Today's Birthday Team: Rixey and Ruffing, then we got nothing*.

C: Chris Cannizzaro
1B: Chick Tolson
2B/Manager: Davey Lopes
3B: Chuck Hinton
SS: Ralph Michaels
LF: Nick Stavinoha
CF: George Gore
RF: Ben Revere

SP: Red Ruffing
SP: Eppa Rixey
SP: Ryan Dempster
SP: Darren Dreifort
SP: Homer Bailey
RP: Bob Hasty

GM: Garry Herrmann

(* - Gore and Lopes were damn good players. It just isn't catchy if you use four names.)

With three HOMers plus Lopes, this team might actually go far in a Birthday Team tournament.

Hinton is pretty good, too. He's fairly obscure and is playing semi-out of position at 3B, but given that there are 365 Birthday Teams, a third baseman who had a legitimate MLB career with power, speed, and a 109 OPS+ is nothing to sneeze at.

In real life, they'd probably at least kick around the idea of Ruffing in the outfield when he's not pitching, as he's the fourth-best offensive player on the roster.

The most exciting games and teams of April.

The article only covers through April 30, which is interesting because last night's Braves win scores higher than any game so far this year. It scores higher than all their April games combined.

C: Chris Cannizzaro

Cannzzinary!

Has anyone tried to sim some sort of tourney with the birthday teams?

No link to easily the worst call of the year, and arguably one of the worst of all time (not adjusting for context)?

The 2012 Houston Astros currently have the 3rd best run differential in the National League.
Small sample size, luck, underrated, or all of the above?

A month into the season, Casey Kotchman is hitting .143/.241/.243.

The eye pus must be back.

The 2012 Houston Astros currently have the 3rd best run differential in the National League.
Small sample size, luck, underrated, or all of the above?

Is it just my skewed perception, or do teams that are picked to be historically abysmal often outperform expectations? Of course, its easier when they're so low to begin with.

No link to easily the worst call of the year, and arguably one of the worst of all time (not adjusting for context)?

How is it that that the umps couldn't get together to get that call right? The umps are going to force more video review upon themselves with crap like that.

It was Hugh Jennings who was seriously injured by diving into an empty swimming pool at Cornell college.

Apparently the Cornell swim test was a lot more rigorous back in the day. :)

Has anyone tried to sim some sort of tourney with the birthday teams?

Not to my knowledge, but I'm hoping to have someone do it for the All-Month teams I've been doing at Hardball Times.

Today's Birthday Team: Rixey and Ruffing, then we got nothing*.

What?!? Bob Hasty and Homer Bailey would both be the second starter on <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/friv/birthdays.cgi?m>my terrible birthday team</a>. This might be the best rotation of ANY birthday team.

No bullpen though.

Is it just my skewed perception, or do teams that are picked to be historically abysmal often outperform expectations?

The 2003 Tigers certainly didn't.

Phillies add to the high salary non-available list:

Roy Halladay left the club after the disastrous game last night.

Per Jim Salisbury: "According to sources, Halladay is tending to a personal family issue. Sources say the pitcher is healthy."

Howard, Utley, Lee and Halladay will not be available. That's a lotta $ on the sidelines.

I hope all can get straightened out for him. Supposedly he told the team Tuesday that he would leave after his start last night. I wonder if having the big lead (6-0) in the fifth helped him to lose focus. Or it might have been one of those things.

How is it that that the umps couldn't get together to get that call right?

Because it's up to the ump who made the call whether he wants to consult the others. It's against the rules (Rule 9.02c) for an umpire to intervene in the call of another unsolicited.

How is it that that the umps couldn't get together to get that call right? The umps are going to force more video review upon themselves with crap like that.

Its not the blown call that is upsetting - humans are going to blow calls. Its that umps seldom if ever get together to correct each other. Get over yourselves, we know you blow calls, at least correct it.

Halladay will be back tomorrow. Seems like a very minor family issue.

Re-post from yesterday's dugout:

A 41 and 40 year old* hit walk offs on the same night as a double header. Baseball is awesome.

*That was one of the best games I've ever been to.

This might be the best rotation of ANY birthday team.

Speaking of which, the #3 and #5 starters on today's birthday team are starting against each other this afternoon.

Sorry, double post.

[19] From http://espn.go.com/espn/elias:

At 41, [Giambi] became the second-oldest player in major-league history to hit a pinch-hit walkoff home run. The oldest was Tony Perez, who did so in 1984 at age 42, with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 11th inning off the Pirates' Don Robinson at Riverfront Stadium.

Pablo Sandoval has broken hamate bone in his hand. Link

At 41, [Giambi] became the second-oldest player in major-league history to hit a pinch-hit walkoff home run. The oldest was Tony Perez, who did so in 1984 at age 42, with a two-run shot in the bottom of the 11th inning off the Pirates' Don Robinson at Riverfront Stadium.

Whoa, I didn't realize Giambi's was a pinch hit too. Even cooler.

Speaking of which, the #3 and #5 starters on today's birthday team are starting against each other this afternoon.

Well now, that's kind of neat.

Dag, if you're still around, what made you decide to de-emphasize extra innings in your method? (I considered doing something like that, but ultimately decided against it, because it takes away from the simplicity of what I've got, and also because extra innings are good.)

Anyway, GotD to come shortly, not that the choice will surprise anyone.

Speaking of which, the #3 and #5 starters on today's birthday team are starting against each other this afternoon.

Well now, that's kind of neat.

The game story says it's the first time that's ever happened, which seems impossible.

Dempster got the better of Homer Bailey, who turned 26 on Thursday. It was the first time in major-league history that both starters were celebrating a birthday, according to information provided by the Reds, citing the Elias Sports Bureau.

