Ervin Tosses A History Making No-No.

*Warning: this was not proofread. Apologies.

In the early hours of the work day out here on the West Coast, our boy Ervin Santana was working his magic in Ohio. El Rosario, who is having one of those "not great, but not crappy" seasons went onto the mound at Progressive Field and made history. For the first time since 1984, the Angels watched one of their own toss a no hitter.

After an error by Erick "Trade Bait" Aybar in the first inning led to a Cleveland run on a wild pitch, Ervin shut things down, and never allowed a single hit. 9 innings, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 unearned run, 1 walk, and 10 strikeouts. It was a thing of magic, dare I say "Black Magic?" (see what I did there?). After turning aside 15 in a row, Ervin entered the sixth allowing a wicked shot off the bat of Jason Kipnis, but Howie Kendrick was able to glove the ball with a nice move to keep the no-no intact. It was a thing of pure beauty for us Angel fans.

The last no hitter by a single Halo pitcher was on the final day of the 1984 season when Mike Witt tossed a gem. We've all seen the highlights over and over again, and now we have an exciting pitching effort of our own generation to enjoy (I was only 2 when Witt pulled it off).  More recently, the Halos had a combined no hitter in 1990 against Seattle when Witt and Langston combined. Of couse, we all know that Nolan Ryan is the king of Halo no-nos, throwing 4 during his span in North Orange County. Now Ervin has earned a spot among the greats in Angel (and MLB) lore.

He may not be having his best season, but he just pitched the best game of his life, and when we look back on his entire career, July 27, 2011 will come up as his greatest day on the mound. It's just too bad it happened across the country at a time when most Angel fans couldn't watch it.

Way to go, Erv Daddy. I've been following you since AA Arkansas, and I couldn't be any more proud to be an Ervin fan and an Angel fan in general.

Tomorrow at 10:05 am, the Halos have another brunch time special, this time up in Detroit against Los Tigres. The 5-5 Joel Piñero (4.61) is out to try and stabilize his season against a tough AL Central squad who are yet to name a starter.

Go Halos Go.

-- Sent from my Palm Prē