No, I wasn’t at the game last night, but I did watch it on television. Sigh. I keep telling myself I probably got a better view of Bud Smith’s no-no, but it hurts.

At any rate, it was a dominant performance, much moreso than A.J. Burnett’s against the Pads earlier in the year. Only three or four balls were hit hard all night, with Bubba Trammell’s drive to the warning track in left posing the most serious threat. Smith was in command from the get-go, working his 86-88 mph fastball, slow curve, and change-up to both sides of the plate for strikes.

Smith, just 21, threw 134 pitches, which is a lot for anyone, let alone a kid that age. The Cardinals brass clearly were aware of this, as manager Tony LaRussa and pitching coach Dave Duncan had guys up in the bullpen from the sixth inning. Duncan later admitted that he was actually hoping someone would break up the no-no so he could get Smith out of there. It will be interesting to see what the “pitch-count police” have to say about Smith’s pitch count. Baseball Prospectus’ Joe Sheehan has taken what I find to be a good middle ground, acknowledging both the high pitch count and the unique situation a no-hitter presents. I’m with Sheehan in that the Cards should be very careful with their young southpaw the next start or two, perhaps skipping his turn or at least limiting to, say, 80 pitches. Fortunately, LaRussa and Duncan appear to be aware of the situtation, and I’m cautiously optimistic that they’ll do the right thing.

On a completely different note, San Diego first-rounder Jake Gautreau has been promoted to Triple-A Portland to replace the injured Sean Burroughs. Gautreau, who had been hitting .304/.382/.509 in the Northwest League, went 2-for-4 with a homer in his PCL debut.