Edwin Jackson's pitch count

Congratulations to the Diamondbacks' Edwin Jackson, who on Friday pitched the 267th no-hitter in Major League history, and the 4th of the 2010 season. He walked 8, which was the most in a no-hitter since A.J. Burnett's 9-walk no-no in 2001. Jackson also struck out 6, making it also the first no-hitter since Burnett's in which a pitcher walked more batters than he struck out. Since Jackson was wild early before setting down (7 walks in the first 3 innings, 1 walk and 1 hit batsman after), his high pitch count was a developing story throughout the game. Entering the 8th, Jackson had 117 pitches, and entering the 9th, he had 134 pitches. Any other circumstance, he'd be long gone from the game, but manager A.J. Hinch opted to let his pitcher go for the record books. When all was said and done, Jackson had 149 pitches. Let's put that into perspective for a minute. Courtesy of Baseball Prospectus, here are the maximum in-game pitch counts since 1996:

Year	Pitcher	Team	Pitch Count
2010	Edwin Jackson	Diamondbacks	149
2009	Roy Halladay	Blue Jays	133
2008	Tim Lincecum	Giants	138
2007	A.J. Burnett	Blue Jays	130
2006	Livan Hernandez	Nationals	138
2005	Livan Hernandez	Nationals	150
2004	Jason Schmidt	Giants	144
2003	Kerry Wood	Cubs	141
2002	Randy Johnson	Diamondbacks	149
2001	Randy Johnson	Diamondbacks	145
2000	Ron Villone	Reds	150
1999	Pedro Astacio	Rockies	153
1998	Livan Hernandez	Marlins	153
1997	Tim Wakefield	Red Sox	169
1996	Roger Clemens	Red Sox	161

Jackson threw the most pitches in a game since Livan Hernandez in 2005, and there really wasn't a game since Tim Wakefield's 8 2/3 inning, 7 walk, 10 strikeout, 169 pitch outing in 1997 that wasn't within three or four pitches of Jackson's no-hitter. Given the increased focus on pitch counts and decreasing in-game totals, certainly this performance by Jackson is one of the most impressive --- or, depending on whom you talk to, abusive --- we've seen in a while.