Your humble narrator makes his first 2014 trip to Mets Park Wednesday night, so here’s a lot of words to keep you busy.

Tigers 4, @Orioles 1 — Tommy Hunter was one strike away from closing a tight 1-0 win. Ahead 1-and-2 on Torii Hunter, with the tying run on second, but lost him. That brought up … uh-oh … Guess who’s back?

And with reinforcements. Miguel Cabrera’s long fly on a 1-0 pitch just cleared the wall — and more importantly, David Lough’s leap — and Victor Martinez got to trottin’ even more quickly and decisively.

Good Ubaldo showed up — 7 IP, 3 singles, 2 walks — and I think Detroit knew it after their first three grounded out. Both V-Mart Martinez and Miggy ran on a full count after their singles, and both were dead ducks. (No matter what you may think, it wasn’t a double-steal, throw-him-out/throw-him out. Cabrera actually made a decent showing; at least he got to the bag.) Drew Smyly battled the O’s after an Adam Jones homer, pitching past Nelson Cruz’s leadoff double in the 2nd and holding at 1-0 through six.

Torii led off the 7th with Detroit’s third hit off Ubaldo. Then a gift, and a re-gift: Miggy drew a 4-pitch walk, setting up V-Mart. Ball one bounced away, not far, but Hunter tried for third, and was nailed — with Cabrera glued to his sack. You know what’s coming: Next pitch, 4-6-3, inning over.

One more Detroit steal try, after a hit started the 9th, but with another strong throw, pinch-runner Rajai Davis had no better luck than the leadfoots … whoops, reversal! Unlucky there, Tommy got lucky with two lineouts. But his luck ran out.

• So, who was that masked Oriole, anyway? Milwaukee sent their Caleb down, but Baltimore catcher Caleb Joseph got his first big-league hit tonight, first sac bunt, and threw out three runners. To recap my Caleb obsession: Caleb Johnson played in 1871, the dawn of recognized “major-league” baseball. Then, 141 years passed with no Calebs. Last year, Caleb Gindl and Caleb Thielbar had good rookie years. And now, Caleb Joseph. Pretty soon, I guess, every Tom, Dick and Miggy …
• Martinez struck out again, but the homer kept pace — 9 HRs, 8 Ks this year.
• OK, Miggy’s still not quite Miggy, but 33 RBI in 35 games is good enough.

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Padres 2, @Reds 1 — No one throws a fastball so hard that big-league hitters can’t get it, even pull it. Top 9th, after Aroldis Chapman whiffed the first two, Chase Headley sat dead-red, and he clocked one. Huston Street doesn’t throw 100, but he’s been money from the day he put on a Pads uni, and he closed it post-haste, with some whiffs of his own. The Reds wasted a great start by Mike Leake, who got the ball straight to Aroldis on just 2 hits and a walk. Andrew Cashner held his own with 7 strong innings, one walk and 6 Ks, his ERA at 2.67. Cashner’s gone 6+ in 8 of 9 starts, with 4 runs or less in every game.

• A Billy triple! To left field, no less. Even better, the #3 hitter drove him in, giving the Reds 8 RBI from that spot — mainly Brandon Phillips, the noted RBI man.
• But the next time Billy hit, Everth Cabrera wasted no time with leather.
• Padres tied in the 4th on Seth Smith’s leadoff double, move-’em’-up groundout by Carlos Quentin (he lives!), and Jedd Gyorko’s sac fly.

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@Toronto 5, Cleveland 4 — The Jays built a 5-1 lead in the middle, on 2 ribs apiece from Adam Lind and Juan Francisco, and they hung on at the end to resume their dance with .500. Michael Bourn, three-time steals champ, got aboard as the tying run with two outs in the 9th, but stayed put as Nick Swisher flied out. Bourn’s just 2 for 5 in SB this year, 25 for 40 since signing with Cleveland last year.

