When Did They Switch to Touchdowns?

(Let's see if these images last the whole day)

So of course I love sports, but I must admit that I am a fairly recent baseball fan - really, only since my team started doing well. Before we started winning, the only time I ever turned on a baseball game was when I wanted something to have on in the background while I took a nap. So I guess that makes me a fairweather fan. Literally. Because if it's raining, you better believe I will not be sitting in the stands rooting for anybody. But I digress.

Just a few hours ago, the Texas Rangers opened up a can of whoop a put a shellacking on the Baltimore Orioles, killing the Orioles' confidence for maybe the next season or two by beating them 30-3 in their own home. I had to check out the box score on this one. This game was actually rained out on Monday - good thing, too, no need to make Monday worse than it already is. The Orioles were actually up 3-0 through the first three innings. Apparently, some time between the 3rd and 4th inning, a collection of hollowed out, corked bats were delivered to Oriole Park, because the Rangers scored 5 runs in the 4th inning, 9 runs in the 6th inning, 10 runs in the 8th inning, and 6 runs in the 9th inning. (Good to see they got on the board in the 9th so it didn't look like they weren't trying in the odd innings.) That equals 30 runs in 4 innings. Ouch. I bet even D.C. heard the fans groan on that one.

You know how they say in the movies, "You better take a picture of this because this is the last time you're ever going to see this again"? Well, here is the picture of the last run the Orioles scored before the Rangers posed for this same picture 30 more times.

When my friend, a complete sports fanatic and baseball guru, was as shocked as I was that a team had scored 30 runs, I was actually pretty proud of myself, because that meant that I knew enough about baseball to know that 30 runs is a big deal.

How big of a deal is it, you ask? This is the ninth time that an MLB team has scored at least 30 runs, but the first time that a team has done so since 1897. No, that's not a typo. 110 years, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds, all came and (minus Barry, for now) went and no other team has scored as many runs as the Rangers did today. I really feel for you, Baltimore, but I feel even worse for your pitchers (except this one lucky kid who managed to earn his first save of the year by pitching three scoreless innings). I hope someone is keeping an eye on them this evening. [insert crass groupie comment]. Perhaps the fact that this was a doubleheader and they only lost 9-7 in the second game helped a bit, but those weren't the same pitchers as the first game. Like I said, keep an eye on those guys.

ESPN's awesome stats team managed to pull together, in a matter of minutes, the highest scoring feats in the "Big 4" sports:

Sport	Total points	Team (vs. opponent, date)
MLB	30	Rangers (at Orioles, 8/22/07)
NFL	72	Redskins (vs. Giants, 11/27/1966)
NBA	186	Pistons (at Nuggets, 12/13/1983)
NHL	16	Canadiens (at Quebec, 3/30/1920)

First thing: What is hockey doing on this list?

Second, 72 points in a football games seems like a lot, but I'm not sure it compares to almost 200 points in a basketball game - by the Pistons against the Nuggets back in 1983. (Where was that offense against the Cavs?) I'd say this had something to do with the Western Conference's notoriously high scoring affairs, but I'm thinking this one had more to do with the Nuggets' decision to watch the game from the bench when they didn't have the ball. I would also blame it on the Rocky Mountain high altitude -- except the Nuggets were the home team, so maybe they were just Rocky Mountain high (it wasn't unusual to take a few drags during halftime back then). I did a little research because I thought this might be close to the year that the NBA adopted the 3-point shot. Sure enough, the league intro'd the 3-point line in 1980, so having the highest scoring game ever occur 3 years after they stole the idea from the ABA sounds about right.

Did anyone else notice that 3 of the 4 performances were by away teams? What's up with that? Have some pride, dagnabit!