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Best possible pitching performance. And yet a loss.

The game at Seals Stadium on August 18 nicely encapsulates and exemplifies the hard crash suffered by the upstart Denver 14ers in August. The night before, the 14ers defeated Boston 11-7, completing a five-game sweep and extending their win streak to eight games. The early August surge vaulted the Peakers to a tie

for first overall with Washington at 70-52. With a 2.5-game lead over Seattle and 4.5 over Los Angeles, it appeared that the long-suffering team had finally put some distance between itself and its rivals in the hotly contested Pacific Division.

On the 18th, Mike Mason took the mound against the Spiders' fifth starter Bryan Clark. Through eight innings the two hurlers dueled to a 0-0 tie, Clark allowing four hits, while Mason was untouched. Then in the bottom of the ninth, with the no-hitter still intact, Jose Oquendo drew a walk, Mark Grace reached on an error by Rick Burleson, Barry Larkin walked, and Mike Aldrete delievered a game-winning, walk-off sacrifice fly. The scoreboard read "San Francisco: 1 run, 0 hits, 0 errors -- Spiders win." And beneath it: "No-Hitter Mike Mason!"

Frozen on the mound for several moments, Mason couldn't quite fathom what has just transpired. The 29-year-old southpaw from Faribault, Minn. had achieved one of the greatest feats of his craft, yet walked off the field a loser. GM Timothy Smith was so flummoxed he ambled off the field in a zombie-like state, shaking his head in disbelief while repeatedly misquoting Winston Churchill.

The bizarre result was a portent, an augury—a harbinger, even—of things to come, as Denver lost seven straight and 11 of its next 12. The skid included six blown leads and 

six losses in the final three innings. In a particularly excruciating series in Toronto, Denver blew a 3-1 lead in the 8th, was blown out 12-2, then surrendered five runs to blow a 7-5 lead in the 9th. The swoon saw the 14ers fall to second, then third, in the Pacific; and from 1st to 8th overall. So tightly contested in this year's playoff race that two bad weeks can whiplash a team from the top to the middle of the pack.

Much focus will be put on Mason, who was shellacked in his next two outings, allowing 13 runs in eight innings. He was 2-4, 3.79 in August, suffering from just 2.0 run support. But the rotation's other lefty, John Martin, was absolutely abysmal, posting a 10.18 ERA in five starts to earn an almost-certain demotion going into the final month. And the new relievers brought in to replace the injured Tim Burke? Worse than bad. Paul Assenmacher had a 6.00 ERA in 11 games and nominal closer Mike Maddux had a 7.94 ERA.

The 14ers road to the playoffs suddenly looks frought and perilous. Denver faces the second toughest remaining schedule among the 10 contending teams, starting with a five-game road trip to Toronto, Manhattan, and Los Angeles and six games in five days against Chicago. Time is running out for GM Smith to right the ship and get the club back on a playoff course.

 Since 1980, there have been roughly four homer hat tricks and two cycles per season. In late August, the league saw four feats in four days.

On the 25th, Roberto Alomar cycled with a 5-5 day and scored four runs in an 8-6 Toronto win at Boston. The next day at Hudson Yards, Manhattan's Danny Tartabull hit for the cycle, driving in five, in the Sox 14-1 mauling of Chicago. Then on Aug. 27, his teammate Jose Canseco homered three times in a 12-2 win against Denver (two off John Martin and one off Mike Maddux). Finally, on Aug. 28, fellow Bash Brother (from an alternate universe) Mark McGwire homered three times in Atlanta's 13-5 home win over Cleveland.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Manhattan feat of a cycle and a hat trick on consecutive days "must have set some kind of record."

A special footnote here. Early in the year, Tony Gwynn became the first player to collect six hits in a game in nearly a decade. On May 22, Gwynn batted 6-for-8 in a 16-inning 9-8 Toppers win over Havana. The last player with a six-hit game was John Castino for Los Angeles in July 1979.

And one more P.S. to the footnote. There have been only nine 17-strikeout games in UL history, and two of them happened this year. Mark Langston of Havana fanned 17 on Apr. 13 and Washington's Teddy Higuera fanned 17 on Aug. 19.