• First triple for Jose Reyes since 2012, breaking a 116-game drought. In 2011, Reyes had 16 triples in his first 83 games, none in his last 43. For his career, he’s averaged one triple per 10 games in the first half, one per 15 in the second. But his home runs are almost the reverse — one per 15 games in the first half, one per 11 in the second — so his second-half slugging is a bit higher.
• Juan Francisco’s 6th HR, 5 in 12 starts in Toronto.
• R.A. Dickey’s been good for about 4 innings this year, but then … I’m not sure “hits a wall” even captures it. Tonight he got through six on 3 hits and a run, but was charged with 3 runs in the 7th without retiring a batter. The 5th and 7th have killed him.

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Angels 4, @Phillies 3 — Matt Shoemaker set down the first nine Phillies, gave up 2 runs in the 4th, but lasted just long enough to get lucky for his first big-league win. (No pie in the face, I hope; this one calls for a cobbler.)

Cliff Lee cruised into the 6th ahead, 2-0. He fanned Mike Trout after a leadoff double, and got Albert to ground to third. But Cody Asche booted it, and Cliff couldn’t stop the bleeding until 4 runs were in.

Luis Jimenez, making his first start at shortstop, brought the lead with a 2-out, 2-run double, swinging on 3-and-0. I keep wanting to call this a trend, but the overall 3-0-in-play rates have not risen. But I love it. Here’s a guy with 5 career RBI, no HRs, against one of the great pitchers of recent years. What better chance to hit this guy? Anyway, it’s a good thing Luis didn’t try to call time out.

• Shoemaker’s one prior start (last September): 5 scoreless innings, 2 hits, with 3 Ks in his debut inning. He was an undrafted free agent in 2008, out of Eastern Michigan.

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@Brewers 5, Pirates 2 — Ryan Braun returned; Ryan Braun exited, and Carlos Gomez too. But their replacements went 4 for 4, Jonathan Lucroy hit a 2-out, 2-run single for the lead, and Marco Estrada did his “solo homer but no more” routine. Their third straight win put the Crew back up by 6 games on the Cards (pending their final), by 7 on the Reds and 8.5 against the Bucs.

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@Astros 8, Rangers 0 — It took Dallas Keuchel six tried to beat “hometown” team, but he did it in style, with his first career shutout. Keuchel walked none for the second straight outing. He allowed 7 hits, 6 singles, improving to 4-2, 3.06, with 47 Ks and 11 walks.

• It’s the second individual shutout by Houston in the Battle of Texas, the other by Taylor Buchholz in 2006.
• Houston is 34-62 in this series, 9-39 since 2009.
• Matt Harrison also took the loss the last time Texas was blanked by the Astros, in 2011.
• Keuchel’s from Tulsa, in case I confused you.

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@Twins 8, Red Sox 6 — Minnesota blew a 5-1 lead and were one out from extra innings, but Kurt Suzuki singled and Chris Parmelee cracked their first walk-off homer since 2012. Suzuki had 3 hits and his 25th RBI, tops among all catchers. Twins are 18-19, BoSox 19-19. Twins have scored 176 and allowed 183, Boston 160 and 166. Not quite what we expected, so far.

Minny led 6-3 with two outs, none on in the 7th. Then four straight singles, the last by David Ortiz — his 4th scoring knock of the night, with 2 HRs. Two walks forced in the last run of the tying rally, and that brought in Caleb Thielbar, who got one big out in a 9-pitch battle with A.J. Pierzynski. (Oh, Milwaukee, why did you have to send Caleb Gindl down? We could have had a three-Caleb night!)

• Eduardo Nunez, a shortstop in name only, got the start at DH and lived up to the role, popping his first Twins homer to touch off a 5-run inning.

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Cubs 3, @Cardinals 3 (11th) —

Sacre bleu, Trevor Rosenthal walked Darwin Barney, pushing the tying run into scoring position. And Emilio Bonifacio made it hurt, with a 2-out equalizer.

After a 2-out double in the 2nd, Jake Arrieta fell behind Mark Ellis 3-and-1, then threw ball four on purpose to get to Adam Wainwright. And walked him on four straight. He survived that, and almost got past two leadoff walks in the 3rd, when Jhonny Peralta was thrown out at home for the second out. Matt Adams finally broke the Cards through with a hit, their eighth man on base in 3 innings, but Arrieta fought back from 3-0 on Peter Bourjos to escape with a 2-1 lead. But there was no way he could last: issued his 5th walk in the 4th, his final inning despite yielding just one run.

