I was lucky enough to be in attendance for last night’s game between the Rays and Red Sox, where I got to see something rather rare: a triple play. In the fourth inning of the game, the Rays had runners on first and second with no outs, and Sean Rodriguez hit a sharp grounder right to Jed Lowrie at third base. Lowrie took two steps to the base and then started an easy 5-4-3 triple play. But as fate would have it, this play wasn’t even the first triple play turned this week. The Brewers turned an impressive 4-6-3-2 triple play on Monday against the Dodgers, the first time that sort of triple play has happened since 1972.

So naturally, these two plays have now turned my mind toward all things triple-play-related. Looking for some odd tidbits of information on these triple plays, or on triple plays in general? I’ve got you covered.

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The first one came early. In the daytime portion of yesterday’s doubleheader against the Rays and Red Sox, James Shields was on his game. He struck out six and walked only one, allowing three runs through eight innings. Unfortunately for him, the Rays scored only one run, leaving him tagged with the loss despite the effort. Later that evening Roy Halladay pitched a typically dominant game, allowing one run through eight. But the Diamondbacks rallied for two in the ninth, both off Halladay, leaving him also saddled with a loss even though he completed the game.

Seeing two complete game losses on the same day is a rare event for sure. Perhaps it’s not as rare as three players hitting two triples in a night, or teams walking off five times, or a triple play on two consecutive days, but it’s a rarity for sure. The complete game loss itself, though, is not so rare. In fact, of the 142 complete games this year 27.5% have ended with losses.

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The American League Central is pretty weak. Of all the teams in the division, only Cleveland has a positive run differential as of today, and that’s by only one run. A number of factors probably contribute to the divisional weakness: lower average budgets than some of the coastal divisions, poor decision making, and perhaps some bad luck. The division, however, is surprisingly strong this season in one area: shortstops. Can any other division compare?

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The San Francisco Giants have been in a a funk lately, turning a half-game lead in the division on August 9 to a three and a half game deficit in a mere seven days. Their pitching hasn’t been bad, but at some point the sheer lack of offense was bound to catch up with them. On Monday, Scott Miller of CBS Sports tweeted that no team had made the playoffs averaging fewer than four runs scored per game since the 1988 Dodgers.

At the time, the Giants were averaging 3.43 runs per contest. While they were looking up at the Diamondbacks in the standings and not technically in the playoffs, Miller’s point remained valid. If they climb back atop the division, the Giants could conceivably become one of the lowest scoring teams in history to make the playoffs if their offensive struggles persist. But would they be the lowest scoring team to make the playoffs?

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Featured Game
Cleveland (6) at Chicago Americans (3) | 20:10 ET
• If you access the part of your brain responsible for memory, you’ll likely recall that Indians-White Sox was yesterday’s featured game here, as well.
• Then that thing up above happened.
• Video of which you can see here.
• Note that Hawk Harrelson narrates a bunch of that.
• Note that Hawk Harrelson will now narrate your dreams.

Audio Feed: Suggestions? We discussed White Sox and Indian radio yesterday. Is one better, though?

Also Playing
Here’s the complete schedule for all of today’s games, with our very proprietary watchability (NERD) scores for each one. Pitching probables and game times aggregated from MLB.com and RotoWire. The average NERD Game Score for today is 5.1.

The following Game Scores include the new and improved playoff-odds adjustment, which you can learn about in your brain by clicking here.

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The Twins have been a huge disappointment this year. For a team that’s been expected to contend in the American League Central every season during the past decade, Minnesota now is 15 games under .500 and in fourth place. But there’s one thing the Twins can take from this season — the emergence of southpaw Glen Perkins as a shutdown reliever.

A member of the Twins’ rotation in 2008 and 2009, the 28-year-old made the team out of spring training this season and took on a new role as a short-reliever. In the rotation, he was a low-walk, low-strikeout guy who allowed a few too many fly balls and homers (though his home run prevention improved in 2009). But in the bullpen this year, he looks like a completely different pitcher. His ERA/FIP/xFIP slash is 2.20/1.99/2.66, making him the only Twins’ pitcher to be below 3 in any of those metrics. And while Perkins’ K% (per plate appearance) sat around 11% during his 2008-2009 stints, it has skyrocketed to 27% this year — a number that Perkins hasn’t approached at any level since 2006 (between classes AA and AAA). His walk totals are still low, and his groundball rate — which has been on the rise throughout his career — is now at 51%.

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Astros 6, Cubs 5

Moving the Needle: Brian Bogusevic plays the hero with a walk-off grand slam, +.817 WPA. It hasn’t been a smooth 2011 for Carlos Marmol. At one point he lost his job as closer, but he’s since regained it. Last night he came out for the ninth, and for a while he looked like typical Marmol: a few singles, a walk, a wild pitch. It amounted to a bases loaded, one out situation. On a 2-2 pitch Marmol delivered one outside, and Bogusevic put a charge into it, sending it well over the 404 sign in center to win the game.

Notables

Carlos Pena: 2 for 2, 2 2B, 2 BB.

Jimmy Paredes: 2 for 4, 2 2B. He’s had a nice little run since getting promoted to the majors in late July.

Also in this issue: Rangers 7, Angels 3 | Braves 2, Giants 1 | Red Sox 3, Rays 1 | Rays 6, Red Sox 2 | Marlins 6, Rockies 5 | White Sox 8, Indians 7 | Brewers 2, Dodgers 1 | Tigers 7, Twins 1 | National 6, Reds 4 | Yankees 9, Royals 7 | Diamondbacks 3, Phillies 2 | A’s 8, Orioles 4 | Pirates 5, Cardinals 4 | Blue Jays 13, Mariners 7 | Padres 6, Mets 1

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Charlie Haeger is a practitioner of an increasingly-rare baseball art form. The 27-year-old right-hander is a knuckleball pitcher, meaning he lives and dies with the game’s most unpredictable — and often maddening — delivery. Few have mastered it, but when a knuckleball is thrown correctly and does its butterfly dance toward home plate, it is a thing of beauty. Haeger, who has made 34 big-league appearances, with four teams, was recently signed by the Red Sox and assigned to Double-A Portland.

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David Laurila: What is the key to throwing a knuckleball?

Charlie Haeger: First and foremost is being able to take the spin off the ball. Being able to throw a knuckleball isn’t something that a lot of people are able to do, just because you’re not familiar with it growing up. Basically, you have to make the ball rotate as little as possible.

Ideally, for me, would be half a turn, maybe three quarters of a rotation. With that, I can generate the best movement while still being able to command it. You can get away with ones that spin twice, but with anything over that you’re starting to mess with fire.

DL: How do you throw a baseball with little or no rotation?

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As the season rounds the corner and heads for the home stretch, it’s pretty easy to separate the haves from the have-nots. Whether discussing players like Dustin Pedroia and Jose Bautista leading the charge on the WAR leaderboards, or Adam Dunn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka facing the opposite direction, it’s certainly not difficult to skim the top or bottom of the lists. With today’s entry however, we’ll focus on a few players who have flown under the radar, perhaps outperforming expectations or simply shining despite relative obscurity.

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