Bottom 1: Josh Willingham struck out swinging against Mark Buehrle

Bottom 2: Willingham struck out looking against Buehrle

Bottom 6: Willingham struck out looking against Buehrle

Bottom 7: Willingham struck out swinging against Jesse Crain

Bottom 9: Grounded into fielders choice against Sergio Santos

Final Line: 0-for-5, 4 K, 7 LOB

Notes: After fanning in each of his first four at-bats on Sunday, Willingham had the opportunity to be the hero when he stepped up the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning.  With the A’s down one run with runners on first and third and two outs in the inning, Willingham swung at the first offering he saw from Santos, chopping it to White Sox third baseman, Omar Vizquel.  His current average and OPS are classic-Willingham: .228 BA, .717 OPS.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 24

What’s in a name? A great many syllables, if you’re Calvin Coolidge Julius Caesar Tuskahoma McLish. But while the former journeyman pitcher’s title is impressively weird, it has many rivals – most of them old-timey – for the goofiest name in professional baseball history.

I’ve compiled a brief, unordered list of those names. Who is the funniest? And whom, as I quickly scoured over a century of data, did I unjustly overlook?

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D-Lee: Far removed from his famous 2005 season…

Top 1: Derrek Lee called out on strikes against Gavin Floyd

Top 4: Lee struck out swinging against Floyd

Top 5: Lee called out on strikes against Floyd

Top 7: Lee struck out swinging against Jesse Crain

Final Line: 0-4, 4 strikeouts

Notes: After seemingly finding his swing (7-for-21 from April 26 – April 30) Lee kicked off May with a bang, fanning in each of his four at-bats on Sunday.  The performance lowers Lee’s slash line to .228/.304/.287 for the 2011 season, and he has now struck out 27 times in 101 at-bats.

Total 2011 Sombreros: 16

courtesy of @KeithLaw with a h/t to @AndrewDMoses

Over the last couple of days, Sam Fuld has been going absolutely nuts on the baseball field.  To his credit, he’s technically always going nuts on the field considering that he’s only 5-foot-10 – probably 5-foot-7, at the most.  On Sunday he made one of the best plays in the outfield (of that variety) that I’ve ever seen.  The pressure of the situation; the ground he covered; the full-extension and total disregard for his own well-being.  Everything about it was simply amazing.

I was watching the game live – I’ll try to refrain from sharing my current thoughts on the White Sox, although I did just draw a picture of Juan Pierre and rip it up – and texting with one of the Sombrero’s contributors, Rick, who is also a fan of the South Siders.

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