Today's Birthday Team isn't going to score a bunch of runs, but they just might have the best infield defense of any birthday nine. Kessinger and McMillan won multiple Gold Gloves as shortstops and Boudreau led the league in Defensive WAR four times.

The starting rotation is wafer thin; Daily and Jennings are the only July 17 starting pitchers with MLB careers of any consequence. Handiboe, Gray, and Frye had 14, 7, and 5 career starts respectively.

C: Sammy Holbrook
1B: Adam Lind
2B: Don Kessinger
3B: Roy McMillan
SS/Manager: Lou Boudreau
LF: Jerry Lynch
CF: Eddie Brown
RF: Deron Johnson

SP: One Arm Daily
SP: Jason Jennings
SP: Jim Handiboe
SP: Chummy Gray
SP: Charlie Frye
RP: Bobby Thigpen
RP: Pete Ladd

Play-by-play: Charley Steiner
Drafted by the Royals, chose football: Dan Marino

I should note, by the way, that Thorpe's famous "Thanks, King" reply is likely apocryphal.

And according to the article about the Olympic baseball exhibition, one of Thorpe's teammates that day was "H.P. Drew, the negro (sic) sprinter from Springfield, Mass." This was 35 years before Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers.

As noted at THT, today also marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the last surviving member of the worst team ever. R.I.P., Sport McAllister.

I just finished putting the all-July team together last night--and they are not so good. They've got Bonds and A-Rod which is, you know, a decent core but there's some real holes all over the diamond. (At least with my games played standards.) And the pitching is pretty ordinary.

Yeah, you'd think with Bonds, Rodriguez, and Joe Jackson they could slug people into submission. Not so, apparently.

Yeah, you'd think with Bonds, Rodriguez, and Joe Jackson they could slug people into submission. Not so, apparently.

Jackson doesn't make my team, since he's stuck behind Bonds. In the real world, of course, you'd presumably find a way to get both of them in the line-up (or trade Jackson for some pitching) but that's the rules I set.

Only 1 career MLB PA, and only 7 minor league PAs, but the best hitter on this team may have been Bobby Thigpen.

I believe now would be as good a time as any to say: #### Avery Brundage.

Only 1 career MLB PA, and only 7 minor league PAs, but the best hitter on this team may have been Bobby Thigpen.

I'm going to give the nod to Boudreau.

We're only halfway through the season, but both the Reds and the Marlins have used only 5 starting pitchers this year. How often does this happen, anyway? I've always thought of the 2003 Mariners doing it as a once-in-a-generation accomplishment. (quick, name those 5 Mariners ... and which one was later suspended for steriod use)

We're only halfway through the season, but both the Reds and the Marlins have used only 5 starting pitchers this year. How often does this happen, anyway? I've always thought of the 2003 Mariners doing it as a once-in-a-generation accomplishment. (quick, name those 5 Mariners ... and which one was later suspended for steriod use)

Garcia, Moyer, Halama, Meche....?

Paul Abbott?

We're only halfway through the season, but both the Reds and the Marlins have used only 5 starting pitchers this year. How often does this happen, anyway? I've always thought of the 2003 Mariners doing it as a once-in-a-generation accomplishment. (quick, name those 5 Mariners ... and which one was later suspended for steriod use)

On the larger question I did a BBRefPI search since integration. The only other team to have only 5 pitchers make at least one start was the 1966 Dodgers. 30 teams have used 6 starters over the course of the season. Nine of them were this decade; 2000 Cards and Braves, 2001 Atheletics, 2002 Giants, 2004 Angels and Athletics, 2005 White Sox and Indians, 2011 Brewers.

In the real world, of course, you'd presumably find a way to get both of them in the line-up

Terrible luck for the July All-Stars that Jackson made 581 appearances in left, 580 in right.

One more from BBRefPI; 7 teams have had 5 pitchers make 30+ starts in a single season; 1977 Dodgers, 1980 Athletics, 1993 Dodgers, 2003 Mariners, 2005 Cardinals and Indians, 2006 White Sox.

