'No-No's' and the best pitched games

In Baseball we often see pitchers flirt with the perfect game, they also flirt with a shot at the hall of fame if they are lucky enough to get their name on that list.
Last year was declared year of the pitcher by This Week In Baseball. The title does the season justice as we saw 6 'No-No's' thrown last year, with two of those being perfect games. Roy 'Doc' Halladay himself threw a perfect game in the regular season , then in his first ever playoff appearance threw a no hitter. That is a definite ticket to the hall of fame.
But my real focus is on those who threw no hitters, but gave up several walks during those games and put their pitch counts well above 100 pitches. This all stems from last nights no hitter thrown by Francisco Liriano, which saw him give up 6 walks and one of which was in the bottom of the ninth with his team only up by 1 run. Being a college pitcher I do love watching a pitcher battle hitters and get his accomplishment, but with pitch counts going higher and walks that put runners in scoring position putting alot of pressure not only on yourself, but on your defense behind you, can we say that the pitcher really gave his all out effort and that he had his 'stuff' working?
Just this past weekend I worked with Fergie Jenkins, Jim Bunning, Eddy Murray, Tony Oliva, and Dick Williams at a sportscard expo as part of my intership with the Fergie Jenkins Foundation. During a Q and A session with the players someone asked Jim Bunning (HOF'er and former US Senator) if his 'No-No' was the best game he ever pitched. Jim replied "No", he gave much credit to his defense and felt he got lucky at times. This allowed me to expand my view and respect the players behind me in a way I never had before. After hearing this then seeing the game where Liriano threw his no hitter, that game really ticked me off. The reason being is that he now can say he had his 'stuff' working and no one will criticize it.
I do congratulate him, considering his rocky start to 2011, but are we as baseball fans and players too focused on that ever elusive No - No ? to such a point where we lose the mental edge of our game. Liriano will be forced to miss his next start due to his high pitch count of 123 pitches, this could hurt his team.
So I leave you with this, don't we as players go out there for the love of the game and play for the best interest of our team, or is that generation lost behind autograph tables and left as just a statue in a hall for those to admire? You be the judge. But the next time im on the hill this sunday I will just be out there with a mental edge making sure I help my team win, rather than try and emphasize my own achievements.