Elsewhere 100 years ago, what's left of the undead zombie United States League keeps chugging along. The only two teams left, Pittsburgh and Richmond, played a 16 inning game in front of a crowd that was allegedly kept down by threatening weather and not by the fact that they were playing in a farcical, nonexistent league. U.S. League president Marshall Henderson claims there are now five teams in the circuit and a sixth team will be added in either Cincinnati or Cleveland, two cities which had already shown an utter lack of interest in the league.

Of the top five June 13 players in career hits, four of them are catchers; not a single one of them ever made an appearance at any other defensive position. Former tobacconist and June 13 Birthday Team manager Smilin' Jeems isn't going to be smiling too long once he gets a load of this roster.

C: Ernie Whitt
1B/SP: Fred Klobedanz
2B: Jose Ortiz
3B: Hector Rodriguez
SS: Charlie Malay
LF: Joe Simmons
CF: Bobby Clark
RF: Marty Kavanagh

SP: Mel Parnell
SP: Darrell May
SP: Drew Smyly
SP: Gene McCann
RP: Brian Sweeney

Manager: Jim Mutrie

SP: Drew Smyly

The first muppet to make the majors!

For those that don't know, Smyly is in his rookie season for Detroit and has 63 IP under his belt. I'm guessing not many rookies make the birthday team.

Today is the centennial anniversary of Christy Mathewson's 300th win.

I love that one of my favourite players when I was a kid (Ernie Whitt) shares the same birthday as me!

Charlie Malay

Sounds at first like he escaped from a Kipling short story, but he appears to have been Brooklyn Irish. He might have made one of those "most PAs in his only ML season" lists, as well. Actually (like so many people on these Birthday teams) he is a very good example of the kind of pro ballplayer who thrived in the days before organized ball. Malay played up and down the East Coast for 14 years at different levels, but only one season (1905) in the majors. His son Joe had a 10-year pro career, and two small cups of coffee with the 1930s Giants.

Ron Washington names Royals Ned Yost and A's Bob Melvin to All-Star staff

TLR names Mets Terry Collins, Astros bench coach Joe Pettini and Cubs first base coach Dave McKay to his All-Star staf

Sounds at first like he escaped from a Kipling short story

Malay spent three seasons playing for the Amsterdam-Gloversville-Johnstown Hyphens, which also sounds like something that escaped from a fictional story, but is real.

BA's Ben Badler reports on age shenanigans involving the family of a buscone and the M's.

Sources said the smoking gun came when a DNA test was requested, and Soto's real mother, Melba Antonia Gonzalez, showed up to present a DNA sample, apparently with the hope that nobody would realize she was not the same woman who had originally presented herself as Soto's mother.

I would say that this was not exactly an Ocean's Eleven level of planning in assuming the false identity.

I'd like to work for MLB's DoI, that sounds like good times.

Game of the day (yesterday): Royals 2, Brewers 1. Your starting pitchers: Zack Greinke (career ERA 3.77) and Luis Mendoza (career ERA 6.54). So naturally, it's Mendoza who works a perfect first, and Greinke who gives up a leadoff homer to Kansas City's Alex Gordon. Greinke worked into and out of trouble throughout his start, giving up a leadoff hit in the second, a leadoff double in the fifth, and a pair of one-out singles in the sixth, but held the deficit to a single run. Mendoza, meanwhile, was in almost no trouble at all - he gave up a 2-out walk in the second, hit the leadoff man in the fourth, and kept the bases empty apart from that until Ryan Braun broke up the no-hitter with a single to lead off the seventh. Naturally, his single was followed by a pair of throwing errors that moved him all the way to third, and after a walk to Aramis Ramirez, Mendoza was lifted for Aaron Crow. Crow's first batter was Taylor Green, who hit what Braun thought would be a sac fly; instead, it was a fly ball double play, with Gordon throwing Braun out at home. You'd figure that would put a damper on the inning, but Rickie Weeks followed it with a two-out RBI hit to score Ramirez and tie the game.

