No superstars on the Birthday Team, but that's a really good top-to-bottom lineup.

If there was a sitcom based on these guys, one of the subplots would be Ivy Leaguers Ohlendorf, Breslow, and Cypert mocking Donny Lucy for 'only' going to Stanford: "What's the matter, Lucy, you couldn't even get into Cornell?"

C: Jocko Milligan
1B: Mike Ivie
2B: Cupid Childs
3B: Johnny Temple
SS: Cecil Travis
LF: Al Woods
CF: Jose Cruz Sr.
RF/Manager: Frank Howard

SP: Ken Raffensberger
SP: Toad Ramsey
SP: Ken Holloway
SP: Ray Fontenot
SP: Ross Ohlendorf
RP: Tot Pressnell

General Manager: Doug Melvin
Yale Graduate: Craig Breslow
Harvard Law Graduate: Al Cypert
Top Prospect: Anthony Rizzo
Million Dollar Arm: Rinku Singh
Fun Name: John Slappey

Thanks everyone for yday's contribution to the fastest to previous season's loss thought.
And congrats to Sweatpants for nailing the answer on his first try!!

And just so that it is just a pat on the back comment. Which of these young pitchers do you take going forward?
All of them are bringing their stats back to decent-ish after disastrous starts to the season.
Phil Hughes, Clay Buchholz , Mike Minor ( just cos I am a Braves' fan )

Today's first trivia question should be an easy one. Which team has the largest (positive) run differential this year? Fans of that team are not eligible.

Today's first trivia question should be an easy one. Which team has the largest (positive) run differential this year? Fans of that team are not eligible.

Cincinnati?

4: Nope. My first thoughts were (what I thought were) obvious ones - DC and NYY. Also wrong (though they are the next two).

The Angels? Between Trout, Pujols, and Trumbo, they've gotta be scoring a metric assload of runs, and they've also got Weaver every fifth day.

All of them are bringing their stats back to decent-ish after disastrous starts to the season.
Phil Hughes, Clay Buchholz , Mike Minor ( just cos I am a Braves' fan )

I'd take Buchholz, and while it pains me to say this as a Yankee fan, I don't think it is really that close. He's had the best season of all of them, and until Hughes magically stops giving up home runs like it's still 1998, he's never going to be anything great. Minor is young, but he's been pretty underwhelming in the Majors, and it's not like he owned the minors when he was down there.

I'm guessing the Cardinals. I know from glancing at BBref yesterday they had a high negative luck factor.

7: Agreed. I'm not sure why Minor earned a mention (and I'm an Atlanta fan too).

You're correct, DK. If the season ended today, they're not in the playoffs.

Jason Grilli's ERA went from 1.77 to 2.66 yesterday, in his 44th pitching appearance.

Item at THT notes that today is 15,000 days since a wild Pirates win over the Padres. Three times they entered the bottom of an inning needing a run to avoid a loss, and every time they did it before winning in 17 innings.

I was watching highlights on TV last night, and one of the announcers said the name "ky-roh".

Huh. I wonder if it's spelled the same way as that guy from a while back, Miguel Cairo. Let's look at the Reds roster.

Holy. ####.

It IS Miguel Cairo.

I had absolutely no idea that he was still in the major leagues.
I thought he retired about 4 years ago.

And looking at his OPS+, maybe this year was one too many.

4?! Who has a single-digit OPS+ score in the majors?!

And looking at his OPS+, maybe this year was one too many.

Yes, but he was a surprisingly effective bench guy for the Reds the two previous years.

Yep #8 is correct -- the Cards at +114, a full 28 runs ahead of the Yanks.. Not only would they miss the playoffs but they're a full 2.5 games out of the #5 spot.

Now in his 17th season, at age 38, Miguel Cairo has played even longer than Chris Gomez! Though not as long as Juan Castro.

Game of the day (yesterday): Orioles 8, Mariners 7 (14).

Seattle scored some runs early. Dustin Ackley reached on an error to lead off the game. After Baltimore starter Zach Britton struck out the next two hitters, Jesus Montero reached on an infield hit, and Kyle Seager homered to bring in three. They added two more in the second when Miguel Olivo homered and Muenori Kawasaki, Ackley, and Trayvon Robinson hit consecutive singles; Seager would go on to leave the bases loaded, but the team was already up by five.

Matt Wieters started the bottom of the second with a homer against Blake Beavan. Wilson Betemit singled; Nate McLouth (who I did not know was an Oriole) hit into a force, but then stole second. Mark Reynolds drew a walk, Omar Quintanilla hit into a force at second, and Nick Markakis singled in a run.

