It was a game played last Tuesday in Anaheim -- Angels 6, Rangers 5, in 10 innings. And it produced a line score more unique than you might think:

Texas     310 000 000 1 - (5)
Anaheim   310 000 000 2 - (6)

That line on the old scoreboard might not look too out of the ordinary. But the Elias Sports Bureau's Randy Robles reports there hadn't been a game like that -- in which each team scored at least four runs and scored exactly the same number of runs in exactly the same innings of regulation -- in 33 years.

Last game that met that description before this one: June 26, 1969 -- A Dock Ellis-Dick Selma Pirates-Cubs matchup at Wrigley Field. Here's how their line score looked:

Pittsburgh  100 002 020 0 - (5)
Chicago     100 002 020 2 - (7)

What a sport.

That was the 1998 Reds, who won 10 straight, then lost eight in a row in July. And that was actually Act 2 for those Reds, who went from losing 11 straight games in June into winning 15 of 16. Must be an Ohio thing.

Last to do that before Essian was Joe Morgan (the other Joe Morgan, not the ESPN broadcaster), who got the managing job in Boston in 1988 after John McNamara got canned -- and won 11 in a row. Like Essian, Morgan's team swept a four-game series in his first series as manager.

For what it's worth, Essian's Cubs went 59-63, finished third and got him fired after the season. Morgan's Red Sox went 46-31, went from fifth place to first and then got wiped out by the A's in the playoffs.

Now here's the really amazing part: none of those six came with Barry Bonds up. The six times it's happened this season, courtesy of Elias:

DATE     MANAGER         WALKED         ON DECK
April 2  Frank Robinson  Cliff Floyd    Eric Owens
April 7  Tony La Russa   Lance Berkman  Richard Hidalgo
April 7  Frank Robinson  Brady Clark    Sean Casey
April 17 Hal McRae       Dmitri Young   Craig Paquette
April 15 Bobby Cox       E. Alfonzo     Jeromy Burnitz
April 20 Jerry Narron    Ichiro Suzuki  Jeff Cirillo

It might seem as if you see this sort of strategy more and more these days. But a study by Elias' Rob Tracy indicates that's not true. In the early '90s, it happened about 40 times a year, then slipped to about 30 in the mid-'90s, then back into the 40s last year. Which is about the same pace as this year.

The manager who has done it the most since 1990 (apparently because Frank Robinson was out of the dugout): Bobby Cox (28 -- plus a couple of times in the postseason). The hitter who has been walked the most with first base occupied since 1990: (surprise) Bonds (20 times). Of course, it helps that they've both been around all that time.

Erubiel Durazo, Mike Sweeney, Tsuyoshi, Shinjo, Todd Pratt, Brook Fordyce, Doug Mirabelli, Mark Johnson, Scott Servais, Timo Perez, Bengie Molina, Daryle Ward, Damian Miller, Jason LaRue, Randall Simon, David Ortiz and Emil Brown -- all with two.

Mike Redmond, Ben Davis, D'Angelo Jimenez, Eddie Perez and Gary Bennett -- all with one.

And the men with no career triples: Mike Lowell (in more than 1,400 at-bats), Ramon Hernandez, Dee Brown, Alberto Castillo, Mitch Meluskey, Paul Lo Duca, Michael Coleman and Sal Fasano.

Following his latest two-homer explosion last Friday, the trusty Twins backup catcher now has almost as many two-homer games over the last three years (three) as he has one-homer games (five). Which means more of his homers have come in multihomer games (55 percent) than one-homer games (45 percent).

Compare that to, say, Barry Bonds (25 percent of his homers the last three years have come in his 15 multihomer games, 75 percent in his 98 one-homer games).

Or compare Prince to Sammy Sosa (28 percent of his homers have come in his 15 multihomer games, 72 percent in his 87 single-homer games).

One thing we've always said about Bonds and Sosa: They're no Tom Prince.

Before Friday, other than April 1, Bonds hadn't finished any day of either this season or last season without holding at least a share of the home run lead since last May 19. That day, he hit three in Atlanta to tie Luis Gonzalez at 20 apiece. Bonds led every day of the season after that. (More on this phenomenon later, in the Sultan's Corner.)

Then Alomar committed another error the next day, giving him three errors in two games for the first time since Aug. 20-22, 1993 (not counting the Aug. 21 game in which he pinch-hit but didn't play in the field). The only other time he committed three in a two-game span came when he exploded for three in one game -- on a chilly day at Wrigley field on April 29, 1989.

