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I'll never forget walking into the office that May afternoon in 1998 and having excited co-workers ask, "Did you see what just happened?"

Kerry Wood had struck out 20 batters.

He was 20 years old, making his fifth career major league start for the Chicago Cubs, and he had just blown away the Houston Astros, one of the best hitting teams in the league. We saw the highlights on "SportsCenter." Yes, it was a gray, overcast day at Wrigley Field, and maybe the Astros had trouble picking up the ball, but I'm not sure it mattered all that much. I remember the "SportsCenter" highlights, in which they showed all 20 strikeouts in rapid-fire fashion. I've since watched the game on replay.

You can talk about Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson at their best, but I've never seen a more dominating pitching performance. His pitches were moving like whiffle balls thrown in the middle of the Columbia River Gorge, except they were moving at 95 miles per hour.

The Astros had no chance.

They managed one infield single and Wood hit a batter, so it wasn't a perfect game or even a no-hitter. But by the Bill James Game Score method, it was the best game ever pitched. Game Score rewards pitchers for strikeouts, and subtracts points for runs, hits and walks. There have been just nine starts of nine innings in which a pitcher scored 100 or better. Ryan (twice), Johnson, Curt Schilling, Warren Spahn and Brandon Morrow scored 100; Ryan (with a 16-strikeout, two-walk no-hitter) and Sandy Koufax (his 14-strikeout perfect game) scored 101.

Kerry Wood's game? 105. Nine innings, one hit, no walks, 20 K's. Untouchable.

We all know what happened after that. Wood threw across his body, causing an abrupt snap as his shoulder crashed into his chest, and analysts predicted that motion would eventually lead to an injury. It didn't help that Cubs manager Jim Riggleman had Wood run up some high pitch counts that rookie season -- 133, 129, 128, 123, 123, eight games of 120-plus in all. He missed the final month of the season with a sore elbow, but the Cubs brought him back to start a playoff game. The following spring, his elbow gave out. Tommy John surgery.

To his credit, Wood never blamed Riggleman. "My elbow was going to go," Wood told The Washington Post in 2010. "If it didn't go with [Riggleman] it would've gone with someone else. It was the way I was throwing, the stuff I had, the torque I was generating. It was a matter of time."

Wood recovered and returned as a power pitcher, although his stuff was never quite as electric. In 2003, he made the All-Star team and led the National League in strikeouts. The Cubs won the division. Dusty Baker worked him hard that year. He threw 141 pitches in a May victory against the Cardinals, 130 in a 1-0 shutout against the Marlins in July. In his final six starts of the regular season, he threw 125, 120, 122, 114, 125 and 122 pitches.

In Game 5 of the division series, Wood allowed one run in eight innings to beat the Braves in the series clincher. It was one of the great moments in Cubs history, getting them one round closer to the World Series, the unthinkable becoming believable. And then, in the NLCS against the Florida Marlins ... Game 6, the heartbreaker. But the Cubs still had Game 7 and Wood on the mound.

I remember sitting at home alone that night, watching the game. I wasn't a Cubs fan but of course you were rooting for them, rooting for Wood, a reward for all the elbow pain, the surgery, the rehab he'd gone through over the years. Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run homer off him in the top of the first, but the Cubs fought back. Wood himself hit a two-run homer in the second; the Cubs led 5-3. Wood to the rescue.

The World Series, of course, was not to be. The Marlins scored three runs in the fifth. Baker stuck with Wood, unwilling to admit Wood couldn't will the Cubs to victory that night, no matter how sentimental that storyline. Baseball isn't like that. Finally, after two singles in the sixth, Baker went to the mound. The Cubs' fans gave Wood a loud ovation, bittersweet and melancholy.

Wood was never the same after that. He got injured in 2004, made just 10 starts in 2005 and four in 2006, then spent the past six seasons pitching in relief, moving from the Cubs to the Indians to the Yankees and back to the Cubs.

It's weird; you're only supposed to feel sad, I suppose, when your favorite player retires. But for some reason, I felt a pit in my stomach Friday when I heard Wood was retiring. I can't help but think back to the May afternoon and those 20 strikeouts and how a co-worker of mine always referred to him as "Baby Kerry" after that because he looked so young and was a little chubby in his appearance, a kid in a man's sport, a kid with unhittable stuff. Maybe it's just remembering your own younger days, when you could watch in awe of an athletic performance, thinking of that golden arm.

Wood won 86 games in his career, never pitched in the World Series, made a lot of money. He does have one important lasting legacy, beyond that 20-strikeout game: In part because of what happened to Wood (and teammate Mark Prior and others), teams are more careful with how they handle young starters. You won't see 20-year-old kids throwing 130 pitches in a game, no matter their ability. One reason we're seeing so many good young pitchers now and declining levels of offense is that pitchers are healthier and not flaming out in the minors or early on in their major league careers.

Sure, maybe teams are too cautious with this approach, but I'd rather see that than what happened with Wood. He undoubtedly won't view himself as an unfortunate trailblazer, but rather as a pitcher who grinded his way through 14 major league seasons, giving his best.