That's right, in addition to the two cycles and two homer hat tricks Aug. 25-28, there was a no-hitter on the 18th and a 17-K game on the 19th. That's six feats in a fortnight!

Other than perfect games, of which their have been five, six-hit games have been the rarest feat in the UL, with just 20 occurances. There have been 

92 homer hat tricks

45 15-K games

44 cycles

33 no-hitters

22 hitting streaks of at least 25 games

20 6-hit games

5 perfect games 

Wait!  Is this another article where Holloway will drone on and on about Toni Basil and how awesome she is?  As tempting as that may be because she is truly awesome, your beat reporter promises to stick to the story of Mickey Rivers.  The impetus of this story was the blockbuster DET-CHI deal that sent longtime SS and heart of the Griffins club, Alan Trammell, to CHI for draft picks and a bevy of players, one Mickey Rivers included.  Now

at the end of his career, let’s take a look back at a player that could have been one of the greatest CFs ever but never seemed to be able to stay healthy – or with one team - long enough to ​reach the lofty pantheon of UL greats.

Rivers, a naturally gifted CF that seemingly had all the tools save for power, was drafted in the 4th Round of the 1970 by BRO and didn’t see much action until 1973, after which BRO traded him to DEN.  At DEN, Rivers’ true talent was on display, as he played for four years in a row with few injuries and registered 1.3, 6.4, 5.3, and 4.0 WAR.  His 1974 season was, of course, cut short by a torn thumb ligament and partial tear of his labrum.  He came back to win the Gold Glove and Willie Mays award in 1975 and 1976, and UL observers began to think he was on the path to glory.  

Alas, in 1978, after missing 17 weeks due to injuries, DEN traded Rivers to CHI, where Rivers played until midway through the 1980 season when he was traded to CLE.  He still registered solid numbers and posted 2.4, 2.6 and 4.2 WAR from 1979 - 1981, and won another Gold Glove for the 1980 season with CLE despite only playing 124 games. 

It was at this point in his career, though, that the combination of being a journeyman and often injured likely hurt Rivers’ ability to produce and frustrated GMs who wanted Rivers on the field and not in the trainer’s room.  In early 1982, CLE sent Rivers back to DEN, where he managed to make it through half a season before being sent to MAN.  By 1983 MAN had sent him back to CLE where Rivers played one year before becoming a free agent and signing with MAN for a second stint.  Rivers experienced some sense of permanence in this second run with MAN, as he lasted four years with Sox and even won a WS with the team in 1986, experiencing a slight resurgence and igniting thoughts that he may be able of replicating his years at DEN early in his career.  

And while Rivers’ performance exhibited flashes of his glory years in DEN, his age and numerous injuries were catching up with him, and even staying with one team couldn’t belie the fact that Rivers’ better days were likely behind him.  After the 1987 season, MAN released him, and Rivers signed with CHI, where he had difficulty breaking into the line-up due to injuries and the fact that his skills had greatly deteriorated due to the constant niggling and serious injuries he picked up over his career.  

And it’s precisely this propensity to get injured that likely kept Rivers from fulfilling his potential as one of the best CFs to play the game.  Hard to do that when you’re injured 50 times and miss 128 weeks, or roughly 2.5 years, over a pro career that is so far 19 years long.  And the tables below don’t even list his day-to-day injuries received.  Rivers fought gamely through all his aches, pains and injuries, but it definitely slowed him down.  The staggering number of times he was injured is what prompted CHI GM Haugh, when negotiating the Trammell deal with Detroit, to offer that he could send DET “the remains of Rivers as well” – if Rivers was so wanted.  At 39 and after all the injuries, Rivers is held together by titanium rods and pins, and a lot of duct tape.  

Imagine, though:  37.7 career WAR despite all the time he missed and all the days (27 weeks total) he played with some part of him injured.  This guy could have been a 1st vote HOFer had he stayed healthy.  But as it stands, Iron Mike had other plans for him.  

To wit on his potential greatness, here is an excerpt of his career stat line:  .304/.321/.407 and .728 OPS to go along with his 37.7 WAR, three Gold Gloves, two Willie Mays awards and one WS.  Unfortunately, his injury stats are even more impressive, as noted below, so while Mickey will always be known as a solid CF, his name likely will never come up when the greatest UL CFs are being discussed save for “he coulda been somebody”.