Starting in the third, Britton and Beavan clamped down on the offenses. Over the next three innings, they combined to allow only a single and a walk, and (obviously) no runs. That ended in the sixth, when Casper Wells tripled and Mike Carp singled him home to extend Seattle's lead. Britton was replaced by Kevin Gregg, who induced Olivo to ground to third; naturally, Wilson Betemit allowed him to reach on an error, putting runners at second and third. Kawasaki grounded out, but Ackley singled, bringing Carp home. Olivo tried to score as well, and was thrown out at the plate, a decision that appears doubly unfortunate given the fact that Robinson followed with a would-be RBI single of his own.

Wieters homered again in the bottom of the sixth, but the Baltimore offense didn't really warm up until the seventh. Reynolds led off with a double, driving Beavan from the mound. Lucas Luetge was greeted by Quintanilla's RBI single. Markakis added a single of his own, and JJ Hardy capped the rally with a 3-run homer. Just that quickly, the game was tied.

Luetge and Stephen Pryor managed to preserve the tie through the rest of the inning, despite a double by Wieters. Troy Patton was spotless in the eighth; Pryor allowed only a leadoff hit by McLouth in the bottom of that inning. Seattle put two on in the ninth, courtesy of singles by Montero (who was pulled for a pinch runner) and Seager, but Luis Ayala worked out of the jam, and Josh Kinney's 1-2-3 ninth sent the game into extras.

The first two extra innings were pitched by Pedro Strop and Matt Lindstrom for Baltimore, and Oliver Perez (really!) for Seattle; the pitchers combined to allow only a single single. In the twelfth, Lindstrom gave up hits to Carp and Kawasaki, but nothing further, while Shawn Kelley shut down the Oriole offense completely. Darren O'Day allowed a two-out single-and-steal to Eric Thames in the thirteenth, while Kelley walked McLouth with two away. O'Day was perfect in the top of the fourteenth.

Quintanilla led off the bottom of the fourteenth with a hit, and moved to second when Markakis matched him. Hardy bunted the runners over, and Chris Davis was intentionally walked to load the bases. Sadly for the M's, that intentional walk also brought (probably) Baltimore's best hitter to the plate, and Adam Jones singled in the winning run.

That's rather a nice comeback win - kind of similar to Tampa's in Game 162 last year, although less extreme. Longer, though, which helps it grade out pretty well.

Game of the day (last year): A's 5, Rays 4 (10). The David Price-Trevor Cahill pitching matchup lived up to what might be expected of it... briefly.

Neither pitcher gave up a hit in the first inning. In the second, Price allowed a single to David DeJesus and a walk to Scott Sizemore. A bunt moved both runners into scoring position, but Price rallied to strike out the next two hitters and preserve the scoreless tie. Cahill also gave up a hit (to Casey Kotchman) and a walk (to Matt Joyce), but left the runners on first and second. Jemile Weeks led off the third with a single, but couldn't advance past second in the inning, leaving Tampa to open the scoring in the bottom of the third. Sean Rodriguez was hit by a pitch, stole second, and moved to third on a bunt hit by Desmond Jennings. Johnny Damon hit into a force at second to bring Rodriguez home, then stole second himself before being left there.

Oakland quickly got the run back in the fourth, when DeJesus hit a ground-rule double and Ryan Sweeney singled him home, but the Rays went ahead once more in the bottom of the inning. Kotchman led off with a tiebreaking homer, and they added singles from Joyce, Rodriguez, and Jennings to bring in their third run of the game. Damon drew a walk to load the bases, but Evan Longoria flied out to leave them that way.

The A's rallied once more in the top of the fifth. Weeks led off with a triple, and one out later, jogged home ahead of Hideki Matsui's game-tying 2-run homer. With two outs, DeJesus singled, and Sizemore walked, prompting Price's removal from the game. JP Howell replaced him, and Sweeney worked the new pitcher for a 10-pitch walk to load the bases. With Landon Powell at the plate, Howell unleashed a wild pitch, allowing DeJesus to score the go-ahead run.

Cahill was perfect in the fifth and sixth, and the Tampa bullpen faced three batters each in the sixth and seventh. Brian Fuentes quickly recorded the first two outs in the bottom of the seventh, then was replaced by Grant Balfour. Balfour's second pitch was hit over the left field wall by Longoria to tie the game at 4.

Joel Peralta pitched the eighth. He walked Sweeney and allowed a single to Powell, but Adam Rosales hit into a double play to end the inning. Balfour pitched a spotless bottom of the inning, and Kyle Farnsworth matched him in the top of the ninth. Fautino de los Santos allowed a two-out single to Jennings, but nothing else, sending the game into a spare inning. That inning started with Josh Willingham working a full count from Jake McGee, then hitting his sixth pitch across the left field fence for a go-ahead homer. Andrew Bailey allowed back-to-back one-out singles to Ben Zobrist and Kotchman in the bottom of the tenth, but retired BJ Upton and Joyce to end the game.

Three comebacks and extra innings. Not utterly spectacular, but the fans got their money's worth, even if they were watching a team that played Adam Rosales at first base. (First base! Seriously!)