Game of the day (yesterday): Braves 15, Phillies 13 (11). Not necessarily what you'd expect from a Halladay-Hanson pitching matchup... Both teams threatened early, and both threats were defused on double plays. The Phillies broke through for four runs in the third, highlighted by a 3-run double for Laynce Nix (whose first name has never failed to crack me up). They added two in the fifth on a single and a pair of doubles, and with Roy Halladay on the mound, you had to figure this one was pretty much wrapped up.

Then Atlanta started the fifth with five singles sandwiched around a popout, bringing the score to 6-2. After the second out, Brian McCann tied things on a grand slam. This concluded the warmup portion of the game.

In the sixth, with Halladay still pitching, the Braves put a pair of runners on with a single and a double, and pinch hitter Jason Heyward singled both of them home, finally ending Doc's day on the mound. Philly escaped the inning on a K/CS double play, and promptly retook the lead on a walk, a single, and a three-run homer by Carlos Ruiz. In the eighth, after the first two hitters were retired, they added two infield singles and a walk to bring Ruiz to the plate again, and he cleared the bases with a double, extending the margin to 12-8.

The Braves' half of the eighth would take a while to describe fully, so let's abbreviate: 1B, ROE, K, 1B (12-9), BB, BB (12-10), 1B (12-12), SF (13-12). Martin Prado had the two-run game-tying single, and Freddie Freeman lofted the go-ahead sac fly. That brought on Craig Kimbrel for the ninth; he promptly walked Juan Pierre, which is a pretty unusual feat on its own. Pierre stole second, moved to third on a grounder that produced the second out, and scored the game's fourth tying run on a single by Shane Victorino. In the bottom of the ninth, the Braves loaded the bases with two outs before a popup sent the game to extras. (Had Michael Bourn driven in the winning run there, I suspect this game would have been the best 9-inning game in my database; it would at least have had the #2 spot.)

The extra innings were comparatively tame; the first three halves went 1-2-3, and then the Braves won it on a single by Uggla and a homer from Chipper Jones. Overall, it's the fourth-best game of the year so far, and the best NL contest, checking in at an exceptional 6.46.

Side note: Yes, there was a no-hitter yesterday, and I adjusted subjectively last time we had one of those. The reason I'm not doing that this time is that yesterday had a much, much better alternative game (more than one, actually, as Nats-D'Backs and Dodgers-Rockies were also outstanding), and the no-hitter wasn't a perfect game. No-hitters (and perfect games) are extremely exciting... half of the time. They're quite dull when the pitcher's team is batting, especially when they're up 6-0 after three innings, as the Angels were yesterday. Phils-Braves was thrilling throughout no matter who was at the plate.

Game of the day (last year): A's 5, Rangers 4 (10). Oakland started the scoring in the bottom of the second with an RBI bunt single from Cliff Pennington (man, was I close to typing "Chad Pennington" there). Not to be out-bunted, the Rangers followed up a leadoff walk in the third with a sac bunt+error, followed by an attempted sac bunt that forced the lead runner, followed one out later by a two-run double to take the lead. The A's tied things in the fourth on a home run by Kurt Suzuki, then put two more runners on (the second on a bunt single) before a failed sac bunt forced the lead runner and helped defuse the inning without further scoring.

Texas surged back ahead in the fifth, loading the bases on two singles and a sac bunt+error, then scoring on a pair of sac flies. Oakland scored one in the bottom of the inning on an ROE, double, and RBI groundout. Texas threatened in the seventh with a leadoff double, with the runner moving to third on a sac bunt before being stranded. The A's re-tied the game in the eighth on a Josh Willingham home run, then threatened mildly to win in the ninth on a walk, sac bunt, and IBB (to Daric Barton - how bad was that lineup?) before the Rangers escaped the inning. The Rangers loaded the bases on walks in the tenth but couldn't score, and the A's walked off with Hideki Matsui's leadoff homer in the bottom of the inning.

The game grades out at 4.64, 93rd percentile for 2011 to date. Also, it featured 8 separate bunts, several of which were relative disasters for one team or the other.

This might be the best rotation of ANY birthday team.

My birthday rotation can beat up yours ;-)

My birthday rotation can beat up yours ;-)

You know it's a deep birthday rotation when Bob Gibson is the 10th best man on it.

The game story says it's the first time that's ever happened, which seems impossible.

Well, let's think it through.

The odds two starting pitchers would have birthdays on the same day? 1 in 365 (or 1 in 365.25 to be more exact). The first pitcher's b-day is our control sample & the odds the other guy matches it is 1/365.

Now the question is: what are the odds they'll be playing baseball on their b-day? After all, two guys who have a mutual b-day of Dec. 14 will never matchup on their b-day. The odds of this? Well, each team plays 162 games. Thanks to rainouts & doubleheaders, these days teams play on about 160 games. It was fewer in the past with more d-headers, but these days there's 160 days of games for most teams. 160 out of 365? It's about a 1 in 2.28 odds. Multiple that by 1 in 365.25 and we're at 1 in 833.

Now - the real question - what are the odds the game will be on the mutual b-day? Well that's 1 in 160, if tehre are 160 days in which games take place.

I reckon it's about 1 in 133,280 odds. Last year, MLB had its 200,000th game. So I guess we should seen one earlier, but really by the numbers we should've had 1-2 such games now, and now we've had 1.

I think that works out to be basically 1 in 365^2 - which makes sense, since you just have three things that have to occur on the same day. On the other hand, starting pitchers don't go every day, so that seems like it should add an extra 1/25 (1/5 for each of them).