Despite pitching-rich history, no no-nos seems to be Mets' destiny

On opening day, Shaun Marcum took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. It was the first sign that this baseball season would be different.

On opening day, Johan Santana gave up a hit in the third inning. It was the first sign that this Mets season would be the same as ever.

Everywhere else, there are no-hitters and no-hit bids. Every night, a Mets pitcher gives up a hit.

Usually, it happens early. Often, the first hit comes before the first out.

Sometimes, it's the only hit the Mets give up.

The Mets aren't missing the year of the pitcher. They have an outstanding team ERA of 3.71, which ranks seventh in baseball. Their pitchers have thrown nine shutouts, tied for the most in the game.

But they don't do no-hitters. Never have. Perhaps never will.

In their 48½ years of existence, they have more complete-game one-hitters than all but three other teams. And they have no no-hitters.

Not one.

Through 69 games this year, no Mets pitcher has even taken a no-hitter to the sixth inning. Only one has made it as far as the fifth.

Every night, Dirk Lammers has been able to alert his Twitter followers early.

• April 11: "We're at 7,650 #Mets games without a #nohitter thanks to Nyjer Morgan's lead-off triple off Johan Santana."

• April 17 (the day of Ubaldo Jimenez's no-hitter): "Skip Schumaker's lead-off double is today's #nohitter killer, ruining Johan Santana's chances and driving the count to 7,655 #Mets games."

• May 9 (the day of Dallas Braden's perfect game): "The Giants' Nate Schierholtz bloops a 2nd-inning single off Oliver Perez to make it 7,675 New York #Mets games without a #nohitter."

• May 29 (the day of Roy Halladay's perfect game): "Ryan Braun's 1st-inning single off Fernando Nieve is tonight's #nohitter killer. It's now 7,694 #Mets games with no no-no. ... Halladay throws a perfect game. Mets no-hitters still on holiday."

And on and on. The count, tracked on Lammers' outstanding nonohitters.com website, sits at 7,713 through the weekend.

That's 48½ years. That's an entire franchise history.

"You would think, probability-wise, the Mets would be due," former Mets pitcher Al Leiter said last week.

No, the Mets were due when Tom Seaver took his no-hit bid into the ninth inning -- the first time. The Mets were due when Nolan Ryan was pitching for them.

Improbably, Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and Nolan Ryan never pitched a no-hitter while wearing a Mets uniform. (Getty Images)

The Mets were due when they traded away Ryan, who went on to throw more no-hitters than anyone. The Mets were due when they traded away Seaver, who after 395 starts for them without a no-no, threw one for the Reds in his first full season with the team.

The Mets are no longer due. The Mets are destined -- destined to never throw a no-hitter.

Mets television voice Gary Cohen tells of the two near no-hitters he called, one by David Cone in 1991 and another by John Maine in 2007. Both ended in the eighth inning, and both ended on dribblers to third base.

"Almost the exact same place," Cohen said. "Things like that are what stand out for me. It's almost like it was meant to be."

And while it's not exactly a point of pride for the Mets that they've never had a no-hitter, it's no longer really a bad thing, either.

In fact, Lammers' website is less a lament than a loving chronicle of Mets no-no-hitter history. And Lammers, a lifelong Mets fan who grew up in Freehold, N.J., and now works for the Associated Press in South Dakota, admits he doesn't really want to see the streak end.

When Jonathan Niese threw his one-hitter earlier this month, Lammers went on Facebook and thanked the Padres' Chris Denorfia for his third-inning double, for "letting my site live for another day."

He jokes that if the Mets ever do throw a no-hitter, he'll need to find a Padres fan to take over the site.

The Padres, like the Mets, have never had a no-hitter. But perhaps because they have seven fewer years of history than the Mets, or perhaps because they don't have the rich pitching history that the Mets have, their streak has never taken on the legend that the Mets streak has.

The same goes for the Rays, the third franchise that has never had a no-hitter.

No, the Mets are different, in part because of Seaver and Ryan, who are only two of the six pitchers who threw no-hitters after leaving the Mets. There are also 10 pitchers (including Leiter) who threw no-hitters before coming to the Mets.

The Mets have also had all those complete-game one-hitters, with 25 of them (and nine combined one-hitters) in their 48½ seasons. The Yankees, by comparison, have had only 10 in that same span. The Rockies, who until Jimenez this year had never had a no-hitter, have never had a complete-game one-hitter.

But a one-hitter isn't a no-hitter, and the difference is more than one solitary hit. One-hitters end with handshakes; no-hitters end with celebrations.

A no-hit bid broken up in the ninth inning becomes merely another nice game. So maybe the Mets' streak becomes nothing special if it ever actually ends.

Cohen, for one, said he's fine with seeing it go on.

"I think it's a great quirky thing," said Cohen, who works the Mets local telecasts on SNY and Channel 11. "But if it ever happens, I just hope it's not in a Fox or ESPN game."

No worries. It's not happening.

Not even this year. Not with the Mets.