Two Grand Salamis in One Game

cross posted from my regular blog . . .

"Who are Those Guys?"

First off, name the movie for the above line. Bonus points for actually identifying the names of "those guys."

Last night, Mark Buehrle, not content to have thrown a perfect game in his last outing, decided to break the record of retiring 41 straight batters by getting past 45 (that's 27 from the perfect game and 18 more from last night's game).

Now as to this team that plays here in Washington, DC. What has gotten into them? They seem to have found something and have been cracking their bats over their opponents, now having won four in a row and six of their last eight. So when do playoff tickets go on sale? Yes, well, don't get your hopes up, they are still more than 25 games out of first place in the NL East.

A significant record was notched by Nationals outfielder, Josh Willingham in the game against the Brewers on Monday night. Willingham hit two grand slams in the same game, only the 13th time this has happened in the era of modern baseball. Please note this is five less occasions than the perfect games. Evidently baseball is harder than it looks.

Here's the list, which in of itself is interesting as it does not necessarily feature those marquee names that one might expect (there are only two hall of famers on the list). Further, it is interesting to note (and this was a subject of discussion at the lunch table) that, with only one exception, all of these took place on the road.

• May 24, 1936 - Tony Lazzeri, New York Yankees, away game
• July 4, 1939 - Jim Tabor, Boston Red Sox, away game
• July 27, 1946 - Rudy York, Boston Red Sox, away game
• May 9, 1961 - Jim Gentile, Baltimore Orioles, away game
• July 3, 1966 - Tony Cloninger, Atlanta Braves, away game
• June 24, 1968 - Jim Northrup, Detroit Tigers, away game
• June 26, 1970 - Frank Robinson, Baltimore Orioles, away game
• September 4, 1995 - Robin Ventura, Chicago White Sox, away game
• August 14, 1998 - Chris Hoiles, Baltimore Orioles, away game (active)
  
• April 23, 1999 - Fernando Tatís, St. Louis Cardinals, away game
• May 10, 1999 - Nomar Garciaparra, Boston Red Sox, home game (active)
  
• July 29, 2003 - Bill Mueller, Boston Red Sox, away game
• July 27, 2009 - Josh Willingham, Washington Nationals, away game

Week 16 - Transactions

Astronauts

• Activate Carlos Guillen 1B - DET, WAIVE Brian Buscher 1B - MIN

Chilis

• Reserve Aaron Poreda P - CWS, Activate Cla Meredith P - BAL
• Reserve Matt Harrison P - TEX, Activate Jeremy Sowers P - CLE
  

Browns

• Release Ryan Garko 1B - NL
• Move David Ortiz UT - BOS to 1B, Activate Tommy Hunter UT-P - TEX
• Activate P Clay Buchholz (Bos), WAIVE Jason Vargas P - SEA, WAIVE Clayton Richard P - CWS

Induction Sunday

Congratulations to Ricky Henderson, Jim Rice and the late Joe Gordon.

Week 15 - Transactions

Lots of moves, Federals couldn't find a player that wasn't already taken 4 times over (thanks to everyone who sends long lists of players)...
Let me know if I missed anything.

Astronauts

• CLAIM #2 Pat Burrell OF - TAM, WAIVE Travis Buck OF - OAK / Jose Bautista OF - TOR
• Activate Nomar Garciaparra MI - OAK, WAIVE Josh Barfield MI - CLE
• Reserve Matt Tolbert CI - MIN, Activate Brandon Wood CI - LAA
• Activate Mike Lowell 3B - BOS, Move Eric Hinske to Brian N. Anderson, Reserve Anderson UT - CWS
  

Phooeys

• Reserve Gil Meche P - KAN, Activate Sean O’Sullivan P - LAA

WizNatSkins

• Reserve Joel Zumaya P - DET, Activate Alfredo Aceves P - NYY

Presleys

• Reserve Vlad Guerrero OF - LAA, Activate Scott Hairston OF - OAK
• Reserve Dontrelle Willis P - DET, Activate Jason Frasor P - TOR
  

Browns

• Reserve Frank Francisco P - TEX, Activate Marc Rzepcyzinski P - TOR

Federals

• Keep Greg Zaun C - BAL, WAIVE John Buck C - KAN
• Activate Yuniesky Betancourt MI - SEA, WAIVE Nick Green MI - BOS
• Activate Jed Lowrie SS - BOS, WAIVE Ramon Santiago SS - DET
• Release Mark DeRosa - NL, Activate Chris Perez P - CLE
  

Pretzels

• Reserve Mike Carp CI - SEA, Activate Daric Barton CI - OAK

27 Up, 27 Down

Tomorrow night I will be at Nationals Park to see the Nats take on the San Diego Padres. It features two really bad teams. Today, the country's number 1 White Sox fan got to see a rare gem in baseball. It's only happened 18 times in the modern era. Congratulations Mark Buehrle, who threw the no-no today in Chicago. It was the first perfect game in five seasons.