You got 3 of 5. Garcia, Moyer, Meche, steriod guy, other guy

Ryan Franklin?

And the other guy is Joel Pineiro.

2006 White Sox - Garland, Buehrle, the aforementioned Garcia ... Contreras? Orlando Hernandez? Gavin Floyd?

2006 White Sox - Garland, Buehrle, the aforementioned Garcia ... Contreras? Orlando Hernandez? Gavin Floyd?

OK, think of any trivia question involving recent pitchers that gets posted in the Dugout. Then think of the guy who is invariably an answer to that question, even though you otherwise wouldn't have thought of him.

It's that guy.

Let's see ... that would be either Miguel Batista or Javier Vazquez, so in this case it's Vazquez.

OK, think of any trivia question involving recent pitchers that gets posted in the Dugout. Then think of the guy who is invariably an answer to that question, even though you otherwise wouldn't have thought of him.

It's that guy.

You guessed it...Octavio Dotel.

R.I.P., Sport McAllister.

It's fitting he died in 1962, isn't it?

One more from BBRefPI; 7 teams have had 5 pitchers make 30+ starts in a single season; 1977 Dodgers, 1980 Athletics, 1993 Dodgers, 2003 Mariners, 2005 Cardinals and Indians, 2006 White Sox.

One very surprising team that narrowly missed this list is the 2006 Rockies. Four guys made 30-plus starts, and Byung-Hyun Kim made 27.

As this year's Pirates attest, Clint Hurdle is an underrated handler of pitching staffs.

Game of the day (yesterday): Tigers 8, Angels 6. After Rick Porcello threw a scoreless top of the first, the Tigers opened the scoring in the bottom of the inning against Ervin Santana without needing a hit. Austin Jackson led off by reaching on Erick Aybar's throwing error, stole second, and came the rest of the way around on a pair of groundouts. Prince Fielder then singled, ruining the opportunity to say "one run, no hits" at the end of the frame.

Anyway, both starters threw perfect second innings, and the Angels tried to duplicate the Detroit first in the top of the third. Aybar was hit by a pitch and stole second, then took third on a groundout. He was thrown out trying to come home on John Hester's comebacker, however. Mike Trout then drew a walk, and Torii Hunter followed with an RBI double to tie the game.

The Tigers broke the tie in the fourth. Fielder walked with one out, and Delmon Young singled him to second. Brennan Boesch then grounded back to the mound, and Santana, trying for a force at second, threw the ball away, allowing Fielder to rumble home. But the Angels struck back with a vengeance in the top of the fifth. Maicer Izturis started things with a one-out double, and Hester drew a walk behind him. Trout singled to tie the game, and Hunter followed with his second double of the day, scoring both runners and putting the Angels in front, and after an errant pickoff throw moved him to third, Albert Pujols doubled as well to extend the margin to three runs. Kendrys Morales then drew a walk, and ball four was sufficiently wild to allow Pujols to take third, but Mark Trumbo ended the inning by hitting into a double play.

Detroit drew closer in the bottom of the inning. After Santana recorded two quick outs, Quintin Berry reached on a bunt single, and Miguel Cabrera worked an 8-pitch walk. Fielder and Young then hit back-to-back RBI singles before Boesch flied out to leave the tying run on third. The Angels left runners on the corners in the sixth, courtesy of reliever Octavio Dotel, and the Tigers had two hits, but a double play helped keep them off the scoreboard as well.

The bottom of the seventh, however, was a different story. Santana was relieved by Hisanori Takahashi, who started the inning by allowing a single to Berry and was promptly yanked for Latroy Hawkins. Berry stole second, Cabrera grounded out, Fielder was intentionally walked, and Berry then stole third. Young hoisted a game-tying sac fly to right, and Boesch followed with another fly ball in the same direction that carried significantly further. His circuit around the bases gave the Tigers a 7-5 lead. Mark Trumbo cut that in half with a solo homer against Joaquin Benoit in the eighth, but Detroit restored its lead on a pair of walks and Berry's third hit of the day. Pujols did come up as the tying run with two out in the ninth, but Jose Valverde induced a game-ending flyout.