In the end, that's all each of us can do, no matter our gifts.

We closed another week of excellent Baseball Today podcasts with Friday’s edition , as Mark Simon and I reflected on positives in the baseball world, and looked ahead to a fun interleague weekend!

1. Kerry Wood decides to call an end to his career, and we point to his career achievements rather than focus on the negative, including his amazing strikeout legacy.

2. Atlanta Braves ace Brandon Beachy keeps on winning, and keeps on doing it in a far different way than we’ve seen from him before.

3. Interleague play is here! Time for my annual rant on why it’s not only about the teams from Chicago, New York and Los Angeles meeting, but for that 10-year-old kid in Kansas City finally getting to see Justin Upton hit.

4. Our emailers want to discuss Emmanuel Burriss, the Pittsburgh Alleghenys and really, so much more, and we want what our emailers want!

5. Our weekend preview focuses on numerous series in which teams with similar records face off, from Pirates-Tigers to the battle of the Beltway and more. Plus, what to expect from Albert Pujols, Jose Bautista, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Hamilton!

So download and listen to Friday’s fun Baseball Today, and have a great weekend! Power Rankings on Monday!

SweetSpot blogger Dave Schoenfield and I gathered for Monday’s Baseball Today podcast with our big top-10 lists of best teams and much more!

1. Seattle Mariners announcer Dave Sims talked about the Mariners, whether Ichiro will be in a Mariners uniform next season, Jesus Montero, cheering for the home team, the many young players on the horizon and ... hats.

2. Power Rankings day! Dave, Mark Simon and I each submitted our lists, with some similarities but alas, not all division leaders made it. And which NL team is best?

3. How do you pitch to Texas Rangers superstar Josh Hamilton? And how good are the Rangers? We discuss.

4. What has Detroit Tigers lefty Drew Smyly done that hadn’t been done ... ever?

5. We take a closer look at Monday’s schedule, from ESPN’s Cubs-Cardinals tilt to an important series for last season’s NL West champs!

So download and listen to Monday’s Baseball Today podcast and come right back with us Tuesday for me and Keith Law!

The Atlanta Braves pulled off an impressive sweep in St. Louis over the weekend to take over the first place in the National League East. Most impressively, they did it by scoring 23 runs in the three games. While it's not a surprise the Braves are contenders early on, what is surprising is they've done it more with their bats than their arms. Here is our list of top 10 early season surprises.

1. The Atlanta Braves' offense.

As Diane Firstman wrote the other day on the SweetSpot blog, the Braves have a chance at a historic turnaround on offense. A year ago, they averaged 3.96 runs per game, 8 percent below the major league average of 4.28 runs per game. This year, they're averaging 5.40 runs while the major league average has fallen to 4.18. That's 29 percent better, a 37 percent increase over 2011. Only a handful of teams have shown a 30 percent improvement like that year-to-year.

Some of the improvement was expected --- Jason Heyward and Martin Prado hitting better, for example. Michael Bourn has been superlative in the leadoff spot, hitting .336 with a .399 on-base percentage, but the biggest surprise has perhaps been the old man, Chipper Jones, who is hitting .299 and slugging .506. He has 22 RBIs in 24 games. With rookie shortstop Tyler Pastornicky holding his own, the Braves go eight deep and the scary thing is catcher Brian McCann hasn't really started to hit and you get the feeling Heyward is ready to explode.

2. The Baltimore Orioles are in first place.

The Orioles bounced back from losing three of four to the Texas Rangers by winning their weekend series against the Rays to maintain a one-game lead over Tampa. The Orioles live and die by the home run on offense -- they lead the majors with 54; their .310 OBP, however, ranks just 17th in the majors. Jake Arrieta got pounded again on Sunday and has allowed 13 runs his past two starts after that eight-inning shutout performance against the Yankees. That means three-fifths of Baltimore rotation has an ERA over 5.00. So, yes, there are obvious question marks here. But for now the Orioles have Matt Wieters and Adam Jones mashing, a lights-out bullpen and Jason Hammel pitching like an ace.

3. The Oakland Athletics and Houston Astros aren't terrible.

I heard a lot of mocking of the A's and Astros heading into the season -- predictions of 105 losses, 110, maybe even 115. Both teams have played solid baseball. The A's are 18-17 and as always Billy Beane has constructed a pitching staff that will keep the A's respectable. Brandon McCarthy, Bartolo Colon and Tommy Milone throw strikes, while rookie Jarrod Parker has looked good in his first four starts. Set-up man Ryan Cook, acquired with Parker in the Trevor Cahill trade, hasn't allowed a run in 16.2 innings (and hardly a hit -- opponents are batting .060 against him.)

The Astros, meanwhile, are 15-19 but have actually outscored their opponents. Jose Altuve is as fun as any player in the game, Jed Lowrie has played well and veteran Wandy Rodriguez could be an attractive trade chip if he keeps pitching like this. The Astros aren't going to be playoff contenders, but at least they've giving their fans a reason to show up this summer.

