Excellent defensive outfield on the Birthday Team: two Gold Glovers and a guy (Reynolds) who was a solid defensive CF.

Good bullpen depth too - Dennys Reyes, Joe Beimel, and George Sherrill would all be on the 25-man roster as setup guys.

C: Joe Mauer
1B: Scotty Ingerton
2B: Alberto Callaspo
3B: Whitey Kurowski
SS: Spike Owen
LF: Jose Cruz Jr.
CF: Rick Miller
RF: R.J. Reynolds

SP/Manager: Bucky Walters
SP: Frank Viola
SP: Zach Duke
SP: Scott Kamieniecki
SP: Roy Mitchell
RP: John Wyatt

Occasional Primate: Mike Colbern
Sad story of which I was previously unaware: John LeRoy
Cool Names: Ambiorix Burgos, Chick Shorten

Bartolo Colon threw 38 consecutive strikes last night. Apparently, they've only tracked such things since 1988--but the previous record was 30.

Five dumb trivia questions, in honor of last night's Cain-Lee duel (and Colon's game, too):

1. Who holds the record for most career WAR without throwing a shutout (among starters)? Hint: He has an ERA title to his name.

2. Who holds that same record among retired players? Hint: He was traded for Juan Gonzalez but pitched only two games for his new team, those coming five years after the trade occurred.

3. Who holds the record for most WAR without ever throwing a complete game (again among starters)? Hint: He debuted with 4.1 perfect innings in relief, and then he got to start in his next game.

4. Who holds that same record among retired players? Hint: He was with the Expos when they made the move to Washington.

5. Who was the last pitcher to throw at least 10 games of 9+ IP in a single season? Hint: He's the only guy to do it since Randy Johnson in 1999.

In all of the WAR questions, I used the version that BR uses.

2. Who holds that same record among retired players? Hint: He was traded for Juan Gonzalez but pitched only two games for his new team, those coming five years after the trade occurred.

I know that one. Justin Thompson.

Yes.

Mayor Shanks, of Indianapolis, threw out a potato instead of a ball when he pitched the first one in the Indians’ opener with St. Paul.

Mayor Shanks, eh?

Last night the Jamie Moyer/Rafeal Palmeiro for Mitch Williams came up on the Red Sox pregame and I thought of this situation I occasionally think about. What are some trades when a team had two players about the same age/level for one position and the team traded the wrong player? I always think Konerko/Casey and Palmeiro/Grace (I assumed Konerko/Karros was similar, but Karros was older). The Rangers catcher situation of a few years ago could have qualified if any of them turned out well.

I always think Konerko/Casey and Palmeiro/Grace

The way I heard this one is the Cubs were pushing Grace but the Rangers insisted on Palmeiro.

Scott Cooper and Jeff Bagwell.

5. Who was the last pitcher to throw at least 10 games of 9+ IP in a single season? Hint: He's the only guy to do it since Randy Johnson in 1999.

it's gotta be Halladay, right?

it's gotta be Halladay, right?

Didn't James Shields have something like 12 CG last year? I would bet it is either him or CC in 2008.

it's gotta be Halladay, right?

Didn't James Shields have something like 12 CG last year? I would bet it is either him or CC in 2008.

yep, you're right--Shields had 11 CG's last year. Halladay has never had more than 9 (which surprises me)--though he's had exactly 9 four separate years

It indeed was Halladay, in 2009. Shields and Sabathia did both reach 10 CGs but not 10 games with 9 IP.

turns out Shield had two 8 IP "complete games" last year, while Doc had a 9 IP game in 2009 which was a ND for him (so I was right the first time)

Bobby Abreu or Richard Hidalgo

Ruben Sierra or Sammy Sosa?

Casey Hagerman [sic], last season with the Denver club and now with the Boston Americans

Doesn't look like they're related, but RIP Hagerman had one of the best pitching seasons in the early 20th century Cuban Winter Leagues of any US born player.

I'm going out of order today. The reason will become apparent shortly.

Game of the day (last year): Brewers 6, Phillies 3 (12). Ryan Howard gave the Phils an early lead with a first-inning RBI single; the Brewers rallied in the third with RBIs from Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun, and the 2-1 margin was maintained until the 7th, when Shane Victorino drove home the tying run. The Brewers promptly retook the lead in the 8th, with Braun scoring on Yuniesky Betancourt's groundout, but the Phillies rallied again off of John Axford in the 9th, with pinch hitter Pete Orr driving in Carlos Ruiz.

The 10th and 11th innings were mostly without incident; in the 12th, the Brewers scored 3 times, almost without the benefit of a hit. The sequence was as follows: Walk, ROE putting runners at the corners, sac fly, HBP, wild pitch, IBB, sac fly, IBB; that's two runs and the bases loaded without any hits. The only hit of the inning also produced the third out, as Jonathan Lucroy singled in the inning's third run and the runner from second was thrown out at home. The Phillies managed to get Ryan Howard to the plate as the tying run in the bottom of the inning, but he and Ben Francisco were retired to end the game.

Game of the day (yesterday): Tigers 4, Royals 3.

Huh?

It was a good game, by all means; the Tigers lead early, the Royals rallied on a 2-run homer by Alcides Escobar, of all people, the Tigers came back from a 2-run deficit and retook the lead in the 7th, and the Royals had two on with one out in both the 8th and 9th before hitting into double plays in both innings. But you'd think this game would be the game of the day in just about anyone's opinion, right?

Here's the thing... the method I'm using really doesn't care for outstanding pitching performances (especially one-sided ones - Roy Halladay's playoff no-hitter grades out terribly, because the Phillies took a healthy lead early, and the Reds obviously never mounted a rally). The games that grade out the best aren't necessarily high-scoring (although they often are - Tigers 13, Red Sox 12 is still the game of the year so far), but they typically involve lead changes or at least threats of lead changes. And much as I enjoyed listening to the last several innings of Lee and Cain on Gameday Audio, the game featured a total of 6 runners in scoring position in 11 innings. Tigers-Royals had 14, and that's not counting the runners who scored without ever being in scoring position. That doesn't necessarily make it a better game, but it does give it (somewhat) larger swings in win expectancy, which is what I'm measuring.

All that being said, Giants-Phillies still grades out well - it's roughly 80th percentile for the year so far, and ranks as the second-best game yesterday, not terribly far behind Tigers-Royals. After all, it was 11 innings, and wasn't totally bereft of rallies - first and third, no outs in the 1st; first and second, one out in the 5th; third with one out in the top of the 11th; and first and second, one out in the bottom of the 11th (this one obviously leading to the winning run). It's a fine, fine game, and I'd be inclined to give it bonus points for featuring a start of more than 9 innings and call it the champ of the day. But I'm also going to report what the system says before putting my own spin on it.