John Baker Gets The Win For The Cubs In 16

((HT: MLB.com))

Big deal, you say...???

John Baker is a Cubs catcher brought on to pitch the 16th inning last night at Wrigley and he did this...


It was the longest-timed game for both teams at 6 hours and 27 minutes. Baker admitted he hadn't pitched since the Cape Cod League, so we're probably talking at least a dozen years ago.

Frankly, the HQ blames Colin Cowherd since he was the one who sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame." We don't know what we would blame him for, but we'll blame him just because.

The Most Out-of-Control Half-Inning On The Mound Ever

((HT: Deadspin/MLB))

The HQ has a lot of friends north of the border and all we saw on the Twitter machine was the live responses to this...
It broke down like this... A franchise-record 8 walks in the 8th inning over three pitchers- Delabar, Santos, and JA Happ... A reliever who throws three wild pitches in Santos... The at-bats went this way... Steve Delabar started the inning walk walk sac bunt Pitching Change: Santos for Delabar walk wild pitch walk and wild pitch stolen base walk and wild pitch Pitching Change: Happ for Santos- Santos does not retire a batter stolen base walk walk single walk strikeout groundout John Gibbons got to talk about it after the game and reliever Steve Delabar states the obvious

Tracy McGrady Ready For Live Pitching

((HT: MyFoxHouston))

And, no, the HQ doesn't mean that in some metaphorical sense...

The Sugar Land Skeeters of the independent baseball leagues have taken a flyer on Tracy McGrady as a pitcher for the upcoming season. He was pitching to an independent baseballer who was told just to stand there and not swing...

T-Mac was graded with a fastball in the high 80's without any real formal training...
But when you're 6-8, things look a little more intimidating than it really may be...

Here's the look at Day One of a new career...
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Next up- dudes who will swing...

Exit Sandman...

((HT: YES/MLB))

There was only one way to do this...

In his last game at Yankee Stadium, Mariano Rivera was pulled...
But not in the way you think...


The best part...???

Michael Kay laid out for almost four minutes on play-by-play...
Classy move... very classy...

Ryan Raburn's 1-2-3 Inning...

((HT: FS Indians))

Ryan Raburn was brought in by Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona in a blowout so as not to blow out his bullpen...

Evidence below of a new stop-gap measure for the Tribe...


Well done, Raburn...
And don't think that Matt Tuiasosopo will ever live it down...

Or anything...

David Murphy Leads The Rangers In ERA

((HT: NESN/MLB))

It was a wacky inning for the Rangers and Red Sox in the bottom of the 8th at Fenway Park...

The game was well out of hand at 17-5, so Ron Washington decides to bring in David Murphy to pitch the last Red Sox at-bat. Murphy gets a strike out after giving up a double, and then we get all of this...


An ejection arguing balls and strikes...
And a downhill hitting appearance for the Sox after the backwards k...

Here's the officially-sanctioned short version...
((HT: MLB.com))

Rasmus Vs. Rasmus: Rasmus Wins

((HT: Sportsnet/MLB))

Colby and Cory Rasmus are on two separate sides of the whole "playing in Major League Baseball" thing...

Colby is the starting center fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays
Cory is a reliever in his rookie year for the Atlanta Braves

Tim Hudson's outing on the road in SkyDome was less than sterling, so it meant the bullpen got called in a 6-1 game...

And in MLB's version of "Family Feud Meets Thunderdome," here's what happened...


It's always the older brother, isn't it...???

Oh... Toronto won 9-3...

Colby went 2-for-4, by the way, with a home run off Hudson. He's now hitting .244 with 8HR and 22RBI
Cory pitched the final two innings, gave up 3 earned runs on three hits, and now sports a 12.27 ERA

Umps Boof Pitching Change In Astros-Angels Game

((HT: CSN Houston/MLB))

If things couldn't get any worse for the pee-ahr of umpires these days, we now have this...

In the Angels-Astros game, manager Bo Porter wanted the pitcher who came in to the game, Wesley Wright, to stop throwing warm up pitches after he entered the game. Porter wanted to bring in Hector Ambriz when the Angels switched pinch-hitters in the on-deck circle.

The rule that applies is that Wright had to face a batter since he entered...

Mike Scioscia was hot about the pitching change and thought the rule was applied incorrectly and played the rest of the game under protest. Fortunately, for the halos, they score three runs and came from behind to win 6-5...

Here's the fiasco...


Crew chief Fieldin Culbreth had the sum total of a sentence to address the situation...

"Well, the only thing I can tell you is that all matters concerning protests are handled through the league office," he said.

Nice dodge...