The Major League Baseball record for home runs in a game is four. Always has been, always will be, evidently. This mark has stood since 1894, tied 14 times since. Only once has a batter ever come to the plate with a chance at hitting five, Seattle's Mike Cameron in 2002.
Cameron, in fact, had two shots at a fifth home run - his first shot, he was hit by a pitch, and his last at-bat, his drive died on the warning track. Baseball has its share of unassailable records, many set in eras in which the game was vastly different. Yet, four home runs remains the game's constant, its speed of light, something humans surpass only in advanced computer modeling.
MLB 11 The Show supplies that simulation, as do most baseball video games, where five home run games are as common as space travel is in other genres. Reader Duffman0hy3a - we'll just call him Duff - is playing a franchise season with the Chicago White Sox, and found the South Siders in bad need of a jolt after suffering injuries to pitcher Jake Peavy, outfielder Juan Pierre, and lumberjack slugger Paul Konerko, all lost for 60 days.
Facing the Rangers, Duff's Sox get out to fast lead when Adam Dunn pounds two home runs in his first two at bats. In the fourth inning of a rout, Dunn comes to bat and tomahawks one deep to right for the third tater, and the first time Duff says he's hit three home runs in a game with the same player.
Sixth inning, Dunn/Duff spies a hanging curve on a 2-1 count and blasts it into center field 473 feet for the fourth home run. With so much time left, Duff figured Dunn would get at least one more plate appearance. He did.
In the eighth inning, Dunn comes to bat as Duff makes the decision to lay on that square button on the first pitch no matter what - the power swing. Sure enough, he catches a hanging slider and blasts it opposite field for his fifth home run of the game.
For those who've complained about people setting virtual records with cheesy difficulty, Duff notes this was accomplished on the All-Star setting. And I'll vouch for The Show's stinginess, this year, with extra base hits at all levels of play. Here's the Box Score:
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Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV highlights for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
NHL Playoffs
Tonight, Tampa Bay and Boston open the Eastern Conference finals in Boston. (8 p.m., Versus, CBC). Tomorrow, San Jose and Vancouver kick off the Western finals in Vancouver (8, Versus, CBC).
NBA Playoffs
Oklahoma City couldn't finish off Memphis last night, so they will play Game Seven on Sunday at 3:30, ABC. Then Miami and Chicago open the Eastern Conference finals at 8 on TNT.
Baseball
Fox's game of the week today is either Red Sox-Yankees, Giants-Cubs, or Diamondbacks-Dodgers, but it's at 7 p.m., check local listings. Tomorrow, TBS offers the Phillies and Braves at 1:30, it's Giants-Cubs on WGN at 2:10 and, who else but Red Sox at Yankees on ESPN at 8.
Other Stuff
The Players Championship's third and final rounds will be today and tomorrow on NBC, 2 p.m. both days. NASCAR's FedEx 400 runs at 12:30 tomorrow on Fox. Andre Ward and Arthur Abraham fight for the super middleweight title tonight at 10 on Showtime.
Remember, you may send your sports Game of the Week nominations to owenATkotakuDOTcom, and flag it "Box Scores" in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.
(Top image by Jared Wickerham | Getty)