For all you squeaky wheels….

Giants 2, @D-backs 1: “It seems like every time I leave one of those up it’s getting crushed right now,” said J.J. Putz. Well, there’s “up,” and there’s “thigh-high roller in the geographic center of the QuesTec zone.” Good luck getting that pitch past those thighs. Panda’s 15 for 29 with RISP so far.

• 3 HRs already for Putz, accounting for 3 of his 4 blown saves. He allowed 4 HRs in 50+ IP each of the last 3 years.
• For a guy with 10 career HRs in 1,000+ PAs, Josh Wilson sure has the got that ‘un bat toss down pat.
• With SF last year, Marco Scutaro hit .400 with RISP, producing 43 of his 44 RBI in 61 games. He has 4 RBI in 25 games this year.
• 3 runs allowed in MadBum’s last 3 games (20.1 IP), no decisions.

@A’s 10, Angels 6: For a guy hitting .228, Yoenis Cespedes gets some pretty big hits. His 2-out, 2-run triple in the 5th (on an 0-2 oops by Garret Richards) put Oakland up for good, and this time he even ran it out. Angels are 9-17, their worst start in 14 years under Mike Scioscia (one game behind last year).

• With just 14 games so far, Cespedes ranks 19th in Win Probability Added.
• In the AL, only Houston’s starters have a higher ERA than the Angels’ 5.32.
• Both center fielders went 4-1-2-4 with a triple and a double.
• Oakland’s catcher tandem of and John Jaso and Derek Norris both started (Jaso at DH and leadoff), reached 3 times and scored twice. The A’s have a .412 OBP and 19 runs from that position, both well ahead of the MLB field.
• The A’s are 10th in BA and 9th in HRs, but #1 in scoring, helped by an 11% walk rate, the best by far.

@Rangers 10, White Sox 6: His 9 Ks aside, Yu Darvish wasn’t sharp, and #9 hitter Dewayne Wise tied things in the 6th with a 2-out, 2-run HR on 2-and-2 eephus. But the Rangers still know how to ride those Arlington air currents, and they popped for 6 in the bottom half, capped by Adrian Beltre‘s “salami leftovers“. (That’s Hector Gimenez trying to glove those consecutive run-scoring wild pitches. Oddly, right before those two, Hector showed excellent form in moving his body to stay in front of the exact same pitch.)

• Rangers are 8-2 at home, averaging 5.8 R/G while allowing 2.9.
• Wise matched career highs with 4 hits and 8 total bases.
• ChiSox have more than doubled their walk rate in the last 12 games compared to the first 13, but their offense remains moribund — last in OBP and OPS+ (77?!?), 14th in R/G.

Padres 13, @Cubs 7: Under the Wrigley lights, San Diego bludgeoned Edwin Jackson and assorted followers with 9 extra-base hits, matching their 5-year high. The early lead for Edinson Volquez swelled to 8-0 on 4 long hits in a 9-pitch span to start the 5th, the rally capped by Volquez’s first hit & RBI this year to finish off Jackson. Maybe it was the lakeshore breeze or the giddiness of such a big cushion, but Volquez quickly gave back half of it on double, HR, double, HR. Nick Hundley iced it in the 8th, guessing fastball on an 0-2 pitch from Hector Rondon and parking it on Waveland Avenue. (Odd that Hundley batted 8th, starting the game at .311/.828.)

• After a horrific start, San Diego has won 4 of 5.
• Both sides had 9 XBH, first such game since this 2008 Coorsfest.
• Now 29, Hundley has never played more than 85 games in a season. He seemed to break through in 2011 despite two month-long DL stints, with a 132 OPS+ and solid defense producing 3.2 WAR in just 82 games. But last year was a disaster, his .166 BA landing him back in the minors in June, followed in August by a season-ending injury.
• 3 doubles and a steal for Anthony Rizzo. The last six to do that from first base: Mark Reynolds, Matt Stairs, Eric Hinske, Eric Karros, Kevin Young, Tom Brunansky.

Orioles 7, @Mariners 2: Nate McLouth homered leading off the game, starting a 4-run inning against the hot-and-cold rookie Brandon Maurer, and the M’s never got back in the contest.

• Baltimore is 3-0 in “blowouts” (margin of 5 or more). They’re the only team that hasn’t lost one yet. Seattle’s 3-8 in such games, combining the most losses and the most games under .500.
• This clip is entitled, “Cute baby in Mariners hoodie enjoys game.” Not pictured: When they get someone on base, mom pulls the hoodie over his eyes.

