[Curse you, human need for sleep! Fortunately, Doug covered the big story.]

Nationals 6, @Blue Jays 2: So what else is new? Six strong by Strasburg (8 Ks, just 89 pitches); two scoreless by Stammen (4 Ks); six straight wins over all for Washington, and 7 straight against three erstwhile AL East powers.

• Strasburg is the first pitcher to 100 strikeouts this year. He also leads the majors in K rate, 11.7 SO/9.
• Tyler Moore rewarded the club’s persistence — they drafted him three times and finally bagged him in 2008 — with a monster game, downing his first 5 big-league rib-eyes in one sitting: 2-run double to start the scoring, 2-run HR to break another tie, and a bonus bomb for 10 total bases, the most by a Nat in since last June 15. Both HRs off the bat of the big 25-year-old RH masher cleared 400 feet. Before his call-up from AAA Syracuse, Moore had a 1.032 OPS and 26 RBI in 28 games, after averaging 74 extra-base hits the past 2 years and leading first the Carolina and then the Eastern League with 31 HRs (at least 6 more than anyone else). A dismal SO/BB ratio kept his BA around .270 then, but he improved that at AAA this year, with a .310 BA and .372 OBP. He has not walked in 31 PAs.
• In Nats/Expos history, only Danny Espinosa had a 10-TB game quicker than Moore’s 16th career game. But Espo did it in a meaningless September blowout.
• Tenth relief outing of 2+ IP for Stammen this year, tops in MLB. The former starter has a 1.67 ERA in 32.1 IP, and the Nats are 17-8 in his appearances.
• Hopefully no lasting damage to the arm of Kyle Drabek, who left abruptly after feeling a “pop” but seemed OK after postgame tests. I suspect it will provide a convenient opportunity to get him out of the rotation; he has a 6.32 ERA in his last 8 starts, with 32 walks and 21 Ks in 41.1 IP.

Mets @Rays (commentary begun in top-5): Anticipated duels are sometimes duds, but not this one so far: 14 of the first 25 outs in this game came by K, with 8 of 13 batters whiffed by the streaking R.A. Dickey, owner of the longest scoreless streak in MLB this year. The Mets just got an earned run off David Price, which as much as he’s allowed in any of his past 4 starts.

• And just like that, Price lost it: After one measly hit in the first four frames, he surrendered 4 for 3 runs in the 5th, and 4 more to start the 6th, all of whom tallied. Seven earned runs ties the most ever against Price, done by the Yanks 2 years ago. He had not allowed more than 5 runs in 59 starts since then, the longest active streak in MLB — no more.
• The sweetest thing about baseball, to me, is redemption. Why does it seem like a bigger narrative factor on the diamond than in other sports? I guess it’s because individual chances are so much more clearly defined and scheduled. Anyway, Mets backup C Mike Nickeas squelched a Mets 3rd-and-1st threat in the 2nd with a DP, extending his season-long slump to 9 for 68 (which may just be his true ability). But in his next AB, he fouled off a 1-2 breaking ball, then lined a tough low fastball up the middle for an RBI to put the Mets in front.
• Six straight games with at least 8 Ks for Dickey, the longest streak in MLB since last June-July, when CC Sabathia had 7 straight and Clayton Kershaw had 6. No Met has had a longer streak since 1992, 10 by David Cone.
• It’s bound to turn out moot — right? — but the only “hit” (and runner) off Dickey through 6 IP was a 1st-inning bouncer by B.J. Upton down the 3B line that David Wright tried to bare-hand and missed. He would have had Upton with a handle and a true throw, but Keith Hernandez thought Wright had time to use the leather; oh, well. Tampa has had nothing else even close to a hit. Only 8 have put the ball in play; there was a sharp one-hopper right at the SS, and a long foul bomb, and that’s it.
• Dickey through 8 now with no other runners, career-high 12 Ks, 96 pitches. You never know how things might have gone if Wright had made that play, but there hasn’t been a time in the last few innings when the Rays even looked like they were capable of getting a hit off Dickey. He had two 3-ball counts, back-to-back in the 4th, both after getting 2 strikes, and he fanned ’em both.
• Dickey finished the 1-hit, no-walk effort — his 2nd career 1-hitter — but his Mets-record scoreless streak ended at 32.2 IP on an unearned run in the 9th: a throwing error by Wright, two passed balls charged to Nickeas (you just can’t fault the catcher on a knuckleball), and an easy groundout to SS. They probably could have gotten the out at home if it mattered, but that’s not how you play the game with a 9-0 lead.
• Dickey has wins in 5 straight starts (39.2 IP, 1 run, 20 hits, 3 walks, 50 Ks) and 8 straight decisions. He would have been the first Met ever to win 4 straight scoreless starts. His 8 starts of 1 run or less are tied for the most this year (with more IP in his games than those of Brandon Morrow or Zack Greinke).