4. Bryan LaHair and Jeff Samardzija.

The Chicago Cubs are bad team but have two of the season's best individual stories. Minor league vet LaHair is putting up All-Star numbers, hitting .340/.437/.670. Samardzija has been a revelation in the rotation, considering he had trouble throwing strikes as a reliever in 2011. His average fastball velocity of 94.7 mph trails only Stephen Strasburg among starters and his changeup has become one of the best strikeout pitches in the game. With a 4-1 record and 2.89 ERA, the former Notre Dame wide receiver has turned into must-see viewing for Cubs fans.

5. Derek Jeter.

Admit it, you saw more decline, you thought maybe he was just about done. Maybe you wanted him to be done. Jeter is hitting .372, has 14 extra-base hits, hasn't missed a game, and is playing like 27-year-old Jeter, not 37-year-old Jeter.

6. A.J. Ellis.

OK, Matt Kemp has been superhuman and Chris Capuano and Ted Lilly are both 5-0 but my favorite story on the team that owns baseball's best record is their obscure 31-year-old catcher who ranks third in the majors in OBP -- his .462 OBP higher than Josh Hamilton's .455. Ellis' 21 walks has been boosted by five freebies but the on-base skills are legit. Hey, Don, how about moving Ellis in front of Kemp in the lineup?

7. Bryce Harper.

The Nationals suffered a devastating injury with the loss of catcher Wilson Ramos this weekend, the latest in a string of injuries that includes Michael Morse, Jayson Werth and Drew Storen. Despite that, the Nationals are just a half-game behind the Braves in the NL East thanks to their dominant rotation. We certainly didn't expect Harper to be up so soon, but the 19-year-old has held his own. Trouble is, however, the injuries mean Harper may have to do more than hold his own. I wouldn't bet against him.

8. Parity rules the day.

The Red Sox, Angels and Phillies are in last place.

9. David Wright hitting .400.

When Wright fractured his pinkie four games into the season, Mets fans feared the worst for their franchise third baseman who has battled a string of injuries in recent season. Instead, Wright missed a few games and hasn't stopped hitting since. He's hitting .444 over his past 14 games and the Mets are 19-15 and should not be underestimated.

10. Pitchers are still throwing strikes to Hamilton.

Only Clint Barmes has swung at a higher percentage of pitches outside the strike zone. Hamilton swings at the first pitch over 50 percent of the time. And yet ... OK, easier said than done. As Chipper said after Hamilton swatted four home runs against the Orioles, "He's a bad man."

PHOTO OF THE DAY

We ended a fine week of Baseball Today podcasts with Mark Simon and I talking about what happened the night before and previewing the weekend, and there was lots in between.

1. Josh Beckett didn’t make a lot of friends -- with his performance Thursday night or his comments afterward -- but what is his future with the Red Sox?

2. Staying in the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays added a designated hitter to the fold, but can Vladimir Guerrero really make a difference? We might surprise you.

3. Our Simon Says segment discusses the viability of Bryan LaHair, and focuses on the defensive leaderboard.

4. Emailers want to know about pitching the eighth inning versus the ninth, the most common game scores, and Eduardo Nunez’s ability to play defense.

5. It’s a big weekend for the Angels as they face the Rangers, but we’ve also got our collective eyes on the big AL East battle for first place, and why number 8,000 is significant for an NL East team.

So download and listen to Friday’s Baseball Today podcast, and please have a great weekend!

First base: Donnie Buntball. The situation: The Giants lead the Dodgers 2-1 in the bottom of the eighth, no outs, runners at first and second, Mark Ellis up, Matt Kemp on deck. What do you do? Don Mattingly had Ellis bunt. The Giants of course put Kemp on and brought in lefty killer Javier Lopez to face Andre Ethier, who grounded into a double play to snuff the rally. As Dodger Thoughts author Jon Weisman headlined, "That's why you don't bunt with Matt Kemp on deck." There were three main problems with bunting here: (1) You already had the tying run in scoring position and with two runners on and nobody out, you were set up for a potential big inning; (2) Ellis isn't exactly Chone Figgins, as he has a .377 OBP this season; maybe he would have drawn a walk against a tiring Ryan Vogelsong or gotten a hit himself; (3) Most importantly, you knew the Giants would walk Kemp and bring in a lefty to face Ethier. While Ethier has been decent versus left-handers this season (.286/.352/.449), he's been terrible in the past (.220 with 40 strikeouts in 151 PAs in 2011) and Lopez held lefties to a .163 average in 2011. I'm guessing Mattingly won't be employing that bunt again anytime soon.

Second base: Rockies call up Friedrich. After dominating Class A ball in 2009, Rockies left-hander Christian Friedrich was one of the top pitching prospects in the game. Keith Law ranked him No. 36 on his top 100 list entering 2010. But after struggling for two years in Double-A and battling some arm problems, Friedrich spent a few days over the winter working out with Cliff Lee. Friedrich told MLB.com that Lee reinforced the importance of downhill plane. He also talked with Jamie Moyer during spring training. The results in Triple-A were positive: 30 innings, 23 hits, four walks and 27 strikeouts. He makes his debut today in San Diego, looking to end the Rockies' five-game skid.

