Monday night's Angels vs Athletics game was the definition of pure insanity in a baseball game. The A's won in 19 innings, and didn't lead at any point during the game until Brandon Moss' two-run homer in the bottom of the 19th. In a game like this, there were some unique situations that came into play, and we can break them down using numbers.

5: the number of players that played center field in this game. Peter Bourjos, Mike Trout, Coco Crisp, Yoenis Cespedes, and Chris Young all got time manning center at the Coliseum on Monday night and Tuesday morning.

35: the total number of strikeouts by both teams. Cespedes and Moss each led the way with four for the A's, while Josh Hamilton led the Angels with three.

Measuring home runs has proven over time to be an inexact science. You would think with the modern marvels of pitch and hit tracking, that we'd have a greater knowledge of home run distance, or even technology in place in every stadium/telecast that could enhance fans' viewing experience. This clearly isn't the case in Oakland. On Monday evening, Mark Trumbo hit a bomb that undeniably has to be in the conversation for longest home run of the year, if not a runaway favorite. The estimated distance however, came in at a laughable 435 feet. Watch the clip and you be the judge, it may have been closer to 535 feet than 435.

Thankfully, sanity prevailed following the game, as ESPN's Home Run Tracker listed Trumbo's bomb at 475 feet, tied for the longest homer of the year with an Anthony Rizzo shot from a week and a half ago that nearly exited Wrigley Field via right center field.

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The Marlins-Mets matchup on Monday night was supposed to be a fantastic pitchers duel between two of the brightest young stars in the majors: Jose Fernandez and Matt Harvey. Of course, the game ended up going 15 innings, and the two young studs combined to throw 9 1/3 innings. and in a game that went 15 innings, they ended up being merely a memory when the Marlins won the game on a Nick Green sac fly, his second of the evening. Talk about a rough go of things for the Mets...Shaun Marcum ended up finishing out the game for New York in relief, after making just one start during the season to date.

PIC OF THE DAY

Ryan Raburn channels the Matrix to avoid a pitch (John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Night: A's 10, Angels 8 (19 innings). This is one of those "instant classic" games that Angels fans will dread getting brought up ever again. Anaheim led 7-2 after seven innings, but the A's stormed back to score four in the eighth to make it 7-6, and tied the game in the ninth after a long Yoenis Cespedes single that was nearly a walkoff homer. The game remained deadlocked at seven until the 15th, when the Angels broke through with a bases loaded walk from JB Shuck. Of course, Adam Rosales singled in a run in the bottom of the inning to keep the madness going. Finally in the 19th, Brandon Moss hit a two-run walkoff homer off of Barry Enright, and that sealed the deal for the A's.

Former Chicago Cub Tony Campana is one of the fastest men in baseball. After being acquired by the Diamondbacks this winter, Campana lost out on his bid to make the major league roster, and is currently playing with AAA Reno. On Saturday night, Campana did something pretty cool in the Aces' game against the Fresno Grizzlies: he stole all three bases in one inning. Furthermore, Campana did it over the course of one at bat.

Campana reached base on a single off of Grizzlies starter Shane Loux with two outs. With the count 1-1 to Chase Anderson, Campana got on his horse and easily stole second base on the battery of Loux and catcher Johnny Monell. After a called strike and a foul ball sent the count to 2-2, Campana once again took off, easily sliding in under Monell's high throw. But Campana wasn't satisfied at third, and before Loux even started his delivery, Campana took off for home and slid in safely as Loux stepped off and fired wide of Monell at  the plate. Anderson struck out on Loux's next pitch to end the inning, making Campana's wild path around the bases completely justified.

For the season at Reno, Campana is hitting a paltry .193/.233/.228 in 19 games, but has stolen six bases without being caught, tied for Tyler Bortnick at the top of Reno's team leaderboard.

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This morning, the Dan Patrick Show revealed that in this week's edition of Sports Illustrated, the cover story would be a story written by NBA player Jason Collins, coming out as the first active, gay male athlete in the major professional sports leagues. Reception for Collins' article has largely been positive, and people from all across sports have reached out to Collins.

One organization to reach out to Collins was the Boston Red Sox. Collins played 32 games with the Celtics this year, including seven starts, before being dealt to the Washington Wizards in February. The Red Sox tweeted to Collins that he had an open invitation to throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park due to his courage and leadership in coming out.

We salute you, @jasoncollins34 for your courage and leadership. Any time you want to throw out a first pitch at Fenway Park, let us know.

— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) April 29, 2013

Hats off to the Red Sox for supporting Collins, like many people throughout the sports world are today.

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It's only a matter of time before one of the first rounders in last June's draft will be playing in the majors. Mike Zunino (Mariners), Michael Wacha (Cardinals), and Marcus Stroman (Blue Jays) are the most likely candidates.

Regardless, here's a look at where all of last year's 1st rounders are, and how they're currently doing as of Sunday.

1. Carlos Correa , Houston, SS, Age: 18

The first Puerto Rican ever taken with the 1st overall pick, Correa – viewed largely as a signability pick – signed quickly and picked up over 200 plate appearances in rookie ball last year. Now he’s in the Midwest League (A) where he’s hitting .206/.342/.397.

