This is a dreadful Birthday Team. Bay, Bonura, Boyle, and Tresh are all pretty okay, and then there's just nothing.

C: Tony DePhillips
1B: Zeke Bonura
2B: Larry Schlafly
3B/Manager: Chuck Dressen
SS: Ian Desmond
LF: Jason Bay
CF: Tom Tresh
RF: Dave Gallagher

SP: Henry Boyle
SP: Vic Lombardi
SP: Roric Harrison
SP: Dennis Ribant
SP: George Pechiney
RP: Kevin Walker

Umpire: Eddie Hurley
Fun Name: Red Bowser

Vic Lombardi... A certain magic still lingers in the very name.

I can't imagine anyone in MLB history who would be easier to beat the living tar out of than Johnny Evers. He was 5'9" yet only 125 lbs..... OK, maybe Pete Gray.

I can't imagine anyone in MLB history who would be easier to beat the living tar out of than Johnny Evers. He was 5'9" yet only 125 lbs..... OK, maybe Pete Gray.

Eddie Gaedel.

I can't imagine anyone in MLB history who would be easier to beat the living tar out of than Johnny Evers.

Tinker wasn't exactly Dave Winfield...

Anyone with a decent right cross could have beaten up Conigliaro.

(sorry.)

Eddie Gaedel.

At least in that case you'd be vulnerable to blows to the nuts.

Tim Lincecum has an eating disorder.

Game of the day (yesterday): Reds 6, Cubs 5 (11). The outcomes of these games can't ever really come as a surprise when you're reading them; after all, I do post the final scores at the beginning. But some of them feel more preordained than others.

Cincinnati scored in the first when Drew Stubbs walked and Joey Votto doubled him home. Since the Cub starter was Chris Rusin, the only surprise is that he held the Red offense to one run. Mike Leake cruised through two perfect innings, and the Reds extended their lead in the third when Leake, Brandon Phillips, and Stubbs all singled to load the bases with one out, Votto singled two runs home, and Ryan Ludwick extended the single streak to five with an RBI hit of his own.

Leake's perfect outing extended into the fourth before Anthony Rizzo broke it up with a two-out single. Alfonso Soriano then walked, and Starlin Castro singled as well, bringing Rizzo in with Chicago's first run of the day. Cincinnati got the run back in the fifth when Stubbs singled, stole second, and came around on a hit by Scott Rolen, and Rusin's day ended after that inning with a total of five runs allowed in five innings.

After a scoreless sixth from Michael Bowden, the Cubs finally put a crooked number on the board in the bottom of the inning. Rizzo started things with a two-out single, and Soriano followed with a two-run homer. Castro then singled, and Luis Valbuena doubled him home, cutting the Chicago deficit to one. Naturally, Valbuena and the tying run he represented were promptly picked off of second. Bowden and James Russell combined on a run-free seventh, and Jose Arredondo responded in kind for the Reds. Shawn Camp contained the Red bats in the eighth, and Cincinnati brought in JJ Hoover for the bottom of the inning. Hoover walked Darwin Barney, but then retired Rizzo and Soriano. Castro singled, however, and Valbuena walked to load the bases. Up next was Wellington Castillo, and Hoover issued yet another free pass to him, this one on four pitches, forcing in the tying run. Sam LeCure replaced Hoover and struck out Brett Jackson to end the inning one batter late.

Carlos Marmol worked a perfect ninth, while LeCure allowed only one runner to reach in the bottom of the inning - and that was on a K/WP. Jaye Chapman worked a scoreless tenth for the Cubs, and the Reds put in Logan Ondrusek for the latter half of the frame. Castro singled (his fourth hit of the game) with one out, and Valbuena singled as well; not only that, but Stubbs's error on the play allowed the runners to take second and third. Castillo struck out looking, and Jackson walked, loading the bases. Up stepped pinch hitter Steve Clevenger. Naturally, having watched the preceding hitter walk on four pitches, Clevenger swung at Ondrusek's first offering and grounded it to first, ending the inning.

Alberto Cabrera retired the first two Cincinnati hitters in the eleventh, but the Cubs were already doomed, so Cabrera wasn't going to get in the way. Indeed, David DeJesus allowed Phillips to reach on a two-base error, and Stubbs followed that with an RBI single. An intentional walk and hit batsman then loaded the bases before Jay Bruce flied out to keep the Cubs within striking distance, but Jonathan Broxton worked a 1-2-3 inning for the save.

Given the quality of the respective lineups and pitching staffs, it's rather amazing that the Cubs even sent this one to extras. Still, as happens very, very often, the better team won. If you're the 2012 Reds, you can get away with leaving double-digit runners on base. Not so much when you're this year's Cubs.

Potential Sveum flub in that game too. He brought on Marmol to pitch the top of the 9th but didn't double-switch even though Marmol was due to lead off the bottom of the 9th. Marmol hadn't pitched in 3 days so he probably could have and should have gone two innings. Not that Marmol is the most reliable reliever in the world but he's probably a better choice to hold the Reds in the 10th than Chapman (who did just that of course). But I can't blame Sveum if he was thinking that Marmol shouldn't go two -- I just hope he at least considered it.

Game of the day (last year): Blue Jays 3, Angels 2 (10). In the first four innings, LA's Jerome Williams did not retire the side in order once. He allowed one-out singles to Eric Thames and Jose Bautista in the first, a leadoff hit by Kelly Johnson in the second, and a leadoff double to JP Arencibia in the third. In the fourth, walks by Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie were sandwiched around an ROE by Johnson. Colby Rasmus hit into a 3-2-3 double play, but Arencibia followed it with a two-run single to put the Jays on the board.

Meanwhile, Ricky Romero retired twelve of the first thirteen Angels. But the thirteenth was Torii Hunter, who led off the second with a homer. And the fourteenth was Mark Trumbo, who led off the fifth with a homer, tying the game. Behold: the power of, well, power.

Romero allowed two more hits in the fifth, but a double play helped him keep the Angels from retaking the lead. Romero and Williams both cruised through the sixth; Romero did the same in the seventh, while Williams was pulled after registering the inning's first out. Hisanori Takahasi took over and finished off the perfect inning. Romero set the Angels down in order once more in the eighth; Takahashi issued a one-out walk, but Bobby Cassevah came on and kept the Jays from scoring. Hunter broke Romero's string of 10 outs in a row with a two-out single in the ninth, but retired Trumbo to complete what would have been a complete game if the Jays had capitalized on the singles by Encarnacion and Johnson that opened the ninth. Lawrie bunted the runners over, but Scott Downs retired Jose Molina (who was pinch hitting for Colby Rasmus, which tells you what kind of year Rasmus had for the Jays) and Arencibia to end the inning.

Casey Janssen replaced Romero on the mound to start the tenth. Vernon Wells greeted him with a double, and Peter Bourjos bunted Wells to third, but a strikeout and a groundout left him there. Mike McCoy led off the bottom of the inning by reaching on an error, Thames singled him to second, and after Bautista hit into a force at second, Adam Lind brought the winning run home.

Gotta love pitcher wins: Romero goes 9 innings, allowing 6 hits, no walks, 5 K's, and two runs, and gets absolutely no credit for the victory. He does, however, get the pleasure of participating in an excellent pitcher's duel.