Seven years ago this week, Hideo Nomo threw the earliest no-hitter in baseball history - April 4. It was Nomo's second no-no of his career, with the other likely being the most improbable of all-time - he threw it in Colorado. As you scroll down the list of pitchers who have held teams to no hits, you notice that it rarely matches up with how good the guy is over a career. No-hitters entail a lot of luck, and there ends up a lot of random, and not-so-good guys tossing them.

For every Randy Johnson perfect game, there are many more inexplicable no-hitter pitchers. Here are seven from the last 15 years:

7. Ramon Martinez

There is no better example of how no-hitters don't always correlate with ability than Pedro's brother having one and Pedro not. Pedro has had a near perfect game, a game where he set down multiple guys in a row after being charged by the first batter of the game, and a legendary relief appearance in the playoffs, but not a no-hitter. Ramon wasn't that bad of a pitcher, was a better brother than Mike Maddux, but it still illustrates the point. Whatever.

6. Eric Milton

Any left-handed pitcher who can't get a job with the way free agent starters are in 2008 has no business throwing a no-hitter anytime.



5. Six Astros Pitchers

Does it count as a no-hitter if players didn't even know what was going on? Apparently, but Jeff Kent was not sure why everyone was a bit happier than usual when they beat the Mets Yankees in June of 2003. Out of Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel, and Billy Wagner, no one threw more than three innings.

4. Danny Almonte

As a 34-year old playing in the Little League World Series, Almonte threw a no-hitter before they realized that he had fathered two of his teammates. He became the younger equivalent of Brien Taylor—the can't-miss prospect who turned into an enormous miss. [Editor's note: Almonte now resembles tubby Miguel Cabrera.]

3. Francisco Cordova

Marty Cordova was one of the least recognizable Rookie of the Year winners of the last 20 years (besides Bob Hamelin). Francisco Cordova is one of the most inexplicable no-hitter guys (although Ricardo Rincon threw the last inning, this was that 10-inning no-hitter won on a walk-off homer). Cordova, Tennessee, is a town that most people have never heard of. Cordova is a synonym for incognito.

2. Bud Smith

In one of his first starts, he threw one against the Padres in San Diego for the Cardinals. That represented 1/7 of his career win total. The Cards partially used the leverage of that one game to package Smith to the Phillies for Scott Rolen the next year. That had to be it—his ERA was a cool 6.94 in 2002.

1. Jose Jimenez

If it weren't for Nomo, this may have to take the most perplexing of all-time. Jimenez no-hit the Diamondbacks and Randy Johnson 1-0 as a rookie for a really, really, really bad Cardinal pitching staff in 1999. Two starts later, he beat Johnson AGAIN (this was that year when Randy got like 0.07 run support per game), 1-0 again, and gave up just two hits this time. The closest person to duplicating Johnny Vander Meer's unbreakable record was 24-44 lifetime with a 4.92 ERA.

The Top 7 is written by Jason Major. He had a no hitter for 8 2/3 in RBI Baseball, and then gave up a hit to pinch hitter Ellis Burks. He destroyed his game thereafter. Email him at jason@joesportsfan.com