Good game. Some rallies in both mid and late innings, and the slightly unusual tic of both teams having the same number of hits and errors in the game.

Brett Cecil just went 53.1 seconds between pitches (eg: from the time he got the ball til the time he threw it). I have no other place to put this, but that's unbearable and someone really should keep records on this, I'd love to see where that ranks among this season's leaderboards.

Game of the day (last year): Brewers 8, Rockies 7. The first eleven hitters of the game made outs - six against Colorado's Jhoulys Chacin, five against Milwaukee's Zack Greinke.

The game was in Coors Field, so you know that's not going to last.

With two out in the second, Ian Stewart tripled. Dexter Fowler then struck out, but reached when Jonathan Lucroy let the ball get away, with Stewart scoring on the play. Chris Iannetta doubled in the second run of the game, and Chacin himself singled to extend his own lead to 3-0. The score remained the same for the next two innings, although not from lack of effort by the offenses - the Brewers left a runner on second in the third, then runners on the corners in the fourth, while Colorado loaded the bases with one out in the home half of the fourth. In the fifth, Greinke drew a two-out walk, then trotted around the bases in front of Corey Hart's two-run homer. Greinke then worked perfect fifth and sixth innings, with Chacin working around a Rickie Weeks double in the sixth to preserve his lead.

Then came the seventh. Josh Wilson singled, and so did Lucroy. Greinke was pulled back for pinch hitter Craig Counsell, who (somewhat amusingly) sacrificed the runners to second and third. Hart was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out. Unsurprisingly, Chacin was removed at this point in favor of Matt Reynolds. Nyjer Morgan bunted for a hit up the first base line, driving in one run and with a second scoring behind it on Todd Helton's throwing error to put the Brewers in front for the first time in the game. Mark Kotsay added a sac fly to pad the lead, and after a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners, Rafael Betancourt came in and finally stopped the bleeding by getting Weeks to ground out.

Latroy Hawkins came in to work the bottom of the seventh for Milwaukee, and he fared little better in this outing than he did in yesterday's. Singles by Eliezer Alfonzo and Ryan Spilborhgs and a forceout put runners on the corners with one away. Kameron Loe came on and struck out Mark Ellis, but Helton then laced a game-tying two run double, and Troy Tulowitzki followed with a go-ahead single, although he also ended the inning by being thrown out trying for second.

Matt Lindstrom entered for the top of the eighth and quickly allowed back-to-back singles by Casey McGehee and Wilson. McGehee was lifted for pinch runner Yuniesky Betancourt, who advanced to third on Lucroy's sac bunt. George Kottaras then came on as a pinch hitter and grounded back toward the mound, and Betancourt made what appears to be an extremely heads-up play, waiting for Lindstrom to throw to first and then breaking for home, coming in safely with the tying run. Wilson would move up to third on a passed ball before Hart grounded out to leave the go-ahead run in place.

Francisco Rodriguez worked around a two-out error to manage a goose egg in the eighth for the Brewers. The stoppage in scoring didn't last long, however. After two quick outs in the top of the ninth, Fielder worked Huston Street for a 7-pitch walk. Weeks then turned an 0-1 pitch into a tiebreaking, two-run homer. John Axford pitched the ninth for Milwaukee, giving up a run on a single and steal by Carlos Gonzalez followed by an RBI hit from Helton, but Tulowitzki then hit into a forceout to end the game.

I don't imagine it's terribly common for an 8-7 game to have one of the starting pitchers last 6 innings without allowing any earned runs, but that's what Greinke did here - Colorado's 3-spot in the second was all unearned, and their other four runs scored against the Brewer bullpen. Ten of the game's fifteen total runs scored in the last three innings, featuring two very rapid lead changes, then a tie, then the final game-winning homer. The moderate drama of the early innings keeps it from being anyone's absolute classic, but that's quite an entertaining baseball game.