50 years ago today, Jim Hickman hit one of the most clutch home runs in Mets history. It didn’t help them in any pennant race and had no larger implications. This was still the early Mets, after all. But it was still a very cool home run. It was a walk-off home run he hit. […]

All kinds of comebacks on Wednesday. Let’s call it “Comeback Wednesday!” — wait, what? Really? OK, sorry folks. The people in the marketing department said that’s impossibly lame. They’re working on something centering on the idea of “Extreme Comebacks” but they want to focus group it first. We’ll let you know. White Sox 6, Yankees […]

25 years ago today, the Chicago Cubs finally entered the 20th century. Over a half-century since night baseball first came to the major leagues and 40 years since all other teams played under the lights, Wrigley Field finally, belatedly hosted its first night game. OK, so the game was rained out. Still, it was the […]

Pirates 4, Marlins 3: A walkoff homer for Josh Harrison — the utility infielder if you didn’t know — gave this one to Pittsburgh, as the Pirates show no inclination to give up first place. Andrew McCutchen had a fantastic diving catch to save at least one run in the seventh when the game was tied and […]

Monday, Commissioner Bud Selig proposed suspension of Alex Rodriguez for 211 games, or the remainder of the 2013 season and all of the 2014 season for multiple allegations of misconduct. The reason I say “proposed suspension,” rather than “suspended,” is because under the Joint Drug Agreement (JDA) between MLB and the Major League Players Association, […]

My “Currently historic” column has spent much of the season tracking players with a serious tendency toward the strikeout. All this whiffing got me wondering what a team would look like if you took the highest strikeout season from a position and put those players in a lineup. I wondered if this team would be […]

Baseball data buddy James Gentile did a little more research about first-inning pitch counts, and helped uncover a pretty interesting fact. When teams are tied at the end of the first inning, the team that threw 10 or more additional pitches in the first inning wound up winning the game only 48 percent of the […]

Royals 13, Twins 0: Hard to envision any more of a domination than this. A four hit shutout for Jeremy Guthrie while the Royals offense puts up a baker’s dozen. Jamey Carroll was literally the most effective pitcher of the game for the Twins. Eric Hosmer drove in five. Dodgers 3, Cardinals 2: Fifteen straight […]

25 years ago today, the Tigers posted a milestone win in franchise history. No one knew it at the time, but it was a key moment for the club. On Aug. 6, 1988, the Tigers topped the Red Sox, 4-2. So far, so what. That doesn’t mean much. It was their fourth straight win, and […]

I went to Detroit over the weekend where I took in Saturday and Sunday’s Tigers-White Sox games. Such a wonderful time. Cool temperatures, no humidity, good company, good pitching, good food, good beer. It’s really all you could want. As I watched these games and hung around a city that, no matter what else you […]