Tom Verducci's View

RETURN OF THE NO-NO?

The ban on amphetamines, which took effect this season, may bring back pitching gems such as the no-hitter, the most recent of which was Randy Johnson's perfect game for Arizona 23 months ago. The current drought is the majors' longest in 20 years. The AL hasn't had one since Derek Lowe turned the trick for Boston four years ago this month, the league's longest dry spell since a span of five years, five months from 1940 to '45.

"The ban on amphetamines will change the game this year," one NL general manager says. "I'm especially thinking about those day games after night games on the road, when teams face someone with electric stuff like Jake Peavy (right). In the past, guys would bean up to get their bodies to respond. Without that stuff, I think you're going to see more high-strikeout games--16, 17, 18 strikeouts."

Major League Baseball tested about 60 players for performance-enhancing drugs in the off-season (the maximum permitted by the joint agreement with the union), and none of the tests came up positive, according to a source familiar with the results. Those 60 players--representing 5% of the total number who are subject to testing (anyone on a 40-man roster)--were given "hours" of advance notice, the source says. Testers even traveled overseas, according to the source, to establish that no player should assume he is off-limits. Still, the 60 samples pale next to the 2,000 that the NFL collects in its off-season, and the number should be increased in the next collective bargaining agreement.

R.A. STANDS FOR RUNS ALLOWED

It was a bad week for Rangers righthander R.A. Dickey (left). Last Thursday the 31-year-old tied a post-1900 record by giving up six homers (on only 32 swings) in a 10-6 loss to the Tigers. The next day he was shipped to the minors with an ERA reminiscent of Cy Young--or at least the year of Young's first win: 18.90.

THE RUNDOWN

?Already with a strike against him--he's working for a G.M. ( Pat Gillick) who didn't hire him--Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, off to a 1-5 start, will grease his exit if he foolishly continues to bat Aaron Rowand (career OBP: .337) as high as second and monster slugger Ryan Howard (right) as far down as sixth, with David Bell, a career .255 hitter, as Howard's protection.

?Seven active starting pitchers are at least 40 or will get there this year: Jamie Moyer, Randy Johnson, Kenny Rogers, Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, Tim Wakefield and Curt Schilling. At week's end they were a combined 7-4 with a 3.35 ERA.

?All spring Dodgers closer Eric Gagne told concerned club officials that he felt fine, even though his velocity was lagging. But when he needed surgery last Friday to remove a nerve from his elbow--he's expected to miss two months--he confessed that he had been pitching with discomfort. Former Devil Rays closer Danys Baez is 2 for 2 in save chances as Gagne's replacement.