Third base: Dempster's bad luck. Cubs starter Ryan Dempster is averaging seven innings per start in his five outings and has allowed six runs, has a 36/10 strikeout/walk ratio and 1.02 ERA. He's 0-1, drawing a no-decision on Tuesday after allowing one run in seven innings in the Cubs' 3-1 loss to the Braves. And then there's Clay Buchholz, the worst starter in baseball so far. He's allowed 34 runs in 32.2 innings, including 10 home runs, and has a 9.09 ERA. He 3-1.

Home plate: Tweet of the day.

Asked #Braves Chipper about #Rangers Josh Hamilton's swings on 4 HRs. He looked up from crossword puzzle and said: "He's a bad man."

— David O'Brien (@ajcbraves) May 9, 2012

Keith Law returned from vacation to join me for a fun Tuesday edition of the Baseball Today podcast!

1. Cole Hamels remains in the news not so much for actions, but words. We discuss his foolishness, a meaningless suspension and Washington's silly response.

2. Speaking of the Nationals, are they really legit now? What about their beltway partners in Baltimore?

3. Chris Sale and his sore elbow are headed to closing rather than starting. Um, should he be on the DL? We talk risk/reward.

4. Our emailers also want to know about roster spots for hitters that do pitch and the Cubs' catching depth.

5. Tuesday's schedule features interesting pitchers, and we discuss why Matt Kemp is playing and what's in store for Will Middlebrooks.

So download and listen to Tuesday's Baseball Today podcast and return Wednesday for top 100 prospect talk!

Eric Karabell and I have a new segment we're calling SweetSpot Stock Watch, where we rationally discuss and occasionally argue about a few players. Today's edition: Red Sox prospect Will Middlebrooks, Cardinals starters Lance Lynn and Kyle Lohse, red-hot Bryan LaHair and Orioles pitcher Jake Arrieta, coming off his dominant effort against the Yankees on Thursday night. And don't forget to check out Eric's fantasy baseball blog on ESPN Insider!

I don't know whether Bryan LaHair is the most surprising story of 2012 or the most intriguing or the most unlikely. You can't evaluate or analyze subjective opinions like that. His is a story that goes beyond numbers -- although those are spectacular, too -- one that reminds us of the hundreds of players who toil in Triple-A, on the cusp of playing in the major leagues, hoping to catch a break.

Most of those guys are a click short on the radar gun or a step too slow in the field or a few feet short with their power. Maybe they have a bad body or a loop in their swing that front offices believe will be exposed against better pitching. Some are one injury on the major league roster from getting an opportunity, if only for a few weeks. Many never get it, relegated to the dreaded label of Four-A player, maybe good enough to get a cup of coffee here and there, but not good enough to ever earn a consistent major league paycheck.

LaHair was a 39th-round draft pick by the Seattle Mariners in 2002, out of St. Petersburg College in Florida -- a school that produced former Mets third baseman Howard Johnson (and Doors frontman Jim Morrison). The 39th round is non-prospect territory, roster filler for low-level minor league squads. The deck was stacked against LaHair from the day he was drafted. He first put himself on the prospect radar by hitting .310 with 22 homers at Class A Inland Empire in 2005. But everybody hits in the California League. The next season, LaHair hit .309 with 16 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A.

Now he was a prospect. "LaHair offers Sean Casey-like production as a first baseman and may have even more power," wrote Baseball America, which named him Seattle's No. 16 prospect prior to 2007. "He uses the entire field and has good plate coverage. ... LaHair isn't very athletic and is limited to first base. He has below-average defensive speed and defensive skills."

And then he wasn't a prospect. He spent all of 2007 at Triple-A Tacoma, hitting .275 with 46 doubles but only 12 home runs. Major league teams don't like unathletic first basemen who hit 12 home runs in Triple-A. Baseball America once again compared him to Casey, but without the power, with his struggles against left-handed pitching and with his apparent lack of slick glovework, his major league prospects were dim. He did get a call-up late in 2008, after the Mariners released Richie Sexson, but he hit .250 BA/.315 OBP/.346 SLG with three home runs in 45 games and struck out 40 times. That's it -- 150 plate appearances, his one chance. He didn't hit, and The Label stuck.

He spent all of 2009 in Tacoma again and hit 26 home runs but the Mariners never called him up. He signed with the Cubs as a free agent and spent all of 2010 at Iowa, now 27 years old and turning into a Triple-A lifer.

There have been other hitters with that label who got a chance. Growing up in Seattle, one of my favorite players was Ken Phelps. He was a local product who put up big numbers with Montreal's Triple-A Wichita team in 1982, hitting .333 with 46 home runs. Can't hit a major league fastball, they said. And the Expos had an aging Al Oliver at first base. The Mariners purchased Phelps from Montreal, and he showed he could hit, batting .249/.392/.521 over six years with Seattle, which famously then flipped him to the Yankees for Jay Buhner.

