Quit hitting yourself!

The Diamondbacks' 7-4 victory over the Padres last night seemed fairly normal. Nobody struck out the opposition's entire roster, the bat boys, the traveling secretary, and half of Section 122 and still not pick up the win.

Nope. Pretty ho-hum. Except for something exceedingly rare: For just the second time in major league history (at least as far as the Pretzel Factory could tell; if we're wrong, please let us know in a condescending, degrading tone) a pitcher faced a batter with the same name.

Chris Young - Arizona's 23-year-old, 6'2" 180-pound African-American centerfielder - flew out to center in the first and to left in the second, and popped up on the infield in the fifth in his three at-bats against Chris Young - San Diego's 27-year-old, 6'10" 260-pound Awfully-Caucasian right-handed starter.

The other time? May 11, 1999, when the Rockies' Bobby Jones took the hill against the Mets' Bobby Jones (which is still the only time two men with the same name started against each other). And, this being the rough-and-tumble NL where you can't plunk a few dudes and then hide in the dugout, each non-golfing Bobby Jones faced the other one twice. The Big Apple BJ was 0-2 at the plate, and the Mile High BJ was 0-1 with a walk.

So while Bobby Jones - the lefty and darker one, if I remember correctly - reached base on his diamond-going doppelganger, nobody's ever gotten a base hit against "himself." Well, at least not until the Yankees get desperate and sign this guy.