When you think baseball, you undoubtedly think “America’s pastime.” Well, you should also be thinking R.E.M. No, that’s not a typo: two of the alternative legend’s members, Peter Buck and studio/touring member Scott McCaughey, along with Dream Syndicate’s Steve Wynn and Linda Pitmon, are in The Baseball Project, a little band based on their shared love of pinch hitting and rocking out. If you can’t believe that such a thing could exist, then peep your ears on their track “Panda & The Freak” (via JamBase).

McCaughey is actually a diehard San Francisco Giants fan, so you think he’d be stoked that the Rangers have a 2-0 series lead in the World Series. His dominant emotion, strangely enough, seems to be focus on complaining about the lack of really cool nicknames in baseball nowadays while celebrating the history of the truly awesome ones. Wouldn’t you know it, they just happen to focus on the Giants’ Tim Lincecum and Pablo Sandoval; how odd. Sports knowledge aside, fans of any of these bands should check out this track; maybe one day it’ll replace the National Anthem?

The track will appear on the group’s sophomore release Vol. 2: High and Inside, which hits stores in February 2011 via Yep Roc.