The "K" has stood for the strikeout in baseball scorecards since the days of Henry Chadwick, who essentially invented scoring as we know it back in the early 1870s. I couldn't help but notice the march of them over my scorecard tonight as I watched the Tampa Bay Devil Rays host the New York Yankees.

Did you ever notice that the New York Yankees have the most K's in their name of any major league team? Oakland and Kansas City each have one, as do the Rockies and Diamondbacks. The New York Mets have one, and of course the old Brooklyn Dodgers did, too. Not that this means much, since the Milwaukee Brewers lead the majors in W's in their name, and you don't rally see them leading in wins. And the Yankees have the most letter Y's as well, which makes me think I ought to use it for scoring SOMETHING.

Tonight the Yankees didn't lead in strikeouts either, but here are the patterns. Mike Mussina, the wily control-pitching veteran took the air-conditioned hill against youngster Scott Kazmir. Maybe he should spell it Skot, that'd give him another K, but maybe that would make him seem too much like one of Roger Clemens' sons.* He's young enough to be one; when he was born Clemens was just a few months from his major legaue debut. At 20 years old, Kazmir is the so-called future of the Devil Rays pitching staff, though really he's the PRESENT not the future, for them.

And you can see why. The game began with him facing Derek Jeter. Jeter this year has been in the leadoff spot a lot and--lo and behold--he is leading the league in walks with 20. Wait, I take that back, it looks like tonight he was surpassed by former Yankee David Dellucci who has found an everyday playing job in Texas the past few years. But the point is Jeter has been much more patient at the plate than he was a few years back.

Tonight he led off the game by striking out on three pitches. Ouch. Kazmir struck out four of the first seven men he faced, and had eight K's through four innings, though the Yankees scratched one run off him in that span. He left the game after six innings with nine total, matching his career high, and since his career is only five weeks long, that is NTS. (Not Too Shabby)

Look horizontally across the scorecard though and you notice another pattern. The Yankees have a kid named Andy Phillips on the roster now. He's not a kid in the sense that Kazmir is (who is 20), because he's 28 years old, but he was last year's Minor League Player of the Year in the Yankees farm system. He was called up for some games last year, and this spring hit the proverbial tar out of the baseball (proverbial because there's no actual tar in a baseball--just a lot of cork and string). This year the Yankees have been looking... well... rather old and flat at the plate, so they brought the kid up and in the first couple of games he hit a couple of home runs and some doubles.

Of course then 5 of your first six hits are for extra bases, pitchers start taking you more seriously, so Phillips' initial surge seems to have abated.

Tonight he did something that happens rather rarely. He struck out five times in the game. It was bad enough in the seventh when he gained the "golden sombrero," which is one better than the "hat trick" of three Ks, at four, but with five I suppose you'd have to call it "the platinum fedora" or something. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

I'm trying to figure out when the last time a major leaguer struck out five times in a game, but I'm not sure I have the time to look at all the research... Bo Jackson did it April 19, 1987 and the news accounts of that game say he tied a major league record, becoming the 13th player in the American League to perform the feat (if it can be called such). Boston's Phil Plantier did it October 1, 1991. On May 31, 2001, Sammy Sosa struck out five times in a 0-0 game at Wrigley field, then grounde out in the 14th (for which he received an ovation) and then got the game-winning hit in the 16th (for which the cheers were noticeably louder). Adam Dunn did it on August 20, 2002, and Montreal's Tony Batista did it on August 31, 2004. That is probably the most recent one.

Hmmm, Tony Batista, Sammy Sosa, Adam Dunn... if Phillips can end up hitting like any of those three guys he will do all right.

The other nifty little K pattern on the scorecard tonight comes in the vertical dimension. The Rays, despite losing 6-2, brought on their closer Danys Baez for the ninth inning. Poor Baez has not been getting much work lately, since the Rays are on a seven game losing streak and haven't had many save opportunities for him. So he comes in to get some work, strikes out Posada, Matsui and then the aforementioned Phillips.

Now, Mariano Rivera has been having a similar season to Baez in that there have been very few save situations. Usually the Yankees either have a blow out win, like the night when A-rod hit three home runs in three innings off Bartolo Colon, or they blow the lead and lose horribly. (Did I mention they are off to the worst start since who knows when? Pretty bad, anyway.) So, Mo gets loosened up to come into a non-save situation too. And he see Baez knock down three men with K's.

Mariano often doesn't strike out a lot of guys. They make soft hits or break their bats. But you could almost see him thinking to himself... hmm, I could do that. And what does he do? He comes in and strikes out the side as well, Josh Phelps, Jorge Cantu, and Nick Green. Good morning, good afternoon, and goodnight.

This entry brought to you by the letter K. I still haven't decided what the Y should stand for.

* -- Clemens' four sons are named Kody, Kacy, Kory, and Koby, and I'm sure if he had a girl she'd be named Katy. And speaking of strikeouts and Clemens, he is currently tied for third on the list for the 2005 season, with 36, and he has a microscopic 1.03 ERA. But the anemic Houston offense has failed to score runs for him and his record is 1-1 after 5 starts. The standing rumor is that if the Astros are out of it by the All-Star break, Clemens could be traded to Boston or New York.