Monday, April 04, 2011
Happy day-versary, Ryan Braun
Posted by Chris JaffeHere's another one of those silly day counting things I sometimes do: 10,000 days ago, Milwaukee Brewer slugger Ryan Braun was born.
Other day-versaries of note today:
1,000 days since A's trade Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubs for four players, including Matt Murton and Sean Gallagher.
2,000 days since the A. J. Pierzynski-Josh Paul incident. With the score tied 1-1 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of Game Two of the ALCS, Pierzynski fans on an apparent swinging strike three. After a brief hesitation, he figures, "Hey, the ball was low and in the dirt" and runs to first. He's safe as Angels catcher Paul has already rolled the ball back to the mound. Instead of the inning ending, Pierzynski's thinking led to the Sox scoring the game-winning run that inning. The Sox wouldn't lose another game all year.
5,000 days since Fernando Tatis' MLB debut. He hit an RBI infield single in his first time to the plate.
9,000 days since Barry Larkin's MLB debut. He appears as a pinch hitter and gets an RBI groundout.
9,000 days since Braves score four runs in the bottom of the ninth to top the Padres, 8-7. All the runs score with two outs.
20,000 days since Ted Kluszewski hits three homers in one game. That was just the tip of the iceberg in an insanely high offensive game in which the Reds defeated the Cardinals 19-15 in 10 innings. There were eight homers and a total 15 pitchers used. Fifteen pitchers is a lot for a current game, but insanely high back then. Twelve of the pitchers allowed at least one run, and the three that didn't lasted a combined two innings. It was just the first game of a doubleheader, too. Cincy won the second contest, 7-1.
History instructor by day, statnerd by night, Chris Jaffe leads one of the most exciting double lives imaginable; with the exception of every other double life possible to imagine. Despite his lack of comic-book-hero-worthiness, Chris enjoys farting around with this stuff. His new book, Evaluating Baseball's Managers is available for order. Chris welcomes responses to his articles via e-mail. Oh, and now he's on twitter.