A Hall of Fame center fielder, an MVP right fielder, baseballing legend Matt Wieters, a future HOF manager, and a pretty darned good first baseman. Good Birthday Team, though the pitching is a tad suspect.

Just...whatever you do, KEEP EDDIE MILNER AWAY FROM JOSH HAMILTON.

C: Matt Wieters
1B: Kent Hrbek
2B: Fred Dunlap
3B/Manager: Bobby Cox
SS: Eddie Grant
LF: Eddie Milner
CF: Earl Averill
RF: Josh Hamilton

SP: Doc Ayers
SP: Barry Latman
SP: Monty Stratton
SP: Hank Johnson
SP: Bunny Hearn
RP: Mace Brown

Also of note, Fred Dunlap has the most horrific cause of death that I've ever seen listed for a baseball player.

Checking out Eddie Milner's resume (cocaine) his Wiki page also listed this which may be the oddest MLB "record" I've seen yet.

On August 2, 1986, Milner collected his team's only hit in a game for fifth time, tying César Tovar's MLB record (1975).[citation needed]

Had a dream last night that I'd been traded to the Red Sox.

I can't hit, I've got the footspeed of Cecil Fielder with a pulled hammy, and I don't have much range. But if a ball is hit or thrown right at me, I'll catch it.

Now the question is, who traded you and what did they get back? How are we going to rate this trade if we don't have details, man?

I had just been reading Ball Four before I went to bed so my guess is the Pilots traded me for Dooley Womack, though I don't think I ever heard.

Only detail I remember is getting hopelessly lost trying to figure out where to go in order to report to my new team. Kept walking down an endless labyrinth of hallways - eventually asked somebody and got directions, though my alarm went off before I found the right room.

Sounds like you got traded for Maxwell Smart.

LF: Eddie Milner

EGO ALERT: My great-uncle, also named Eddie Milner, captained the Annapolis baseball team around the time of WWI and later coached it with Chief Bender.

I can't hit, I've got the footspeed of Cecil Fielder with a pulled hammy, and I don't have much range. But if a ball is hit or thrown right at me, I'll catch it.

Wow, who knew that Marlon Byrd posted here?

Also of note, Fred Dunlap has the most horrific cause of death that I've ever seen listed for a baseball player.

Yeah, that's gonna stick in the ol' memory banks.

Yeah, that's gonna stick in the ol' memory banks.

Rectum?

Damn thing killed him.

Up at THT: Default hero about the popularity of Kerry Wood with Cub fans.

Another notes that today is the 20th anniversary of an Angels bus crash. No one died, but manager Buck Rogers missed three months recovering from an injured knee and a badly broken elbow.

Checking out Eddie Milner's resume (cocaine) his Wiki page also listed this which may be the oddest MLB "record" I've seen yet.

On August 2, 1986, Milner collected his team's only hit in a game for fifth time, tying César Tovar's MLB record (1975).[citation needed]

They need a citation? I got a whole article up about that

Pre-GotD rant: It's much easier to be confident in your choice when the site you're using actually posts boxscores for all of the games you're picking from. B-R is missing three of them this morning. Two of them were NL wins in interleague play, which makes the "track the AL's domination in interleague" blog post just a bit more obnoxious, since they're actually 24-18 (with arguably the two best teams in the NL not having played interleague yet) rather than 23-16. Anyway, yesterday's choice is pretty obvious regardless, since all three of the missing games were 9 innings and there's a game that gets a higher score than any 9-inning game in the database.

Padres 3, Angels 2 (13). LA's Mike Trout led off the top of the first with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout... and scored on a two-out double by Mark Trumbo, on which he probably would have scored from first. (To be fair, the steal might have kept him out of a DP on the groundout.) In the bottom of the inning, San Diego loaded the bases with one out on two singles and a walk before Ervin Santana escaped on back-to-back strikeouts. Top of the second, the Angels put a runner on third with two outs; in the bottom, San Diego left two on. Both teams also stranded runners in scoring position in the third, but the actual scoring didn't resume until the fifth, when Trout hit his fourth homer of the year. (Side note: Trout has basically exactly as much playing time as Bryce Harper so far, and is blowing him out of the water in every way possible -.355/.420/.605 to .244/.333/.449, plus 6/1 SB/CS to 1/2. But since he's 20, not 19, apparently this isn't quite as newsworthy. I say this as someone who likes Harper quite a bit.)

