1. Last night during the game in the JoS thread, fellow Providencer "phil" said "At least Bay didn't hit for the shitty cycle tonight (K, force out, fly out, double play)."

That got me thinking: Has anyone ever made an out to every position on the field? Getting exactly nine at bats and popping out in order to the pitcher, catcher, first baseman, etc., has never been done. Not even out of order. That's a guess, but I'm making it. But that led me to my real project: Has anyone's outs in a single game involved all nine defensive positions?

So, if you hit into a 4-6-3 double play, fly out to left and have a runner thrown out at home trying to tag up and score, hit into a fielder's choice, pitcher to third, fly out to center and right in one game, that would be:

4-6-3
7-2
1-5
F8
F9

All positions, 1-9, would be used. As you see here, this seems pretty possible, and in only five plate appearances no less. But it's hard to do. I started checking long games and looking at guys that went 1 for 10 or 0 for 8. The most I'd come across were guys who used 7 of the 9 positions in their outs.

But! After streaming my results through maniacal 2 AM emails to JoyBoy himself, he pointed out to me that strikeouts count as putouts by the catcher. I hadn't even thought of that. In fact, I'd been looking for guys with the least Ks, thinking those balls not hit in play are meaningless to my quest. So some of those 7 guys may have actually been 8 guys. But still no 9-ers. If anyone finds one, please let me know!

2. This one's really for me: Last night I found out that my playoff tickets are ready to purchase! Part of my 10-Game Plan is one first round playoff game. This year, it looks like I'll be at home game one. Once again they've kicked me over to the grandstand, as they can't reserve the exact seats you have for your plan, which for me are bleacher seats. And that stinks because I have to pay the GS price, which is 20 bucks more for round one this year. Why can't they relocate me to upper bleachers?!

Anyway, since I bought the plan in its first year, 2004, here are my playoff results:

2004: I get ALDS home game 2. Papi wins the series for us in home game 1. (Game 3.) I'm thinking, Oh well, but at the last minute I check the rules and see that if your game isn't played but the team's still alive, you're given a chance to buy an ALCS game! We get home game 2 for that. Now you must be thinking, the first two games were at Yankee Stadium, so "home game 2" would be Game 4--the Dave Roberts game! Nope. Home game one was rained out. Making "home game 2" series Game 3: The 19-8 Yankee win, before their walls came crumbling down. But it was cool to see my first-ever playoff game.

2005: I get home game 2 again. Sweet! A sweep of Chicago and I go to the ALCS again! But no. We are instead swept by Chicago, ending the series after home game 1 (Game 3). My money is refunded. But enjoy the fees you kept, Red Sox! Maybe get Drew a new chair with better back support.

2006: I don't remember which game they gave me, but we didn't make the playoffs anyway.

2007: I get home game 2 (series Game 2)--the Manny walkoff game!

2008: the classic "?"