Also in the news 100 years ago, Washington third base coach/comedian Nick Altrock nearly chokes to death on some grass while trying to make fun of Hughie Jennings.

Today's Birthday Team features a legendary manager, the best 20-year-old ballplayer I've seen since Dwight Gooden, and "characters" from both Ball Four and The Bullpen Gospels. Pretty, pretty, pretty...pretty good.

C: Jerry McNertney
1B: Les Fleming
2B: Rocky Bridges
3B/Manager: Bill McKechnie
SS: Edgar Renteria
LF: Steve Kemp
CF: Mike Trout
SP/RF: Adonis Terry

SP: Don Larsen
SP: Art Houtteman
SP: Jason Grimsley
SP: Ted Wingfield
RP: Danny Graves

"Frenchy": Wade LeBlanc
First Baseman or Sesame Street character?: Guy Sturdy
Does not rhyme with "swooping": Mike Poepping

last year, the philadelphia phillies finished the season with a record of 102-60.
this year, as of last night's loss, the philadelphia phillies have a record of 49-60

that means that in order for this year's phillies to match the record of last year's phillies, they would have to finish the season on a 53 game winning streak.


i've got $1,000** that says they will do just that.


**note, the $1,000 will be made payable in liberian legal tender, and will be available only in the form of a wire transfer from the 6th national bank of nigeria.

Which brings us to a possible trivia question ( for which I don't have the skills to determine the answer ).

What is the earliest time in a season ( in terms of games played ) that a team has matched its number of losses from the previous season?

Five years ago today: 756.

Whatever your position on PEDs, that's one hell of an accomplishment by one hell of a baseball player.

First one I could think of was the 1915 A's. They lost their 53rd game in their 83rd game (and they had only 29 wins when that happened - one had been a tie).

Five years ago today: 756.

Reading too fast, I was wondering who lost 756 games in 2007.

Let's see, the 1998 Marlins lost their 70th game on July 29th. From 92-70 to 38-70.

Last year the Twins went from 94-68 to 63-99. They lost their 68th game on August 16th. (53-68)

the 1981 houston astros lost 49 games.
the 1982 houston astros lost their 49th game in just their 86th.

the 1994 montreal expos lost 40 games.
the 1995 montreal expost lost their 40th game in their 79th.

the 1981 cincinnati reds lost 42 games.
the 1982 cincinnati reds lost their 42nd game in their 73rd.


of course, what all 3 of those teams have in common is that they involved strikes that reduced the # of games played and as a result, the number of team losses.

that means that in order for this year's phillies to match the record of last year's phillies, they would have to finish the season on a 53 game winning streak.

I wonder if Philly can even pull themselves together enough to finish .500; I suspect not.

I wonder if Philly can even pull themselves together enough to finish .500; I suspect not.

I suppose with Halladay, Lee and Hamels, it's possible. Then again, the Phils have lost all their RH punch (Pence, Victorino, Ruiz) and Howard looks horrible -- a 75% Ryan Howard is not a very good player. I can't see how they are going to score enough runs to go 32-21.

The 1915 A's matched their 1914 loss total on Jul 20, in their 84th game.

The 1915 A's matched their 1914 loss total on Jul 20, in their 84th game.

Juuuust edging the 1899 Spiders, who matched the 1898 Spiders loss total on July 21.

Also, today marks the 40th anniversary of a walk-off inside-the-park home run in the 13th inning.

Here's a clip of an impressive play from the Astros last night. Matt Downs away!

When you're trying to lose as many games as possible, you actually get a effect from putting together a bunch of players who not only are bad but also have no experience playing together. (Scott Moore and Marwin Gonzalez were in Iowa last year, Justin Maxwell was with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Chris Snyder was on the Pirates, Steve Pearce is with his fifth organization in 12 months, Lucas Harrell was waived by the White Sox last July, Mickey Storey was traded for an unknown entity last June)

Edit: Grant Brisbee has extensively covered this already

Speaking of the Astros last night...

Game of the day (yesterday): Nationals 5, Astros 4 (11).

Marwin Gonzalez opened the scoring with a solo homer against Washington's Edwin Jackson in the bottom of the first. The Nats put two runners on in the second, but didn't score against Dallas Keuchel until the fourth, when Ryan Zimmerman, Mike Morse, and Adam LaRoche hit three straight singles. That sequence also put the go-ahead run in scoring position with nobody out, but the subsequent hitters failed to bring him home.

Jackson shut down the Astros in the fourth, then opened the fifth by singling after Brett Wallace dropped a foul popup. Danny Espinosa singled as well, and Bryce Harper walked to load the bases with none away. Zimmerman then singled in a pair of runs; Harper took third, and Zimmerman was thrown out going for second. Still, the Nats were ahead, and Morse added to the lead with a hit that drove Harper in. Jackson was spotless in the fifth as well, and Washington tried to add to its lead in the sixth; they managed two singles, but the first runner, Jayson Werth, was picked off before the second reached base.