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Belated congratulations and thanks to Jason Collins.

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@Braves 8, Nationals 1: A leather-crafted HR and a double made Tim Hudson 6 for 14 this year, but we’ll guess that win #200 was the bigger thrill. The Nats have lost 7 of 10 while scoring 2 or less 8 times. Elias will tell you the last to HR in #200, but here’s how the last few fared at the plate:

• Roy Halladay (2013), 0-3, 3 Ks
• John Smoltz (2007), 0-2 against Tom Glavine
• Kenny Rogers (2006), 1-4, double
• Pedro Martinez (2006), 0-3
• DNB: Tim Wakefield (2011), Andy Pettitte (2007), Curt Schilling (2006), Jamie Moyer (2005), Kevin Brown (2004), David Wells (2003)

@Indians 14, Phillies 2: Roy Halladay fell behind everyone and paid the standard rate: three 2-run HRs (2-1, 1-0 and 1-0), base hits on 3-1 (twice), 1-0 and 3-2, plus 3 walks, all in 3.2 IP. Cleveland clubbed 2 more HRs in the 5th and in the 7th, for their first 7-HR game since 2004. Every starter had a hit and either a run or a ribby as the Indians scored 9+ for the 3rd straight game.

• In the pool for the first player with consecutive multi-HR games, did you have Ryan Raburn?

@Cardinals 2, Reds 1: The NL Central dogfight raged on, with 1 game separating 4 teams. After a Beltran single in the 6th, Matt Holliday turned around a 3-2 pitch and the Reds’ 1-0 lead, and Jaime Garcia (8 IP, no walks) and Edward Mujica (3 Ks) took it home.

@Brewers 12, Pirates 8: The first 2-hit game since April 3 for Rickie Weeks, capped by a 3-run HR that put the game on ice, as the Crew vaulted from 4th into a tie for 2nd. Yuniesky Betancourt takes a beating in saberville, and no one need apologize for that. But the man has been asked to fill in for a couple of run producers, and has 6 HRs and 21 RBI in 24 games; his solo shot in the 7th regained Milwaukee’s lead for good.

• Jean Segura was on 4 times — a tying HR on the first pitch of their 6th (after the Bucs had gone ahead), 2 walks and HBP.
• Carlos Gomez continues raking, OPS up to 1.031.
• When Russell Martin went 2 for 31 in his first 10 games, folks said, there’s a reason the Yanks didn’t even make an offer to keep him. Now he’s 21 for 52, 6 HRs, 5 doubles in his last 14 games. And the Yankees look a little thin behind the plate.

@Tigers 6, Twins 1: Rolling a 4-game streak into a J.V. start is a luxury. Verlander shaved his ERA to 1.83 and anted 8 Ks into the rotation’s kitty, giving them 48 in the last full turn. The big boys both hit 2-run HRs to right and have 28 and 27 RBI, respectively.

• No Tiger teammates since 1961 have both batted in at least 115.

@Blue Jays 8, Red Sox 7 (8th): Playing from behind all game, the Sawx went ahead in the 7th on Big Papi’s 3-run double. But after the stretch and a 2-out walk to Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion clocked one to center, his 2nd of the game and 7th in the last 7. The Jays ended Boston’s 5-game streak and their own 4-game slide.

• Casey Janssen hasn’t had much work, but he’s been brilliant — 3 singles, no walks in 9 IP, now retired 16 in a row. His 7 saves have all been 1-run or 2-run leads (3 and 4, respectively).
• Encarnacion’s first homer was top-shelf material.
• Ortiz: 9 games, 18 hits, 15 RBI. His 6-game RBI streak is his first since 2009.

@Royals 8, Rays 2: A 2-0 hole after 2 batters would not deter James Shields, facing his old mates for the first time. He allowed just 3 more hits in his 7 IP, and the Royals — stymied for 5-2/3 innings by Alex Cobb — rained 6 straight hits with 2 outs, with a cathartic go-ahead 2-run shot by Mike Moustakas, his first of the year. KC is 14-10.

• 3 RBI for Moustakas surpassed his prior season total.

@Yankees 7, Astros 4: Hiroki Kuroda blanked ’em for 7, Travis Hafner had 3 RBI singles (a career first, by my quick check), and Phil Humber fell to 0-6.

