Arizona reliever Eddie Oropesa, Sept. 2, vs. Los Angeles:
1 2/3 IP, 9 H, 10 R, 10 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 1 HBP, 61 pitches to get 4 outs.
The gory details
Towers and Oropesa became the sixth and seventh relief pitchers in the last 10 years to give up 10 runs in one appearance.
Best quote
From Towers, who never threw another pitch in the big leagues after all the shrapnel from this sniping had been removed: "I thought I made some good pitches. I guess I didn't."
Palindrome dept.
Since 2002 was The Year of the Palindrome, we tried to take note of some of the fascinating palindrome lines out there. Oakland's Aaron Harang had a perfectly symmetrical palindrome line, June 15 against the Giants:
4 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K.
The gory details
So what was Harang's record at the end of the day? A palindromish 2-2.
Gimme five palindrome line of the year
Tampa's Bay's Juan Sosa, July 26, vs. the Yankees:
5 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 K.
As our humorist-at-large, Rich Donnelly, said after an identical line by Colorado's Shawn Chacon last year, "He should have done it on Cinco de Mayo."
Palindrome footnote
For what it's worth, the only pitcher whose name is a palindrome -- Robb Nen -- had just five palindrome lines all year -- four 1-0-0-0-0-1s and one 2-0-0-0-0-2.
Deja vu line of the year
Kris Benson's line Sept. 17, vs. Cincinnati:
5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR.
Benson's very familiar-looking line in his next start, Sept. 22, vs. the Cubs:
5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR.
The gory details
In all our years of chronicling starting pitchers' box-score lines, we've never had a previous case of a pitcher rolling out identical lines in back-to-back starts.
Quote of the day
How identical were these two outings? Right down to the Pirates taking the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning in both starts after pinch-hitting for Benson, earning him a pair of wins.
"I'm taking a lot of heat for this in the clubhouse," Benson told the Beaver County Times' John Perrotto. "Some guys are calling me 'Nickle,' because I only go five innings and let them do the work."
Walking-man dept.
Jason Jennings, Sept. 8, vs. San Diego:
| |
|
| |
| 2002 SEASON STATISTICS |
| GM |
IP |
W-L |
BB |
SO |
ERA |
| 32 |
185.1 |
16-8 |
70 |
127 |
4.52 |
|
|
5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ET, 10 BB, 3 K, 108 pitches, 59 balls, 49 strikes.
The gory details
Jennings joined one-time Phillies wild thing Scott Ruffcorn (4 1/3 IP, 10 BB on June 24, 1997) as the only non-knuckleballers and non-Randy Johnsons to walk 10 in a game since a legendary 10-walk, 10-whiff classic by Bobby Witt on Sept. 1, 1990.
Quote of the day
"It was a crazy day that hopefully will never happen again," Jennings said, extremely hopeful.
Epilog
In the start before this game, Jennings walked none in seven innings. In the start after this game, he walked one in 6 1/3 innings.
Tag team dept.
We're not sure what was in the air Aug. 24 (besides strike talk). But there was no other day all year in which a pitcher gave up 11 runs. And on this day, two pitchers did it:
Milwaukee's Jose Cabrera, vs. Pittsburgh:
5 1/3 IP, 11 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 HBP.
And the always-entertaining Jose Lima, vs. Oakland:
2 2/3 IP, 9 H, 11 R, 11 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 2 HR, 76 pitches to get eight outs.
Quote of the year
Lima was released by the Tigers 14 days later, without being allowed to throw another pitch, and said: "I must be the worst pitcher ever born on earth, if I can't pitch for this team."
Uh, see box-score line above.
Mystery pitcher dept.
It was 18-1, Dodgers, in the ninth inning, Sept. 2 in Arizona. So in, for his pitching debut, marched the inimitable Mark Grace:
1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 1 HR.
The gory details
Grace was the third 2,400-hit man (joining Wade Boggs and Jimmie Foxx) to pitch since Babe Ruth threw his last pitch in 1933 -- but the first 2,400-hit man since 1900 to pitch and give up a home run.
Quote of the day
From Dodgers rookie David Ross, on hitting the first homer of his career off Grace: "I'm going to tell everyone -- my kids and my grandkids -- that I hit my first home run off a future Hall of Famer. I just won't tell them who it was."
Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.
