Get your track shoes ready - today's Birthday Team is going to be pretty easy to run on. As you probably know, Trent Hubbard is not a catcher, but he's the only player in MLB history born on May 11 to appear behind the plate.

C: Trent Hubbard
1B: Dane Iorg
2B: Charlie Gehringer
3B: Jim Connor
SS: Johnny Gerlach
LF: Daniel Ortmeier
CF: Jerry Martin
RF: Gene Hermanski

SP: Milt Pappas
SP: Rip Sewell
SP: Walt Terrell
SP: Bobby Witt
SP: Monty Kennedy
RP: Francisco Cordero

Umpire: Nestor Chylak
Manager: Frank Quilici
Designated Australian: Cameron Cairncross
Historically Significant: Bill Bean

today's Birthday Team is going to be pretty easy to run on. As you probably know, Trent Hubbard is not a catcher

Depends on how good the pitching staff's pickoff moves are. It's a good excuse to mention my favorite major-league game ever. The Orioles managed to score two runs in the bottom of the 9th to tie the score, but, through various pinch-hitting shenanigans, had to start the 10th inning with half of their LF platoon, John Lowenstein, at 2B; the other half of that platoon, Gary Roenicke, at 3B; and utility infielder Lenn Sakata (who had scored the tying run in the 9th) behind the plate for his only major-league appearance at catcher. The Blue Jays were so excited to run on Sakata that Tippy Martinez was able to pick off the side in the top of the 10th. And then, of course, Lenn Sakata ended the game in the bottom of the 10th with a 2-out, 3-run walkoff home run. Just another day at the office.

Game of the day (yesterday): Nationals 4, Pirates 2. Man, what a boring day - worst day to have multiple games so far this year, and by a lot. This one wins the day despite being worse than the average Nats game so far by quite a decent margin.

The teams traded occasional baserunners early, but the few that didn't get doubled up or caught stealing were stranded. That changed in the bottom of the fourth, when Jose Tabata broke Stephen Strasburg's 7-strikeout streak with a single, advanced on a sac bunt, and scored on a hit by Andrew McCutchen, who took second on a throwing error and later came home on a single by Neil Walker. Washington countered in the sixth, taking the lead on a home run-walk-home run sandwich, the taters coming courtesy of Roger Bernadina and Adam LaRoche. Pittsburgh loaded the bases on three consecutive 2-out walks in the sixth before Garret Jones became Strasburg's 13th and final strikeout victim to end the inning. The Nats added a Rick Ankiel solo shot in the ninth for insurance, and the game ended with the tying run at the plate in the fairly unimposing person of Casey McGehee.

By baseball game standards, that's not bad, slightly above the median at 2.73. By best game of the day standards, it's pretty grim. Too bad yesterday couldn't borrow a game from 5/10/11, which has four separate games that beat it by at least a point and a half... including this one:

Orioles 7, Mariners 6 (13). Coming into this game, the Orioles had been the most boring team of 2011. After? Not quite so much.

Baltimore posted a mild effort in the first, with a pair of singles putting runners on the corners with two outs, but the scoring opened in the top of the second when Seattle's Adam Kennedy hit a 2-run homer. The Orioles responded in the third with a solo shot from JJ Hardy, but still trailed by a run. The Mariners had opportunities to extend their lead, putting runners at first and third in the fourth and getting a 2-out double in the fifth, but failed to score both times, and ceded the advantage when a pair of 2-out singles set up Adam Jones to hit a go-ahead 2-run double in the bottom of the sixth. Jones would end the inning on third, and the Mariners would take just as much advantage of that fact as Baltimore had before. The top of the seventh saw 2-out singles from Michael Saunders and Ichiro (his was a bunt), bringing up Chone Figgins, who doubled Saunders home. An intentional walk later, Miguel Olivo broke the tie with an RBI infield single, putting Seattle back in front 4-3 and keeping the bases loaded, which is how they were left one batter later.

