Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Thirty!

And no, I'm not talking about my age.

The Texas Rangers beat the Baltimore Orioles today by a score of 30-3. The "game notes" section says that this is the most runs scored by one team at least since 1900. Let's consider a few of the more interesting things I see in the box scores. I'm sure Jayson Stark will have loads more in his next Useless Info column.

Two Rangers had eight plate appearances. Four is about average, with some guys at the top of the order getting to five.

All 30 runs were earned runs.

Baltimore got out to a 3-0 lead, which means the Rangers scored 30 unanswered runs.

The Orioles only used four pitchers. You'll see 2-1 games where both teams will use more than that. They gave up 6, 8, 7 and 9 runs each.

Orioles pitchers threw 252 pitches, 120 more than Rangers pitchers. The Orioles actually threw more strikes than the Rangers threw pitches (157-132).

If the Orioles had driven in all the men they left on base, they would have lost 30-20.

The weak link in the Rangers lineup was Michael Young, who was "only" 2 for 5 with a run scored, no RBI, and five left on base.

The Rangers scored all their runs in four innings: five in the fourth, nine in the sixth, ten in the eighth, and six in the ninth.

The Rangers set a record for the most runs scored by one team in a doubleheader, and that was before the second game even started.

Wes Littleton earned a save in a game decided by a 27-run margin.

The Rangers scored on sixteen different plays.

If Texas received an additional win for each run scored, they would go from fifteen games under .500 to fifteen games over.

The Rangers hit two grand slams and three three-run homers. That's 17 runs on five swings of the bat.

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