Moving on, in the bottom of the fifth, the Padres started off with an HBP and a single, and one out later, Yonder Alosno doubled both runners home. A walk, a forceout, and a steal put runners at second and third with two away before Santana escaped again, maintaining the tie score. The threats during the remainder of regulation were somewhat less serious than they'd been earlier in the game - the Angels put a runner at second with one out in the seventh, and again in the ninth, the latter of those runners also advancing to third on the second out of the inning; the Padres also put a runner at third with two away in the ninth. But the real fun started up again in the tenth, when Trout led off with an infield single, stole second with one out, and saw the bases load behind him on a pair of walks before Brad Branch maneuvered out of the inning on a strikeout and a forceout. The Padres picked up a two-out double in the tenth, the Angels a one-out single and sac bunt in the eleventh(inexcusable, sac bunting with a position player with one out, especially because it set up an obvious IBB to Trout). San Diego turned up the heat a bit with a leadoff double from John Baker in the bottom of the eleventh, moved him to third with one out, but didn't score. The twelfth saw only one baserunner, noted speedster Nick Hundley, who ended the Padres half of the inning by getting caught stealing.

By the thirteenth, both teams were out of pinch hitters. The Angels sent Dan Haren to the plate to lead off the inning; he struck out. With two outs in the bottom half, Clayton Richard stepped in for the Padres... and singled. Will Venable was up next, and he also singled - and then out-of-position left fielder Howie Kendrick botches the play to pick it up, and Richard scored from first to end the game. I'm pretty neutral on the DH, but I do find this sort of thing to be quite a bit of fun.

Anyway, it's a long game, close throughout, the teams combined to strand 26 runners and had 27 AB with runners in scoring position... yeah, it's a good one. 6.39, #9 on the year so far and easily the best of the first set of interleague games.

Game of the day (last year): Brewers 7, Rockies 6 (14). The Brewers opened the scoring in the bottom of the first on a Rickie Weeks double and a pair of groundouts, one of which was on purpose. They loaded the bases with two out in the second, but couldn't extend their lead; that allowed Colorado to take it from them in the third on a two-run homer by starting pitcher Jason Hammel, who currently has one career home run, including this one. Milwaukee countered in the fourth on a single, a groundout, and a two-base ROE, with Jose Lopez committing the error. Colorado retook the lead in the fifth when Ty Wigginton doubled and Chris Iannetta singled him in, then extended it in the sixth on a solo homer from Jason Giambi. The Brewers chipped away in the bottom of the sixth; Mike Rivera singled, Carlos Gomez hit into a forceout but then stole second, and Jonathan Lucroy singled him in to cut the deficit to 4-3.

The score stayed the same through the top of the eighth; after their 2-3-4 hitters went down in order that inning, the Rockies made a genuinely bizarre series of moves. They changed pitchers, moved Ty Wigginton from left to first, pulled Troy Tulowitzki and Jason Giambi, put Ryan Spilborghs in left and Alfredo Amezaga at short. In all of this, despite the fact that Tulo and Giambi had just batted, they didn't perform a double-switch, so the pitcher's spot was still #9. There's also no apparent reason to pull Tulowitzki; if he was hurt, it can't have been too badly, because he played the next day, and there's no way Alfredo Amezaga is a better shortstop than he is.

Anyway, all of that maneuvering didn't keep Casey McGehee from tying the game with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth. The game went to extras tied at 4, and neither team put a runner in scoring position in innings 9-12. In the thirteenth, Amezaga doubled, and Seth Smith tripled him home, giving Colorado a one-run lead; in the bottom of the inning, Yuniesky Betancourt homered to re-tie the game, and Milwaukee put the winning run at third with two out before stranding it there. In the fourteenth, Wigginton singled, and Iannetta reached on an error; this brought the pitcher's spot up. Pinch hitter (slash starting pitcher) Jhoulys Chacin botched the sac bunt attempt, allowing the Brewers to force the lead runner; this became an issue when Dexter Fowler's ensuing single scored only one run, and the next two hitters made outs. The issue was magnified when, in the bottom of the inning, Ryan Braun drew a walk and Prince Fielder homered to end the game.