Baltimore responded yet again in the bottom of the eighth, this time deciding not to wait until the second out. Derrek Lee, who I'd kind of forgotten was an Oriole, led off with a walk, and Vlad Guerrero, Luke Scott, and Jones hit three consecutive singles, reclaiming the lead at 5-4. As usual, the rally ended promptly after the lead changed hands, this time with a foulout and a double play. And as usual, the other team came back quickly. Saunders led off the top of the ninth with a single, moved up one base on each of two groundouts, and scored on a hit by Justin Smoak. Baltimore picked up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the inning, but after a sac bunt moved the runner to second, he advanced no further.

The first two extra innings weren't exactly calm, but they were calmer. Baltimore had a one-out double by Jones in the tenth and a leadoff walk from Hardy followed by a sac bunt in the eleventh, but didn't score; the Mariners, meanwhile, went down in order in both innings. Figgins led off the Seattle twelfth with a single, but was quickly erased on Smoak's double play ball, rendering the ensuing walk moot. Baltimore picked up a leadoff double from Felix Pie in the bottom of the inning, followed by an IBB to Jones (with no outs!) that worked out when the O's left the bases loaded.

The scoring drought ended quickly in the top of the thirteenth, when Seattle's Wilsons (Jack and Mike) doubled and singled, respectively, to give the M's a 6-5 lead. Mike Wilson would advance as far as third base before being stranded to end the inning, and as was the general rule during the game, the Orioles capitalized. Nick Markakis singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, and one out later, Jake Fox picked up a hit as well. Next up was Felix Pie, who singled to the the game and move Fox to third. Seattle then pitched to Adam Jones, whose grounder to short resulted in Fox being thrown out at home, but Matt Wieters came up next and lived up to his reputation, ending the game with an RBI single.

There were six distinct leads in the game (2-0, 3-2, 4-3, 5-4, 6-5, 7-6). That's an enormous number. Most of the lead changes were late. Many innings, both scoring and otherwise, ended with runners on base (the teams stranded 27 runners between them, and had 32 AB with runners in scoring position). All that adds up to a legitimately classic game, grading out at 8.27, the third-best game of 2011 so far and fourth-best in the database overall.

Slightly weird AAA line: Durham SS Shawn O'Malley went 1-for-5 with no walks and five steals against Cervelli tonight (reached on a force, stole second, third, and home; singled to short, stole second,stole third, scored on a single to short (in the 10th, no less, for what proved to be the winning run).
He's a fast guy, but not that fast.

#2 - Interestingly enough, that was my least favorite game ever. Well, either that or game 7 of the 1985 ALCS.

Games of the day:

5/11/11 and 5/11/12 were both pretty fantastic days of baseball. Between them, they had 7 games with scores above 4 (and a few others that didn't miss by much), and 3 above 6, which is really, really high. 5/11/11 featured the best 9-inning game in either season so far (Tigers 9, Twins 7), but it also had three games that went more than 9, and one of them beats that one:

Royals 4, Yankees 3 (11). Both teams squandered promising early opportunities; the Yanks put two on with one out in the first, and KC matched them in the second. New York broke through in the bottom of that inning, putting together three consecutive singles, the third of which came off the bat of Jorge Posada and drove in the game's first run. With no outs, two on, and a run in, they immediately went flyout/flyout/strikeout. The Royals put the leadoff man on in the third, courtesy of an error by AJ Burnett, but couldn't advance the runner, and the New Yorkers extended their edge in the bottom of the inning with a Curtis Granderson home run. They would go on to load the bases on a pair of walks and an infield hit, but the inning ended with the score still 2-0. (For those scoring at home, that's 8 runners left on base through 3 innings between the two teams, plus one removed on an inning-ending DP and one more on a CS.)

Rookie Eric Hosmer led off the Kansas City fourth with his first career home run, the first hit Burnett had allowed. The Yankees put their leadoff man on as well with an infield single, but Brett Gardner was promptly caught stealing. In the fifth, the teams combined for three two-out baserunners on a pair of walks and an HBP, but no hits, ergo no runs. The sixth saw yet another walk from Burnett, followed by a hit batsman, followed by the Royals again stranding both runners; the Yankees duplicated this feat after starting their half of the frame with a pair of singles. (For those scoring at home - or at work, for that matter - that's 7 LOB plus a CS in those three innings; so far we're at 15 LOB for the game, plus three extra squandered runners. 3 total runs so far, 2 on solo homers.)

