NL Notes: Ryu, Alderson, Ramirez

Dodgers pitcher Josh Beckett threw the season’s first no-hitter on Sunday, an act that must have seemed hard to follow. But fellow Dodgers hurler Hyun-Jin Ryu did his best on Monday, pitching seven perfect innings before allowing a double to the Reds’ Todd Frazier to lead off the eighth inning. Including a hitless inning by Paul Maholm against the Phillies in the eighth inning Saturday, the Dodgers pitched 17 straight no-hit innings this weekend. Here are more notes from around the National League.

• It was a hard day for Mets GM Sandy Alderson, Andy Martino of the New York Daily News reports. He only reluctantly fired hitting coach Dave Hudgens, with whom he also worked in Oakland. “This is a very difficult decision to have to make,” said Alderson. “I’ve known Dave for many years — decades. I have tremendous respect for him, his expertise, his work ethic, his personal relationships with players.” Alderson says the Mets’ approach to hitting will not change dramatically under new hitting coach Lamar Johnson. Martino suggests that Hudgens was merely “the fall guy” for the performance of the team Alderson assembled.
• David Ortiz believes the Cubs’ decision to hire his former Red Sox teammate Manny Ramirez as a Triple-A player/coach was a good one, Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe writes. Ortiz believes Ramirez has changed since he and the Red Sox parted company in 2008. “It’s a different guy. He’s been doing different things for the past couple of years,” says Ortiz. “I’ve been talking to him a lot on the phone and sometimes I get confused because I don’t know if I’m talking to him or not. This is legit.”