It's the Torre and Torii show on today's Birthday Team. Unfortunately, Torey Lovullo missed out on the fun by exactly seven days. He was born on July 25.

C: Larry McLean
1B: Allen Craig
2B: Ramiro Pena
3B/Manager: Joe Torre
SS: Simon Nicholls
LF: Mike Greenwell
CF: Torii Hunter
RF: Johnny Hopp

SP: Rudy May
SP: Ben Sheets
SP: Rolando Arrojo
SP: Ad Brennan
SP: Josh Banks
RP: Windy McCall

Fun names: Hod Kibbie, Herman Pitz, Razor Shines
Prospect flameout: Antone Williamson
Pitcher or member of '80s New Wave band?: Butch Edge

Pretty good bday team there. A shame Razor can't make the lineup.

I genuinely had no idea before today that Antone Williamson was/is a white guy.

Historical item at THT notes that today is the 40th anniversary of the Curse of Don Zimmer. I made up the phrase Curse of Don Zimmer, but dammit - it fits so well! See if you can figure out what that means before clicking on the link.

Game of the day (yesterday): Nationals 5, Mets 4 (10). Yeah, I imagine more than a few of you knew this was coming (assuming there are more than a few of you reading this, at least).

The starters were Ross Detwiler for Washington, and Jon Niese for the Mets, and both of them pitched wonderfully: a combined 14 innings, 8 hits, 12 K's, and no walks (!). Detwiler gave up three hits in the top of the second, but Jason Bay hit into a double play after the first one, and Detwiler stranded the other two runners on the corners. Apart from that, the only runner to pass first base in the first six innings was Washington's Tyler Moore, who put the only blemish on Niese's record for the day with a one-out homer in the bottom of the fifth. The Mets tried again in the seventh, when David Wright led off with a double and took third on a wild pitch with no outs, but Detwiler rallied, striking out Scott Hairston, retiring Bay on an apparently too-short fly ball, and ending the inning by getting Ike Davis to ground out.

I intend no disparagement to the pitchers involved or to pitcher's duels in general (which, like probably most of you, I like somewhat better than my system does) when I say that these seven magnificently-hurled innings are not the reason I'm writing about this game. Once the bullpens got involved, this thing went absolutely bananas.

In the top of the eighth, Daniel Murphy doubled with one out against Sean Burnett, putting the tying run in scoring position. Josh Turner and Ruben Tejada would strand him there. In the bottom of the inning, Ramon Ramirez recorded the first two outs on nine pitches, so of course he was pulled for Josh Edgin; the Mets did this in the interest of keeping the platoon advantage against pinch hitter Roger Bernadina, who was then promptly called back for new pinch hitter Mark DeRosa. The managerial brain wrestling having been completed, DeRosa walked, stole second, and came in to score on a double by Steve Lombardozzi (who, I am not shocked to discover, is indeed the son of the other Steve Lombardozzi), doubling the distance between the two teams.

Tyler Clippard enters from stage (wherever the Nats' home bullpen is located). Josh Thole and Wright greet him with consecutive singles, and after Hairston strikes out, Jordany Valdespin pinch hits for Bay. This appears to have been a good decision, as Valdespin lifted the fourth pitch he saw over the center field wall, breaking up the shutout and giving the Mets their first lead of the day.

That brought Bobby Parnell to the mound for New York. (I didn't realize he'd been given the closer role - is this a new thing, or was it a one-day only appearance?) Ryan Zimmerman flied out to start the bottom of the ninth. Michael Morse then singled, and was replaced by pinch runner Ian Desmond. Desmond moved to third on Adam LaRoche's single, putting the tying run within sac fly range, but Moore struck out on three pitches, putting the Nats one out away from defeat. Danny Espinosa then worked a 2-2 count before lining a single to center to tie the game. Parnell managed a small bit of consolation by striking out Jesus Flores to send the game into extras.

That consolation increased in magnitude during the top of the tenth. Murphy led off against Mike Gonzalez with a single, then moved to second on Kirk Niewenhuis's sac bunt. Ruben Tejada flied out to right, but Thole followed with a go-ahead double on a full count. Ryan Mattheus entered and fanned Wright to end the inning, but that didn't keep it from being the third consecutive half-inning in which a bullpen appeared to have blown the game.

The Nats went for a fourth in the bottom of the tenth against Tim Byrdak. Newly-inserted catcher Jhonatan Solano led off with a single, and moved to second on Lombardozzi's bunt. Bryce Harper then laced a triple to right to bring in the tying run. The Mets voluntarily loaded the bases with a pair of force-setting-up IBBs, and LaRoche then hit into a 3-2 force at home for the second out. New York then put in Pedro Beato, and his fourth pitch to Moore strayed out of Thole's reach, bringing the winning run home from third.

