There were no bench-clearing brawls, but it was another point-packed week in the Longball League.
Roster Moves
There were no roster moves in the Longball League last week.
Who's Hot/Who's Not This Week
Hitters
Hot: Mike Napoli had a one HR 9 RBI week for the BoSox
Not: Josh Hamilton did not help anyone at all, especially the Angels, with his scoreless effort.
Pitchers
Hot: Boston's Clay Buchholz won two games and struck out 17 hitters for the Old Towne Team.
Not: Philip Humber lost two games and gave up 10 earned runs over 7 1/3 innings for the hapless Astros.
This Week's Three Trivial Things
1. April 14-18 was a pretty bad five day stretch for the Mets. The Mets were snowed out three times. Once in Minnesota and twice in Colorado. Then, in the middle of those postponements, they suffered a there-game sweep at the hands of the Rockies. The worst of those losses was the second game of a double header where they blew an 8-2 lead and lost, 9-8.
2. Nobody told Houston it was gonna be easy coming over to the American League, but they didn't think it would get this bad. On Saturday night, the Indians whipped the Astros, 19-6. It was 14-0 Erie Warriors before the Astros got their first hit. Wow.
3. Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos hit three infield singles in the Halo, 10-0 win over the Tigers Saturday. He was only the second Halo to have three infield hits in a game in the last 10 years. So, who was that other Angel? It was Albert Pujols. He did it as part of the Angels 4-0 shutout of Oakland on May 15, 2012.
Cool Baseball Card of the Week: 1909-1911 T206- Orval Overall
There has been much ado about the latest T206 Honus Wagner selling for a little over $2,100,000 at auction a week or so ago. Personally, outside of it being regarded as the Holy Grail of baseball cards, it has never impressed me. It's just not an attractive card. Luckily, the T206 set is loaded with easily more affordable, good looking cards. Take a look at this card of old Orval Overall here. He was a mainstay of the Cubs pitching rotation in their heyday on top on the National League in the first decade of the 20th century. The card is great looking with the orange light of sunset and silhouette of the grandstand painted in the background. In addition to being great to look at, this card is also historically significant. the Cubs won the 1908 World Series in five games. In that fifth game, Overall threw a three-hit shutout, which made him the last Cubs pitcher to earn a World Series-clinching victory for the Cubs.
Loving that schedule maker
With the new scheduling formula unveiled this year due to Houston's addition to the American League, the Detroit Tigers really lucked out. This week they made their only west coast trip all season. They also play the NL East in interleague play. So, the Tigers will never make a longer than one time zone trip from April 22nd to the end of the season.
From an old copy of The Sporting News
While perusing the July 4, 1970 edition of The Sporting News, I came across this headline, Trojans Don NCAA Crown in Marathon. USC had just won the NCAA baseball title with a 15 inning, 2-1 win over Florida State. USC's Jim Barr pitched eight innings of shutout relief to earn the win. Oh yeah, and some guy named Dave Kingman played for the Trojans too.
Until next time folks, remember that almost all bases are stolen off the pitcher, not the catcher.
-The Commissioner
