Very Late Walk-Off Home Runs

The Angels and Athletics stayed up well past their bedtime last night. Oakland came back from a 7-2 eighth-inning deficit to force extras, and both teams scored a run in the 15th to extend the game further. Brandon Moss finally sent everyone home in the bottom of the 19th.




This was just the eighth walk-off home run in the 19th inning or later since 1945. 

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn	RoB	Out	Play Description
1963-06-14 (2)	Willie Kirkland	CLE	WSA	Jim Coates	tied 2-2	b19	---	0	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run
1967-06-04	Andy Etchebarren	BAL	WSA	Bob Priddy	tied 5-5	b19	1--	0	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run; Robinson Scores
1972-08-10	Joe Rudi	OAK	CHW	Stan Bahnsen	tied 3-3	b19	-2-	1	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run; Campaneris Scores
1973-05-26	Dick Allen	CHW	CLE	Ed Farmer	tied 3-3	b21	1-3	2	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run; Leon Scores; Jeter Scores

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/30/2013.

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn ▾	RoB	Out	Play Description
1984-05-08	Harold Baines	CHW	MIL	Chuck Porter	tied 6-6	b25	---	1	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run
1993-08-31	Pedro Munoz	MIN	CLE	Jason Grimsley	tied 4-4	b22	---	0	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep CF-RF)

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/30/2013.

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn ▾	RoB	Out	Play Description
2000-08-01	Mike Cameron	SEA	BOS	Jeff Fassero	tied 4-4	b19	---	0	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run (Fly Ball)

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/30/2013.

Date	Batter	Tm	Opp	Pitcher	Score	Inn ▾	RoB	Out	Play Description
2013-04-29	Brandon Moss	OAK	LAA	Barry Enright	tied 8-8	b19	1--	2	*WALK-OFF*: Home Run (Fly Ball to Deep RF Line); Lowrie Scores

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 4/30/2013.

Moss' blast was the second 19th inning game winner in Oakland A's history, as Joe Rudi also clubbed one in 1972. Before last night, the latest walk-off homer against the Angels came on August 1, 1971, when Jim Northrup of the Tigers went deep against Lloyd Allen in the bottom of the 16th.

Who Hit the First Home Run at Each Ballpark?

I was trying to find a list of the first home runs at each of the 30 current major league ballparks. After some Googling I was surprised that there wasn't a list and decided to put one together.

