Also in the news 100 years ago, from the Pittsburgh Press:

Eugene Steinbrenner is to stay with the Phillies throughout the season. President Fogel believes he has picked a coming star in the Pittsburg youth.
...

Steinbrenner's father wished his son to continue his scholastic work, but after talking matters over with the Phillies' president, decided to let his son join the team. Eugene packed his woolen socks and red tie in his telescope and started for Philadelphia, where, upon arrival, he presented himself at the office of the club with the announcement, "I'm the new second sacker of the Phillies." Steiny was signed, and without any spring training he jumped in the game the day Knabe was out and...hit the great Mathewson for an average of .500.

Steinbrenner's major league career ended the next day, on May 11, 1912.

He wasn't really much of a ballplayer. Steinbrenner spent 1913-1915 with Norfolk in the Class C Virginia League, hitting .216 with no power. He spent most of 1916 with Hopewell of the Virginia League, hitting .191, before dropping off the radar.

But he'll always have those two major league hits, both against Christy Mathewson.

Not a ton of talent on the Birthday Team, though Ranew brings some Ball Four flavor.

C: Merritt Ranew
1B: Klondike Douglass
2B: Robby Thompson
3B: Bobby Smith
SS: Chippy McGarr
LF: Ken Berry
CF: Bill Davidson
RF: Jim Hickman

SP: Pete Schourek
SP: Ted Blankenship
SP: Russ Bauers
SP: John Cumberland
SP: John Cummings
RP: Edward Mujica

GM: Ed Barrow
Owner: John McMullen
Whale: Joey Meyer
Maybe should've pursued football instead: Matt Tuiasosopo
Will not appear on team broadcasts in any way, shape, or form: Chris Berman

Chippy McGarr is a great great name. Klondike Douglass is not bad either. That is all.

Red Sox release RHP John Maine from their minor leagues.

The first three Orioles to face Colby Lewis today took him deep. Is that a record?

Jones followed it up with a warning track flyout.

Blue Jays sign Vlad Guerrero

The first three Orioles to face Colby Lewis today took him deep. Is that a record?

The Padres did that to someone back in the 80s.

The first three Orioles to face Colby Lewis today took him deep. Is that a record?

Checks fantasy baseball roster...

...yup! He's in my lineup for this week.

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU

Game of the day (yesterday): Marlins 5, Astros 3 (12). Sometimes, the extra-inning game wins just because it's an extra-inning game. This... not really one of those times.

Things started with a bang, at least of some kind, in the top of the first, when the Marlins not only scored but also loaded the bases after scoring without a hit. Jose Reyes walked, took second on a groundout, and scored on a Hanley Ramirez ROE. Two more walks loaded the sacks again before Lucas Harrell finally escaped the inning. Houston countered in only slightly more mundane fashion in the bottom of the inning, as Jordan Schafer led off with a double, and then took third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error that resulted from the wild pitch. The Astros took their first lead on the game's first conventional run, a Chris Johnson home run in the second; Miami followed up by pushing home a pair of runs on four singles in the top of the fourth. From that point on, neither team had multiple runners on base simultaneously until the Houston ninth. Down 3-2, Carlos Lee started the rally with a one-out triple. After a strikeout pushed the 'Stros to the brink and a walk put the winning run on base, Brian Bogusevic knocked in the tying run with a single. Houston went on to strand both of the remaining runners, sending the game to extras.

The Marlins put their first two runners on in the tenth, but the next three hitters went down in order. Houston got a one-out single from Schafer, but he was caught stealing during the next plate appearances. Miami again had a pair of runners reach in the eleventh before back-to-back flyouts ended the inning; Houston's leadoff man reached in the bottom half, but never advanced past first. Finally, in the twelfth, the Marlins broke through. Logan Morrison and Giancarlo Stanton started off with a single and a walk. Greg Dobbs hit into a force, taking Stanton off the bases; a strikeout and a walk later, they were full for Omar Infante, who came through with a 2-run single. Ryan Webb retired the Astros in order in the bottom of the inning to end it.

The game reads like a good one, but not a spectacular one - but it grades out at 6.02, which actually is pretty spectacular (#7 on the year so far). It benefits from going 12 innings, from the elaborate nature of the two main rallies (the key run reaching scoring position early and staying there for a while before coming in), and from the fact that each half of the extra innings (until the bottom of the 12th) had at least one, and often more than one, runner reach base with less than 2 outs.

Game of the day (last year): Red Sox 2, Twins 1 (11). The teams traded medium-grade rallies early on; through the top of the fifth, no runners had reached third, but five separate ones had reached second. In the bottom of the fifth, Jason Varitek led off with a double and scored on a two-out single by Adrian Gonzalez, giving Boston the lead. The Twins countered in the top of the eighth, with Denard Span singling with one out, taking second on a balk, and scoring on a hit from Jason Kubel. The game went to extras from there. In the top of the tenth, Minnesota put two runners on with one out before Matt Tolbert and Alexi Casilla came to the plate with predictable results (strikeout and forceout, respectively). In the bottom, the Sox picked up a one-out double from Dustin Pedroia, which developed into second and third with two outs before David Ortiz ended the inning on a groundout. The Twins tried again in the eleventh, once more putting two on with one out, and this time moving them to second and third with two away before Hideki Okajima escaped the jam for the second consecutive inning. Boston finally took it home in the bottom half, with Carl Crawford ending things on a one-out RBI double.

Less twisty in regulation than yesterday's effort, and an inning shorter, but the extra innings and the rallies contained therein get us up to a 4.82, which is quite nice.

Side note: In case you were wondering, team excitement doesn't seem to be strongly correlated year-to-year. In particular, the two most exciting teams of 2011 through 5/9 were the Angels and Cardinals. The two most boring teams of 2012 to date: Cardinals and Angels.

The orioles-rangers game was really odd. Lewis struck out 12, walked 1, and gave up only 5 hits in 7 innings, but all 5 hits were HRs. The first 3 batters all hit HRs, but then he retired something like 20 straight batters before giving up another HR.

And then the rangers almost won it in the 9th by hitting a 3 run HR off of Jim Johnson, who hadn't given up a run all year IIRC.