By Ron Rapoport / Los Angeles Times

Box score

Ever since baseball people first saw Ryan's sizzling fastball, they said that if he could add some effective slow pitches, there would come a time when they would send a ball to the Hall of Fame with his name on it.

Tuesday night, before 12,205 people in Kansas City's beautiful new futuristic park, it was time.

Ryan allowed only three baserunners, all on walks, and struck out 12. In addition, he added the finest curveball he's shown to go with his fastball that always leaves the hitters struggling for words to describe it.

"He's throwing the ball harder than any man I ever saw in my life," said John Mayberry, who leads the American League in runs batted in.

"If they had a higher league," said Hal McRae, "he could be in it. As a matter of fact, he could be super in it."

"I knew he was throwing hard," added Bruce Dal Canton, the losing pitcher, "because he dug a hole a foot deep in front of the mound just shoving off."

Ryan struck out at least one batter in every inning and allowed only two grounders that he didn't field personally. Walks to Steve Hovley in the first, Carl Taylor in the third and Paul Schaal in the eighth gave the Royals their only baserunners. Only Hovley got as far as second, which he stole.

So effectively was Ryan pitching that there was really only one difficult play for the fielders behind him although there were a couple of hard-hit balls in the late innings.

The one fielding gem came with two out in the eighth after Schaal had walked. Pinch-hitter Gail Hopkins popped a high ball over Rudy Meoli's head that sent the rookie shortstop scrambling desperately out after it as Bobby Valentine came racing in from center.

With his back to the infield, Meoli reached out as far as he could at the last instant and came up with the ball.

"I was playing up a little," said Meoli, "and Sandy [Alomar] told me to back up a little. I don't know if I would have caught up to it or not if I hadn't. I thought I had a chance because I knew it would be in between, but if Bobby had yelled something I'm out of it. The Astroturf helped because you can really run on that turf."

Then came the ninth. Fred Patek fouled to first baseman Jim Spencer in front of the Kansas City dugout. Hovley struck out on a 2-2 pitch to become Ryan's 12th and last strikeout victim.

Enter Amos Otis, a former teammate of Ryan's when both were with the New York Mets.

Otis took the first pitch for a strike and then slammed a fastball hard to right field that sent Ken Berry, who had entered the game for defense in the seventh, back to the warning track to make the catch and end the game.

"I thought it had a chance," Otis said of the final out. "But then I saw Berry sitting there, and it was just a can of beans."

"I was about three feet from the wall when I caught it," said Berry. "I was afraid I was going to have to jump. In fact, I started jumping when it was hit."

And there it was, the no-hitter that sent Ryan's teammates spilling jubilantly out onto the field, the one that placed him with Clyde Wright and Bo Belinsky as Angel no-hit pitchers, the one everyone had been expecting all along.

Everyone that is, except Nolan Ryan. "I never honestly felt I was the type of pitcher to pitch a no-hitter," Ryan said standing next to his locker, his warmup jacket still on.

"My curveball isn't overpowering and after you've gone through the lineup once or twice, the hitters can get on the fastball better. A lot of that's timing. I don't have the type of fastball that really moves. A lot of guys have that explosive type of fastball that really moves. Also, I jam the hitters a lot so the really strong guys can just bloop it over the infield for singles."

Ryan hadn't won a game in two weeks and had not really been effective since the first few games of the season. After getting shelled in just one-third of an inning Friday night in Anaheim, he came back the following day to strike out four batters in two innings of relief and claim his first save as an Angel.

So it was the victory, his fifth of the year, he was more concerned with than any thought of a no-hitter. At least until the end.

"After the sixth, when we got that second run [on Bob Oliver's fourth homer of the year]," Ryan said, "I wasn't going to let them beat me tonight. I didn't really give the no-hitter too much thought until the eighth inning.

"But after Rudy made that catch, in my own mind I decided I was going to throw a no-hitter and if they hit me it was going to be off my best stuff. I only threw two curves in the last inning.

"In the ninth, I felt a little pressure, with the meat of the order coming up. Otis and Mayberry have hurt me and Patek is the kind of hitter who, if you make a mistake, can hurt you."

As the interview progressed, his teammates broke through, one at a time or in pairs, to shake hands or, in this case of Oliver, plant a kiss.

"Beautiful, just beautiful," beamed Oliver, hugging the slim Texas native.

Said Valentine, who snapped out of an 0-for-29 hitless streak with a scratch single to shortstop in the seventh: "Nolan said before the game we were both going to break out of our slumps tonight. But he did it in a little grander fashion."

One of the happiest men in the dressing room was Jeff Torborg, who had just caught the third no-hitter of his career - Sandy Koufax's perfect game in 1965, Bill Singer's no-hitter in 1970 and now Ryan.

"Oh, God, that was beautiful!" Torborg said, clapping his hands. "He had good stuff early but when I saw nothing up there on the board in the fourth, I started counting the outs to myself.

"Every one is just as thrilling as the others," he said of the two he caught when he was with the Dodgers. "But with Sandy, my heart was beating so loudly it was pounding in my ear. I was a little more relaxed this time."

"I remember toward the end of the game with Sandy we went with just the best pitch. Show the curve, but go with the fastball. That's what we did this time, too. Nolan said, 'I want to go with my best stuff.' "

It was quieter in the Kansas City locker room, of course, and somebody walked up to Patek to ask what he thought of the whole thing.

"Is this his first one?" Patek asked. "Well, I don't believe it'll be his last."