Based on the success of Correa and other players from Puerto Rico, MLB will now be partnering with the Puerto Rico Scouts Association and the countries best amateur tournament.

2. Byron Buxton, Minnesota, OF, 19

Buxton got his feet wet in rookie ball last year, and now is completely destroying the Midwest League (A) to the tune of .391/.511/.652. It will be interesting if the Twins allow him to keep mashing, or to challenge him a bit more.

St Louis Cardinals reliever Mark Rzepczynski has one of the most difficult names in the majors to spell. Two non-consecutive Z's? What? Anyway, in this edition of the Cardinals BirdsiView web series, St Louis teammates Joe Kelly and Daniel Descalso try to spell Rzepczynski's last name, largely to failure before finally managing to get it right.

Why couldn't his last name be as easy to spell as his first name? And you wonder why people call him Scrabble...

[Big League Stew]

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Baseball is a funny game, especially this early in the season. After game one of the Marlins' doubleheader with the Twins on Tuesday, right fielder Giancarlo Stanton had a triple slash of .176/.311/.216. There was some talk that he was a doomed player in Miami's awful lineup. But of course, Stanton has gone on a tear since that afternoon game, and after his two homer game on Sunday, his triple slash for the season is up to a much more respectable .243/.361/.414. While it's still nto ideal, that line is a hell of a lot better than the one he possessed a week ago. If anything, Stanton's improvements should put fans of struggling players at ease. It won't be a trial all year.

PIC OF THE DAY

Daniel Nava of the Red Sox goes full extension to make a diving catch for the final out of the game (Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports)

Game of the Day: A's 9, Orioles 8 (ten innings). This could be the game of the month for April. Baltimore surged out to a 5-0 lead over the first five innings, but Miguel Gonzalez allowed four runs in the sixth to cut the lead down to one. A Manny Machado single in the seventh extended the lead to two runs, but Seth Smith homered in the bottom of the inning off of Troy Patton to deadlock the game at six runs. A Chris Davis solo homer off of Sean Doolittle in the eighth gave Baltimore the lead back once again, and an RBI double by Machado in the ninth once again extended the lead to two. Brian Matusz stayed in the game to finish it out, but allowed a game-tying two-run homer to Yoenis Cespedes. The game went into extras, and in the bottom of the tenth, Oakland scored in the most bizarre way imaginable. Eric Sogard led off with a single off of Pedro Strop, and Adam Rosales attempted to bunt him over to second...but Strop threw the ball wide into center field, letting Sogard and Rosales both advance safely. Then Coco Crisp attempted to bunt the pair of runners over, but Machado threw wide of the third base bag into left field, allowing Sogard to score the winning run.

On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Chicago White Sox 8-3. 2012 AL Cy Young winner David Price started for the Rays and picked up his first win of the season, allowing three runs on six hits in seven innings, walking out two and striking out nine.

But after Price left the game following the seventh inning, Rays pitcher Jeremy Hellickson was ejected by home plate umpire Tom Hallion. Hellickson, who was on the bench, reportedly yelled at Hallion to provoke the ejection. 

That's not the story Price is going with, though. After the game, the Rays' ace took to Twitter and lambasted Hallion.

The Nolan Arenado era in Colorado begins today. After last night's loss to the Diamondbacks, the Rockies announced that third baseman Chris Nelson had been designated for assignment and that Arenado would be called up from AAA Colorado Springs. In 21 games this year, the 27 year old Nelson had a .242/.282/.312 line to go along with no home runs and poor defense at third base once again. 

Arenado, universally one of the top three prospects in the Rockies farm system, will provide a definite offensive upgrade over Nelson. In 18 games this year with Colorado Springs, Arenado has a .364/.392/.667 line, homering three times for the Sky Sox. He made a push in Spring Training to win the starting third base job, but eventually lost out to Nelson.

While it's not really prudent to scout minor league box scores, it's especially unwise with Arenado, due to him playing in the hitter-friendly PCL. In addition to nine home games at his ridiculous hitter-friendly home park in Colorado Springs, the Sky Sox and Arenado have played road games in Las Vegas, Reno, and Tucson this season, three of the highest altitude parks in the league. Ten of the next 16 Rockies games are away from Coors Field, so there's a very real possibility that Arenado struggles away from the friendly confines of the PCL.

But realistically, he's still a much better option at third than the light-hitting Nelson, who needed a .374 BABIP last season to put together a respectible triple slash. Nelson split time at third last year with Jordan Pacheco, who is playing first base for Colorado right now with the aging Todd Helton out of action.

After starting the year 13-4 to the shock of many (myself included), the Rockies are 2-5 in their last seven games. With the way their schedule looks over the next month, it's not out of the realm of possibility for Colorado to be in fourth place in the NL West at the end of May. By installing Arenado at thrid now, the Rockies are banking on him being another potent bat in their already stout lineup, enabling to just slug teams to death instead of letting dead spots in the lineup overwhelm their solid core.

[Denver Post]

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