No luck on no-nos for now

White Sox pitcher Phil Humber, a former Mets first-round pick, took a no-hitter into the seventh inning last night, losing it when Alex Rodriguez hit a one-out single up the middle. By that point, I had already asked my Newsday colleagues who were at the game whether they’ve ever witnessed a no-hitter.

Ken Davidoff was at the 2003 regular-season game when six Houston Astros pitchers no-hit the Yankees. Erik Boland said the closest he ever came to witnessing a no-hitter was the seventh inning in 2009.

My closest no-hitter came when former Baltimore Orioles righthander Daniel Cabrera fell two outs short of no-hitting the Yankees late in the 2006 regular season.

One of the first things you learn as a reporter is you don’t root, but I'll let you in on a secret: a part of me didn't want Cabrera to get the no-hitter that night.

I wasn’t there to cover the game, just to work on a playoff preview story, so I didn't watch the game. Instead, I stayed downstairs at the old Yankee Stadium in a workroom with the game on television. So the last thing I wanted was to be at the Stadium for a no-hitter and, well, not witness a single pitch.

Cabrera gave it up - a single by Robinson Cano - and I’m still waiting for that first no-hitter-in-person.