May 2, 1980 -- Red Sox at Kansas City (Jerry Remy, Willie Wilson)
June 11, 1982 -- Tigers at Brewers (Larry Herndon, Paul Molitor)
Sept. 16, 1985 -- Astros at Braves (Bill Doran, Rafael Ramirez)
April 23, 1989 -- Expos at Cardinals (Tim Raines, Vince Coleman)
Oct. 1, 1990 -- Cubs at Phillies (Doug Dascenzo, Lenny Dykstra).

The Detroit Free Press' John Lowe presents us with these numbers in late-inning pressure situations (seventh inning or later, score within a run either way or potential tying run on deck or at the plate):

Tigers hitters -- 22-for-106 (.208), 8 RBI
Tigers opponents -- 25-for-62 (.403), 17 RBI

And with the bases loaded, the Tigers have allowed almost twice as many bases-loaded hits as their hitters have bases-loaded at-bats:

Tigers hitters -- 2-for-8 (.250), 8 RBI
Tigers opponents -- 14-for-30 (.467), 35 RBI

PITCHER          SO    IP
Nolan Ryan      5714  5386
Randy Johnson   3441  2771
Sandy Koufax    2396  2325
Pedro Martinez  2003  1714.2

Mongeluzzo homered in his final at-bat, in the 12th inning, last Friday. Then, on Saturday, he hit home runs in the first, third, fifth and seventh innings. He came up in the eighth with a chance to become the first professional player to hit five home runs in one game since Peter (Off the) Schneider did it in 1923 -- but walked. (Good move.)

And by the way, his timing was great. Before that eruption, his team -- the Savannah Sand Gnats -- had lost 13 games in a row.

Remember Andy Yount, the former pitching prospect once drafted by the Red Sox in the first round in 1995? He's now an outfielder in the Tigers' chain. Booth Newspapers' Danny Knobler reports that in Yount's first 32 at-bats for Western Michigan this year, he struck out 23 times. But at least when he made contact, he was hitting .556 (5-for-9).

Meanwhile, the Tigers continue to develop future Rob Deers elsewhere, too. At Lakeland, outfielder-cleanup hitter Neil Jenkins is leading the minor leagues in strikeouts. Through Monday, he was 14-for-78, with 35 strikeouts, meaning he was up to 21 more strikeouts than hits in a mere 19 games. He also has struck out at least once in every game. He has three three-whiff games, 10 two-whiff games and six one-whiff games.

Errors by the Mets when Trachsel pitched (through Sunday): 5 in 22 1/3 IP -- or one every 4.47 innings.

Errors by the Mets when any other starter pitched (presumably slightly more quickly): 9 in 96 innings -- or one every 10.67 innings.

It's early, but draw your own conclusions.

Did you know that in Orosco's first major-league game, on April 5, 1979, the first hitter he faced was, poetically, Bill Buckner? As you might recall, Buckner later had a little something to do with the only World Series one of Orosco's teams ever won, in 1986.

The Sultan's Corner

But the Sultan of Swat Stats, SABR's David Vincent, reports that was only the 13th longest streak of consecutive days leading the majors in history. Here's where Barry stands in that group:

HITTER             DATES               DAYS
Willie Stargell    4/12 to  9/20/1971   161
Cy Williams        4/28 to 10/5/1916    160
Harry Davis         5/6 to 10/10/1904   157
Babe Ruth          4/27 to  9/30/1924   156
Babe Ruth          4/28 to  9/30/1928   155
Willie Mays         5/2 to 10/3/1965    154
Kevin Mitchell      5/2 to 10/1/1989    152
Babe Ruth           5/5 to 10/2/1921    150
Gavvy Cravath      5/12 to 10/7/1915    148
Babe Ruth           5/4 to  9/29/1926   148
Mickey Mantle       5/7 to  9/30/1956   146
Babe Ruth          5/10 to 10/3/1920    146
Barry Bonds        5/18 to 10/7/2001    142
Heinie Zimmerman   5/17 to 10/6/1912    142

Now that they're both out of the picture, the Brewers' Eric Young takes over the top. Here are the current rankings (through Monday), courtesy of the Sultan:

Eric Young: 4,585 AB
Jose Vizcaino: 4,120 AB
Bernard Gilkey: 4,061 AB (currently in minors)
Joe Girardi: 3,899 AB
Rey Sanchez: 3,874 AB
Derek Jeter: 3,829 AB