Watson finished tied with three other batters for the eighth-longest hitting streak in Minor League history. The longest belongs to Joe Wilhoit, who rattled off a 69-gamer for the Wichita Jobbers of the Western League in 1919. The second-longest was authored by a 19-year-old named Joe DiMaggio who played for the San Francisco Seals of the Pacific Coast League at the time. DiMaggio, of course, went on to set the Major League record for the longest hitting streak with a 56-gamer for the New York Yankees in 1941. The 14 longest Minor League hitting streaks were:

(Player, Year, Team (Lg), Streak)
Joe Wilhoit, 1919, Wichita (WL-A), 69
Joe DiMaggio, 1933, San Francisco (PCL-AA), 61
Roman Mejias, 1954, Waco (BSL-B), 55
Otto Pahlman, 1922, Danville (IIIL-B), 50
Jack Ness, 1915, Oakland (PCL-AA), 49
Harry Chozen, 1945, Mobile (SA-A1), 48
Johnny Bates, 1926, Nashville (SA-A), 46
Brandon Watson, 2007, Columbus (IL-AAA), 43
Eddie Marshall, 1935, Milwaukee (AA-AA), 43
Orlando Moreno, 1961, Louisville (AA-AAA), 43
Howie Bedell, 1947, Big Spring (LHL-D), 43
Jack Lelivelt, 1912, Rochester (IL-AA), 42
Herbert Chapman, 1950, Gadsden (SEL-B), 42
Frosty Kennedy, 1953, Charleston, (SAL-A), 40

THE 600 CLUB
Sammy Sosa of the Texas Rangers hit the 600th home run of his career on Wednesday. He's the fifth player to reach 600 and it took him 6,578 days from his debut on June 16, 1989, to accumulate that total. That's the second-longest period of the five. It took Barry Bonds 5,915 days to reach the milestone, Babe Ruth 6,250, Hank Aaron 6,223 and Willie Mays 6,695.

SHORT SUBJECT
A short film on the Internet has become a surprise summer hit, especially for Boston Red Sox fans. The short lasts three minutes and 44 seconds and is titled "Roger Clemens 2057." The comedy, created by Hollywood writer Mike Barber, depicts a 95-year-old Roger Clemens trying to convince the New York Yankees that they should bring him back to pitch in 2057. Johnny Holiday, the country's oldest working actor at age 95, stars as the future Hall of Famer. According to Lenny Megliola of MetroWest Daily News in Farmington, Mass., the video pulled in over 23,000 viewers in the first two days it was available.

TIME-AND-A-HALF
The UC-Irvine Anteaters, playing in their first College World Series, were eliminated on Wednesday, but not before setting a record. On Monday night, the Anteaters played the longest game in CWS history when they took five hours and 40 minutes to defeat Cal State Fullerton, 5-4, in 13 innings. Before Monday, the longest Series game had been a five-hour, 13-inning marathon in 1981 in which Oklahoma State beat Arizona State, 11-10. Irvine and Fullerton combined to strand 52 runners, throw 426 pitches and use a CWS-record 96 baseballs.

KEEPING UP
The Oakland A's posted the 8,000th win in franchise history when they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals, 14-3, on June 15. The A's are the 14th of the original 16 Major League clubs to accomplish the feat. The Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins are the only two of the 16 that have yet to reach 8,000 victories. All the original members of the National League had reached the milestone by the late 1990s, while the New York Yankees were the only American League franchise to reach 8,000 before 2000. The San Francisco Giants have the most franchise wins with 10,143, accumulated in 124-plus seasons beginning in 1883. The chart below shows what season each team won its 8,000th and its franchise win total through Wednesday:

American League
(Team, 1st Year, 8,000 Win, Total Wins)
Orioles, 1902, ---, 7,793
Red Sox, 1901, 2003, 8,490
White Sox, 1901, 2002, 8,329
Indians, 1901, 2002, 8,422
Tigers, 1901, 2002, 8,358
Twins, 1901, ---, 7,920
Yankees, 1903, 1994, 9,206
A's, 1901, 2007, 8,002

