Since 1876, when St. Louis' George Bradley threw the major leagues' first no-hitter, only one pitcher - Cincinnati's Johnny Vander Meer in 1938 - has had back-to-back no-hitters. Erickson's effort last Wednesday was the 202nd no-hitter in major league history, and the Twins righthander is well aware of the odds against a repeat performance.
"A no-hitter is such a freak incident - you don't go out and try to throw a no-hitter every time," Erickson said over the weekend. "That's a joke. It's dumb to even think about [a no-hitter tonight]."
Erickson, who was named American League player of the week Monday, said his goal tonight is to block out all thoughts of last week's game. The Brewers are taking the opposite approach. They left the Metrodome last week intent on using the ignominy inflicted by Erickson as motivation.
"We're going to do the best we can to pay him back a little bit," said Milwaukee infielder Bill Spiers. "I'm just glad we get the chance to face him again right away."
Therein lies one of the problems facing Erickson tonight. Conventional wisdom says the pitcher is at a disadvantage facing the same team within a short time frame, a logic with which Erickson agrees.
"There's not one pitcher in baseball that wants to face the same team twice in a row," Erickson said. "I don't care what the outcome was the first time. And you'd almost rather do bad the first game, because the second time it could change."
Said Twins catcher Matt Walbeck: "The years I've played, I've found that when a pitcher faces certain teams more frequently, it's a little tougher for him because they know what his best pitch is and that sort of thing."
Twins manager Tom Kelly prefers that Erickson not dwell on the problems of facing the same team in consecutive games. Kelly noted that Toronto's Juan Guzman defeated the Twins on Friday, five days after facing them in Toronto. Guzman's line Friday was creditable: 6 1/3 innings, six hits, four earned runs. Said Kelly: "Some pitchers can [face the same team twice in a row] and some can't. Some pitchers get a real edge on a team and can go out and pitch against them any day of the week."
Walbeck admits he is "curious" to see how far Erickson can take his quest for a second no-hitter. But Walbeck maintains neither he nor Erickson will approach tonight's game as an extension of Wednesday.
The significance of that point is that Erickson pitched for a no-hitter in the latter innings Wednesday. Several times late in the game with a count of 3-and-0 or 3-and-1, Erickson threw a breaking ball; in most instances a pitcher would throw a fastball to prevent giving up a walk.
"If it's a 3-and-0 count in the first inning and I'm sitting there in the middle [of the plate], he's going to have to throw a strike," Walbeck said. "Look, we're going out to win [tonight], and you have to throw strikes in that situation."
Erickson said he plans no adjustments in his style tonight. He will throw his best stuff, following the scouting report that proved successful last week.
There were two primary reasons Erickson was unhittable in Wednesday's 6-0 victory: His sinker had excellent movement and he had superb control of all his pitches. Erickson's control was so good that Milwaukee's Kevin Seitzer described his performance as "pitching backward. He was throwing breaking balls when we thought he'd throw fastballs, and he was throwing fastballs when we thought he'd be throwing breaking balls."
Erickson said he used a new grip on his slider against the Brewers, leading to a sharper breaking ball. Will the results carry over? Has Erickson found the ingredient that will return him to his 20-victory form of 1991? Or will Erickson revert to the form that made him 1-3 with a 7.48 ERA before Wednesday's game?
"The bottom line is, if you make good pitches in good locations with good stuff on the ball, you're going to get good hitters out," said Milwaukee's Brian Harper, a former Twin. "It sounds simple, but that old saying that good pitching beats good hitting is really true."
The Brewers are convinced that Erickson cannot be as sharp tonight. And they're convinced that the law of averages will enter the picture, as it has for every pitcher who has thrown a no-hitter since Vander Meer's feat 56 seasons ago.
Thanks to Debbie for sending me this article