OK, back to the roundup….

@Rangers 1, Diamondbacks 0: A scoreless duel in Dallas? Since its 1994 opening, there have been 5 games in Rangers Ballpark wherein neither starting pitcher allowed a run, just 3 in which they both went 7+ innings (2006-09-15, 2005-05-09, 2000-08-25). Matt Harrison, coming off a CG shutout, departed unscathed-as-yet after a 1-out double in the visitors’ 8th, and Mike Adams stranded the runner. Arizona’s Wade Miley began the night with a 2.44 ERA in 9 starts and hurled 7 dominant innings (2 hits, no walks, 79 pitches, 58 strikes), but opened the 8th with a leadoff walk. After a sac and a K, Craig Gentry killed the goose that laid the scoreboard eggs with an RBI single.

• Joe Nathan set down the side in the 9th, completing the 11th 1-0 game in Rangers Park history and 2nd this year (2012-04-10). Texas has won the last 5 of those.

Yankees 3, @Braves 2: Brian McCann turned around a 1-0 deficit with a 2-run HR in the 5th, his first RBI this month. But New York answered right back with their own 2-run blast, Curtis Granderson‘s 19th, after a Jeter single.

• 40-HR seasons by Yankees CFs: Mantle 4, DiMaggio 1, Granderson 1.
• Just for laughs, Atlanta used their best pitcher in a close game, and Craig Kimbrel struck out 3 — including Nick Swisher. Last one out, lock the barn door behind you.

Athletics @Rockies (in progress): CoorsBall is back! Oakland jumped in front on a 2-run HR in the 1st by Seth Smith, the ex-Rockie who began the night 13 for his last 24, against Josh Outman, for whom Smith was traded. But Todd Helton answered in the home half with his 2nd grand slam this year, tying him with 5 others for the MLB lead, and they tacked on a run with 2 out when Outman foiled an intentional walk with his first career hit and RBI.

• Smith’s HR was the first off Outman this year, who has otherwise been hammered from pillar to post in his big-league outings. It also gave Smith 32 HRs at Coors in 613 career ABs, along with 41 doubles and 14 triples.
• Several additional runs were scored, with more likely before the book is closed. Did we mention this year’s 120 Park Factor in Coors Field?

Brewers 3, @Royals 3 (11th): One of the most HR-dependent teams was on the verge of improving to 4-17 without a round-tripper. But some guys just can’t pitch to the situation. With one out and none aboard in the 9th, the absolute worst thing John Axford could have done was to walk anyone, much less a guy with a .283 OBP. But he missed with all 4 pitches to Eric Hosmer, and after the 2nd out, he missed 4 out of 5 to Mike Moustakas. Yeah, Moustakas could tie it up with one swing, and yeah, Alcides Escobar rarely homers — but Escobar doubles more often than Moustakas homers, and thanks to Axford, a double was now all he needed. And on a 2-1 pitch, Escobar tripled home the tying runs.

• Between Axford and K-Rod, the late-inning Crew is a mess — each has a WHIP over 1.5, as does the entire Brewer bullpen. Their 4.48 ERA (through Tuesday) is the only one within a run of the Mets’ arson ring.
• After teaming up on a relay that cut down the go-ahead run at the plate to end the home 6th, Edwin Maysonet and Ryan Braun continued the partnership in the next frame to give their squad the lead, with Braun delivering a 2-out single after the backup SS led off with a single and later stole third for his first career SB.