Matt Stairs was a Four-A hitter, they said. Too short. Bad body. No position. The A's finally gave him a regular job when he was 29. He played until he was 43. Kevin Millar, Brian Daubach, Jack Cust. All had the label. Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz didn't get 100 games in a major league season until he was 28.

So LaHair tore it up in Iowa in 2011, crushing away with a .331/.405/.664 line. Thirty-eight bombs. This wasn't Albuquerque or Reno or Las Vegas. The numbers had some legitimacy in them, if you're the type to believe in numbers. The Cubs called him up in September. He played winter ball. He totaled 55 home runs between the three stops. The Cubs, rebuilding from bottom up, handed him their first-base job. Temporarily, of course, since they also traded for Padres first-base prospect Anthony Rizzo.

"There's no sentiment involved," Cubs president Theo Epstein told ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick in spring training about giving LaHair the job. "It's not a matter of whether someone deserves a chance or not. It's a matter of whether someone can help the Cubs.

"There are a lot of good players who perform all the way through the minor leagues who fail in limited opportunities in the big leagues and never get a longer look. When those players eventually do get a longer look, they have success. I think it benefits us to see what he can do. We think he'll hit big league pitching, so we're going to find out."

See what he can do.

Jerry finished his story with this line: Now it's up to him to determine how long he stays.

LaHair is insanely hot right now. He homered again Wednesday, his sixth of the season, and he's batting .381/.459/.794, giving Cubs fans one reason to keep paying attention to a bad team. Dale Sveum is platooning him, so he doesn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the leaderboards, but his 1.253 OPS would rank second only to Matt Kemp.

"I think for me I just stay consistent with each at-bat," LaHair told ESPN Chicago's Doug Padilla a couple of days ago. "I don’t let any one at-bat overwhelm me. I go pitch to pitch and all I try to do is to get good pitches to hit and hit them hard every at-bat. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t but if I’m consistent doing that I’ll be all right."

We could delve into the numbers and explain that LaHair is striking out a lot, that his average on balls in play is crazy ridiculous -- .600 entering Wednesday's game (he went 1-for-4 with a home run and no strikeouts, so 0-for-3 on balls in play) -- that there's no way he'll keep this up and so on and so on.

Sure, we could do that. But for now let's enjoy a lifer getting his chance to shine.

Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

First base: Well, it was about time a slugger got off the schneid, especially at home, and especially after all the fuss made over his slow start. Naturally, we’re talking about Giancarlo Stanton. Who else could we be talking about? But after having to hear all of the complaints about park dimensions in the Marlins’ new discotheque, aquarium, entertainment complex, and less-than-ordinary baseball venue decorated in the electric boogalloo end of the color palette, the good news is that whatever its other distractions, Marlins Aquarium Park is not a venue that will forever defy Stanton’s fence-busting power. As for the unfortunate detail that he jacked an Earl Weaver special for three runs in the ninth inning down by seven off “why’s he here?” D-backs southpaw du jour Mike Zagurski, well, that’s for the accountants and the bitter few in the stands waiting to see it to quibble over.

Second base: What can you say about the toxic cleanup site found on the mound in Camden Yards after the A’s went China Syndrome and totally melted down in the bottom of the ninth against the Orioles? The O’s are newsworthy enough for their “yeah, we matter too” start, but c’mon. A’s manager Bob Melvin leaving Bartolo Colon out there in the ninth against the heart of the Orioles order when the Beefy One is just weeks shy of his 39th birthday seemed like carelessness at best. Maybe it was a case of mistaken identity ... for the second coming of Luis Tiant? Regardless, Colon was gassed, and once the Orioles lit a match, something was bound to combust, in this case, Grant Balfour.

Third base: Has anybody had a quieter great April than the Cubs’ Bryan LaHair? The journeyman hasn’t just gotten his first big break in the big leagues as a 29-year-old, he’s delivered the best first-month OPS of any first baseman in the majors (1.197). As good a prospect as Anthony Rizzo is and as good a career as you can expect him to have, LaHair’s making it easy for the Cubs to leave Rizzo in corn country while he makes the most of his first real opportunity. Is it really any surprise that a guy born on Guy Fawkes Day (that’s Nov. 5 for all of us from everywhere else but Great Britain) would explode once he was finally given the chance?

Home plate: The tweet of the night goes to Stephanie Liscio of It’s Pronounced ‘Lajaway’, when she noted:

Time to play "guess the subsequent roster move" with Damon joining the team Tuesday. I'll take "DFA of Jose Lopez" for $100!

— Stephanie Liscio (@stephanieliscio) April 30, 2012

First: You know first, it’s the base you’re supposed to go to initially, to get on base. Or to throw to when the opposition obligingly gives you an out on a sac bunt. It’s also sometimes a bit of a tricky target, as the Cubs’ Geovany Soto found out in the sixth inning against the Reds when, with Ryan Hanigan on first with nobody out and Cincinnati holding a 2-0 lead, pitcher Johnny Cueto stepped in. Automatic sac bunt, right? Sure, except Soto’s throw was wild, so now it’s two on, nobody out. So what does Dusty Baker order up from leadoff man Zack Cozart? A sac bunt … which Soto threw away to load the bases. For Soto’s sake, here’s hoping he doesn’t get an even worse case of the yips.