Year	Ballpark	Hitter	Team	Pitcher	HR Type	Date
1912	Fenway Park	Hugh Bradley	Boston (A)	Lefty Russell	3RHR	4/26/1912
1914	Wrigley Field	Art Wilson (FL)	Chicago Chi-Feds	George Wilson	2RHR	4/23/1914
1962	Dodger Stadium	Wally Post	Cincinnati	Johnny Podres	3RHR	4/10/1962
1966	Angel Stadium	Rick Reichardt	California	Tommy John	Solo	4/19/1966
1968	Oakland Coliseum	Boog Powell	Baltimore	Lew Krausse	Solo	4/17/1968
1973	Kauffman Stadium	John Mayberry	Kansas City	Bill Gogolewski	2RHR	4/10/1973
1989	Rogers Centre	Fred McGriff	Toronto	Don August	2RHR	6/5/1989
1991	U.S. Cellular Field	Cecil Fielder	Chicago (A)	Jack McDowell	3RHR	4/18/1991
1992	Camden Yards	Paul Sorrento	Cleveland	Bob Milacki	3RHR	4/8/1992
1994	Progressive Field	Eric Anthony	Seattle	Dennis Martinez	Solo	4/4/1994
1994	Rangers Ballpark	Dave Nilsson	Milwaukee	Kenny Rogers	Solo	4/11/1994
1995	Coors Field	Rico Brogna	New York (N)	Bill Swift	Solo	4/26/1995
1996	Turner Field	Michael Tucker	Atlanta	Kevin Foster	Solo	4/4/1997
1998	Tropicana Field	Luis Gonzalez	Detroit	Dan Carlson	2RHR	3/31/1998
1998	Chase Field	Vinny Castilla	Colorado	Andy Benes	2RHR	3/31/1998
1999	Safeco Field	Russ Davis	Seattle	Woody Williams	Solo	7/17/1999
2000	AT&T Park	Kevin Elster	Los Angeles (N)	Kirk Rueter	Solo	4/11/2000
2000	Comerica Park	Juan Gonzalez	Detroit	Ryan Rupe	3RHR	4/14/2000
2000	Minute Maid Park	Scott Rolen	Philadelphia	Octavio Dotel	Solo	4/7/2000
2001	Miller Park	Michael Tucker	Cincinnati	Jeff D'Amico	2RHR	4/6/2001
2001	PNC Park	Sean Casey	Cincinnati	Todd Ritchie	2RHR	4/9/2001
2003	Great American Ballpark	Reggie Sanders	Pittsburgh	Jimmy Haynes	2RHR	3/31/2003
2004	Citizens Bank Park	Bobby Abreu	Philadelphia	Paul Wilson	Solo	4/12/2004
2004	PETCO Park	Marquis Grissom	San Francisco	Antonio Osuna	Solo	4/8/2004
2006	Busch Stadium	Bill Hall	Milwaukee	Mark Mulder	2RHR	4/10/2006
2008	Nationals Park	Chipper Jones	Atlanta	Odalis Perez	Solo	3/30/2008
2009	Citi Field	Jody Gerut	San Diego	Mike Pelfrey	Solo	4/13/2009
2009	Yankee Stadium	Jorge Posada	New York (A)	Cliff Lee	Solo	4/16/2009
2010	Target Field	Jason Kubel	Minnesota	Scott Atchison	Solo	4/12/2010
2012	Marlins Park	J.D. Martinez	Houston	Edward Mujica	2RHR	4/13/2012

That's a pretty good list of hitters. In only 12 of the 30 parks was the first dinger struck by a player on the home team. Also, how crazy is it that The Jake is the tenth-oldest park in the majors and that the home parks of both the D-Backs and Rays are in the older half of MLB stadia?

The Miami Heat and How 65-Win Teams Did in the Playoffs

The Miami Heat are wrapping up their outstanding regular season and will be heavy favorites to repeat as NBA champions. They are already the 16th team to win 65 games in a season and with a win over Orlando tomorrow night, they will be the 13th team to reach 66 wins.

Here are the other 15 teams that won 65+ games, listed with their finish in the postseason:

Year	Tm	W	L	Finish
1967	PHI	68	13	Won NBA Finals
1971	MIL	66	16	Won NBA Finals
1972	LAL	69	13	Won NBA Finals
1973	BOS	68	14	Lost Eastern Finals
1983	PHI	65	17	Won NBA Finals
1986	BOS	67	15	Won NBA Finals
1987	LAL	65	17	Won NBA Finals
1992	CHI	67	15	Won NBA Finals
1996	CHI	72	10	Won NBA Finals
1997	CHI	69	13	Won NBA Finals
2000	LAL	67	15	Won NBA Finals
2007	DAL	67	15	Lost First Round
2008	BOS	66	16	Won NBA Finals
2009	LAL	65	17	Won NBA Finals
2009 2013	CLE MIA	66 66	16 16	Lost Eastern Finals Won NBA Finals

Included among the 15 are a dozen of the NBA's greatest champions. The 1996 and 1997 Bulls are first and tied for second on this list, respectively. It's worth noting that the Sonics and Jazz teams they beat in the Finals both won 64 games and missed this list by one win. Talk about earning your titles.

Three of these 65-win teams fell short of the championship.

The 1973 Celtics lost to the third-seeded 57-win Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals 4-3.

2007 brought one of the greatest upsets in NBA history. The Mavericks were stunned by the 42-40 eighth-seeded Warriors in the first round 4-2.

We expected a Kobe-LeBron Final in 2009 after both the Lakers and Cavs cracked 65+ wins. It was the first season in which two teams reached that mark, but the 59-win third-seeded Magic upended Cleveland in the Eastern Finals 4-2.