An awful Birthday Team today, though it does feature the greatest ballplayer/weapons mogul in MLB history.

C: Jack Bliss
1B: Bill Conroy
2B: Frank Olin
3B: Phil Mankowski
SS: Ivan DeJesus
LF: Stan Javier
CF: Otis Nixon
RF: Joe Wallis

SP: Ralph Terry
SP: Harley Payne
SP: Dave Keefe
SP: Tom Kramer
SP: Ken Cloude
RP: Jay Powell
RP: T.J. Mathews

Umpires: John Kibler, Al Clark

Birthday League update:

Top of the standings:

January 5           33  21  .611 ----  
January 23          32  21  .604  0.5  
January 3           31  25  .554  3.0        
January 22          30  25  .545  3.5        
January 28          29  25  .537  4.0   
January 14          28  25  .528  4.5  
January 19          29  26  .527  4.5        
January 15          29  26  .527  4.5

News and notes:
* Jason Giambi (January 8) is on fire. Giambi has hit five home runs in his last 31 at-bats, and now leads the league with 15 dingers to go along with his .322/.422/.596 line.

* The only batter hotter than Giambi right now is Chili Davis (January 17). Chili is 18 for his last 39, with 4 homers and 18 (!) runs batted in. Davis leads the league in hits (74) and RBI (51), and is tied with Steve Balboni (January 16) for second in the league with 12 home runs.

* Max Carey (January 11) has stormed past Otis Nixon (January 9) to take the league lead in stolen bases. Carey now has 57 steals in 56 games, and is on pace for more than 150 SB. Nixon has 51 SB. If Carey and Nixon get out their binoculars, they can probably see Bill Dahlen (January 5) in third, way back there with 24 steals.

* League leaders in RC/27: Johnny Mize (January 7) 11.6, Hank Greenberg (January 1) 10.5, Giambi 10.2.

* It's been a rough ten days for Akinori Otsuka (January 13). Otsuka has allowed 17 baserunners and 12 earned runs in his last five innings. He does have a win and a save, though. So there's that.

* Schoolboy Rowe's (January 11) last two starts: 17 innings, 8 hits, 3 walks, 16 strikeouts, 2 runs, 2 wins.

* Tim Stoddard (January 24) still has the weirdest line of the year: 0-8, leading the league in losses, but 9/10 in save situations, allowing less than a hit per inning with a not-awful walk rate, and a 3.51 ERA.

* LaMarr Hoyt (January 1) has allowed three walks in 53 innings.

Stats, standings, leaders, and box scores here.

No, the *white* courtesy phone.

The birthday team should be OK if they get to supply their own umpires. I remember Tom Paciorek saying (over and over again) that Al Clark was the only man in baseball with his first name on his cap. Before that, Carlos May was the only player with his birthday on the back of his jersey.

Don't forget Bill Voiselle, the only player with his hometown on his back.

Don't forget Bill Voiselle, the only player with his hometown on his back.

Steve Phoenix would like a word with you.

Steve Phoenix would like a word with you.

An earlier dugout showed about 20 or so guys who shared a name with their hometown. Other than Phoenix, it looked like most were from hometowns that were so small there was no coincidence involved.

Mark Portugal was not, in fact, from Portugal.

Big mentions of BBTF on MLB's Hot Stove show at about 10:02 ET, concerning The 2013 Hall Of Fame Ballot Collecting Gizmo! Nice work Repoz and everybody.

Mark Parent had the place of his origin on his back.

somebody here (furtado?) knows the reds farmhand dan langfeld - anyway, ba named him the #10 prospect in their system...

Mark Parent had the place of his origin on his back.

Nice.

Astros are already making progress in the quest for 120 losses, as top prospect Jonathan Singleton has been suspended 50 games for smoking doobies. I thought only the PED suspensions could be that long.

I thought only the PED suspensions could be that long.

Jeremy Jeffress was suspended 100 games for his second pot offense.

Wally Post was from the town where Norm Cash went to high school. I only know about Post, TX because I drove through there (and through Justiceburg, Cash's birthplace) yesterday. Amazing part of West Texas: there is a serious mountain near Justiceburg; to look at it you'd think you were in Pennsylvania. Anyway, the high-school ballfield in Post is named after Cash, which spurred me to look this stuff up.