Bask in the majesty of A-Rod, Ken Griffey Jr. and Edgar Martinez going back-to-back-to-back
A-Rod, Griffey and Edgar Martinez hit consecutive HRs
Have you ever switched your video game to "fantasy draft" mode, just to live in a fever dream in which your lineup consisted of your nine favorite stars, and you averaged 16 runs a game? Who are we kidding, of course you have. You're only human.
Apparently, though, somebody took things a little too far, tearing a hole in the gaming-reality continuum and creating the Seattle Mariners of the mid-'90s. In 1996, Lou Piniella got to run out Alex Rodriguez, Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez and Jay Buhner in the middle of his lineup -- with Buhner posting the lowest OPS ... at .926.
That was the buzzsaw poor Athletics starter Dave Telgheder walked into on Sept. 21, 1996. And, well, it didn't take long for things to go exactly how you'd expect: In the bottom of the third (after Buhner already went yard in the second), Rodriguez, Griffey and Martinez came up and launched three dingers in just five pitches:
Oh, and just for good measure, first baseman Paul Sorrento went deep himself two batters later, knocking Telgheden out of the game -- and presumably ruining the baseball video game market, because with reality like that, who needed a distraction?