Two HoF starting pitchers and a legendary hitting coach on today's Birthday Team. Paul Lo Duca slides over to first because there aren't any real first basemen today.

C: Mike Macfarlane
1B: Paul Lo Duca
2B: Charlie Pick
3B: Eric McNair
SS: Terry Harmon
LF: Brennan Boesch
CF: Buster Hoover
RF: Walt Moryn

SP: Addie Joss
SP: Vic Willis
SP: Johnny Antonelli
SP: Woodie Fryman
SP: Bill Wight
RP: Vicente Romo

Hitting coach: Charlie Lau

I fired Designated SItter back up this week. Not sure how long I can keep it up, but I've been getting up early and doing a little writing.

And it all started with a harmless little game of baseball started by a few students of Valparaiso university.

My alma mater! Good times, good times.

For fun, I've spent the last few years creating player won-lost records based on Retrosheet play-by-play data. I built a website for them here if anybody's interested.

During the Rockies game last night, they showed bits of a little "getting to know you" interview with Michael Cuddyer, who is apparently the whitest person on the planet:

What's on your iPod? Mostly country.
What's your favorite movie? "The Shawshank Redemption."
What's your favorite TV show? "Survivor."
What do you like to do to get away from the game? Spend time with my family.

Cuddyer should do commercials for Coors Light as the Least Interesting Man in the World.

I bet he thinks Jennifer Aniston is the most beautiful woman on the planet.

I forgot Street Sports existed. I loved that series.

the phillies' team leader in RBIs, freddy galvis, currently has a .118 batting average. he has 2 hits--both 2-run doubles.

the phillies' team leader in RBIs, freddy galvis, currently has a .118 batting average. he has 2 hits--both 2-run doubles.

He's clutch.

Michael Cuddyer, who is apparently the whitest person on the planet:

If his favorite lunch is American chees with mayo on white bread, then put him in a museum!

(nod to Martin Mull)

It amuses me to no end that MLB.com's Gameday measures a "nasty factor" for Jamie Moyer's pitches.

Dan, in negative numbers?

He was lighting up the Nasty Factor charts - got it up into the high 50s at times. Coincidentally, that's also his age and fastball speed.

So, I'm going to try something for a while... last year during the postseason, I decided to try measuring the excitement of baseball games. I now have a database of every postseason game ever (thanks, B-R!), and am going to add this year's games to the list as they occur. But I'm also going through each day and adding last year's games from the day before, and that'll also let me do this:

Game of the day from April 11, 2011: Rockies 7, Mets 6. The Rockies trailed 1-0, 2-1, and 4-2, rallying to tie each time; they finally took a 7-4 lead in the 8th, but the Mets closed to within a run and had the tying run on first before the first out was recorded in the bottom of the inning. The Rockies' bullpen settled down from there, putting away the last 6 Mets and leaving David Wright on deck to end the game. Tulowitzki was the hitting star for the Rockies, going 2/4 with 3 RBI and a 2-run homer in the 8th that provided the eventual margin of victory.

Honorable mention: Mariners 8, Blue Jays 7. Seattle rallies from 7 down with a 1-5-2 in innings 7, 8, and 9; Luis Rodriguez ends it with a 2-run single in the bottom of the 9th after a well-timed steal put Ichiro in scoring position. The method I'm using prefers multiple rallies to one huge one, which is how this one loses out to Rockies-Mets.

Also, since I'm starting this too late to cover every day of the season, I'll throw in a couple of bonus games, which have the distinction of being the two most volatile games I've encountered so far:

Runner-up: April 9, Angels 6, Blue Jays 5. The score went from 1-0 to 2-1 to 4-2 to 5-4 to 5-5 within the first 4 innings... and then nobody scored for the next 9. The teams combined to leave 4 runners in scoring position in the last 5 innings of regulation. The Blue Jays had runners on first and second with one out in the 10th and didn't score; the Angels returned the favor after putting runners on second and third with nobody out in the 11th, leaving the bases loaded. The Jays left two more on in the 13th; the Angels did the same, with the special distinction of a fly ball DP ruining a first-and-third, nobody out situation... with the trailing runner (Torii Hunter) being the man doubled off. The Angels finally ended it in the 14th when Maicer Izturis drove in Peter Bourjos with a two-out single.

Winner (so far): April 3, Royals 12, Angels 9. The Royals score 5 runs in the first two innings, leaving the Angels fighting from behind for a while; they finally took a 7-6 lead in the 7th on a 2-run homer from Bobby Abreu. The Royals tied it in the bottom of the inning, but the Angels scored single runs in the 8th and 9th to pull back ahead. Then... Fernando Rodney happened. He walked the bases loaded with one out, then gave up a game-tying double to Wilson Betemit. After another walk re-loaded the bases, Rodney escaped with a pair of groundouts.

The extra innings were fairly perfunctory after that - just six combined runners stranded in the 10th and 11th and a game-extending play at the plate in the bottom of the 13th one batter before Matt Treanor's walkoff 3-run homer.

Is Brian Wilson hurt? Gameday had just 6 of his 32 pitches at 90 or above. There was also one of those injury stoppages when Bochy et al came out of the dugout to watch him throw.

So, I'm going to try something for a while... last year during the postseason, I decided to try measuring the excitement of baseball games. I now have a database of every postseason game ever (thanks, B-R!), and am going to add this year's games to the list as they occur. But I'm also going through each day and adding last year's games from the day before, and that'll also let me do this:

Uncanny. I'm doing the exact same thing. It's the same system I debuted at THT last year, with a few minor tweaks (I'm downplaying extra innings, and it's impossible to get points as an elimination game because there's no such thing).

Best game of the year so far, by my system: April 8, 2012: Tigers 13, Red Sox 12 (11)
Best NL game: April 8, 2012: Reds 6, Marlins 5.

86 games accounted for - ten of which score zero points.

Best game of the year so far, by my system: April 8, 2012: Tigers 13, Red Sox 12 (11)

Ditto - it edges out the Jays-Indians 16-inning Opening Day marathon.

Best NL game: April 8, 2012: Reds 6, Marlins 5.

I've got Pirates 5, Phillies 4 from the same day. But the 7 best games of the year so far on my list are all from the AL.

How did today's Twins-Angels game rank?

How did today's Twins-Angels game rank?

Should do pretty well. I use B-R's WPA numbers, which won't be available until tomorrow, but running it based on the Fangraphs data (usually pretty similar) it comes out around the bottom of the top 10 so far this year.