Six Days, Six Apperances, Five Saves

PITCHING
Today's pitching nugget actually comes from a series of box scores. Francisco Cordero took the ball in the ninth inning of the WAS/MIL game last night and finished off the Nationals for yet another save. Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but here are Cordero's box score lines, most recent first, from the last six days. That's right, DAYS!

                       IP    H   R   ER  BB  K   HR
F. Cordero (S, 15)     1.0   1   0   0   0   1   0
F. Cordero (S, 14)     1.0   1   1   1   0   1   0
F. Cordero (S, 13)     1.0   0   0   0   0   1   0
F. Cordero (S, 12)     1.0   0   0   0   0   1   0
F. Cordero (S, 11)     0.1   0   0   0   0   0   0
F. Cordero             1.0   0   0   0   0   0   0

It's rare that a closer will close a game three days in a row. Four days in a row is pretty much unheard of. Five days in a row and owners and fans start questioning the sanity of the manager. Six days in a row might just be one of the official signs of the apocalypse.

But, apocalypse or not, Cordero not only pitched in a game six days in a row, he also managed to get a save in five straight. It will likely be a LONG time before a stretch of games like this is ever seen again, which is why it's today's nugget.

HITTING
There are a lot of 1-0 games in baseball. I'm sure there are a fair number of those 1-0 games in which the only run was scored by a solo home run. But how many of those 1-0 games were won by a solo home run in a team's first at bat? That's what happened last night when Alfonso Soriano hit a home run in the bottom of the first to give the Cubs a win in the PIT/CHC game:

HR - A Soriano (3, 1st inning off T Gorzelanny 0 on,
0 Out)

HITTING (Take 2)
Without an interesting fielding nugget last night, I've decided to go with another hitting nugget. This one comes from the SEA/DET game, in which every Mariner starter got a hit. In fact, not only did all nine starters get a hit, but six of them got a double:

2B - Y Betancourt (6, N Robertson);
R Ibanez (5, N Robertson); R Sexson (8, N Robertson);
A Beltre (5, N Robertson); J Lopez (3, J Grilli);
I Suzuki (6, J Grilli).

It's no wonder they won the game by seven runs.