Jose Altuve led off the bottom of the sixth by working Jackson for a walk. He then stole second and moved to third on a groundout by Gonzalez. Tom Gorzelanny replaced Jackson and gave up a sac fly to Wallace, which was quickly rendered irrelevant by Justin Maxwell's triple. Steven Pearce followed that with a single to score Maxwell and bring Houston within a run.

Relievers Xavier Cedeno and Mickey Storey combined on a scoreless seventh for the Astros, and Ryan Mattheus did the same for the Nats. Fernando Rodriguez worked a flawless top of the eighth. Altuve led off the bottom of the inning with a single against Sean Burnett. Gonzalez hit into a force, but took second on a wild pitch, and third on a flyout by Wallace. Drew Storen entered to replace Burnett and promptly walked Maxwell. Maxwell stole second, and Pearce drew a walk of his own to load the bases. With the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, JD Martinez flied out to end the inning.

Wesley Wright hit a batter in the ninth but didn't allow him to advance. Tyler Clippard also hit a batter, Carlos Corporan in the bottom of the inning. Corporan was replaced by pinch runner Lucas Harrell, who moved to second when Brian Bogusevic drew a walk, and scampered home with the tying run on Altuve's double. Said double also put the winning run at third with one out, but Clippard struck out the next two Houston hitters to send the game into extras.

Wilton Lopez and Craig Stammen were both perfect in the tenth. In the eleventh, Roger Bernadina led off with a hit, Kurt Suzuki bunted... and the play in #14 happened. Washington would go on to strand Suzuki at third, but Stammen worked around a walk and steal in the bottom of the inning to preserve the win.

I don't really have anything further to say. That's some amusingly horrible baseball from the 'Stros.

Mike Trout was born the day after the first website was launched.

My God, I feel old.

Game of the day (last year): Indians 7, Rangers 5. The starter were CJ Wilson and... well, not Fausto Carmona, but I don't remember his real name, so we'll run with that for a while. Anyway: they were really good.

Jason Kipnis singled in the top of the first. In the bottom, Elvis Andrus was hit by a pitch, and Josh Hamilton reached on an error. Carlos Santana doubled in the second, and after Mitch Moreland walked, so did Yorvit Torrealba. Michael Young singled in the third. Torrealba doubled again in the fourth. Shelley Duncan walked and Lonnie Chisenhall singled in the fifth.

And that's it. That's all the offensive production by both teams through 6 innings. No runs. Six hits, two walks, one HBP and one ROE. Given the final score, it's rather obvious that this didn't persist much longer.

With one out in the seventh, Kosuke Fukudome singled, and Duncan doubled him home. Ezequiel Carrera pinch ran, and moved to third on a groundout. Lou Marson walked, and Darren Oliver replaced Wilson on the mound. Naturally, during his first plate appearance, Oliver balked in a run. Michael Brantley then grounded to third, where Young was playing in place of Adrian Beltre; Young threw the ball away, allowing Marson to score the inning's third run.

It wasn't the last - just the last by Cleveland. Moreland and Torrealba singled to open the bottom of the inning. David Murphy reached on an Asdrubal Cabrera error, making it around to second while one run scored, and Ian Kinsler singled to bring in two more and tie the game. Kinsler stole second, moved to third on an Andrus groundout, and scored on Hamilton's sac fly to put Texas in front.

Koji Uehara walked Cabrera, then picked him off of first and retired the remaining Indians in order in the eighth; Frank Herrmann didn't bother with the walk in the bottom of the inning. That brought in closer Neftali Feliz for the ninth. Fukudome led off with a double, and took third on Carrera's sac bunt. Chisenhall singled, driving in the tying run. Marson flied out, but Brantley doubled, driving in the go-ahead run and chasing Feliz from the mound in favor of Yoshinori Tateyama. The replacement was less than beneficial, as Json Kipnis hit Tateyama's second pitch over the right field wall to extend the newfound Cleveland lead to 7-4.

Chris Perez came in for the bottom of the ninth, and made it rather adventurous. Kinsler started things with a two-out walk, and took second on defensive indifferece. Andrus singled to drive him home, and Hamilton added an infield hit to put the tying run on base. With Young at the plate, a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third, but Young grounded out to end the game.

Hey, it's an Indians game in which a closer spits the bit in the ninth, and it wasn't Chris Perez! Clearly he was glad that it was no longer August 5.

Florida Marlins (92-70 in 1997) lost their 70th game of the season in 1998 on July 29th.
That might be the quickest to equal losses by a World Series Champion (full season).

Los Angeles Dodgers (63-47 in 1981) lost their 47th game of the in 1982 on July 25th.
That's the quickest for any World Series Champion.

last year, the philadelphia phillies finished the season with a record of 102-60.
this year, as of last night's loss, the philadelphia phillies have a record of 49-60

On the flip side, the Pirates are only ten wins away from matching last year's total, and the Orioles are eleven wins away from doing the same.