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Rays 2, @Mariners 1 — Suddenly blessed with a last-minute lead, David Price went back for the last of the 9th and closed up his own operation, surgically stopping the heart of Seattle’s order with his 11th and 12th strikeouts. Price’s first win in four starts was his 12th straight outing with one walk or less, the longest streak of the last two seasons, and gave him 2014 totals of 70 strikeouts and 6 walks. The run he yielded came in the 1st inning, on a leadoff double and two groundouts. The M’s had more scoring chances — doubles in the 2nd, 4th and 5th, a single and wild pitch in the 6th — but Price rebuffed all ten would-be run producers, fanning half.

• Hisashi Iwakuma is the first pitcher known to have consecutive starts of exactly 8 innings, 4 hits and no walks. And it would have been two 1-0 wins, until DeJesus raised the Rays back from the dead. That was the first home run in 66 games off Fernando Rodney since last May 22, ending the longest active streak by a full-time closer.
• For DeJesus, the third career tying or go-ahead home run in the 9th. The others were way back in 2008, starting with a rude welcome to Mariano Rivera.
• Price also had 11 straight starts of one walk or less in 2013, the second-best streak in this span.
• Both Price and Iwakuma used 97 pitches through 8 innings. The Mariner had retired 10 of his last 11 batters, but he is usually held to a 100-pitch limit; his career high is 109 pitches, the same number that Price finished with.

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Mets 12, @Yankees 7 —

Given a 4-0 lead right off the bat — the Grandy-Man can, in this bandbox — Zack Wheeler couldn’t locate his fastball, curve or slider … his release point, his arm slot, and possibly his car keys. Wheeler gave three runs right back; walked one in each of the first three innings; and, after the Mets went back up by 4 runs, he walked the first two in the 4th. One scored, but Zack somehow got through the inning, with a DP on his 99th pitch.

The first 4 innings took almost two hours. The top of the 5th tacked on 20 minutes, as the Mets pumped the lead to 11-4. They sent Wheeler back out to try for the win, and he walked the leadoff man. One out and two hits later, exit Zack.

Yes, Curtis Granderson has 2 HRs in Yankee Stadium this year, and one in his home park. He also has one Citi Field homer in 6 games as a visitor.

• Eric Young is the 6th Met ever to score 3 runs in a hitless game. He got plunked to open the game, drew a walk, and reached on an error.
• Daniel Murphy’s on one of his binges. I’ve never seen him uppercut like this, but I guess he knows what he’s doing. He’s 1st in hits among all second basemen, 2nd in runs.
• Lucas Duda may never hit like a first baseman should, but he’s pickin’ it ever since he got job security.
• First time since 1985 that the Mets won while giving at least 10 walks in regulation. Just to prolong the entertainment, Jeurys Familia started the 9th with a 6-run lead and walked the first two.
• It was that kind of night. And for all that, they looked better than the Bombers. Turned three DPs tonight, five in the two games, while the hosts botched their lone chance. Took the extra base. The Yankees are far from whole right now, but that’s going to be an issue all year, with a team this old.
• Mets have won 6 straight in this series, twice their previous best. Yanks won 7 straight over 2002-03.
• From Metscaster Gary Cohen: Yankee starter Vidal Nuno went to Baker University in Baldwin City, KS. One prior big-leaguer went there, Zip Zabel, who debuted 100 years before Nuno. Later, Ron Darling mentioned Depeche Mode and A-Ha. Old school? Keith still refs Archie Bell & The Drells whenever a guy seems to “Tighten Up.” Vin Scully is one thing, but these guys are something else. I love ’em.