It wouldn't be fair to say that the moves made in the eighth cost Colorado the game; after all, without Amezaga's double in the thirteenth, the game might end an inning earlier. But the moves were pretty weird, and the misplacement of the pitcher's spot did eventually cause a problem. More importantly, this game had not one but two extra-inning comebacks from the Brewers, which is really, really rare; despite the fact that the other extra innings didn't do much, it still gets a 7.54, the #4 game of 2011 so far.

Tulowitzki was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Tulowitzki was ejected for arguing balls and strikes.

Ah, that would do it. They still should have double-switched, though.

If a batter gets tossed (like Tulo did) does the team have to replace him right then and now? Or can they wait until the end of the inning and make a series of changes (and double-switches)?

If a batter gets tossed (like Tulo did) does the team have to replace him right then and now? Or can they wait until the end of the inning and make a series of changes (and double-switches)?

I can't find a direct cite, but I believe the team can wait until he either has to take the field or bat again.

I can't find a direct cite, but I believe the team can wait until he either has to take the field or bat again.

I think this is covered under the provisions of Rule 3.08, which covers how and when a substitute is considered to have entered to the game.

Even if they do have to replace him right away, they could just put a starting pitcher in his spot for a few minutes until they need someone there.

All five AL Central teams have losing home records. On the road, three of them have winning records, and a fourth one is at .500. So there's that.

they didn't perform a double-switch, so the pitcher's spot was still #9.

Ooh, a chance for my anti-double-switch rant, first of the season I think.

OK, it's a weak rant this tima as I'd have to look at the boxscore to see if it made sense in this case or not but ... in today's games where relievers rarely go more than one inning, the double-switch usually doesn't make sense ... unless it's tied to a defensive switch or similar move you were going to make anyway.

Let's say you just finished the 7th and your #6 batter (LF) made the last out.

If you double-switch, you put your 4th OF (who is also your #1 pinch-hitter) in the #9 spot to bat in the 8th. It doesn't take much to go through 9 batters in two innings so there's a good chance the #6 spot comes up again and now you have to use your #2 pinch-hitter. Maybe you go to extras and the 4th OF gets to bat again. So that's (up to) 2 PA from your 4th OF and 1 from your #2 PH.

If you don't double-switch, you use your 4th OF as the PH in the bottom of the 8th. If you get to the #6 spot, you still have your starting LF there. If you get back around to #9 again, then you use your #2 PH. 1 PA from your 4th OF, 1 PA from your starting LF and 1 from your #2 PH (and only if you get that far). Generally your are trading 1 potential PA from your starting LF for 1 potential PA from your #2 PH and that's almost certainly a bad trade.

Since the guy you bring in to pitch the bot 7th or top 8th isn't going to go more than one inning, all you've got is a weaker lineup with no advantage. The double-switch delays the pitcher's spot in the order but that's only useful if you need him for more than one inning. If you're moving or in extras and you need/want this pitcher to go more than one inning, the double-switch makes sense. Or if you're ahead and want to make a defensive sub (get your lumbering starting LF out of the game), the double-switch makes sense.

OK, peeked at the box score and the Rox moves appear to be sensible. First, they were ahead at the time. They needed to swap in Amezaga to play SS. I'm assuming they believe that Spilborghs is better defensively than Wigginton in LF and Wigginton is better at 1B than Giambi (they probably should have just left Giambi there and put Spilborghs in Wigg's spot). They were bringing in their 8th inning set up guy Betancourt with Street slated to close in the 9th. They weren't intending to use Betancourt 2 innings I don't think. They put the PA of the worst new hitter (Amezaga) as far away as possible.

And the #9 spot didn't come up in the 9th (and they replaced Betancourt anyway) and they used CarGo to pinch hit in the 10th. The weirder thing is not putting in CarGo instead of Spillborghs -- maybe he had one of those day-to-day, hit but not field injuries? Anyway, that's another time you might want to double-switch -- when they guy you're brining in is the usual starter like CarGo.