Six Bases and a Five Pitch Win

HITTING
There were three players who missed hitting for the cycle by a single hit last night. Jay Gibbons in the TAM/BAL game missed it by a triple. Johnny Estrada also missed the cycle by a triple in the WAS/MIL game. Omar Infante hit his first double and first triple of the season in the SEA/DET game, but never got a shot at the home run. But, none of these were last night's hitting nugget.

Instead, that honor goes to Hank Blalock from the TEX/NYY game:

                  AB  R   H  RBI  BB  K  LOB
H. Blalock 3b     3   0   3   0   1   0   0

2B - H Blalock 3 (10, A Pettitte 2, S Proctor)

3-for-3 with three doubles. That's a heck of a night by any hitter's standards.

FIELDING
There weren't many fielding nuggets last night, so the honor goes to the infield trio of Scott Rolen, Adam Kennedy, and Albert Pujols for turning the exact same double play twice in the COL/STL game:

DP - 2 (S Rolen-A Kennedy-A Pujols 2)

PITCHING
Yesterday, I gave the honor to Saul Rivera for his nine-strike inning, so it was tempting to hand it to Chad Billingsley for coming one ball short of striking out three players on nine pitches in the LAD/FLA game.

Instead, I have to give the honor to closer-turned-middle reliever Brad Lidge for getting the win in the HOU/CIN game while doing just about the least amount of work possible:

                      IP    H   R   ER  BB  K   HR
B. Lidge (W, 2-0)     0.1   0   0   0   0   1   0

Pitches-strikes - B Lidge 5-3

With a total of five pitches, three of which were good for strikes, Lidge struck out a single batter. Those five pitches and that strikeout to finish the sixth inning were followed by two runs in the top of the seventh inning to give Houston the lead for good. That not only gave the Astros a win, but gave five-pitch, one-out Lidge a win as well.