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One of the central themes to the year of the pitcher has been the no-hitters/near no-hitters. There have been 30 instances this season where a pitcher has taken a no-hitter into the 7th inning, with five pitchers completing it. However, the most intriguing ones have been the last two, Minnesota's Kevin Slowey and Texas' Rich Harden. Both, who have never thrown one, took one into the 7th inning, but were still taken out without giving up a hit. It's one of the toughest decisions a manager has to make. But for Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire and Texas manager Ron Washington, knowing their pitchers, Harden, who had just come back from the DL, and Slowey, who's had a history of arm-related injuries, they realized that they are going to need them for the rest of the postseason push.

When Edwin Jackson, an Arizona Diamondback at the time, went 149 pitches to get his no-hitter, a couple factors I'm sure played in: 1) He was facing his former team, the Rays, a team that gave up on him and 2) the Diamondbacks were already way out of the playoff race and I'm sure the manager valued the individual accomplishment a little higher.

For Gardenhire and Washington, they made the right calls. Instead of going for the individual accomplishment, they thought long-term and knew the risks if they let their pitchers go for it. Those are the types of decisions that can help teams reach the ultimate promised land. Cheers to you managers for avoiding temptations and realizing what's at the end of the MLB rainbow.

This week "At the Market", the special is "don't sleep on these rooks." This week, I'll talk about a CF who's holding his own replacing an All-Star and a lefty hurler who's starting to prove in '10 that he's durable enough to be a long-term option in the Big Apple.

Austin Jackson - OF - Detroit

For 15 years, Bernie Williams manned the CF position for the New York Yankees. In the prime of his career, you could count on Williams for 20+ HR, 100+ RBI and 15+ SB. However, like with most players, he started to decline in the last few seasons. Since he was such a pivotal part of the Yankees mid-late '90s dynasty, it made it that much harder, but the team decided to let him go. A part of that decision might have been realizing they drafted Jackson in the '05 Draft. Yes, it was in the 25th round, but he quickly showed that he was better than that. In the Minors, he showed signs that he can be a great table setter, with his speed (averaged 28 SB from '06-'09) and decent BA (.288 career Minor League BA). Then later on, he also displayed the ability to drive in runs, averaging 67 RBI the last two seasons. Despite the promising statistics, the Yankees decided to go with a more established CF, acquiring Curtis Granderson in a three-team deal this past off-season which saw Jackson go to Motown. But this became a guaranteed opportunity for Jackson be an everyday CF and bat lead-off.

The one thing you can say when looking at his statistics in his rookie season is that its pretty consistent month-by-month, batting near or over .300 (except for June - .253) with about the same number of RBI and SB. What helps Jackson and future fantasy owners of him is the supporting cast immediately in front of him. With DH/OF Johnny Damon deciding to stay in Detroit and known to come up big in the latter months and All-Star 1B Miguel Cabrera battling for the Triple Crown, once Jackson gets on base, he can easily rack up the R and SB in the last month and a half of '10.

The downfall is that he's a rookie. With the Tigers hanging on to slim playoff hopes, and Jackson being in a big spot in the lineup, he might start to feel the pressure and buckle under the pressure towards the end. With the uncertainty, I would wait a week or two to see where the Tigers are at before thinking about snagging this promising CF.

Jonathon Niese - SP - New York Mets

If the year of the pitcher is the #1 theme of '10, the #2 theme might as well be the rookie explosion, especially in the NL East. It started with Atlanta's Jayson Heyward, and then steadily, you saw impressive beginnings of players like Mets 1B Ike Davis, Nationals SP Stephen Strasburg and Marlins OF Mike Stanton. Even though it looks as though San Francisco C Buster Posey is the strong top candidate for Rookie of the Year, SP Jonathon Niese is quietly making a strong push to be at least in consideration.

The biggest question in the off-season for the New York Mets was starting pitching. Beyond ace Johan Santana, who was going to step up in the rotation? One of those pitchers in the mix was Niese, who was trying to rebound and show the team something after a scary leg injury on the mound in August ended his '09 campaign. Well, mission accomplished, so far.

He did start out sluggish this season, going 1-2 and giving up 4 or more ER in three of his first eight starts.  In that eighth start at Florida, it happened again; a leg injury, this time while fielding a ground ball, landing him on the DL, as doubts I'm sure started to creep in again to the organization. However, since returning from the DL, he has rebounded nicely. Since then, he has gone 7-3, allowing 0 or 1 ER in 10 of the 15 starts. After starting off the month of August in forgettable fashion in Arizona (4 1/3 IP, 6 ER), he has given up just 1 ER in each of the next four starts, going 7 IP in each except for his last start, which wound up being a rain-shortened CG.

This guy clearly has a chip on his shoulder. What also helps is a spacious ballpark, a decent bullpen (3.44 ERA from the 7th-inning on) and a very favorable schedule down the stretch. If you are looking for a 3rd or 4th starter, he should be near the top of your list.

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