National League
(Team, 1st Year, 8,000 Win, Total Wins)
Braves, 1876, 1989, 9,650
Cubs, 1876, 1981, 9,932
Reds, 1890, 1993, 9,094
Dodgers, 1890, 1989, 9,440
Phillies, 1883, 1997, 8,810
Pirates, 1887, 1988, 9,027
Cardinals, 1892, 1995, 9,797
Giants, 1883, 1980, 10,143

RETURN TRIP
Former Major Leaguer Ed Vosberg is attempting a comeback by pitching in the Mexican League. The 45-year-old left-hander is 3-2 with a 2.40 ERA in nine starts for the Tijuana Colts of the League's North Division. Vosberg is believed to be the only person to have played for winning teams in the Little League World Series, College World Series and Major League World Series.

ONE-TEAM MEN
Craig Biggio is on the verge of joining a very exclusive club. The Houston Astros second baseman is eight hits from becoming the ninth Major Leaguer to get 3,000 hits while playing for just one team. The current members are George Brett, Roberto Clemente, Tony Gwynn, Al Kaline, Stan Musial, Cal Ripken, Carl Yastrzemski and Robin Yount. All eight are in, or set to be inducted into, the Hall of Fame.

BREAKING OUT
Several players could hit 30 homers by the All-Star break this season. The leading candidates are Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, who had 27 pops through Wednesday, and Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers, who had 26. The Yankees third baseman and Brewers first baseman could become the 23rd and 24th players to hit 30 before the Midsummer Classic. The feat has been accomplished 30 times by 22 different players. Jim Thome and David Ortiz were the last sluggers to hit 30 before the All-Star break when they each turned the trick last season. Former Major Leaguer Mark McGwire owns the record having hit 30 taters before the break four times during his career while Ken Griffey Jr. leads active big-leaguers, having done it three times. Below are the 13 highest dinger totals before the break and the player's final tally by season's end:

(Batter, Year, Break HR, Final Total)
Barry Bonds, 2001, 39, 73
Reggie Jackson, 1969, 37, 47
Mark McGwire, 1998, 37, 70
Luis Gonzalez, 2001, 35, 57
Ken Griffey, 1998, 35, 56
Frank Howard, 1969, 34, 48
Sammy Sosa, 1998, 33, 66
Roger Maris, 1961, 33, 61
Mark McGwire, 1987, 33, 49
Matt Williams, 1994, 33, 43
Ken Griffey, 1994, 33, 40
Sammy Sosa, 1999, 32, 63
Frank Thomas, 1994, 32, 38

TOP CHEF
Ian Snell may stay out of the kitchen for a while. The Pittsburgh Pirates starter will miss his next start because of a blister on the right index finger of his pitching hand. Snell burned the finger when he tried to flip a chicken breast in a hot skillet while making himself lunch.

ROLL CALL
The Hagerstown Suns of the South Atlantic League celebrated the 150th anniversary of toilet paper on June 15. Fans attending the game learned about the history of the household product and could participate in toilet tissue trivia contests. The Class A affiliate of the Washington Nationals also awarded select fans free rolls of TP autographed by Suns pitcher Chris Lugo as they left the game.

DOG STAR
Curtis Granderson received a lesson in canine etiquette recently, as he recounted on his blog. The Detroit Tigers outfielder was petting some of the dogs used to scare off seagulls at Comerica Park when one particularly friendly pooch peed on his foot. The dog's owner told the player that the dog liked him and just wanted to mark him. The affectionate gesture seems to have given Granderson a lift -- he's had six multi-hit games since.

