Bud blossoms - Cards' young lefty displays potential

SAN DIEGO -- Bud Smith had thrown no-hitters before, one in high school and twice in the minors last year.

He sure didn't have to wait long to throw one in the majors.

And it was a pretty cool experience.

The 21-year-old St. Louis Cardinals rookie no-hit the rotten-luck San Diego Padres on Monday night, winning 4-0 in just his 11th start.

A native of Southern California, the left-hander was pitching in front of his mother, stepfather, 14 other family members and 10 friends from high school.

He got Tony Gwynn, an eight-time NL batting champion and lifetime .338 hitter, to ground out in the eighth inning. After the game, he referred to the retiring batting star as "Mr. Gwynn."

And he sat next to Mark McGwire in the dugout in the top of the ninth, at times looking wide-eyed and then joking with the slugger. That's against baseball superstition, but it helped keep Smith's mind clear.

He even assisted on the final out, gloving Phil Nevin's hard comebacker and running the ball halfway to first base before tossing it to Albert Pujols.

"This is special," Smith said after being mobbed by his teammates.

Smith threw two no-hitters in a span of 1 1/2 months in Double-A last year, both in the second games of doubleheaders.

"Nothing compares to this. This was nine innings up here. Those were seven innings down there," he said.

Manager Tony La Russa agreed.

"It's incredible to pitch a no-hitter in the big leagues, especially for a rookie," La Russa said. "Smith was just incredible."

Smith, who struck out seven and faced only four batters over the minimum, looked as poised as a veteran but admitted to feeling otherwise.

"I was shaking out there knowing that I was going for a no-hitter. I was going on adrenaline," said Smith, the 16th rookie in modern history to pitch a no-hitter.

Smith was St. Louis' minor league pitcher of the year in 2000 after posting a combined 17-2 record and 2.26 ERA in Double-A and Triple-A.

But going into Monday night's game, he didn't seem like a candidate to throw a gem.

Smith fell apart in his previous start, against the Padres in St. Louis, allowing seven runs -- five earned -- and five hits in 3 1/3 innings. He allowed a two-run homer to Ryan Klesko in a game the Cardinals eventually won 16-14.

But he fixed his problem during a bullpen session between starts and was unhittable in the rematch.

"I was able to get on track with my offspeed pitches and be able to throw the ball on both sides of the plate rather than just throwing away, away, away," he said.

Smith got Klesko to ground to short for the second out in the ninth inning, with Edgar Renteria making a nice backhand pickup.

"You have to give him credit," Klesko said. "We beat up on him pretty good last time, and he came in and did this."

Smith relied on his location to keep the Padres off-balance.

"His fastball was sneaky," San Diego manager Bruce Bochy said. "They may say 86 (mph), but it was quick. We only hit a couple of balls hard all night."

Smith's gem left the Padres shaking their heads.

On May 12, Florida's A.J. Burnett no-hit the Padres despite walking a record nine batters.

"It's frustrating," said Ben Davis, who started a controversy over baseball's unwritten rules when he bunted for a single to end a perfect-game bid by Arizona's Curt Schilling with one out in the eighth on May 26.

"Sometimes you have to tip your cap to them," Davis said. "It's just unfortunate for us that it has happened twice to us this year."

The Padres have been no-hit through seven innings four times this season and seven times through five, with all but one of the games being played in San Diego.

San Diego has been no-hit six times and has yet to have one of its own pitchers throw one.

Smith's was St. Louis' ninth no-hitter. He became the first rookie to throw a no-hitter since the Cardinals' Jose Jimenez did it in a 1-0 win against Arizona on June 25, 1999.

Gwynn might have been the one Padre to ruin Smith's bid. But the 41-year-old Gwynn, reduced to pinch-hitting in his 20th and final season because of bad knees, grounded out to shortstop for the second out in the eighth.

Asked when he got nervous, Smith said: "When they sent up Mr. Gwynn. He's the only guy I didn't go over the scouting report for because I didn't think I would face him. I just threw it down the middle to see what he would do with it.

When Gwynn came to the plate, catcher Eli Marrero thought: "Here goes the no-hitter. He had the crowd behind him. He hit it good, but Edgar was in the right spot."

Then Smith sat next to McGwire, and the two talked, an unusual occurrence when a pitcher is flirting with a no-hitter

"We've got no room down there because of the September callups," Smith said. "So I was sitting next to Big Mac talking about hitting so it would take my mind off the no-hitter."