The Front Row: The mercy rule

Thirty runs? Seriously? The Texas Rangers accomplished the impossible on Wednesday, scoring 30 runs in a regulation nine-inning contest.

No baseball team has cracked the 30-run barrier in the past 110 years. It’s theoretically impossible.

This season, American League teams average 4.88 runs per contest. The Rangers scored six times more than that.

Last season, the average NBA team scored 98.7 points per game. The equivalent NBA offensive explosion would be in the 600-point range.

Right now, I’m reading over Texas’ box score, simply dumbfounded by the numbers they were able to put up.

Every batter had at least two hits except seldom-used infielder Travis Metcalf, who only had one official at-bat—which he used to crank a grand slam.

To make this game even crazier, Texas trailed the Baltimore Orioles 3-0 in the top of the fourth and only scored in four innings—the fourth, sixth, eighth and ninth.

I didn’t think anything would top D-backs’ pitcher Micah Owings drilling two home runs while pitching seven terrific innings on Aug. 18 as the craziest game of 2007, but Texas scoring 30 runs while sitting 15 games below .500 can’t be beat.

In a related note, Baltimore’s football team hasn’t given up 30 since the Cincinnati Bengals scored 42 against the Ravens on Nov. 27, 2005.

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Where’s Keith Hernandez? On Wednesday Rawlings announced the All-time Gold Glove squad to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first Gold Glove awards.

While no-brainers like Ozzie Smith and Willie Mays made the cut, there were some head-scratching inclusions and omissions.

Wes Parker was given the nod at first base, inexplicably leaving Keith Hernandez in the cold.

No disrespect to Parker (who I never saw play), but I can’t imagine anyone flashing better leather than Hernandez did during his tenure with the Cardinals and Mets.

He fielded his position like it was an artform, much how Smith approached shortstop—but with less acrobatics.

Joe Morgan was another controversial inclusion, making the cut at second base ahead of Roberto Alomar and Ryne Sandberg.

I would’ve personally included Alomar, but a good argument can be made for Sandberg and Morgan.

Rounding out the squad were catcher Johnny Bench, third baseman Brooks Robinson, outfielders Roberto Clemente and Ken Griffey Jr., and pitcher Greg Maddux.

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Quotable: “Unless I win every football game, the credit is not going to be there. I learned that last year.”—Hawaii star quarterback Colt Brennan, essentially speaking on behalf of every mid-major college football program. Brennan has a chance to emerge as a dark-horse Heisman Trophy candidate this season and turn himself into a legitimate pro prospect, but in order for that to happen, Hawaii has to run the table. One bad game, and that’s it. For those of you looking for a fun sleeper college football program to follow, look no further. Hawaii is going to put up a ton of points and might follow the Boise State blueprint for crashing the BCS party.