Athletics 10, Mariners 2: This game was a Father’s Day treat for me. Why? Because I used it to teach my daughter how to keep score. I printed out scoresheets. I did a little sketch on the top of hers to illustrate the numbers which correspond with each defensive position. I paused the TV after […]

Thirty years ago today, Bob Welch had about as good a day as a pitcher could possibly have. He damn near won a game all by himself on the mound and at the plate. On June 17, 1983, Welch took the hill for the Dodgers in Los Angeles against the visiting Cincinnati Reds. Normally, you’d […]

Thirty years ago today, one of the most incredible and obviously one-sided trades of the 1980s occurred. The St. Louis Cardinals sent star first baseman and NL 1979 co-MVP Keith Hernandez to the New York Mets for ….well, basically for the right to not have Keith Hernandez on their team anymore. Okay, officially there was […]

Athletics 3, Yankees 2: Looking at the Yankees side of the box score and noting Robinson Cano’s contributions compared to everyone else’s and this comes to mind. Mark Teixeira, Travis Hafner, Kevin Youkilis and Vernon Wells combined to go 0 for 28 with 12 strikeouts in this marathon game. And while, yes, hats off to […]

It happened again. Not twice on the same day like last Saturday, as I wrote about very soon afterward, but once is notable enough. A baseball game went 18 innings Thursday, this time in Oakland as the A’s staggered past the Yankees, 3-2. My theory is that the rash of no-hitters over the last few […]

50 years ago today was one of the greatest one-man shows of clutch hitting in baseball history. The athlete didn’t deliver every time he came to the plate, but when he did deliver, boy of boy was it ever important and well-timed. And it didn’t hurt that he got such a ton of opportunities. On […]

Royals 3, Tigers 2: Jose Valverde was handed a 2-0 lead in the ninth with a runner on and promptly coughed it up by surrendering a homer to Lorenzo Cain. Phil Coke added his own brand of kerosene to the fire on the 10th as Eric Hosmer singled in the winning run. After the game […]

Forty years ago, they first put the band together. Forty years ago today, a foursome first began working together—and they’d have quite a nice future before themselves and for all Dodger nation. At the time it didn’t look like anything big—in fact that day itself was nothing short of a disaster, but June 13, 1973 […]

The losing team scored two runs in eight of last night’s 15 games. I have no idea if that’s uncommon, but I noticed it and I’m going to pretend it’s a sign or portent or something. Anyway: Pirates 8, Giants 2: Welcome to the big leagues Gerrit Cole. The 2011 number one pick pitched shutout […]

White Sox 10, Blue Jays 6: “The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on.” Carl Sandburg said that about fog. “It was worse than when it rains. With the lights, it made it really really bright. It was weird.” Adam Dunn said that about fog. Which may […]