dancing in the streets of caracas

a no no today. FINALLY! someone this year has finally thrown a no hitter. not that they are common, a few seasons have gone by here and there without one being pitched all year. 32 teams that each play 162 games. that is 5,182 chances by a starting pitcher to throw a no hitter, and some seasons, it hasn't happened. here are some (of my beloved) numbers:

last no hitter thrown in either league: may 18, 2004 by randy johnson 6,364 games ago
note: this was the longest streak EVER in the major leagues.

last no hitter thrown in the american league: april 27, 2002 by derek lowe

so this afternoon, anibal sanchez, a rookie, decides things need to change, that a drought needs to end. and he takes care of business. he piched nine innings for the florida marlins against the arizona diamondbacks, and did not allow a hit. some numbers involved in his gem:

103 = the number of pitches thrown by anibal

22 = the age of anibal

13 = the number of this start in his major league career

6 = the number of strikeouts he threw

4 = the number of walks he allowed

1 = the number of base runners his defense allowed (via error)

0 = well d'uh

~2,000 = the estimated atttendence at the start of the game
NOTE: this is sad. the league average attendence probably hovers around 20,000 a game.

so, i was watched one inning of the game on reply. fox sports always replays afternoon games. sanchez was born in venezuela. two other players, from both teams combined, were also from venezuela. one was at bat, the other was playing at third base, the third one was piching, as i watched on. the venezuelan threw the ball, the venezuelan hit the ball, and popped it up to the venzuelan who caught it at thirdbase. hence they were dancing... but serially, congrats anibal!
btw, it was gracie (commentator mark grace) who made the dancing comment, i just really liked it.

today after it rained, i saw a smudge of a rainbow. the last two nights i saw moonbows. for those who never heard, a moonbow is the cirular rainbow that (obviously) encompasses the moon. i did not see one tonight as i was walking to the bank to pay back a new neighbor who is also a part time employee at my workplace. the clouds were too thick to expose the full moon though. its presence was noticeable. it illuminted the numerous puffy clouds in the whole eastern portion of the sky. btw, i had to stand in line to be able to use the atm. the drive up atm, that is. that was a first.

ok, i am going to work on my hiking blog. i won't post the link until i am finished.

peace