If you want to, you can split this game into three pitching lines:
Detwiler 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0 HR, .445 WPA
Niese 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1 HR, .189 WPA
Joint bullpen 5.2 IP, 12 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB (2 IBB), 5 K, 1 HR, -2.112 WPA

That... that's impressive.

It's worth pointing out that this is the third-most exciting New York at Washington game so far this season. #1 is Nats 7, Mets 6 (12) from June 5, featuring home-team combacks in the 8th, 10th, and 12th innings. #2 is Yankees 5, Nats 3 (14) from June 16. Despite trailing both of those games, this one does all right - it's #19 for the year so far, and #1 among games of 10 innings or less.

Game of the day (last year): Red Sox 1, Rays 0 (16). Both starting pitchers were marvelous... I mean, the game was scoreless through 15. Obviously both starting pitchers were marvelous. But that may actually understate it.

In the first, Tampa's Jeff Niemann allowed a two-out single to Adrian Gonzalez. Boston's Josh Beckett allowed a two-out infield single to Evan Longoria.

In the top of the fourth, Dustin Pedroia led off with a single and stole second.

In the top of the fifth, Josh Reddick walked.

In the top of the eighth, Marco Scutaro walked.

And that's it. That is every runner who reached base against one of the starting pitchers in this game. Both went 8 innings, both gave up no runs. They combined to allow three hits (all singles) and two walks, none of them in the same inning. Beckett was particularly exceptional, retiring the last 22 hitters he faced.

The bullpens came in for the ninth, and the offenses... didn't explode, exactly, but they did remember how to breathe. Kyle Farnsworth gave up a leadoff double to Pedroia, then issued walks to Kevin Youkilis with one out and JD Drew with two, loading the bases. Reddick flied to center to strand the runners. In the bottom half, Daniel Bard retired the first two hitters, then gave up a hit and a steal to Johnny Damon and a walk to Ben Zobrist before Longoria flied out.

Joel Peralta pitched the top of the tenth; he walked Scutaro and Pedroia, but stranded both of them. Matt Albers worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning. JP Howell started the eleventh for the Rays, but was quickly hooked after walking his first two hitters (Youkilis and David Ortiz); Jake McGee also walked his first man (Darnell McDonald) to load them with nobody out, but struck out Reddick on nine pitches, and Juan Cruz retired the next two Sox on a strikeout and a foulout. Overall, that's a pretty exciting inning for not having a single fair ball. Anyway, Sean Rodriguez singled against Albers and took second on a bunt in the bottom of the inning, but stayed there when Albers struck out Reid Brignac and Franklin Morales got Damon to ground out.

Both teams went 1-2-3 in the twelfth, with Cesar Ramos and Morales setting them down. Brandon Gomes issued a two-out walk to McDonald in the thirteenth, but otherwise, he and Alfredo Aceves were spotless for two innings each. In the fifteenth, Gomes walked Adrian Gonzalez and hit Youkilis with a pitch, but got Drew Sutton (who'd entered as a pinch runner for Ortiz) to pop up and McDonald to fly out. Aceves, meanwhile, hit Longoria and Casey Kotchman with back-to-back one out pitches in the bottom of the inning before BJ Upton and Justin Ruggiano stranded the runners.

Reddick worked a 9-pitch walk against Adam Russell to start the sixteenth. He moved to second on a sac bunt and third on an infield hit by Scutaro. Jacoby Ellsbury flied out, not deep enough for Reddick to score, but Pedroia followed that with a single to right to bring in the first run of the game. Jonathan Papelbon made sure it was the only run, retiring the Rays on 11 pitches in the bottom of the inning.

This is a very good game, but to me, its most striking feature is neither its quality (although the pitching in particular was obviously stellar) or its length (also quite unusual). It's the imbalance of the excitement. In 16 innings, the Rays left 6 men on base and had 5 at bats with runners in scoring position. The Red Sox stranded 16, and batted with RISP 14 times (finally managing the game's only two RISP hits in the last inning). The Rays had three hits, one walk, and two HBPs; the Sox had 5, 12, and 1, not to mention Pedroia's double, the only extra-base hit by either side.

If you look at the difference in the excitement scores accrued while one team or the other is batting, the very biggest differences are usually in favor of the home team (which makes sense, since the home team can end the game in either direction). This one is the second-most road-heavy in terms of excitement for 2011 so far, and far more road-heavy than any 2012 game to date. (In case you're curious, this game is the one that beats it - the Nats rally to tie in the top of the 9th, then put the game away with 4 runs in the top of the 11th.)

Also, you know, a whole lot of really good pitching.

I didn't realize he'd been given the closer role - is this a new thing, or was it a one-day only appearance?

He's been the closer for about three weeks. Frank Francisco is on the DL and Jon Rauch sucks.