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Atlanta 5, @San Francisco 0 —

• Triples Alley: Where career no-treys streaks go to die. The Gattis gap-finder was Atlanta’s first triple by a catcher since 2010. Since SF’s new park opened in 2000, about 8% of all triples by catchers have been hit there, about 2.3 times what a normal park distribution would yield.
• Kind of odd: All seven Atlanta triples have been hit by right-hand batters.
• Freddie Freeman is hitting .382 with RISP, and also has 7 HRs and 10 doubles. If he had some runners on, he could have 35-40 RBI, instead of 23. Atlanta’s #1-2 hitters still have a combined .299 OBP, and rank 14th in NL scoring.

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@Athletics 11, White Sox 0 — Just a big-ol’ can o’ whup-ass. Drew Pomeranz threw 5 shutout innings for the second straight time, and Oakland ran up a 6-0 lead even before Brandon Moss rolled a pair of snake eyes

• OPS+ by first basemen since 2012: (1) Votto, 161; (2) Moss, 149; (3) Goldschmidt, 145.
• Since 1914, there are 10 cases of same-season back-to-back scoreless starts with exactly 5 IP. The first was in 1966. This year has seen two already, the first time it’s happened twice in a year.
• The only pitcher to win three scoreless starts of 5 IP in one season is all-time great ____ ______.
• Pomeranz was the 5th overall draft pick in 2010, dealt a year later in the Ubaldo package, and again this winter for Brett Anderson.

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More nerd nuggets from Monday’s action:

@San Francisco 4, Atlanta 2 —

Tyler Colvin’s MLB career has been all hills and valleys. In his 2009 cuppa, 3 singles in 17 ABs. As a rookie, 113 OPS+ and 20 HRs in 358 ABs. Then a .150 BA, 38 OPS+ in 206 ABs. Dealt to Colorado for another backslider, Colvin rallied to a 114 OPS+, slugging .531 in 420 ABs. But last year, 12 for 75, with 27 Ks and 3 walks. And now, in his first start for the Giants, he homered and tripled, powering their 4th straight close win over Atlanta.

Tim Lincecum has 40 starts since 2013, 14 with 6+ IP and 2 ER or less: 4 for 4 vs. Atlanta, 10 for 36 vs. all others. The Atlanta games include two of his top four Game Scores in that span, each on May 12.

Atlanta has 12 hits in their last 3 games with SF (5, 4, 3). In the last 4 years, only the Giants have beaten Atlanta four straight while yielding 2 runs or less: This month, and last May-June.

Tough 7th inning for Freddie Freeman: Go-ahead run on first and no outs, Brandon Crawford’s hot shot caromed off him and towards the mound. Gavin Floyd could have had the rebound and picked up the out, but he was so intent on covering first that he didn’t even notice the ball on the ground until too late. Next batter scalds an 0-and-2 hopper right over the bag, just beating Freeman’s dive, for a 2-run triple.

Why does Angel Pagan only have 18 runs scored in his 37 games? He’s led off in all of his starts, and has a .372 OBP, 12 extra-base hits, 8 for 10 in steals, and no outs on base. Well, their #3 and #5 hitters haven’t done much besides home runs, batting .227 with a .315 OBP. The Giants are 3rd in NL runs, but 13th in leadoff runs. Their #8 men have scored more than their #1’s, and you won’t see that too often in the senior circuit.

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@Dodgers 6, Marlins 5 —

I heard someone say on MLB Network that Yasiel Puig has begun hitting the cutoff man and generally playing the game smarter. Any Dodger watchers have input on that? He’s sure turned up the offense lately, hitting in 12 straight, and with 6 HRs & 24 RBI in his last 20 games. Still, you wonder if all the pitchers are reading the scouting report. Since he arrived, Puig has been among the most frequent first-pitch hitters, and the most devastating –#1 with a .526 BA and 1.562 OPS. Twelve of his 26 homers have come on the first pitch. I know he has good plate coverage, but you just can’t throw this on his first pitch. Puig hit the first pitch in 16% of PAs last year, so it should be well known; yet this year, he’s up to 18%, with the same kind of results. Ah, but here’s the rub: If you do get ahead of him, he’s a pushover, .189 BA and .505 OPS. But when he’s ahead, he’s hit .390. Back to the drawing board….

