Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Purke, Wood, Oswalt, Werth

Five years ago today, Bill Hall, Damian Miller, Brady Clark, J.J. Hardy, and Prince Fielder all hit homeruns in the fourth inning of the Brewers' game against the Reds. The first four went deep off starter Brandon Claussen while Prince victimized Chris Hammond after a pitching change. It was the fifth time in baseball history and the first time since 1966 that a team hit five homeruns in one inning.

This week's collection of links knock it out of the park; here's the best the blogosphere had to offer over the last seven days…

• Midwest Sports Fans launched a bi-weekly MLB trivia challenge podcast with some help from a special guest: Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.
• Wahoo Blues conducted a study that shows the correlation between team payroll and wins is shrinking.
• Replacement Level Baseball offers up a scouting report from one of Matt Purke's recent starts. The TCU lefty was expected to be a high pick in this year's draft before visiting Dr. James Andrews with a shoulder issue.
• Through The Fence Baseball says Brandon Wood makes sense for the Pirates.
• Randall on Baseball explains why the Mariners aren't trading Felix Hernandez.
• Climbing Tal's Hill revisits the Roy Oswalt trade.
• Monkey With A Halo says the "new" Angels' offense looks a lot like the old one.
• The Process Report explains how the Rays being in contention would impact Johnny Damon's wallet.
• Cubs Billy Goat Blog thinks Carlos Zambrano may have reinvented himself on the mound.
• The Nats Blog tries to figure out why Jayson Werth is struggling.
• Infield Chatter muses about the concept of long-term extensions.
• McCovey Chronicles went back and examined J.T. Snow's defense.
• Camden Crazies digs deep to find the secret of Jeremy Guthrie's success.
• Beyond The Box Score wonders if Sam Fuld could generate some midseason trade buzz.
• Motor City Bengals riffs on the free agent compensation system.
• The Shea Faithful looks at the contributions the Mets are getting from their 2005 draft haul.
• We Should Be GMs wonders if Jose Contreras could be a cheap closer for the Phillies in 2012.
• Fenway Faithful Report lists the five worst pitching contracts in baseball.
• Rising Apple wrote about confidence, both in terms of players and fans.
• Blogging Mets offers up an argument about why sacrifice bunts are a poor strategy.
• Big League Stew had some fun with a Kevin Youkilis photoshop contest.
• Last but not least, Lasorda's Lair wrote about Jackie Robinson, a baseball and American icon.

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