The Perfect Game "club"

1. Lee Richmond, June 12, 1880
2. John Montgomery Ward, June 17, 1880
   
3. Cy Young, May 5 1904
4. Addie Joss, October 2, 1908
5. Charlie Robertson, April 30, 1922
6. Don Larsen, October 8, 1956 (during the World Series)
7. Jim Bunning, June 21, 1964
8. Sandy Koufax, September 9, 1965
9. Catfish Hunter, May 8, 1968
10. Len Barker, May 15, 1981
11. Mike Witt, September 30, 1984
12. Tom Browning, September 16, 1988
13. Dennis Martinez, July 28, 1991
14. Kenny Rogers, July 28, 1994
15. David Wells, May 17, 1998
16. David Cone, July 18, 1999
17. Randy Johnson, May 18, 2004
18. Mark Buehrle, July 23, 2009
    

Week 14 - Transactions

Phooeys

• Reserve Brandon Morrow P - SEA
• Activate John Smoltz P - BOS, Move CJ Wilson P - TEX to Morrow
• CLAIM #2 Jeremy Guthrie P - BAL, WAIVE Juan Cruz P - KAN and Release Nick Adenhart (RIP)
• Reserve B.J. Ryan P - TOR, Activate Mike Wuertz P - OAK
  

WizNatSkins

• Activate Laffey P - CLE, WAIVE Alfredo Aceves P - NYY
• Activate Kenji Johjima C - SEA, Reserve Francisco Cervelli C - NYY
• Keep Nolan Reimold OF - BAL, WAIVE Pat Burrell OF - TAM
  

Federals

• Activate Scott Downs P - TOR, WAIVE Brian Bruney P - NYY
• Activate Ervin Santana P - LAA, WAIVE Grant Balfour P - TAM
  

Pretzels

• Reserve Sean Rodriguez MI - ANA, Activate Howie Kendrick - ANA
• Reserve Ryan Perry P - DET, Activate Matt Guerrier P - MIN
• Activate Roy Halladay P - TOR, WAIVE Sean O’Sullivan P - LAA

Browns

• Reserve Jason Vargas P - SEA, Activate Clayton Richard P - CWS

Week 13 - Transactions

Welcome to the All-Star Break . . .

Mashers

• Activate DeWayne Wise OF - CWS, Reserve Luis Montenez OF - BAL
• Reserve Wilson Betemit 3B - CWS, Activate Willy Aybar 3B - TAM
• Activate Jose Contraras P - CWS, WAIVE Jason Frasor P - TOR
• Reserve Bartolo Colon P - CWS
• Activate Jeremy Accardo P - TOR. Move Accordo to Colon. Keep Zach Miner P - DET
  

Phooeys

• Trade Sean O’Sullivan P - LAA / Roy Halladay P - TOR to Pretzels for Lance Cormier P - TAM / Sean Gallagher P - OAK and Jesus Montero NYY [minors]

Chilis

• Trade Carl Crawford OF - TAM to Federals for Coco Crisp OF - KAN / RyanRaburn OF - DET, Federals 2010 #1, and Federals 2011 #2

Pretzels

• Trade Lance Cormier P - TAM / Sean Gallagher P - OAK and Jesus Montero NYY [minors] to Phooeys for Sean O’Sullivan P - LAA / Roy Halladay P - TOR

Federals

• Trade Coco Crisp OF - KAN / Ryan Raburn OF, Federals 2010 #1, and Federals 2011 #2 to Chilis for Carl Crawford OF - TAM
• CLAIM #1 Ramon Ramirez P - BOS, WAIVE Jeremy Guthrie P - BAL
  

Browns

• Reserve Scott Richmond P - TOR, Activate Anthony Swarzek P - MIN

Week 12 - Transactions

Astronauts

• Reserve Mike Lowell 3B – BOS, Activate Eric Hinske 3B – NYY
• Reserve Josh Barfield MI – CLE, Activate Nomar Garciaparra MI – OAK
  

Phooeys

• Activate Gio Gonzalez P – OAK, WAIVE Russ Springer P – OAK
• Activate Scott Kazmir P – TAM, WAIVE Ramon Ramirez P – BOS
• Activate Mark Ellis 2B – OAK, WAIVE Willy Aybar 2B – TAM
  

Pretzels

• Reserve Daric Barton CI – OAK, Activate Mike Carp (SEA)
• Reserve Matt Joyce OF – TAM, Activate Mark Kotsay (BOS)
• Reserve Koji Uehara P – BAL, Activate Darren O'Day (TEX)
  

Browns

• Reserve Josh Outman P – OAK
• Activate Frank Francisco P – TEX, Move Jason Vargas P – SEA to Outman
  

Federals

• Release Yuniesky Betancourt MI – NL, Activate Nick Green MI – BOS