Fri Jul 10, 2009 10:53 am EDT
Hey Alan Embree(notes)! Joel Hanrahan(notes) sees your pitchless victory from earlier this week and raises you a no-show win while enjoying an off-day with another team in a city 1,500 miles away from the game's completion.
OK, so Hanrahan officially threw 16 pitches to become the winning pitcher in the Nationals' 11-10, 11-inning win over the Astros in a suspended game that was started on May 5 in Washington but not completed until Thursday in Houston.
But Hanrahan didn't throw a pitch during the seven-minute relocated resumption because in the 65 days that it took for the two teams to say "game on!" he was traded to Pittsburgh as part of the Nyjer Morgan(notes)-Lastings Milledge deal. Though he had to turn in his curly W before being shipped out on June 30, he remained Washington's pitcher of record and earned his first (and only) Nats victory of the season when his old teammates pulled off the "home" victory in the bottom of the 11th at Minute Maid Park.
The best part of this week's latest unique pitching credit? Well, as Hanrahan pointed out in a phone call with the AP, his win came against a division rival of his new team in Pitttsburgh:
"It's pretty funny. It feels pretty good in the situation that (Pittsburgh is) in. Houston is a team in our division and we gained ground (in the standings)."
That Hanrahan earned a win only after appearing in 34 games with Washington (while racking up a 7.71 ERA and 1.949 WHIP) just seems so Nationals, doesn't it?
But, truthfully, the team was almost guaranteed of something like this happening. Seven players who were on Washington's roster on May 5 are no longer suiting up and four of the game's five relievers no longer reside in DC. Morgan, the former Pirate, scored the winning run after taking the place of the since-demoted Elijah Dukes(notes) on the basepaths.
The Nats may be historically terrible — their 25 wins are by far the least in baseball and even their broadcasters are turning against them — but at least they're capable of producing some pretty interesting headlines. (And a weird win once in awhile, too.)
Big League Stew is an MLB blog edited by Kevin Kaduk. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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Hanrahan could not have been the losing pitcher regardless of who it was against. The game picked up in the bottom of the 11th. Had Washington not scored in the 11th, they would have brought in a new pitcher in the 12th becanse Hanrahan wasn't on the team. He would not have been allowed to pitch for Pittsburgh had this game been against the Pirates. Once you're out of a game, you can't come back.
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Mr. Pujols with 4 grannies and Jason Werth with 20 hr's before the All Star Break.
Texas is in 1st in the AL West.
And the Cubs still suck (sorry couldn't help that one).
What more can happen in the world of baseball this year??
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