Thursday (Not since Babe Ruth) edition: Wha' Happened?

When Wednesday night began, the chances of Wilson Valdez becoming the first MLB player to do anything since Babe Ruth were nearly non-existent. Unpredictability, of course, is one of the reasons baseball is so great.

In case you didn't hear (or see), Valdez -- who started the game at second base -- came in and pitched the 19th inning for the Phillies, who had already burned through eight pitchers and were desperate to not use any more arms against the Reds. Valdez managed to get through unscathed -- going through the heart of a good lineup allowing only one baserunner on a hit by pitch -- and was the winning pitcher when the Phillies scored in the bottom of the inning. He became the first player to start in the field but end up winning a game as the pitcher since Babe Ruth in 1921, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Valdez even had the audacity to shake off a sign.

"It was funny because when Votto was hitting [Valdez] started shaking [off catcher] Dane [Sardinha], and I was like, 'What is he about to throw? What does he have?' " first baseman Ryan Howard said. "He threw him a sinker in, and I was like, OK."

Great stuff. Great story.

And, naturally, it made us remember a similar game from more than two decades ago -- literally sent us scurrying for Baseball Reference and left us ultimately satisfied that we had remembered things pretty much as they happened.

The year was 1988. The Atlanta Braves were in the midst of yet another dreadful season (the most dreadful of an awful era, in fact, as they finished 54-106). We were in the midst of yet another year of watching pretty much every game from start to finish. Baseball was our life. The glorious Superstation (TBS) was our oxygen.

The date was May 14. The Braves, as was their custom, fell behind 3-0 early to the Cardinals. The Braves rallied for four runs, however, off Cris Carpenter -- side note, this was apparently Carpenter's first career start/MLB appearance. The more you know. Key members of that four-run burst: Dale Murphy (our favorite player all-time, who was in the midst of a dreadful year), Ken Griffey SENIOR, Gerald Perry, Ron Gant and Ken Oberkfell. This was our childhood. Seriously, just say those names and we might as well be 11 years old again. But anyway.

But the biggest story came in the top of the 16th. Journeyman infielder Jose Oquendo, who came on in the ninth inning to play first base, took the hill for the Cardinals to pitch. Ken Griffey SENIOR led off the top of the 16th with a double. The always dangerous Gerald Perry was intentionally walked. Ozzie Virgil followed with a single to right field, but in a decision we didn't understand when we were 11 and still don't understand now, the 38-year-old Griffey -- who was batting cleanup, by the way -- was waved home. With a position player pitching. And, predictably, instead of having bases loaded and no outs, Griffey was gunned down at the plate and the rally stalled with no runs scored.

PLEASE ALSO NOTE FROM THE LINK ABOVE TO THE BOX SCORE: The Cardinals kept shuffling Tom Brunansky and Jose DeLeon back and forth between left and right field, depending on who was batting while Oquendo was pitching. Again, only in baseball. Not that it really mattered. Oquendo gave up just one hit over the next two innings. And he should have been the winning pitcher. In the bottom of the 18th, the Cardinals put runners on first and third with no outs after a single and an error, but Mahler somehow wiggled free thanks to a line drive double play.