Second: Toronto’s Brett Lawrie stole home against the Royals, his first-ever steal of home, on his second recorded attempt. But he’s also tried to steal second just two times this season, and he’s be no more (or less) successful, going for 1-for-2 there. Which is another way of saying it’s early.

Third: Already 0-3 after three starts, Erik Bedard now has to live with four losses in four starts. Now sure, you can’t feel too sorry for the guy; that was sure to be his lot in life after surprising some this winter with a decision to sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates. With two quality starts and a pair of five-inning, two-run outings, he’s actually pitched well enough to go about 1-1 according to Baseball Prospectus’s Support-Neutral Won-Loss stats, but when you’re working with whatever run support the Bucs dredge up with the 16th-ranked offense in the league, it’s hard to expect Bedard to catch many, any or even one break.

Keep in mind, Bedard has yet to allow more than two earned runs in any start, but because he’s gotten just three runs total in run support from a Pirates offense averaging two scores per contest, he’s the man getting the short straw from an already close-cropped selection.

After his 24-loss season with the original-edition Mets of 1962, it was Roger Craig who said, “I had to be pretty good for them to keep sending me out there enough to lose that many games.” I doubt Bedard will take much solace in that. Happily -- for him -- his won-loss record isn’t going to amount to much in July, when the Pirates start shopping him in earnest to contenders looking to shore up their rotations.

Home: Tweet of the Day goes to Baseball America for passing along some Bryce Harper video:

Prospects Blog: Watch Bryce Harper Connect For His First Triple-A Home Run: Nationals uber-prospect Bryce Harper... bit.ly/Jof4Rp

— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) April 23, 2012

Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

With little more than two weeks’ worth of games under our belts, you might not have expected really big moves to have been made, but injuries have driven a few major changes, creating a busy week as far as significant roster moves.

The deal sending Marlon Byrd to the Red Sox for Michael Bowden and a player to be named is the obvious early-season compensation gesture for a contender with mounting reasons for concern. With Jacoby Ellsbury out until at least June and Carl Crawford’s rehab inching along toward recovery, you could understand GM Ben Cherington’s dire need after reserve Jason Repko separated his shoulder.

Is Byrd that much of a fix? For the cost in talent (the already outbound Bowden) and considering the minimized expense with the Cubs also sending cash to offset Byrd’s $6.5 million salary, he’s a godsend, especially if you’re looking for an upgrade relative to Repko or Darnell McDonald. But you also have cause to keep your enthusiasm curbed: He’s already 34 years old, he’s lost several steps in center, and he hasn’t slugged .400 against right-handed pitchers since leaving Texas’s homer-happy bandbox after 2009. Indeed, he’s never put up an .800 OPS on a season outside of The Ballpark in Arlington.

In short, Byrd is a lot like one of his new teammates, Cody Ross. Each of them is a heck of a fourth outfielder on a great team, and a nice player to have if he’s your worst outfield regular. That might be Boston later this spring or summer, but until Crawford and Ellsbury come back, they aren’t there yet.

As for the other major doings on the transaction front:

• So, Cliff Lee goes from Wednesday night’s 10-inning hero to an absent friend on the 15-day DL, just like that. If that isn’t a case of the object lesson walking right up and clubbing Phillies manager Charlie Manuel over the head, I don’t know what is. This is Lee’s fourth trip to the DL with an abdominal strain of one sort or another. He’s lost anywhere from 35-60 days to his past hurts.That bad news seems to suggest you can expect a one-month test (and five or six starts) to see if the Phillies’ phlailing offense can put up enough runs for Kyle Kendrick. A nice enough utility pitcher, Kendrick’s had problems with left-handed pitching over his entire career, and that figures to stay bad his second and third time through big-league lineups. If you didn’t already think the Marlins, Nationals or Braves had a shot at winning this division, you should now.
• The Cardinals losing Lance Berkman to a strained calf couldn’t be less conveniently timed, because the first choice to take his place in the lineup, Allen Craig, is only just starting his minor-league rehab assignment. For the time being, this means Matt Carpenter will get regular at-bats at first base. That isn’t a bad thing, not in itself: If Carpenter continues to mash in his ongoing trial, he’ll get to stick around. If he doesn’t once people start building a book on him and adjust, that’s also going to be important to know, because he’ll know what to work on. As for Berkman, you can take some solace in the knowledge that the previous time he landed on the DL with a strained calf (in 2009), he missed 20 days.
• If Johnny Damon is the antidote to Shelley Duncan for the Indians, you might wonder if the cure is worse than the problem. It’s been more than two years since Damon slugged enough to merit regular work at DH or an outfield corner, and betting on a bounceback at 38 is indicative of how desperate the Tribe’s need is.
• If there’s a team that might be able to breathe slightly more easily despite its woes, it might be the Diamondbacks. Sure, they’re mucking around .500 while the Dodgers are grabbing headlines as April’s hottest team. But with center fielder Chris Young and No. 2 starter Daniel Hudson joining shortstop Stephen Drew on the DL, and with right fielder Justin Upton trying to recover from a bruised thumb, you might reasonably think the D-backs are in a literal world of hurt.However, Hudson’s dispatch to the DL seems almost precautionary in nature after his MRI showed no damage, Young may miss no more than a week more than the minimum, and Drew is working his way back and might be back around the same time. By mid-May, these absences may already be a memory, and the Dodgers will have come back to the pack. But in the meantime, keep in mind that this is a team that has been willing to trust and contend with home-grown talent, as they did last year with first baseman Paul Goldschmidt and right-hander Josh Collmenter.So who’s on the spot? In the rotation, Hudson’s absence means that it might be time to give highly touted Trevor Bauer a two- or three-turn spin, especially as he blows through Double-A lineups: 3-0 with 20 Ks and one run allowed in 15 2/3 IP in his first three outings, but also a dozen walks. However, he’s not the automatic choice, because Barry Enright is also on the 40-man roster and is off to a good start at Reno (1.83 ERA in four starts). If it’s only a short stint in the rotation without an automatic shot at sticking around at the expense of Collmenter after his slow start, it might be Enright’s opportunity.
  
