PHILADELPHIA — The best kind of history likes to hide around a corner. It taps you on the shoulder from behind in a dark room. It is the unexpected dinner guest ringing your doorbell. It shows up unannounced. It is a World Series no-hitter just when you were watching a seven-runs-a-game juggernaut turn a ballpark into a nightly rave venue.
Surprise! Step aside, Don Larsen. You have company. Four Astros pitchers no-hit the heretofore swaggy Phillies in World Series Game 4, giving them no runners except for three walks. It wasn’t quite Larsen throwing a perfect game by himself in 1956, but it was only the second no-hitter in 688 World Series games.
The relay race of nothingness began with Cristian Javier, the Houston starter who is the David Copperfield of pitchers. The man somehow makes a fastball of ordinary velocity disappear. Javier, 25, covered the first six innings before manager Dusty Baker turned to three relievers in alphabetical order, Bryan Abreu, Rafael Montero and Ryan Pressly. Javier threw the most extraordinary, most mind-blowing game the World Series has seen since pitch tracking began 14 seasons ago.
