2011

The Cardinals blow a 6 – 2 9th-inning lead in losing to the Mets, 8 – 6. SS Rafael Furcal misplays a potential double play grounder to start New York’s six-run outburst. Jason Motte walks three batters – who all score – and Marc Rzepczynski is charged with the loss. The loss is only St. Louis’s third over their last 16 games and they are 2 games back of Atlanta in the National League wild card race.

Thanks to Shane Victorino’s million-dollar pledge, the renovated 105 year-old Nicetown Boys & Girls Club celebrates its grand opening. The inner-city facility, now named after the Phillies’ All-Star center fielder, is only the second club in the country to bear the name of a major leaguer, with the ‘Flying Hawaiian’ sharing the distinction with Willie Mays.

2011 – Leo Nunez pitches for the Marlins in their 4 – 0 win over the Braves, then is placed by the team on the restricted list for the remainder of the season. It is revealed that Nunez has been playing under an assumed identity since being signed as an amateur free agent by Pittsburgh in 2000 and is in reality named Juan Carlos Oviedo and one year older than his listed birthdate of August 14, 1983. Nunez is sent back to the Dominican Republic where he will need to sort out his issues with U.S. immigration authorities.

Clayton Kershaw becomes the Dodgers’ first 20-game winner since Ramon Martinez accomplished the feat in 1990. Allowing just one run in 7 1/3 innings, the southpaw gets the victory when LA beats the visiting Giants, 2-1.

In front of the smallest crowd in the three-year history of new Yankee Stadium, Mariano Rivera retires Trevor Plouffe, Michael Cuddyer, and Chris Parmelee to finish New York’s 6-4 win over Minnesota. The save, the 602nd in the closer’s career, breaks Trevor Hoffman’s major league mark.

Mariano Rivera ties Trevor Hoffman’s Major League record with his 602nd career save in the Yankees’ 7 – 6 win over the Blue Jays. Rivera is backed by home runs from Alex Rodriguez, playing in his first game since aggravating a wrist injury on September 9th, and Curtis Granderson, who becomes the first Yankees CF since Mickey Mantle in 1961 to hit 40 home runs in a season.

The Phillies crush the Cardinals, 9 – 2, to clinch their fifth consecutive National League East division crown. Shane Victorino, “The Flyin’ Hawaiian”, homers, as does Raul Ibanez, and Jimmy Rollins has 4 hits to pace the Fightins’ attack. Roy Oswalt, one of the starting rotation’s famed “Four Aces”, gains the victory on the mound.

After hitting a first inning two-run homer, singling in the second, and stroking a leadoff double in the fifth, Pablo Sandoval hit for the cycle when he drives a pitch that sails just beyond the outstretched glove of Colorado’s right fielder Carlos Gonzalez for a triple. ‘Panda’, a third baseman not known for speed, becomes the 25th Giant player to accomplish the feat, and the first since Fred Lewis did the deed in 2007, also at Coors Field.

With their 3-2 loss to St. Louis, the Pirates extend their record streak of consecutive losing seasons to 19 straight years, the longest in American professional sports history. The Bucs, who led the NL Central by a half-game on July 20, have lost 38 of 54 contests since then, leaving the team with a 67-82 won-loss record.