No-nos among choices for pitching performance GIBBY

The 2013 Major League Baseball season brought a trio of no-hitters, a handful of one-hitters and other all-around dominant pitching performances.

Now's the chance for fans to pick the best one.

MLB's A-listers will take home 2013 GIBBY trophies -- the ultimate honors of the industry's awards season -- based on votes by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni, fans at MLB.com and the Society for American Baseball Research.

This year's GIBBY Awards feature nominees in 22 categories. Individual honors will go to the MLB MVP, in addition to the year's best starting pitcher, hitter, closer, setup man, rookie, breakout hitter, breakout pitcher, comeback player, defensive player, manager, executive and postseason performer.

GIBBY trophies also will be awarded for the year's top play, storyline, hitting performance, pitching performance, oddity, walk-off, Cut4 topic, regular-season moment and postseason moment, from MLB.com's Must C highlight reels.

In the past five years, fans have cast more than 50 million votes across the various GIBBY categories, none of which was restricted to individual League affiliation. Fan voting runs through Monday.

Winners will be presented their GIBBY trophies at the MLB.com Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards extravaganza during the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla.

The headliners for the top pitching performance almost have to be the no-hitters.

Cincinnati's Homer Bailey brought back the no-no on July 2, holding the Giants to one walk and striking out nine, after throwing MLB's previous no-hitter on Sept. 28, 2012.

"Here we go again, I guess," Bailey thought to himself. "It's something I've already done, so I knew what to expect."

The Giants were on the better side of history 11 days later when right-hander Tim Lincecum added to his sparkling career resume. Lincecum no-hit the Padres on July 13, striking out 13 and walking four while throwing a whopping 148 pitches.

"It's pretty surreal for me," Lincecum said.

Miami's Henderson Alvarez capped the no-hitters with a wild, walk-off no-no on the regular season's final day in Miami against the Tigers. Alvarez's no-hitter was completed with him on deck; Giancarlo Stanton raced home on a wild pitch in the ninth inning to secure a 1-0 victory.

"I was so excited," Alvarez said through an interpreter. "I thought by the ninth inning that I just needed three outs for the no-hitter. With my emotions and nerves, I kind of lost track that we hadn't scored a run yet."

Others nearly joined the club:

• Rangers righty Yu Darvish gave up a single to Houston's Marwin Gonzalez with two outs in the ninth inning, ending his bid for a perfect game on April 2.

• Cardinals rookie right-hander Shelby Miller allowed a leadoff single before retiring the next 27 Rockies to throw a one-hit shutout on May 10.

• Fellow Cards rookie, righty Michael Wacha, threw 8 2/3 hitless innings on Sept. 24, before Washington's Ryan Zimmerman reached on an infield single.

• San Francisco's Yusmeiro Petit almost one-upped Lincecum on Sept. 6 before Arizona's Eric Chavez singled with two outs in the top of the ninth to ruin Petit's perfect-game bid.

Those were just the near-historical gems.

San Diego's Andrew Cashner threw a one-hitter on Sept. 16 in his first complete game, while Detroit's Anibal Sanchez fanned 17 Braves on April 26.

Good luck deciding which is the best of the best.