It was another fun week in the majors. The Tigers had a lot of fun at the expense of the Astros. While the guys wearing the Olde English D were racking up stats, so were the teams in the Longball League.
Roster Moves
4/29/2013
The Tax Dodgers dropped J. Hamilton LAA and picked up P. Fielder DET
5/3/2013
The A Team dropped J. Hamilton LAA and picked up M. Trout LAA
Who's Hot/Who's Not This Week
Hitters
Hot: The Tigers' Miguel Cabrera had a 4 HR, 13 RBI week.
Not: Josh Hamilton picked up one RBI this week for hapless Halos.
Pitchers
Hot: Another hot Tiger is Max Scherzer who won two games and struck out 18.
Not: R.A. Dickey lost two games and gave up 10 earned runs in 13 innings pitched for the Blue Jays.
This Week's Five Trivial Things
Why five? It's in honor of the Angles-A's 19 inning marathon last Monday night. Which, by the way, all five trivial things will be about.
1. The 6 hour 32 minute affair was the longest game ever in regards to time for both clubs. As far as innings, it was not. The Angels have two 20 inning games (1971, 1982) in their history, while the A's went 21 innings with Senators in 1971.
2. Here's some crazy game totals. The two clubs combined for 156 plate appearances. That breaks down to 141 at-bats, 12 walks, 1 hit by pitch1 sacrifice fly and 1 sacrifice bunt. Also for stat geeks like me, nobody reached by interference or obstruction, but Halo SS Brendan Harris was called for obstruction in the second inning which allowed the A's Brandon Moss to advance from 2nd to 3rd.
3. The Best stat line in the game belongs to Albert Pujols who went 4 for 8 with 2 HRs and 3 RBI. The record for most hits in an extra inning game is held by Johnny Burnett. On July 7, 1932 he went 9 for 11 for the Cleveland Indians in a 18-17, 18 -inning loss to the Philadelphia A's. He had two doubles and nine singles with just two RBIs.
4. The worst stat line in the game belongs to Josh Hamilton, of course! 0 for 8 with a sacrifice fly. Sad as 0 for 8 is, that's not the record for worst showing in an extra inning game. On June 3, 1989 Dodger CF John Shelby went 0 for 10 in a 5-4, 22-inning loss to the Astros.
5. The teams combined to use 16 pitchers in the game who threw a total of 597 pitches. Back on May, 1920 the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves played a 26-inning, 1-1 tie. The starting pitchers went the distance! pitchers Leon Cadore and Joe Oeschger combined to throw 664 pitches according to great people at SABR.
Cool Baseball Cards of the Week; 1966 Topps #s 159 Chico Ruiz, 370 Chico Salmon, and 594 Chico Cardenas
Hey it's time for the three Chicos! With the great influx of latin ballplayers in the 1960s, The guys at Topps had no clue about the names of the latin ballplayers. They thought Chico was a just another latin name like Jose or Guillermo. That's one big reason why there are three Chicos in the 1966 set.
It's a cultural facepalm for Topps, but just a funny part of baseball card history. The most valuable card of the bunch is Chico Cardenas. He's an elusive high-number in the hard to complete set and can command upwards of 50 dollars in Near Mint condition.
Until next week folks, try not to swing at pitches outside the zone.
-The Commissioner