  Among the position players, turning to rookie A.J. Pollock for some outfield playing time represents a great way to let Pollock cut his teeth early. He was the D-backs’ fifth-rated prospect according to Baseball America before the season, but he’s more of a classic tweener type than a high upside prospect. Even so, the Notre Dame product has the kind of line-drive power that might play up in Chase Field, and if he proves he can handle center well enough, he stands a good chance of getting called back for the stretch run.
• Finally, the Snakes were busy snapping up some free talent, getting Josh Bell from the Orioles for a player to be named later. This isn’t a huge deal, but it wasn’t that long ago that Bell was considered a top prospect in the Dodgers’ system, and it didn’t look like he was going to catch a break after failing to make a good impression during Buck Showalter’s first two months on the job in Baltimore after Miguel Tejada was dealt away. Considering the D-backs are relying on journeyman Ryan Roberts as their regular third baseman, it’s a nice depth-minded move, and if they turn Bell around, he’ll come in handy.

Neat factoid of the day: ESPN Stats & Info writer Jeremy Mills passed along the news that Mark Teixeira has the all-time switch-hitting record for hitting homers from both sides of the plate in a single game, having done it a 13th time in Saturday’s rout of the Red Sox. Chili Davis and Hall of Famer Eddie Murray are tied for second on the list with 11, and a notch behind them are Mickey Mantle and Ken Caminiti. What about Chipper Jones? He’s bombed from both sides in a game “just” six times; it only seems like he delivered all six of those games against the Mets.

PHOTO OF THE DAY
Christina Kahrl covers baseball for ESPN.com. You can follow her on Twitter.

A good time was had by all on Friday’s Baseball Today podcast , as Mark Simon and I discussed some surprising Thursday results, took your emails and looked ahead to an interesting weekend!

1. Curtis Granderson took the Twins deep three times in Thursday’s win, but would you believe he didn’t have the best performance of the night? We tell you who was better!

2. Yu Darvish stepped up his game against the Tigers, but what should we expect from the right-hander moving forward?

3. Simon and I pay special attention to defense, and tell you which hitters are seeing the most shifts against them, and which teams are paying attention.

4. Emailers want to know about the Cubs’ future, the Nationals’ rotation and who has scored the most runs in a game without getting a base hit?

5. It’s not only about the Red Sox and Yankees this weekend, but other series are important and we tell you which pitchers need to step up their game as well.

So download and listen to Friday’s Baseball Today podcast. We apologize for the post-production technical difficulties that hampered development of Thursday’s episode, but we’re on track today! Have a great weekend!

I can imagine a secret society of Jack Quinn fans, holed up in an Elks Lodge somewhere ready to pop bottles of champagne with each Jamie Moyer loss or no-decision. You know, sort of like members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins when an undefeated NFL team finally loses late in the season.

Quinn, of course, was the oldest pitcher to win a major league game, 49 years old and change when he pitched five scoreless innings of relief for the Brooklyn Dodgers on Sept. 13, 1932, to pick up the victory in a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Those imaginary bottles can be permanently put to rest now. Moyer pitched seven brilliant innings on Tuesday night at Coors Field -- well, as brilliant as a Moyer outing can be -- allowing only two unearned runs as the Colorado Rockies won 5-3. It was career win No. 268 for Moyer, tying him with Jim Palmer and more victories than Bob Feller or Carl Hubbell or Bob Gibson or Juan Marichal. And at 49 years and 150 days, he surpassed Quinn in the record books.

Things got dicey when Troy Tulowitzki booted a routine double-play ball in the seventh inning, leading to the two unearned runs and making the score 3-2. After the Rockies scored two more runs, things got dicey again in the ninth when Rafael Betancourt allowed a run and had the go-ahead run at the plate. But he fanned Yonder Alonso on a 3-2 changeup. The cameras panned to Karen Moyer, Jamie's wife, hugging two of the couple's eight kids and raising her first in excitement.

