This is a pretty darn good Birthday Team. Two Hall of Famers, a couple impact bats in Nomar and Goodman, a stud leadoff man in Beaumont, and a top-notch game show host.

If you'd prefer to use Garciaparra at short and move Reese to third, Sport McAllister slots in at first base. I chose not to do that, though, because McPherson is a much better player than McAllister was.

C/Manager: Jimmie Wilson
1B: Nomar Garciaparra
2B: Hod Ford
3B: Dallas McPherson
SS: Pee Wee Reese
LF: Johnny Groth
CF: Ginger Beaumont
RF: Ival Goodman

SP: Don Drysdale
SP: Ray Scarborough
SP: Ed Holley
SP: Hong-Chih Kuo
SP: Lew Brockett
RP: Chuck Crim

Fun names: Sport McAllister, Tub Welch, Strick Shofner, Cy Fried
Minor leaguer/Game Show Host: Bert Convy

Up at THT: today is the 50th anniversary of the day Feller & Robinson entered Cooperstown (alongside McKechnie & Roush, too).

The article also notes that today is the 34th anniversary of the greatest moment in the career of blogger Murray Chass. Can you think what it is before clicking on the link above & scrolling down to 1978 to see the result?

Fun names: Sport McAllister, Tub Welch, Strick Shofner, Cy Fried

Sport McAllister: The last surviving member* of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

*Well, he was just prior to his death anyway.

Adam Dunn since June 16: .151/.313/.302. That's slightly better than his line from last year: .159/.292/.277.

Paul Konerko since May 28: .245/.318/.321 with three homers

Adam Dunn since June 16: .151/.313/.302. That's slightly better than his line from last year: .159/.292/.277.

Paul Konerko since May 28: .245/.318/.321 with three homers

In a related story, the White Sox are 20-23 since June 1.

Sport McAllister: The last surviving member* of the 1899 Cleveland Spiders.

This very quickly explains why you'd rather have Dallas McPherson in the lineup.

If the boys wanted to see Walter Johnson, et al, they should've gone to the ballpark in Philly just a month prior (June 19-22), where the A's and Nats played six games, including back-to-back doubleheaders on Wednesday and Thursday! (Imagine playing four baseball games in the span of about 28 hours!)

Rumor:

Ryan Dempster is being traded to the Braves. Possible for Randall Delgado. That would be a fantastic return.

Game of the day (yesterday): Dodgers 8, Mets 3 (12). The starters, New York's Jon Niese and LA's Nathan Eovaldi, traded scoreless innings for the first three despite giving up a few hits (Niese allowed leadoff singles in the first and third, Eovaldi a walk and single to start the second and a two-out hit in the third.) The Dodgers started the scoring in the fourth when Matt Kemp led off with a single and Juan Rivera followed one out later with a 2-run homer. New York rallied partially in the bottom of the inning with a one-out double by Daniel Murphy, a single by Lucas Duda that moved him to third, and a two-out hit by Josh Thole that brought in their first run of the game. Fortunately for the Dodgers, the next batter was Niese, who flied out to leave the tying run at third.

After a 1-2-3 fifth from Niese, the Met offense tried again. Jordany Valdespin reached on a bunt single with one out, and David Wright grounded a hit up the middle to send Valdespin to third. Eovaldi was relieved by Scott Elbert, who fanned Ike Davis; Wright stole second to put the go-ahead run in scoring position, but Murphy flied out to end the inning.

With their lead having been preserved, the Dodgers padded it in the sixth with the help of some aggressive baserunning. Mark Ellis led off the inning with an infield hit, and when Kemp flied out to center, Ellis tagged up and took second. That allowed him to score on Andre Ethier's single. Ethier took second on the throw home, but the subsequent hitters didn't advance him from there.

Now down 3-1, the Mets spent the next three innings trying to mount comebacks. They got a single and a walk in the sixth before Shawn Tolleson replaced Elbert and retired Ruben Tejada to end the inning. They scored once in the seventh when Davis doubled with two outs and Murphy singled him home. And after Tim Byrdak relieved Niese with two on and nobody out in the eighth and kept the Dodgers from scoring, Thole singled with one out but was erased on a double play.

Then came the ninth, pitched by Javy Guerra. Tejada led off with a single, and Valdespin bunted him to second. Wright reached on an infield hit, advancing Tejada to third, and Davis grounded up the first base line to allow Tejada to score the tying run (replays show that Davis beat the throw to first from James Loney, but he was called out). Murphy was intentionally passed, and Duda grounded out to leave the winning run on second.

Bobby Parnell worked a perfect tenth for the Mets. Guerra stayed in for the bottom of the inning and gave up a leadoff double to Kirk Niewenhuis. Scott Hairston pinch hit and drew a walk; Mike Nickeas tried to lay down a sac bunt, but Niewenhuis was thrown out at third, and Tejada followed by hitting into a double play, wasting an excellent opportunity.

Ethier drew a leadoff walk from Ramon Ramirez in the eleventh, and took second when pinch hitter Clayton Kershaw laid down a bunt. But Luis Cruz struck out, and after an intentional walk to Adam Kennedy, AJ Ellis fouled out. Wright singled against Josh Wall with one out in the bottom of the inning, but was thrown out trying to steal second.

Loney and Tony Gwynn Jr. started the eleventh with singles. Ramirez then induced Mark Ellis to pop up a bunt, and Kemp hit into a forceout that moved the lead runner to third. Ethier was then intentionally walked to load the bases for pinch hitter Matt Treanor. On a 1-2 count, Treanor singled up the middle to drive in a pair of runs; Cruz followed with a single and Kennedy with a double to bring in three more. Elvin Ramirez replaced Ramon and ended the inning without further damage, but what had already been done was plenty; the Mets got a leadoff double from Murphy in the bottom of the inning, which doesn't feel quite as imposing as the one from Niewenhuis two innings ago, and no further advancement from there.