Burnett finally worked another 1-2-3 inning in the seventh (and would leave the game having allowed only one hit, the Hosmer HR, but 5 walks, one HBP, and one ROE on his own error). The Royals, feeling that this made the game too boring, decided to load the bases with Yankees in the bottom of the inning before escaping. In the Kansas City eighth, David Robertson gave up a pair of walks (it was like Burnett never left) before yielding a game-tying two-out single to Wilson Betemit; naturally, the Royals still left two runners on. New York had one runner reach in the eighth before a DP ended the inning, and two in the ninth before a Posada strikeout sent the game to extras. (Scoring at wherever you are: 7 more LOB, one more removed runner. That's 22 and 4 total, solidly more than one per half inning.)

Mariano Rivera had worked a predictably brief ninth against the Royals, but was lifted before the tenth, so of course we're starting up again. Walk/forceout/wild pitch/strikeout put a runner at second with two away. Jeff Francoeur doubled the runner home; Betemit was intentionally walked, which Matt Treanor should probably take as an insult. One wild pitch later, Treanor ended the inning by striking out, naturally leaving two more runners on. In the Yankees' tenth, Russell Martin walked, advanced in orderly fashion on a sac bunt and a groundout, and scored the re-tying run on Granderson's single. The KC eleventh saw a leadoff walk, a sac bunt, an infield single, a steal from the trail runner, and an IBB to load the bases with one out. Hosmer then re-broke the tie with a sac fly, and the Royals of course stranded the other two runners at second and third. Amazingly, the Yankees went 1-2-3 to end the game.

Final totals: KC with 4 runs on 4 hits and 11 walks (and an HBP, 2 wild pitches, and an ROE), 12 runners left on, 3/13 with RISP. New York 3 runs on 12 hits and 8 walks (and an HBP), 15 runners left on, 2/15 with RISP. And for the game as a whole, 6.16, #9 of the 2011 season to date.

Excellent as that is, 5/11/12 produced not one, but two better games. One was Braves 9, Cardinals 7 (12), in which Carlos Beltran produced .899 WPA, and failed to hit for the cycle only because he replaced the single with a second homer, and his team still lost. That one gets a 6.22, #8 in 2012 so far. But the winner, by quite a bit, is:

Brewers 8, Cubs 7 (13).

This one actually starts fairly slow. The Brewers scored in the bottom of the first; they loaded the bases with nobody out, and Aramis Ramirez hit into a double play to bring in one run. After that, the game was scoreless until the seventh (though not for lack of opportunites; the Cubs put a total of four runners in scoring position in three separate innings, and the Crew left the bases loaded in the fifth and runners on second and third in the sixth).

Then... there was the seventh. After a groundout to start the top of the inning, Darwin Barney tripled, putting the tying run 90 feet away. The next two hitters were plunked and walked, respectively, brining pinch hitter David DeJesus to the plate. On the first pitch, he launched a grand slam, his first home run of the year, giving the Cubs a 4-1 lead. In the bottom of the inning, Carlos Marmol recorded two quick outs before giving up a walk and an RBI double to Ramirez. He was relieved by Michael Bowden, who allowed Milwaukee to load the bases on a single and a walk, then gave up a base-clearing double to Jonathan Lucroy, who was thrown out trying to take third. Still, the damage was done as the Brewers reclaimed the lead. The eighth passed relatively placidly - both teams put a runner on, and one reached scoring position but didn't advance from there.

Then... there was the ninth. Ian Stewart led off by reaching on an error, moved to second on a one-out wild pitch from John Axford (who apparently had a 49-save streak coming into the game), and scored on DeJesus's triple to tie the game. DeJesus himself scored on the second wild pitch of the inning, which was also strike 3 to Starlin Castro, who scampered to first, then stole second and scored on a two-out single by Alfonso Soriano. Newly minted closer Rafael Dolis started the bottom of the ninth by getting Ryan Braun to fly out - but then quickly walked Ramirez and served up a game-tying homer to Corey Hart.