With 42 RBI through 39 team games, Giancarlo Stanton is 6 games ahead of the club’s prior fastest race to that mark, by Moises Alou in 1997. Their best 40-game starts by Total Bases:

• 100 TB — Mike Lowell, 2004: .349/1.110 with 13 HRs.
• 97 TB — Lowell, ’02: .363/1.026 with 26 extra-base hits.
• 95 TB — Dan Uggla, ’08: .313/1.077, 13 HRs, 28 XBH.
• 93 TB — Cliff Floyd, ’01: .317/1.103, 13 HRs.
• 91 TB — Floyd, ’02: .322/1.064, 13 HRs, 37 RBI, 40 Runs.
• 90 TB (39 games) — Stanton, .307/.995, 11 HRs, 42 RBI.

Miami’s western swing began with a win, but went south in a hurry. Four straight losses dropped them from first place (now 3-14 away), and the incalculable loss of Jose Fernandez. Still six games left with LA and SF before they head home.

Your active leader in fewest walks per 9 innings isn’t Cliff Lee (1.94 W/9) or Mark Buehrle (2.06), but Dan Haren (1.87). This would be Haren’s 7th qualified year under 2 W/9; only 8 live-ball pitchers had more.

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Henry Rodriguez‘s wild-pitch frequency is 6.4 times the MLB average during his career (h/t to longtime contributor Voomo Zanzibar). In 25 PAs with the bases loaded, he’s allowed a .480 OBP (7 hits, 5 walks, 2 strikeouts. Among his many difficulties, Henry’s been far less effective with men in scoring position. With bases empty, a fine .599 OPS and 25% Ks, and a just-tolerable 14% walks and 1.7 K/W ratio. With RISP, .814 OPS, 18% Ks and 21% walks, even removing the IBBs. I’m not beating up on this young man; I hope he succeeds. It just offends my sense of what’s right in baseball to see teams let him pitch in the majors when he’s so clearly not ready. Let’s forget his stats before he washed out as a starter and moved to relief in 2009. Since then, he’s logged just 112 IP in the minors, spread over 6 seasons, with a 3.38 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. Sure, his K rate is 13.9, but his walk rate is 6.7. What reliever gets promoted with those stats?

Let’s contrast Henry Rodriguez with Preston Guilmet, another righty reliever who made his Baltimore debut Monday, retiring all four batters, with two strikeouts. He’s a year younger than Henry, and converted to relief a year later (2010). Since then, Guilmet has spent a full year at each level — A ball, high-A, AA and AAA. He was outstanding at every level; his combined stats for 2010-13 show a 2.10 ERA in 227 IP, 0.92 WHIP, 10.4 K/9 and a 5.5 K/W ratio. Guilmet is a closer, with 90 saves in that span, twice leading his league. Cleveland needed a closer; they still do. But Guilmet got the briefest of looks with Cleveland last year, two games before September, and two with expanded rosters. He didn’t shine in those 5 innings, and they dealt him this spring for a no-hit minor-league second baseman. I can only guess that Guilmet doesn’t light up the radar gun, doesn’t “profile” as a big-league success according to talent evaluators. And I’m sure they know more than I do. But I’ll take Guilmet’s prospects over those of Henry Rodriguez.

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@Mariners 12, Rays 5 —

M’s catcher Mike Zunino has a 122 OPS+ in 30 games played this year. The franchise bests for a regular catcher are 112 OPS+ by Bob Stinson, 1978, and 103 by Kenji Johjima, 2006 (400+ PAs). Since their inception, there have been 115 years of 4+ WAR by 53 different catchers, and 145 years of 20+ HRs by 58 different catchers — none of them Mariners.

Seattle’s won 11 of 15. They’re 14th in AL batting and OBP, 13th in OPS+ — but almost league-average in scoring, thanks to a big boost with RISP. That could fade quickly; then again, maybe their overall numbers are due to rise.

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Nationals 6, @Diamondbacks 5 — The Snakes keep getting bullied and stuffed into their own gym locker. They come home from a nice 6-4 trip, fight back time and again to bring a lead to the 9th, and then: Gut-buster.

