127443102We've seen our fair share of inside-the-park home runs in 2011. Among those were a couple first career home runs that stayed in the yard courtesy of Chicago Cubs speedy outfielder Tony Campana, who rounded the bases at Wrigley Field on Aug 5, and Houston Astros second baseman Jose Altuve, who did so back on Aug 20.

In addition to the successful attempts, we also saw a highly amusing attempt that fell a little short, when Ryan Braun face planted coming around third on Aug 30 against the St. Louis Cardinals.

But what we haven't seen is all three put together. Yes, I mean an inside-the-park home run that was the first of a player's career, that also included a face plant.

That all changed on Tuesday night, when San Francisco Giants third baseman Conor Gillaspie took the plunge, dusted himself off and still crossed the plate during their 7-0 victory over the Colorado Rockies. {YSP:MORE}

Gillaspie's comical trip around the bases came in the seventh inning. With Brett Pill on first,

Fielder3HRThe likelihood of Prince Fielder not making Milwaukee his baseball home beyond 2011 wasn't weighing very heavily on Brewers fans' minds Tuesday night. They were way too busy waving their flags and cheering as Fielder's three-homerun, five-RBI eruption led them to a big 6-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Surprisingly, the three-homer game was the first of Fielder's already prolific career. And to make it more impressive, each swing took on a greater importance as the moved along.

He started with a solo homerun in the third that momentarily tied the score. Rickie Weeks then followed with a monster homerun of his own. His second was a two-run moonshot in the fifth that gave Miwaukee a 4-3 lead. And then the third, final, and most decisive homerun was a two-run shot off Jared Hughes in the seventh that broke the 4-4 tie, and provided the difference in the game.

Watch Fielder's three bombs

The homers were Fielder's 36th, 37th and 38th of the season, tying him with Matt Kemp for

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That's not the final image Seattle Mariners fans wanted to see of Felix Hernandez in 2011.

Thankfully, though, the story it appears to tell isn't nearly as bad as the reality.

Hernandez was forced to leave his final scheduled start of the season on Saturday after he was struck directly on his right forearm by Michael Young's line drive come backer. It sounded bad, it looked bad, and judging from the looks of anguish on Felix's face immediately after, it didn't feel good either.

Watch Hernandez get smoked

Hernandez was immediately taken to the clubhouse for x-rays. Moments later, a collective sigh of relief could be heard all the way from Arlington to Alaska as those x-rays revealed no broken bones. Despite that, Hernandez still had his arm wrapped in a cast after the game, but the official diagnosis is only a bruise.

Of course it's probably a pretty significant bruise. One that would likely cost him a start or two under normal circumstances. But all things considered, very positive

126253552One year removed from a disappointing 65-97 campaign where the finish dead last in the National League West — 27 games behind the San Francisco Giants  — the Arizona Diamondbacks completed their surprising surge to the top of the division, unseating those Giants with a 3-1 victory on Friday night.

The division championship is the fifth for Arizona in their 14-year history, and their first since 2007.

To be honest, I thought the 2007 season was the beginning of a West Coast dynasty for Arizona, with its young nucleus of Justin Upton, Chris Young, Brandon Webb, among others, in place. Unfortunately, injuries and other unforeseen drops in production knocked them off track for awhile.

But they're clearly back on track now thanks to the tireless efforts of Kirk Gibson and general manager Kevin Towers, who worked together to retool a roster, and rehab an ailing state of mind in the clubhouse.

Friday's clincher was a perfect illustration of how far the team has come in that one year with

FurcalBobble1We're at that point of the season where every pitch, hit or critical play are put under the microscope, because each has the ability to change the landscape of a playoff race or series.

If Chipper Jones doesn't lose a high chopper in the Sun Life Stadium lights on Monday night, not only would the outcome of that stunning loss for the Atlanta Braves be different, but the entire series with the Florida Marlins might have had a different feel. That one unlucky bounce was also a big reason the St. Louis Cardinals were only three outs away from moving to within one game of the Braves on Thursday afternoon.

But then the landscape changed again. {YSP:MORE}

With the Cardinals holding what felt like a secure 6-2 ninth-inning lead over the New York Mets, Nick Evans rolled a tailor-made double-play ball to shortstop Rafael Furcal. Furcal gobbled the ball up, but couldn't find the handle to make the easy flip to start the double play. What should have been two outs, nobody on, quickly became two

Kershaw20The 2011 season hasn't provided too many positive memories for Los Angeles Dodgers fans, but that doesn't mean the ones it has provided can't be extremely satisfying.

Take the incredible success of Clayton Kershaw for example. Kershaw is currently enjoying the best season by a Dodgers starter in over 20 years. He further cemented that on Tuesday night, tossing 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball while leading Los Angeles to a 2-1 victory over the San Francisco Giants. With the win, Kershaw became the team's first 20-game winner since Ramon Martinez in 1990.

I would imagine that's very satisfying to witness. But going beyond that, it's the fact Kershaw has achieved a good deal of that success against their arch-rivals that likely has Dodgers fans doing cartwheels — or at least staying off the ledge — at the tail end of this lost season.

How good has Kershaw been against the defending World Series champs? With the victory Tuesday night, the 23-year-old lefty improves to 5-0 with a 1.07 ERA in

Well folks, just when you thought you'd seen everything, we bring you the following video from the Oktoberfest Zinzinnati event held on Saturday.

That's where our old pal Joe Morgan — you know, the Cincinnati Reds legend, the baseball Hall of Famer, the long-time Sunday Night Baseball color analyst for ESPN, and the host of a recently launched nationally syndicated sports talk show — was selected, and on hand at Fountain's Square, to lead the annual World's Largest Chicken Dance.

Yes. That Joe Morgan. Doing the Chicken Dance.

Not bad for a first time chicken dancer, I guess. Though not nearly as crisp as the late great Joe Nuxhall's performance back in 2007.

In case you missed Joe's excuse for that in the video: {YSP:MORE}

"I didn't really practice. But I did go on YouTube last night and look up how to do the chicken dance. One of my ladies at the office was (supposed) to teach me — I went back there yesterday and she was gone. So, I had to look it up on YouTube," Morgan said.

That's

125378675Minnesota Twins fans never got the opportunity to give Jim Thome a proper send-off when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians back on Aug 25. In fact, the whole thing had to feel pretty awkward when the following day's promotion at Target Field saw the first 10,000 fans receiving a Jim Thome wind-up walker toy.

On Friday night, Thome returned to Minnesota, and those appreciative fans finally got their chance to say hello, good-bye, and maybe begin to feel a sense of closure on a relatively short, but memorable relationship that saw an entire fanbase fall in love with Gentleman Jim.

It didn't take long for their affection to overflow. When Thome came to bat in the second inning, the crowd of more than 37,000 collectively rose to their feet and greeted him with a standing ovation. When Thome offered at Kevin Slowey's first pitch, sending it to the warning track in left field for a long but loud out, there was an actual audible sigh of disappointment.

After emotionally investing in