• When we finally look back on Mariano’s golden career, phony “saves” from getting one out with the tying run on deck have faded from view.
• Chris Carter: 6 HRs, 14 RBI, 46 Ks in 97 ABs.
• 3 singles for Ichiro, breaking the tie with Jake Beckley for #29 all-time (2,133 singles)

@Marlins 2, Mets 1: Two of the three worst-supported NL pitchers went at it, so you figured someone would get screwed. But a loss for Jeremy Hefner in this game is a downright crying shame, just like the Mets offense for the last 8 games. Hefner took a 1-0 lead to the 9th in a bid for his first CG, but 3 misplays by the backup catcher lost the game. After a leadoff single, Anthony Recker missed a shoulder-high fastball (maybe screened by a bunt bluff), and the runner moved up. Recker then made a bad choice on a sac bunt, throwing high and late to 3rd on a tag play. Brandon Lyon “relieved” Hefner and allowed a tying hit to right, with the winning run scooting to 3rd. Finally, Recker failed to corral a breaking ball in the dirt that was scored a wild pitch but was quite playable. The Fish walked off winners for the 2nd straight night, while the Mets taste the dirt of their 6th straight loss.

• The bright spot in the justice files: At least Kevin Slowey got off the hook. He has a 2.15 RA, but remains 0-2
• 5 chances with RISP for the teams combined, the only hit coming in the 9th.
• Recker is 29 and still trying to get a foothold in the majors. He answered all the postgame questions straight up and professional, a tough part of the job. Better luck next time, Anthony.

Giants @D-backs (7th): A scoreless stretch in the desert. These teams’ last 1-0 game in Phoenix was 2007, Brandon Webb over Matt Morris, HR by the rookie Chris Young. How time does get away from us….

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Monday

@A’s 10, Angels 8 (19): Brandon Moss broke his 4-hour HR drought, ending the second-longest game ever in the Oakland Coliseum. The A’s have 8 walk-off homers since 2012, twice as many as any other team. Albert Pujols broke his 19-game HR in the 1st and popped another in the 7th, giving the Angels a 7-2 lead. But the A’s strung 5 singles for 4 runs in the 8th off 3 different pitchers, and Yoenis Cespedes repeated his 9th-inning knotting feat with a heroic drive that wound up a shameful single. (Too bad Moss didn’t knock a single there to bring out the full cost of his teammate’s stylin’.)

• Someday I really mean to study this phenomenon: Both teams go scoreless for several extra innings. The visitor breaks through in the top half, and the home team matches or exceeds in the bottom. It happened in the 15th both here and in Miami.
• The longest game in the Coliseum was 20 innings on July 9, 1971, won by the A’s, 1-0, on Angel Mangual’s single off Mel Queen. Starters Rudy May and Vida Blue went 12 and 11 innings and combined for 30 Ks, with a career-high 17 for Vida (12 of those in innings 6-11, including his last 2 batters). There were 17 singles and 1 double, and the teams combined went 2 for 15 with RISP.
• Meaning no offense, since I’d love to have any of their careers — but has there been a more marginal 3-member baseball family than the Romines? Papa Kevin averaged 100 PAs over 7 years, while elder son Andrew has less than 100 in parts of 4 years. Little bro’ Austin is set to get his first real shot at 24, still young enough to make a mark, but his minor-league stats on both sides aren’t promising.

@Tigers 4, Twins 3: Seeing Mike Pelfrey through 5 innings with a 3-1 lead despite just one swing-and-miss, Ron Gardenhire was playing with house money. His starter went 8 the day before, but still Gardy let it ride on the heart of the order. After a leadoff hit in the 6th, Pelf couldn’t make Miggy miss on a full count, and walked him. The next pitch was meat; Prince Fielder murdered it, and suddenly Max Scherzer had a lead. Fired up, Max fanned the the next 4, leaving after 7.1 IP with 10 Ks for the game (no walks) and 46 in 31.1 IP this year — 36% of batters faced. Drew Smyly got 4 outs Joaquin Benoit the last for his 2nd save.

• Scherzer actually didn’t have his best finishing stuff. He had 2 strikes on 22 of 28 batters, including 4 of the 6 hits plus the RBI groundout. Sixty-seven percent of his PAs this year have been settled on 2 strikes; the AL average is 52%.
• Scherzer played K-crown leapfrog with Verlander last September, finishing 2nd by 8. Now he’s 2nd to Darvish for the AL lead after 5 games for each.
• Pelfrey: 22.1 IP, 7 Ks and 36 hits.

