Friday the 13th in Phily

The Astros are in Philadelphia today, where they'll try to play the first of three games, outside, without being interrupted by rain, snow, or meteor showers. Craig Biggio will hope to use those games to move closer to the record 288 career HBPs, and possibly to get the 4 hits he needs to reach the 2,942 career hits milestone. But, today is friday the 13th. Craig Biggio has never been hit by pitch on Friday the 13th by anyone not named Jason. The Phillies don't have anyone named Jason, so Biggio's chances of getting his 283rd HBP tonight look bleak.

On the other hand, there have been dozens of movies inspired by the Friday the 13th franchise and the Jason character, so maybe someone could throw a plunk inspired by Jason Simontacchi's Friday the 13th plunk of 2002. The Phillies have a pitcher named Freddy, but it's not Freddy Kruger... it's Freddy Garcia, and he's on the disabled list. They also have Tom Gordon, who had a Steven King book written about him... but that book wasn't particularly scary, unless you're afraid of having the Giant Glass radio ad jingle stuck in your head while lost in the woods (1-800-54-Giant). They have another pitcher name Myers, but it's not Michael Myers from the Halloween movies, it's Brett Myers. He's pitching tonight, and he's never hit Craig Biggio with a pitch. Myers only hit 3 batters last year, but he hit 11 the year before that.

Biggio has been plunked twice on April 13th. In 2005, Braden Looper nearly broke Biggio's arm with plunk 257, but Biggio stayed in the game. On April 13, 2002, the late, great, Darryl Kile threw plunk 199.