Jamie? Nowhere to be found. Hopefully he was hiding out in the clubhouse having a little sip of champagne.

* * * *

Moyer's first win came in his first major league start on June 16, 1986. Pitching for the Cubs, he allowed five runs but defeated Steve Carlton, who was making his next-to-last appearance in a Phillies uniform. Fred Mitchell's lede the next day in the Chicago Tribune: "The most comforting thought for Cub fans after rookie Jamie Moyer's first major-league win Monday is that the best is yet to come."

Moyer was a 23-year-old who had moved quickly through the Cubs' farm system after being drafted in 1984. "Maybe when I sit down and really just think about it, think back to what happened today, beating Steve Carlton will just add to this day," he said.

Even back then, Moyer wasn't exactly a flamethrower. "This kid knows how to change speeds, and today he was just behind hitters and he was in trouble. But he was lucky enough to get through it," Cubs pitching coach Billy Connors said. "He usually has great command of his pitches and can get everything over. He was behind every hitter today, and that's not Jamie Moyer."

Sound familiar? And then Connors delivered the money quote, one reason why 26 years later, Moyer is still hanging around. "But he can compete in the major leagues because he is the kind of kid who doesn't panic. He's a tough kid, and he kept his composure."

But the best didn't come right away. The Cubs eventually traded him to the Rangers, who would release him after the 1990 season. He signed with the Cardinals. On May 21, 1991, he got knocked out in the third inning as Barry Bonds hit two home runs off him, the second one a long three-run blast to right field that Bonds "watched longingly," according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Rick Hummel. It was the last batter Moyer faced in the game -- and in the majors that season. He was 0-5 with a 5.71 ERA. "'He gets so pumped up, he loses control of himself," Cardinals manager Joe Torre said after the game.

What happened to the composed rookie, the kid who knew how to pitch? Torre complained about a high changeup to Jose Lind. A couple days later the Cardinals sent him down to Triple-A. At that point, Moyer was 34-54 in his career with a 4.56 ERA. He was 28 years old, didn't throw hard and was pitching for Louisville. Career crisis? Moyer barely had one. The Cardinals didn't bother calling him up in September. The Cubs cut him in spring training in 1992. He was asked to become a pitching coach. He declined and signed with the Tigers in May, but spent the entire season in the minors even though Detroit had the second-worst pitching staff in the American League. The Tigers let him go after the season. He was now 30 years old and threw 85 mph. Career crisis? His career was over.

Oh yes, a story of perseverance. A story of a guy who obviously loves the game. But somebody had to give him one last chance. The Orioles gave it to him after he went 6-0 with a 1.67 ERA at Rochester. Maybe it was general manager Roland Hemond who liked Moyer. Maybe it was an assistant to Hemond named Gordon Goldsberry, who had been the Cubs' scouting director when the club drafted Moyer. Maybe it was assistant GM Doug Melvin who made the recommendation. Moyer replaced a young left-hander named Arthur Rhodes on the roster. He lost his first start but pitched well, although Orioles manager Johnny Oates hardly seemed impressed. "He threw the ball OK," he told the Washington Post. "That's what you're going to get from Jamie."

Four starts later he won his first major league game since 1990. "This has been a tough road for me the last couple years -- battling back, people saying I'm too old, everything negative. I've tried hard to remain positive. ... Now I know I can pitch at this level," Moyer said.

That was 19 years ago. He's been winning ever since. Since turning 30 he's won 234 games, with a winning percentage better than .600. He doesn't throw 85 mph anymore.

As I watched the game, I realized I've probably seen Moyer pitch in person or on TV more than any other pitcher, considering the 11 seasons he spent with the Mariners.

I've never ceased to be amazed at his ability to confound and confuse big league hitters. What can you say about one of the most unique players in history, other than: I hope to see him for at least another decade or so.

PHOTO OF THE DAY
Follow David Schoenfield on Twitter @dschoenfield.

On a packed Friday Baseball Today podcast with Mark Simon we exchanged thoughts on many pertinent topics, from struggling players to a weekend preview to former All-Star Jason Dickson (yep, he was an All-Star!).

1. From Thursday, was Zack Greinke really that bad, should Matt Garza have gotten the chance to finish his gem and what did the middle of the Twins order do that was so rare?

2. We take an in-depth look at the weekend schedule, with Albert Pujols at Yankee Stadium the headliner, but also it’s always about the Red Sox and which pitchers could be next to throw no-hitters?

3. When can we really start looking at sample sizes in baseball? Mark talks to a former manager and we each share thoughts.

4. Is there a legitimate statistical concern for Jose Reyes and Alex Rodriguez? Mark thinks so!

5. Our emailers have opinions on the quality starts stat, bunting, Dusty Baker’s style and much more!

So download and listen to Friday’s expertly produced Baseball Today podcast (by Frank Dale!) and please have a great weekend. Sunday night baseball is Angels-Yankees!