Scott Carson

Stats man Scott Carson is now in his 18th season as "third man in the booth" during Blue Jays telecasts.

Shaun Marcum has gone six innings before surrendering his first hit of a game twice this season.

The fact the Jays have knocked on the no-hit door several times this year is a very optimistic sign.

Through Monday night's series opener against the Athletics, the Toronto Blue Jays have now played 5,342 games -- 2,652 of them ended up in wins -- three ties that had to be replayed due to rain, and the rest losses. Over that time span, only one no-hitter has still been thrown: Dave Stieb's long-anticipated no-no against the Indians in Cleveland on Sept. 2, 1990, after he had thrown five different one-hitters, two in back-to-back starts in 1988 where the baseball gods denied him with two outs in the ninth.

All told, heading into the 2010 season, Blue Jays pitchers have been part of 18 different one-hitters, 14 of which were complete games, five where the first hits didn't happen until the ninth. In my 18 seasons in the booth, I witnessed Roy Halladay in 1998, in his second major-league start, lose his bid when Detroit's Bobby Higginson hit a pinch-hit home run with two out in the ninth which was caught, according to urban legend, by Dave Stieb in his final season with the Jays. And I was also there to see Dustin McGowan (remember him?) in 2007 give up a leadoff single to Colorado's Jeff Baker in the ninth.

And then, just nine days ago, Brandon Morrow's masterpiece when Tampa Bay's Evan Longoria broke up the no-no with two out in the ninth, which he closed with his 17th strikeout to secure an airtight 1-0 win. Quite frankly, I'm starting to think I'm a bit of jinx in these situations. I was also at Exhibition Stadium on September 30, 1988 when Jim Traber blooped a single over Fred McGriff's out-stretched glove with two outs to deny Stieb his date with destiny.

And then it was "here we go again" on Monday in Oakland before no more than 5,000 fans (announced attendance was 10,136 -- yeah right!) when Shaun Marcum strode to the hill and had, arguably, the best stuff of his career. Using equal amounts of sinkers, curves, sliders and a change-up that shied away from wood, the woeful Athletics hitters really had no shot on this night, 24 hours removed from Twins starter Kevin Slowey ho-hitting them through seven innings before getting the "thanks son" handshake from his manager after 102 pitches.

Marcum, save for a slightly questionable scoring decision in the sixth when Edwin Encarnacion couldn't cleanly field a chopper past the mound, put no-hit stuff on display for the first six innings. A's left fielder Conor Jackson, returned to active duty earlier in the day after a rehab assignment, ended the no-hitter by leading off the bottom of the 7th with a solo home run on the first pitch of the inning. Marcum steadied himself and cruised through the final nine outs to finish out his first career complete game.

Now those of you who have followed the Blue Jays closely, based upon TV ratings, not attendance figures, and the dozens of you who I've met while on the road, so I know there are a bunch of you, know that the Blue Jays starters have been knocking on the no-hitter door several times this season. For the casual fan, here's a list:

But, over and above this notoriety, the fact is the Blue Jays have quietly put together the fourth youngest rotation in the majors that is evolving into one of the best in the game. And with the game in general going back to being dominated by pitching and defence, this certainly positions the team perfectly moving forward and is a reason to be very optimistic. The talent is there, along with the commitment from ownership, to pull the team closer to the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays and to challenge for the post-season on an annual basis.