Oh, what a night!

As if Ubaldo Jimenez’s no-hitter was not enough excitement for one day, the Mets and Cardinals took part in a marathon contest, playing a 20-inning game Saturday in St. Louis.  If that does not…, the most remarkable part of the monumental occasion was that the two teams went scoreless through the first 18 frames!  That’s like back-to-back shutouts being thrown by both teams!  In a game that took nearly seven hours and featured an astounding 18 pitchers (two of whom were actually position players that Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sent to the hill), three Met hitters – Jose Reyes, Jason Bay, and Jeff Francoeur – went a combined 0 for 21.  That is an ugly line in the box score for three of the team’s four best offensive players.

How ‘bout that?

How about Roy Halladay?  In his first four starts, Halladay is 4-0 with a 0.82 ERA and a 0.879 WHIP.  He has thrown two complete games – including one shutout – and in 33 innings pitched, has struck out 28 while walking three.  The ace of the Philadelphia pitching staff has more wins than walks, and has collected as many hits (three) in the batter’s box as he has allowed earned runs.  With a strong team playing behind him, Halladay has a real chance to become baseball’s first 25-game winner since Bob Welch, who in 1990 won 27 of his 35 starts.

How about Jorge Cantu?  The Marlins infielder had a hit and an RBI in the first 10 games of 2010 to set a new record to begin a season.  It is worth noting that Cantu also collected a hit and RBI in the last four games he played in 2009 and dating back to last year, he has a 20-game hitting streak.  Cantu’s consistency has helped Florida to a 9-7 record thus far – just a game and a half behind the division-leading Phillies.  To put into perspective how impressive Cantu’s hit-and-RBI streak is, consider this: during Joe Dimaggio’s 56-game hitting streak in 1941, the longest RBI streak he put together was seven consecutive games; in fact, The Yankee Clipper even went seven games straight without an RBI.

How about the Astros?  After losing its first eight games of the season, Houston has won five of seven – including four in a row earlier this week – to leave the Orioles with far and away the worst record in the majors at 2-14.  The Astro lineup was badly missing Lance Berkman; Carlos Lee, who usually bats cleanup behind Berkman, did not drive in a run until the team’s 14^th game of the season – which happened to be Berkman’s second game back from the DL – and is hitting .145/.175/.164 with just one RBI to Berkman’s three (in three games).

Pirates crushed by slugging Brewers

If losing 8-1 and 8-0 on back-to-back days at home to a division rival were not embarrassing enough, the Pirates fell to the Brewers yesterday by the score of 20-0.  That’s not a typo; visiting Milwaukee scored 20 runs – on a whopping 25 hits – and shut out their hosts.  Perhaps the ugliest stat of all is that Milwaukee outscored Pittsburgh 36-1 in the three-game series.

In case you’re wondering about the 25 hits, it’s not even close to the MLB single-game record.  In 1932, the Cleveland Indians had 33 hits in an 18-inning-game with the Phillies.  The record for a nine-inning game is from much more recent history: on August 28, 1992, in front of 50,000 fans, the visiting Milwaukee Brewers (who else?) collected an astonishing 31 hits en route to destroying the Toronto Blue Jays, 22-2.

Get well soon

I’d like to wish a speedy recovery to Brad Ausmus, who in his 18^th big league season – as a catcher, no less – finds himself on the Disabled List for the first time in his career.  Ausmus underwent surgery on his back last week and expects to be out until late summer.

Knock ‘em dead, Brennan

Best of luck to Brennan Boesch, who was just called up from Toledo to replace Carlos Guillen on the Tigers’ roster.  Guillen strained a hamstring in last night’s game against the Angels, and Boesch, the best hitter on the Mud Hens, was the logical choice for promotion.  Boesch’s absence in the Toledo lineup will not go unnoticed, but I certainly hope he finds plenty of success in The Show.