In the span of three innings, the Cubs had turned a one-run deficit into a 3-run lead and back, follwed by a 2-run lead, followed by a tie. OF COURSE the game was going to extras.

The tenth: Wellington Castillo leads off with a double, and the Cubs dither around: Walk, attempted sac bunt/force at third, force at second, strikeout to end the inning. The Brewers pick up a leadoff walk and a successful sac bunt, which is then wasted when the lead runner gets himself tagged out at third.

The eleventh: Castro walks and is caught stealing second; the Brewers get a pair of walks, but pinch hitter (!) Zack Greinke hits into an inning-ending double play.

The twelfth: Castillo singles with one out and moves up on a groundout, but is left at second. Lucroy leads off with a walk and doesn't advance.

The thirteenth: Reed Johnson singles. DeJesus pops up a bunt. Castro grounds out, moving the runner up, but an IBB later, Soriano strikes out looking, which is at least a change of pace. The bottom of the inning is a monotonic march to Milwaukee victory, with a pair of HBPs followed by a pair of singles.

The teams combined to strand 28 runners and went 7/29 with runners in scoring position; despite that, they also scored 15 runs, and had two exceptionally wild innings in the seventh and ninth. The game grades out at 8.22, #2 for the year to date; had the Brewers made a couple of outs between loading the bases and walking off in the thirteenth, it would have taken the #1 spot with ease.

Well, after Friday's awesomeness, yesterday was a bit of a comedown. Still, it produced a couple of solid games, and this one, which was slightly (although not a lot) better than solid:

Padres 2, Phillies 1. Both teams got a runner in scoring position in the first, but neither could bring him in. In the bottom of the second, John Mayberry Jr. and Freddy Galvis hit back-to-back doubles to put the Phillies on the board. San Diego tied them in similar fashion in the third, with Jason Bartlett and Will Venable hitting two-baggers separated only by a strikeout by pitcher Edinson Volquez. The teams put occasional runners on from there, highlighted by Philly loading the bases in the fifth, but Volquez and Roy Halladay kept escaping the jams until the top of the seventh. Cameron Maybin led off with a double, moved to third on a single by John Baker, and scored on a sac fly from pinch hitter Jesus Guzman. With Volquez out of the game, the Phillies loaded the bases on an infield single from Juan Pierre, a two-base error on a bunt by Jimmy Rollins, and after a grounder back to the mound with the runners holding, an intentional walk. San Diego escaped, however, getting a popout and a forceout. The Phils put the tying run on again in the eighth and ninth, the second time getting it to third with two outs before the game ended.

Not a spectacular game, but a solid one - 3.77, 83rd percentile.

Last year's May 12 had only 7 games, but still managed to produce a better one than this year's full slate:

Orioles 2, Mariners 1 (12). Usually, I start these recaps by saying who opened the scoring. In this case, that would skip almost the entire game. So let's start with the first serious rally, which was a pair of one-out singles from Adam Jones and Matt Wieters in the bottom of the second. Seattle's Jason Vargas escaped that jam with a double play ball. Vargas and Baltimore's Zach Britton traded shutout innings for the first nine, allowing the occasional runner to reach but rarely allowing them past first (the O's had a couple reach second, in the sixth on a single and a passed ball and in the eighth on a walk and sac bunt; the M's didn't have a single runner reach scoring position in regulation.)

The bullpens took over to start the tenth, and Seattle breathed a sigh of relief, quickly drawing a pair of walks (one of them intentional after a sac bunt) from Kevin Gregg before a GIDP ended the inning. In the twelfth, they tried again, this time more successfully. Ichiro reached on an infield single to lead off the inning, advanced one base on each of two groundouts, and scored on a hit by Miguel Olivo. With the first run of the game having scored and closer Brandon League coming in, the game had to feel like it was about over.

It was. Baltimore loaded the bases on a single and a pair of hit batters, then after making the first out on a line drive, went home victorious thanks to a two-run single from JJ Hardy.

After 7 total plate appearances with RISP in the first eleven innings, the twelfth had 5 such PA on its own. Overall, the game scores a healthy 4.82, and I'll hear arguments for bonus points based on the two relatively obscure starters trading zeroes for a full nine.