AROUND THE HORN
Bonds homered in Fenway Park on June 17 making the Fens and Wrigley Field the only two parks in which all of the top three home run hitters (Hank Aaron, Bonds and Babe Ruth) hit a dinger during the regular season. ... The Devil Rays became the first team this season to see only three pitches in an inning when, on June 15, Rockies pitcher Rodrigo Lopez got three outs on three pitches in the fifth inning on a single, double play grounder and fly out. ... On June 16, 1-0 games were played in both Wrigley Field and Fenway Park; it was just the third time the two parks hosted 1-0 contests on the same day, the other two dates being September 25, 1934, and July 23, 1963. ... Manny Acta of the Nationals, Ron Washington of the Rangers, Tony La Russa of the Cardinals and recently hired Dave Trembley of the Orioles are the only managers who have yet to be ejected this season; Charlie Manuel of the Phillies leads all skippers with five heave-hos. ... Curt Schilling did not strike out a batter on Monday, ending his 378-game streak of registering at least one whiff per start; since 1957, only Tom Seaver (411 consecutive starts) and Nolan Ryan (382) had longer strings. ... According to historian Doug Kelly, Justin Verlander of the Tigers joined Jim Palmer as the only pitchers to start Game 1 of a World Series and throw a no-hitter before the age of 25. ... Dave Trembley had gone 1-1 with the Orioles through Wednesday after taking over as the team's interim manager following the dismissal of Sam Perlozzo on Monday. ... Braves third baseman Chipper Jones recorded his 2,000th Major League hit on Sunday, 5,023 days after registering his first big-league knock in 1993. ... Chone Figgins became the first player in over two years to register six hits in a game; the Angel third baseman had six safeties on Monday against the Astros. ... Since his wife gave birth to their first child on June 1, second baseman Mark Ellis of the A's has batted .338 (23-for-68) with six doubles, four homers and 14 RBIs. .... Brewers equipment manager, Tony Migliaccio, gave rookie Yovani Gallardo uniform number 49, which was once worn by former Brewers ace Teddy Higuera who, like Gallardo, hails from Mexico. ... Russell Martin needs eight more stolen bases to break a 105-year-old Dodgers record for most stolen bases by a catcher; in 1892 Con Daily stole 18. ... Padres ace Jake Peavy has struck out over a quarter of the 394 batters he's faced this season and has surrendered only one homer. ... The Rangers have played 27 games this season in which they've trailed, at some point, by at least five runs. ... The Pirates are the only non-Western Division team in either league that will make four separate trips to California this season. ... If the Brewers play .500 ball for the rest of the season, they would finish with an 86-76 record; the last place Reds would have to play at a .652 winning pace for the remainder of 2007 to tie them. ... The White Sox have only two triples this season, the fewest in the Majors; they haven't posted a three-bagger since April 27, a span of 46 games. ... Derrick Turnbow of the Brewers leads all relievers in the bigs with 20 holds. ... The Rockies lead the Majors in fielding with a .991 mark; they've made only 25 errors in 2,751 chances. ... Dustin Pedroia joined Fred Lynn (1975), Dave Stapleton (1980) and Brian Daubach (1999) as the only Red Sox rookies in the last 50 years to get five hits in a game; Pedroia posted his five-spot on June 15 against the Giants. ... Granderson needs to hit one homer to become the ninth player since 1957 to record double figures in doubles, triples and homers before the All-Star Break; the others were Willie Mays, Johnny Callison, Jim Rice, Lloyd Moseby, Ryne Sandberg, Phil Bradley, Andy Van Slyke and Nomar Garciaparra. ... Their 7 1/2 game lead in the NL Central is the largest ever enjoyed by the Brewers this late in a division race. ... Roy Halladay on Wednesday joined Dave Stieb (1,658), Jim Clancy (1,237), Juan Guzman (1,030) and Pat Hentgen (1,028) as the only pitchers to whiff 1,000 or more batters for the Blue Jays. ... Craig Monroe joined Chet Laabs (1938) and Danny Bautista (1995) as the only Tigers batters to whiff five times in a nine-inning game. ... Pitchers Mark Buehrle of the White Sox, Mike Maroth of the Tigers and Jason Simontacchi of the Nationals share the lead in the Majors with four pickoffs each. ... Through Wednesday, 62 pitchers and 41 position players had debuted in the bigs this season.

This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.