@Marlins 4, Mets 3 (15): At least I turned it off before the bottom half. Now that the Fish have landed a real-live winning streak, those projecting 120+ losses should remember this: 16 more games with the Mets.

It wasn’t The Real Deal but Hard-workin’ Harvey who squared off with Jose Fernandez in Miami Monday. The majors’ best WHIP faced the NL’s worst OBP, but found himself in constant trouble over the first 4 frames. The Fish shortened their strokes and hit line drives off high fastballs, rapping 6 hits in that span, 2 more than Harvey’s prior season high. But they couldn’t get the big one, scoring only on a Stanton GDP. Harvey whiffed Stanton with a man on in the 1st, and fanned a hitterish Fernandez to end the 2nd and 4th innings with 2 aboard (14 pitches in those 2 ABs). He totaled 7 Ks and worked into the 6th, but threw a career-high 121 pitches and left with 2 on and 1 out. The bullpen held firm until the 9th, when a misjudged fly helped produce the tying run.

• Batterymate John Buck had supplied the lead with his own short stroke, mashing a Fernandez fastball onto a desert isle. He has 3 HRs and 9 RBI in Harvey’s 6 starts.
• Juan Pierre flubbed another sac bunt in the 7th, trying to punch it past the drawn-in third baseman but jabbing it right to him, starting the force play. He also failed to advance the leadoff runners in the 14th. Miami has all sorts of problems, but Pierre’s .250-ish OBP (1 walk in 23 games) at the top of the order isn’t helping.

@Brewers 10, Pirates 4: Five homers for Milwaukee, with back-to-backers in the 4th (Gallardo, Aoki) and 5th (Gomez and Betancourt on consecutive pitches from Jonathan Sanchez, who served a triple to the next man and another in the 6th, but didn’t hit anyone). Gallardo worked 7 on 2 runs, 3 hits and 2 walks to win his 3rd straight start.

• Gomez and Jean Segura both homered and tripled, the third such pair in Brewers history. Segura is batting .364, slugging .534.
• Aoki had to go deep –Gallardo’s HR had knotted their career totals at 12 apiece. (Aoki has almost twice the PAs.)

Indians 9, @Royals 0: There aren’t many great matchups for Ubaldo Jimenez these days, but a team that’s next-to-last in AL walks is a good place to start. Jimenez went 7 and was rarely threatened in his first win, following 3 straight duds. It matched his longest scoreless outing in 47 starts for Cleveland; he had 14 such games for Colorado in a 3-year span.

• Jason Kipnis got the Indians on the board with his first HR of the year, first extra-base hit since April 8. Batting 2nd or 3rd, he had just 3 runs in 15 starts before tallying twice tonight.
• With 3 shutouts, the Tribe are halfway to last year’s 29th-best total.

Giants 6, @D-backs 4: Kirk Gibson let Brad Ziegler face a lefty leading off the 8th; he doubled. Ziegler retired the two righties, but then walked two lefties. Bases full for LHB Brandon Belt. Why was Ziegler still pitching? He’s allowed a career .313 BA and .412 OBP to LHBs. So Belt skimmed a single through the middle for two runs, and there’s your ballgame. The Jints snapped a 5-game skid, their longest since mid-2010.

• Matt Cain coughed up a 3-0 lead in a grisly 4th, 4 runs on 3 dingers. That makes 9 HRs in his last 4 starts.
• It’s nice to have a double-threat first baseman. Paul Goldschmidt led off the tied 5th with a walk, then swiped 2nd on the first pitch to Miguel Montero, but he died there. Goldy’s listed at 245, but he stole 18 last year and is 24-3 in his career.
• Hunter Pence had about as bad of a game as you can have in a win. He did manage a sac fly with the bases full in the 1st (zero WPA), but then it was DP with one on, DP with two on, failed to plate a man from 3rd with 1 out, and finally a whiff with 2 on after an IBB to Posey. His net score of -0.319 WPA is the 3rd-worst in a team win this year; the other two came in last night’s marathons.