Kevin Frandsen’s go-ahead homer was the first this year by a PH that produced a tie or a lead, from a tied or trailing position, with 2 outs in the 9th or later.

Batters ahead in the count against Addison Reed are 6 for 17 with 4 HRs; those behind are 7-39, no homers.

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@Athletics 5, White Sox 4 — Now, that’s a save: After three A’s pitchers had foundered in the 9th, Sean Doolittle inherited the tying runs on base with no outs, and got out of it with two strikeouts. That earned him the highest WPA this year for a one-inning save — a career-best 0.295.

Jose Abreu is the 4th White Sox ever with 14+ HRs in the first 40 team games. Only Jim Thome had more, 16 in 2006, finishing with 42. Frank Thomas (’94) and Paul Konerko (2010) also had 14. Albert Bell had only 9 at that point in 1998, when he set the club record of 49 HRs. Their 2nd-best season mark is 44, by … Jermaine Dye? Wow, I’d forgotten that one. Dye hit 164 HRs in five years with the Sox, then retired — that’s the 4th-most HRs ever for a player’s final five years.

Abreu is the 7th player ever with 14 HRs in his first 40 games; a couple of Wallys hold the record of 15. Berger holds the 50-game mark of 18 HRs, with 17 for Joyner at that juncture. Abreu’s still averaging 2.28 bases per hit, which would be 10th-most in qualified year.

Chavez Ravine: Jesse’s improbable rise continued with 2 runs over 8+ innings. Eric’s 9th-inning DP for Arizona produced the year’s worst pinch-hit WPA.

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Cubs 17, @Cardinals 5 —

Yes, the 17 Cubs runs were two more than they’ve scored in all eight Jeff Samardzija starts.

Even Darwin Barney got 3 hits. He’s 6 for his last 12, lifting his BA from .115 to .188. He has one extra-base hit (a homer) out of 12 safeties this year.

I’ve ripped Starlin Castro enough that I owe him one: He’s hitting .321/1.012 in his last 14 games, OPS+ up to a career-high 115.

Pointless oddity of the day: The last pitcher with Travis Wood’s batting line of 1 hit, 1 HBP, 1 sac bunt, was R.A. Dickey, exactly two years before.

Last year, Matt Carpenter led all second basemen with 73 extra-base hits. This year, he has the lowest isolated power among all 3B regulars.

When a pitcher is asked to “take one for the team,” it’s usually not the LOOGy. How odd was it to see Randy Choate face 9 batters?

• In the past 10 years, Choate pitched 458 games and averaged 2.37 batters, by far the lowest rate with 100+ games in that span (next was 2.60).
• His career rate of 0.64 innings per game is 2nd-lowest ever with 200+ games. (Mike Myers had 0.61 IP/G.)
• Choate had faced 8 batters or less in 390 straight games since 2006, 5th-longest in MLB history.

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Mets 9, @Yankees 7 —

The two DPs Lucas Duda started — 3-6-3, and 3-5-3 with a shift on — were the Mets’ first groundball DPs this year started by the first baseman. Their last 3-6-3 was at the end of 2012. Ike Davis has a good defensive reputation, but dWAR hasn’t agreed; for 2012-13 combined, his -1.7 dWAR ranked 13th out of 16 with 200+ games at first base. (Just for fun, here’s the previous time a Mets 1B got first an assist and then a putout on a GDP … even though didn’t catch the throw … one of the craziest July 4th games I’ll ever see, and probably my most enjoyable Mets loss … a.k.a. the “Bunt Double” game.)

The Mets’ 4 HRs tied their best in the Subway Series, and their 8 extra-base hits and 31 total bases were one shy of top marks. Almost all their best offensive games in this clash came in Yankee Stadium.

Forgot to give the rook Eric Campbell due credit for his elusive slide with the tying run.

Eric Young, Jr. led the NL in steals while playing for two teams, the sixth league leader to change teams, and the second in recent years. Michael Bourn was dealt to Atlanta in 2011 for a package of prospects, while the Young deal from was a more small-print thing. Three players acquired in those trades are now on Houston’s pitching staff: starters Collin McHugh and Brett Oberholtzer and reliever Paul Clemens.