The most notable feature in this one is the fact that there were just always runners on. The Dodgers went 5/17 with runners in scoring position, the Mets 4/19. Neither of those is a particularly great conversion rate, but the number of at bats is rather enormous.

Also mildly amusing: The RBIs for the Dodgers in this game came from Treanor, Kennedy, Rivera, Cruz, and Ethier. Coming into the game, Treanor, Kennedy, Rivera, and Cruz had 60 RBI between them. That exactly matches Ethier's entering total. Now, of course, the four of them are ahead 67-61.

Mike Nickeas tried to lay down a sac bunt, but Niewenhuis was thrown out at third

This was such a horrible bunt. It should have been a double play.

This was such a horrible bunt. It should have been a double play.

Yep, the replay showed him clearly as out. I'm sure that is why the umpire didn't throw Mattingly out of the game, he knew he blew the call and let him rant and rave without tossing him.

I'm sure that is why the umpire didn't throw Mattingly out of the game, he knew he blew the call along with two other calls at first base and a fair/foul call that wrongly went for a double

FTFY

I'm sure that is why the umpire didn't throw Mattingly out of the game, he knew he blew the call along with two other calls at first base and a fair/foul call that wrongly went for a double

FTFY

In my defense I only saw the first couple of innings and the last three :-)

[13] You're lucky.

I was at the game and stayed until it was 8-3. Our seats were near 1st base, but up, and even there you could see the first base calls were clearly wrong. The fair/foul call was close but clearly wrong on the replay on the game feed shown on the TVs in the stands and concourses. (BTW when does MLB give up the charade that "we don't show replays in the stadium" just because they're not on the main video screen?)

Mattingly and Collins both argued calls. It was so disgusting a mess to watch Dimuro, because even the calls that went wrongly in "our" favor contributed to the sense of "WTF game is he watching? It sure isn't this one."

Game of the day (last year): Mets 7, Marlins 6. The Mets started fast against Chris Volstad. With one out, Josh Turner singled, Carlos Beltran walked, David Wright doubled in one run, Daniel Murphy singled in a second, and Angel Pagan added a sac fly to bring home a third. The Marlins manufactured one against Mike Pelfrey in the bottom of the inning, with Emilio Bonifacio singling, stealing second, taking third on a fly ball and scoring on a groundout, and the teams were off to the races.

The Mets put runners on second and third in the next inning, thanks to two walks and two groundouts, but didn't score. In the bottom of the inning, then-Mike Stanton homered to bring then-Florida within one. And in the bottom of the third... well, here's the play description:

E Bonifacio walk
O Infante single to LF (ground ball); Bonifacio scores/Adv on throw to 2B/No RBI; Infante to 2B

Yes, Bonifacio scored from first on a single. That's sufficiently weird that I had to dig up MLB.com's video from last year's game; it was a hit-and-run, with Infante placing the ball exactly where Jose Reyes would have been standing, and Lucas Duda lobbed the ball into second, so Bonifacio just kept running. He got home just ahead of the ball to score the tying run.

That's pretty awesome.

The Marlins would go on to put runners on the corners with one out before Gaby Sanchez hit into a double play. In the fourth, Reyes singled with one out, Turner reached on an error, and Beltran singled to bring Reyes in. The teams put one baserunner on apiece in the next four half-innings, with the most interesting of those being the top of the sixth; Reyes led off with a double against Marlin reliever Steve Cishek and reached third with one out before Beltran and Wright both struck out. In the bottom of the sixth, Florida again put a single baserunner on - but Gaby Sanchez hit the ball far enough that he didn't actually have to stay on the bases, and the game was tied once more.

Cishek started the seventh with a walk to Murphy. Angel Pagan then bunted - it's listed as a hit rather than a sacrifice - and Cishek threw the ball away, allowing the runners to move to second and third. After an IBB to Duda loaded the bases, Cishek was removed for Edward Mujica, who allowed a sac fly to Ronny Paulino but escaped without further damage.

John Buck led off the bottom of the inning with a hit against Pedro Beato, and was lifted for pinch runner (and fellow catcher) Brett Hayes. Hayes took second on a wild pitch with one out, then moved up as Beato walked the next two hitters to load the bases. Tim Byrdak came on to face Logan Morrison, who lifted a game-tying sac fly to right center.

Mujica began the eighth with a walk to Turner. After Beltran flied out, Wright and Murphy stroked back-to-back doubles, the second of which came against Randy Choate, giving New York a 7-5 lead. Pagan was intentionally walked, and Brian Sanches came in to retire the next two Mets.

We're still not done quite yet. With Bobby Parnell on the mound, Gaby Sanchez reached on an error by Wright, and Stanton walked. Mike Cameron laid down a bunt, but the Mets were able to force Sanchez at third. Hayes then fouled out, and because the runners were at first and second, Greg Dobbs's single was only able to score one runner, and Bonifacio struck out to leave the tying run at third.

Now we're done. Sanches and Jason Isringhausen both worked 1-2-3 ninth innings, which I imagine was somewhat of a relief after the Marlins had rallied to tie three times already.

That's both this year's game and last year's that were arguably decided by blown sac bunts. But just so we don't end on that note, here are the highlights from the game; the Bonifacio play is listed as "Infante's RBI single" even though no RBI was awarded. Enjoy.