@Braves 3, Nationals 2: Stephen Strasburg gave a season-high 4 walks, all with no outs, and twice it cost him. He fanned the side in the 6th but left for a pinch-hitter with the game tied, and Atlanta took advantage of another leadoff walk to manufacture the winning run. Julio Teheran danced through 10 hits in 5.1 IP, but the bullpen retired 11 straight, with 6 Ks. Jordan Walden got big outs in the 6th to preserve the tie and worked a scoreless 7th; he has 11 Ks and no walks in 10.2 IP as he works on lowering his previously troublesome walk rate.

• So now the season is really underway: in the last 3 days, the Braves have won without a HR, and lost with one.
• Jordan Schafer collected 3 of Strasburg’s walks and was on base all 4 trips, with 2 steals. Atlanta’s looking for someone to get on base ahead of Justin Upton.
• Anyone who says that having pitchers bat “increases strategy” should have to watch a feature-length montage of pitchers striking out on bunt attempts like this disaster. (Really, Davey? A decent hitter like Strasburg has to bunt with two strikes?)
• Getting picked off in front of Bryce Harper: Not good. Denard Span’s career 76% success rate on steals looks fine. But add in his 21 pickoffs (not CS), that rate falls to 65%.

Reds 2, @Cardinals 1: Mat Latos ran his nought-y string to 17 innings over 3 games, and the bullpen’s 3-part harmony helped hold the Cards under 3 runs for the 4th time in Adam Wainwright‘s 7 starts.

• Cincy smote 10 HRs in their first 4 games (6 in one contest), but just 16 in their next 23 games. They were 3rd in NL HRs last year, 7th this year. But their OBP is up from 12th to 2nd, and their R/G from 9th to 3rd.

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Sunday

Pirates 9, @Cardinals 3: Your first-place Bucs have won 8 of 10 and are 5-0-1 in their last 6 series. A 15-10 start is their best since 1992, their last winning season. I’m not buying just yet, but it’s not a schedule mirage — they’re 11-4 against winning teams. Jeff Locke had his 2nd straight scoreless win.

• One reason I’m not buying yet: Starling Marte‘s .431 BAbip. I do believe in BAbip outliers, but it takes more than 100 ABs to convince me. And his career rate of 5.4 Ks per walk doesn’t help the argument.

@Dodgers 2, Brewers 0: Sometimes the game turns in the 1st inning. Milwaukee had Clayton Kershaw on the ropes, 2 on, 1 out, 3-1 count to Jonathan Lucroy. He swung and missed. Next pitch, 4-6-3, inning over. Next pitch was driven over the CF fence by Carl Crawford, who was 1 for 13 against Kyle Lohse. The Brewers got a leadoff double in the 2nd, but Kershaw retired the next 18, half on strikeouts. Crawford homered again in the 5th, Kershaw fanned 2 more in the 8th after a leadoff double, and there you have it.

• It’s the 2nd time Lohse allowed 2 runs in 7 IP while the Crew were blanked. He’s had only good starts so far, but the team is 2-3.

@Mariners 2, Angels 1: With the M’s last year, Jason Vargas allowed just 9 of his 36 HRs in Safeco. In his first return there since joining the Halos, Vargas took a 1-0 lead into the 7th. But Jason Bay hit the first pitch out to left, and in the 8th Mike Morse parked one just a few feet away. Vargas went the distance, but remained winless. Hisashi Iwakuma (2-1, 1.67) put up 6 stellar innings on 3 hits, no walks, with one unearned run in a no-decision. Tom Wilhelmsen remained perfect in 8 save chances.

• Trout/Pujols/Hamilton each went 0 for 4. Albert is 3 for his last 31, all singles, and hasn’t homered in 19 games. Hamilton has 2 singles in 23 ABs with RISP. Trout has been fine, but not electric. There is still a LOT of time for this talented trio to get going, and the rest of the lineup has done well; a month from now this could all be forgotten, just as last year’s 9-15 start was. But with Albert hurting and Weaver out, with no superstar rookie as yet on the horizon, it feels like worry time.
• The last Seattle starter with a better ERA than Iwakuma with 6+ starts at this point in the year was Randy Johnson, 1995. In Iwakuma’s last 5 starts, the combined score is 12-10 for Seattle. He’s the 2nd pitcher this year with 4 starts allowing 1 run or none in 6+ IP. His ERA in 22 career starts is 2.37.
• Iwakuma hasn’t thrown more than 93 pitches in a game this year, partly due to a blister. Even so, he’s averaged about 6-1/3 IP, thanks to a pitches-per-inning rate that’s 9th lowest among qualifiers.
• The M’s have scored 3 runs or less in 21 of 27 games, the most in the majors. At 6-15 in those games, they’re ahead of the pace; other teams have combined for a .242 W% scoring 3 or less (78-244).

