Bizarre stuff Wednesday night:

1) Carlos Gomez hits for the cycle

2) Nick Punto drives in five runs with two extra base hits

3) Livan Hernandez throws a complete game, taking a shutout into the ninth inning.

None of this is really anything one can rationally expect.

Strictly speaking, the cycle is the rarest of those feats. But given the ability of those three, I would have to say that Gomez is a lot more likely to hit for the cycle than Punto is to get five ribbies or Hernandez to shut out a major league lineup (which he didn't do, so it's still unlikely).

I was loudly unenthusiastic about the Hernandez signing, and I remain unwilling to actually pay money to watch him pitch. But he has been, with one horrendous exception, very productive. At some point I'm going to have to try to get a grip on this. It does not compute, that he can be so awful last season with Arizona and better-than-competent the next year in Minnesota. The stuff, or lack of it, is the same.

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