halladay had gotten Pena out last night, the Yankees would have had to deal with a gigantic monkey on their back the rest of the way.

The Yankees have been no-hit three times since 1950, including the 1952 team by Virgil Trucks of the Detroit Tigers. The Yanks went on to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers that year in the World Series in seven games.

Trucks’ no-hitter came on Aug. 25 of that year, which is pretty late. But I’d be willing to bet that no team has ever won the World Series after being no-hit in September. Here’s the list of all the no-hitters if you feel like checking and proving me wrong.

Nevertheless, with the media as large as it is today, I really don’t think the Yankees would have easily been able to overcome a blow like getting no-hit in September. So once again, thank you, Ramiro Pena (a September call-up, I might add).