The first SB king to be swapped in midseason was Ben Chapman. He went from the Senators to the BoSox, with Bobo Newsom, for Wes and Rick Ferrell, plus Mel Almada. There’s probably been another trade with a package of brothers, but this is my favorite.

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@Blue Jays 7, Angels 3 —

Mark Buehrle has 7 of Toronto’s 19 wins. Here are 20-game winners this century with at least 25% of team wins:

• 27.2% — Cliff Lee, 2008 Bronchos, 22/81
• 27.0% — R.A. Dickey, 2012 Mets, 20/74
• 26.8% — Brandon Webb, 2008 D-backs, 22/82
• 26.5% — Dontrelle Willis, 2005 Marlins, 22/83
• 25.6% — Clayton Kershaw, 2011 Dodgers, 21/82
• 25.6% — Roy Halladay, 2003 Blue Jays, 22/86
• 25.3% — Justin Verlander 2011 Tigers, 24/95

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@Rangers 4, Astros 0 —

Who are these Texas Rangers, 13th in AL home runs? Texas was #1 in total home runs from 1996-2012, but both their personnel and their home park characteristics have been changing.

For most of its life, Rangers Ballpark has been friendly to hitters. But in 2012, the one-year batting park factor started dropping: 117 to 107, then 102 last year, and 98 so far this year. Total runs for their 2013-14 home and road games are about equal. And their winning tendencies have changed just as much. From 1996-2012, Texas had the AL’s largest home/away difference in winning percentage, +.109. But since 2013, they have almost the same record at home (57-46) and away (54-45).

Two big changes in their lineup since 2012 were replacing slugging outfielders Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz with defensive wizard Leonys Martin and on-base machine Shin-Soo Choo. So far, so good: Martin has bested Hamilton in total WAR by 4.0-2.3 in the last year-plus, while Choo leads Cruz so far this year, 1.1-0.3. (This last may be a surprise, since Cruz is having one of his best offensive seasons, with a 137 OPS+ and 10 HRs, 30 RBI already. But that impact can’t match Choo’s .456 OBP and 166 OPS+; and while neither is good in the outfield, few would claim that Cruz is the better defender.)

Their other big move this year was trading Ian Kinsler for Prince Fielder, with Jurickson Profar taking over at second base. Not so good: Profar’s been hurt, and the position has been an open wound, producing a .197 BA and .528 OPS. Fielder has yet to show that last fall’s no-RBI postseason was a fluke. He’s warmed up a bit since a frigid beginning, but the Rangers still rank 12th in the AL in slugging from 1B, and 14th in RBI. And Fielder stats for defense and baserunning suggest he’s no more mobile than he looked in this endlessly-GIF’ed debacle from the ALCS clincher.

But there is at least grounds for hope with Fielder, who has a long record of good hitting, and with Profar, who may return by month’s end. The pitching outlook is darker. The Rangers’ recent playoff teams were more built on pitching than some people noticed, due to the ballpark. From 2009-13, they were no worse than 6th in AL ERA+ (1st twice, 2nd, and 3rd). They’re 10th so far, leading the majors with 12 losses by 4 runs or more [make that 13], with only six such wins. Their record through Monday is 20-19, four games back in the division and virtually tied for a wild card. But their run differential suggests 17-22 — leading only woeful Houston, and nine games worse than the division-leading A’s in that measure. There are bright spots: Joakim Soria has so far justified the decision to let closer Joe Nathan walk, Martin Perez was brilliant before his elbow flared up, Colby Lewis just had his best game this year, and Matt Harrison has looked competent in his return from a year’s absence. [Er, scratch that.] But the horizon is still hazy for a team that won 90+ four years in a row.

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Do you ever wonder what would happen if every team suddenly got much smarter about big long-term contracts? Would they pocket the savings? Or would they spend that much more on the best bets, with $50-million-a-year deals for the likes of Mike Trout? The world may never know.