Greinke gave up another hit in the seventh, but preserved the tie. In the eighth, Kansas City's Greg Holland walked Nyjer Morgan and gave up a hit to Corey Hart; Morgan moved to third on a forceout, but was left there when Braun ended the inning with a flyout. The bottom of the inning saw Greinke lifted for Francisco Rodriguez; like Greinke, K-Rod's first at bat resulted in an extra-base hit by Alex Gordon, this one a double. Gordon moved to third on a sac bunt and scored on a single by Billy Butler, returning the lead to the Royals. Closer Jonathan Broxton entered for the ninth, and gave up a leadoff hit to Ramirez, a stolen base to pinch runner Carlos Gomez, and an infield hit to Weeks, but picked up a strikeout and a forceout to leave the runners on the corners.

Game Score makes this the second-best start of Mendoza's career (68), so it's good that the Royals managed to win it. (On the other hand, Greinke's score was a point better, but not even close to being his second-best of the year, let alone of his career.)

Game of the day (last year): Nationals 2, Padres 0. Facing San Diego's Tim Stauffer, the Nats loaded the bases with one out in the top of the first on a walk, a single, and a hit batter; Wilson Ramos thoughtfully grounded into a double play to let Stauffer escape. The Padres picked up a leadoff single against Jordan Zimmermann in the first, but Jason Bartlett was then caught stealing second; their real threat came an inning later, when a walk and a pair of hits helped them match the Washington's bases loaded, one-out rally. Into this high-yield situation stepped "A. Gonzalez;" sadly for the Padres, it was not the traded Adrian Gonzalez, but the rather less-imposing Alberto, who struck out. Stauffer was up next and fanned as well to end the inning.

Meanwhile, the Nats had themselves wasted a leadoff double in the second, and the game settled into contented scorelessness for a while. Zimmermann gave up a single and hit a batter in the fourth before stranding the two runners; Stauffer yielded a walk and a hit in the fifth, and a wild pitch put the runners at second and third with one out before Jasyon Werth struck out (with the catcher throwing to first to finish him off) and Danny Espinosa grounded out. Washington tried again in the sixth with a walk and a hit from its first two batters, but Ramos hit into his second double play of the game and Rick Ankiel grounded out to leave the remaining runner at third. The seventh gave them yet another chance, as Stauffer hit Jerry Hairston with a pitch; Zimmermann bunted into a forceout, which became exceedingly unfortunate when Alex Cora then doubled and the pitcher had to hold up at third. Werth and Espinosa were retired after that, and Stauffer had escaped once more. Zimmermann threw a perfect bottom of the inning, and the starters were simultaneously removed.

Mike Adams entered for the Padres, and was no less adventurous than his predecessor. He gave up a leadoff double to Laynce Nix, who moved to third on a flyout, putting him in position to try to score on Ramos's grounder to second. He failed, however, and the scoreless tie lived on. Todd Coffey thew a 1-2-3 eighth for the Nats, and San Diego brought on Heath Bell to pitch the ninth. After Hairston led off with a popup, pinch hitter Matt Stairs singled, and was (obviously) removed for a pinch runner. That pinch runner, Brian Bixler moved to second on a hit by Cora and third on a walk to Werth before coming in to score the game's first run on a flyout by Danny Espinosa. With Nix at the plate, Werth stole second; this proved to be unfortunate when Nix's single, which brought in a second run, also led to Werth being thrown out at home to end the inning. Drew Storen came in for the bottom half, and worked around a leadoff single to hold the newly-minted lead.

Two pitcher's duels today, both of which demonstrate the kind of pitcher's duel the system likes - you don't necessarily have to score a lot, but you do have to leave a lot of runners on. The Nats, in particular, had baserunners early and often, even if most of them didn't come home.

Of course, neither game is within the top 150 of its season to date, so the system still doesn't love them all that much.