@Athletics 9, Orioles 8: Righties were just 1 for 15 off Brian Matusz before today, and Jim Johnson was getting a day off due to a heavy workload. But you still have to wonder about Matusz facing Yoenis Cespedes as the tying run in the 9th. RHBs had hit .302 and slugged almost .500 off Matusz in his career, and Cespedes was taking the long view. All 3 hits off Matusz (in 1.2 IP) came from righties.

• The game will humble you: Manny Machado had 4 hits for the first time, but still wore the goat’s horns.
  

@Tigers 8, Braves 3: 3M made the ticker flicker between the Friday and Monday bells: Maholm opened at 1.03, closed at 3.30; Medlen, 2.16 to 3.26; Minor, 1.80 to 3.13.

• By retiring 3 men (all ʞ) without a hit Sunday, Al Alburquerque now has a .145 career opponents’ batting average (34/234), the lowest in MLB history among those with 50+ innings. He’s also closing in on the longest regular-season homerless streak to start a career in the live-ball era.
• By walking the first man he faced (and another the next inning) with a 5-run lead, Al-Al proved that he has too much Marmol to be considered reliable despite electric stuff.
• “I don’t always swing 3-and-0. But when I do, I prefer Jonrón de Tres Carreras.” That swing made Miggy 17 for 34 with RISP.
• Since the start of 2011, Doug Fister ranks 6th in ERA+ among 85 pitchers with 300+ IP.

Reds 5, @Nationals 2: Cincinnati salvaged the series finale behind a dazzling show by Tony Cingrani in his 3rd MLB start. As impressive as his 11 Ks in 6 IP was his composure in the 4th, starting with 2 in scoring position and no outs: Bryce Harper (0-2 count), Ian Desmond (1-2) and Adam LaRoche (1-2) all went down on strikes, the last two with the bases loaded after Cingrani’s only walk.

• Cingrani is first Cincinnati pitcher to open his season with 3 starts of 8+ Ks (since at least 1916). He’s not quite in sight of Randy Johnson’s all-time get-go record of 15 straight in 2000, but then, nobody ever has been — next best is 9 straight.

@Royals 9, Indians 0 / Indians 10, @Royals 3: Despite dropping the nightcap, KC will start Monday’s finale in first place for the 9th straight day. 13-9 is their best start since 2003, their last winning year.

• Carlos Santana went 6 for 9 in the doubleheader and is hitting .388, tops in both leagues. Santana logged a 126 OPS+ through 2012, but most folks thought he was capable of more than his .247 BA.
• Jeremy Guthrie with KC has a 3.14 ERA and 1.17 WHIP in 19 starts. Royals starters are 3rd in AL ERA, with their top four at 3.20 or better. The whole staff is 2nd in ERA+.
• The day captured Cleveland’s offensive oscillation. They’re 2nd in AL OPS+ and above average in R/G, but they’ve scored 2 or less in 10 of 22 games, the highest rate in the league, with a 1-9 record.
• Cleveland’s Corey Kluber went 7 in the nightcap, no walks, 6 Ks. Control was a weakness in the past, 3.9 BB/9 in the high minors, but not so far in his MLB career (2.4 BB/9 in 79 IP).

@Twins 5, Rangers 0: Minnesota recovered to split this foursome, outscoring Texas 16-8 and sneaking back over .500. Kevin Correia allowed his weekly walk in the 4th, putting 2 on with no outs, but then mowed down Beltre, Pierzynski and Cruz. Josh Willingham walked with 1 out and with 2 outs, scoring both times.

• Correia has 7+ IP with 1 walk in all 5 starts.
• In case someone hadn’t noticed … Despite gaudy scoring numbers, the Rangers’ success since 2009 has been driven by their pitching. Their ERA+ and OPS+ from 2009 forward: 106/95, 114/98, 117/110, 113/102, and currently 148/96.

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You thought I was joking that Ryan Howard should be a permanent pinch-hitter? With Sunday’s Mets-breaking 2-run double in the 7th, Howard is now 16 for 38 in the pinch, with 6 HRs and 5 doubles, slugging 1.026.