Sorry that Three Strikes has been out of commission for a few days. One of those weeks. But it's been one nutty week. So let's recap just a sliver of the stuff that has caught your eye and mine -- with a Useless Oddity edition of Three Strikes:
STRIKE ONE -- USELESS MICAH DEPT.: I delved into Micah Owings' pinch-hit mashing in Thursday's Rumblings and Grumblings. But you couldn't possibly have thought that was all there was, right? So you asked for more Micah. You've got it.
• First, think about this. A-Rod (522 homers), Manny Ramirez (496), Lou Gehrig (493), Jose Canseco (462) and Cal Ripken Jr. (431) combined to make 2,404 home run trots. So what's the difference between them and Micah Owings? Owings now owns a pinch homer. And those five guys own zero pinch homers, according to the Sultan of Swat Stats, David Vincent. Amazing -- even if pinch-hitting wasn't exactly a specialty for Gehrig and Ripken.
• Second, loyal reader Pete Ridges checks in to report that only two players in history have hit at least five career homers and have a lifetime slugging percentage of .650 or better: Babe Ruth (.690) and Micah Owings (.671). Funny how they could both pitch a little, too, huh?
• Finally, Owings now has five home runs in just 79 career at-bats. That's more homers than all of these guys -- none of whom have thrown a pitch, by the way -- have hit in their last 79 at-bats:
Prince Fielder, 4
Adam Dunn, 4
A-Rod, 3
Ken Griffey Jr., 3
Vladimir Guerrero, 3
Matt Holliday, 2
Andruw Jones, 1
STRIKE TWO -- USELESS IT'S-A-FUNNY-GAME DEPT.: None of this stuff fits any category whatsoever. But you've gotta love it:
• Jack Cust homered on April 1 and May 1 -- but hit homers on no other days of the month.
• J.J. Putz also specializes in firsts. As loyal reader Pat Berger noticed, Putz's last three blown saves have come on the first of some month or other -- May 1, April 1 and last Aug. 1. But he's 5-0, has a 1.93 ERA and has gone 11 for 11 in save opportunities on all the other days of the all the other months since then.
• Also first in our hearts is Sidney Ponson. He won a game last May 1. He won another one this May 1 -- but won no other games in the big leagues in between.
• Brewers reliever Brian Shouse vultured a one-pitch win in Wrigley Field on Thursday. Talk about unique niches: It was his second one-pitch win of the year. So what kind of vulture-esque history can Shouse make over the next five months? According to our pitch-count guru, Aneel Trivedi, Shouse is already just the fifth pitcher in the 21-year pitch-count era to record two one-pitch wins in the same season. He now has the next 134 games to see if he can scarf up a third. Good luck.
• Oh, and one addendum to that note is this one: Throwing that one pitch wasn't even Shouse's biggest innovation of the day. He recorded that win without retiring a hitter. (His only out came on a pickoff.) But it turns out that's not so rare after all. He's the eighth pitcher since 2000 to record a win without retiring a hitter, believe it or not. Last to do it: Pat Neshek, last July 21.
• Jair Jurrjens pulled off an all-time classic for the Braves last Friday. He issued three bases-loaded walks in a row -- but still managed to hang around for six innings and get a win. So how often do you see a guy do that? Never, actually. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the first starting pitcher in the division-play era to walk in three runs in a row but still earn a win.
• And one more: The San Diego Union-Tribune's Tom Krasovic passes along this bizarre gem (unearthed by the Elias Sports Bureau): Greg Maddux has issued two four-pitch walks since the last week of July. They've both been dealt to (who else?) Eric Bruntlett -- one Tuesday, the other last July 28.
STRIKE THREE -- USELESS SCHEDULE-WEIRDNESS DEPT.: And here, in our final Three Strike barrage, we ask: What the heck is going on with the schedule? Has anybody else noticed these bizarre schedule machinations:
• The Braves made three trips to Washington before May 1 -- on opening day, again on April 11-13 and again this week. That's as many visits as the other 28 teams made in that span combined. Well, you don't see that kind of itinerary much. The Braves were the first team to visit any city three times before May since the 1932 Philadelphia A's did it -- also to Washington, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
• In a related development, Tim Hudson has made as many starts in Washington this season as he has in Atlanta (two). But it's not just him, and it's not just his teammates that can't figure out this schedule.