Sunday, September 07, 2008

Quarter Million Home Runs: Today?

I've been fairly busy the last few days, feverishly preparing for a big presentation on Monday. I just wanted to give an update on The Quest for Quarter-Million. A staggering forty-two home runs were slugged in yesterday's action, which brings the total home runs in major league history to 249,969. With just thirty-one home runs to go, it's possible the mark will fall today, with fifteen games on tap. I'll brush my own shoulders with pride if it does come today, as predicted in my earlier post. I will make periodic updates during the day, and will launch into a live-blog when we get within a handful of home runs. It may even happen on national TV, in tonight's ESPN game, with Cole Hamels' Phillies taking on the Mets and Johan Santana.

So stay tuned to the Immaculate Inning for all your Quarter Million Homer updates.

UPDATE: 2:25 PM. Just one home run so far, by Lastings Milledge off Jo-Jo Reyes. Thirty more to go.

UPDATE: 3:25 PM: One hour later, and bevy of homers: Paul Konerko, Mike Jacobs, Albert Pujols, Dusty Ryan, Chase Headley, Toby Hall, and Greg Dobbs, and Alberto Gonzalez bring the total homers in MLB history to 249,979. Still plenty of baseball left to be played tonight.

UPDATE: 4:15 PM. Miguel Cabrera and Kevin Kouzmanoff hit homers since my last update. I flipped on the Brewers-Padres game just in time to see the 249,981st home run in major league history. Gabe Kapler broke up Chris Young's perfect game in the eighth inning on a hanging slider. Young has been amazing today, just 80 pitches through eight innings, but no perfecto. And as I'm writing this, Derek Jeter makes it 249,982 with his homer in the first inning against Ryan Feierabend.

UPDATE: 4:25 PM. Another pair of homers recently, Magglio Ordonez followed by David Ortiz. That brings today's total to fifteen homers, sixteen shy of the milestone. There were 15 game scheduled, or 135 innings; so far 83 of those innings are complete (although the Nats-Braves game is headed for extra innings). So the hitters will have to pick up the pace a bit to make the milestone tonight. While the Phillies are second in the majors in team home runs, they face stingy Johan Santana tonight. Most of the other teams still to play are in the middle of the pack with regards to homers. It may be that tomorrow's early innings will be a frenzy for the milestone.

As I type, Xavier Nady hits home run number 249,985 in the second inning against the Mariners. With the mediocre pitching of Seattle, the Yankees may close the gap a few more times in this game. I predict there will be four or five home runs to go as we enter the Mets-Phillies game tonight.

UPDATE, 5:25 PM. Jason Bay, Adrian Beltre, Brad Hawpe, Chris Snyder, Adam Dunn, and Jose Lopez add their home runs to the mix. With twenty-two homers hit today, just nine more are needed. The Nats and Braves battle on into the 12th inning, and Red Sox-Rangers (8th inning), Yankees-Mariners (5th inning), Astros-Rockies (7th inning), Pirates-Giants (4th inning), and D-Backs-Dodgers (4th inning) are the current games. There's still a chance that the Quarter Million will come today!