Mark Buehrle pitch a no-hitter for the Chicago White Sox Wednesday.

He threw 105 pitches, faced the minimum 27 batters and the game lasted only 2 hours and 3 minutes.

Good thing. Those conditions are about the only way a major league pitcher can throw a no-hitter anymore.

No-nos are becoming about as extinct as the 20-game winner in baseball these days. Buehrle's gem was only the third no-hitter in the past four seasons. It was the first no-hitter in the American League since Boston's Derek Lowe turned the trick in 2002.

Starting pitchers just don't stick around long enough to win 20 games or even to pitch complete games, let record alone a shutout or a no-hitter.

Three decades ago, Phil Niekro and Wilbur Wood won and lost 20 games in one season. There were no 20-game winners in the National League last season and there have been seven since 2002.

The NLhad nine 20-game winners in the year 1969 alone.

Back then, pitching 300 innings and double-digit complete games in a season wasn't that big a deal.

Now it's unheard of.

Bronson Arroyo of the Reds led all major league pitchers with 240X\c innings last season. Zach Duke led the Pirates with 215Z\c innings.

Duke also threw the only two complete games on the Pirates staff.

The American League uses the designated hitter, enabling effective starting pitchers to stay in close games longer, yet had just four pitchers notch as many as 220 innings in 2006.

Tampa Bay's leader in innings pitched was Scott Kazmir, who threw all of 144 frames.

Daisuke Matsazaka, better known as Dice-Kwith the Red Sox, pitched 13 complete games in 25 starts in Japan. The Cleveland Indians were the only major league team with 13 complete games.

Some theories suggest the pampering of pitchers has led to the incredible increase in sore arms, elbows and Tommy John surgeries.

The Pirates know all about that:Bryan Bullington, Sean Burnett and John VanBenschoten, all first-round draft picks in recent years, have gone through major surgeries.

In sports, trends travel in cycles. Perhaps it's time to start preparing minor league pitchers to throw a lot of innings and bring some durability back to the mound.

Watching five pitchers collaborate on a three-hit shutout is more common in baseball today than watching a guy throw 120 pitches in a complete-game 5-2 victory.

Take the pitch counts and throw them away. Pitchers need to be taught to tell their manager when they're tired. Better yet, a manager or pitching coach should be able to tell when his hurler's losing it.

Some teams carry 13 pitchers on their 25-man roster. Teams used to carry nine or 10 and get by just fine.

Then again, those were the good ol' days.

Of course, they're referred to as good ol' days for a reason.