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No team could use a stretch of favorable pitching matchups more than the Minnesota Twins, who entered Sunday with the worst record in the majors at 14-26. But, as teams far better than the Twins have learned the hard way, facing Zack Greinke at Miller Park is anything but favorable for opposing hitters.

Greinke won again at home Sunday, allowing just one run and striking out six as the Milwaukee Brewers smashed the Twins 16-4. It was Greinke’s 18th straight win in a home decision, with the last 14 coming since he arrived in Milwaukee from Kansas City.

With the win, Greinke became the first pitcher to win 18 straight home decisions since Kenny Rogers won 19 consecutive decisions at home with four different teams from 1997 to 2000.

Greinke and Rogers are two of the six pitchers with a win streak of at least 18 in home decisions in the live-ball era (since 1920). They’re joined by Roy Face, Frank Viola, Ray Kremer and Lefty Grove, who had two separate streaks of at least 18 wins in home decisions (18 from 1932-33, 20 from 1938-40).

Greinke hasn’t lost a home start since July 26, 2010, when he allowed eight runs over four innings in a 19-1 loss to the Twins.

Greinke wasn’t the only Brewer to make history Sunday. Jonathan Lucroy drove in seven runs, tying a franchise record. He joined Carlos Ruiz (May 2, 2012) as the only catchers to have at least seven RBI in a game in the last two seasons.

Elsewhere in the majors Sunday, Max Scherzer had a career-high 15 strikeouts, one shy of a Detroit Tigers franchise record, in a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Scherzer induced 26 swings-and-misses, the most by any pitcher this season and the most since Brandon Morrow had 26 on May 5, 2010 vs the Cleveland Indians.

Scherzer became the second AL pitcher to strike out at least 15 in seven or fewer innings in the last 90 years. Baltimore Orioles starter Mike Mussina struck out 15 in seven innings against the Boston Red Sox on September 24, 2000.

In other MLB action Sunday:

" Stephen Strasburg hit his first career home run and earned the win in the Washington Nationals 9-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Strasburg is now hitting .375 this season and has an extra-base hit in four of his last five games.

" Josh Beckett allowed one run on seven hits as the Red Sox beat the Philadelphia Phillies 5-1. Beckett has now won consecutive starts for the first time since August 2011 and has allowed one run in his last 14T innings.

" The Phillies fell to 1-5 in Cliff Lee’s starts this season after he allowed five runs, his most since July 2011, to the Red Sox. The Phillies were 22-10 in Lee’s 32 starts last season.

Josh Hamilton homered for the ninth time in his past six games Saturday, sending C.J. Wilson’s 80 mph curveball into the right-field seats in the sixth inning of the Texas Rangers' 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

One key to Hamilton’s power surge has been his ability hit breaking balls out of the yard. After Saturday, Hamilton now has seven home runs on breaking balls this season, already his most in any season since joining the Rangers in 2008.

Hamilton is hitting .420 against breaking balls in 2012, a dramatic increase over his .260 average against such pitches a year ago. And his slugging percentage against curveballs and sliders is .860, dwarfing his 2011 mark of .468.

Hamilton’s sudden ability to smash breaking balls has helped him get off to one of the best starts to a season in major league history.

His 18 homers have tied Cy Williams of the 1923 Phillies for the most all-time through 34 team games. And with nine home runs in his past six games, Hamilton is just one shy of the MLB record for homers in a six-game span set by Frank Howard with 10 in 1968, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Hamilton’s 18 home runs this season are five more than the entire San Diego Padres team and one fewer than the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins.

Hamilton will look to continue his record run Sunday night against Jered Weaver and the Angels on ESPN. Hamilton has 34 career at-bats against Weaver, his second most against any pitcher, but just one home run.

Elsewhere in the majors Saturday:

• 2011 home run champ Jose Bautista hit his 10th career home run at Target Field in just his 10th game at the park. Only four players, all Twins, have more HR at Target Field since it opened in 2010. According to Elias, Bautista is the first player to hit 10 HR in his first 10 games in a ballpark since Shawn Green at Miller Park from 2001 to 2004.

• Roy Halladay took the loss after allowing seven hits and two runs in seven innings as the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Padres. The Phillies have now lost each of Halladay’s past five starts. That ties the longest losing streak for a team in Roy Halladay starts, matching the Toronto Blue Jays' five-game losing streak in Halladay starts in 1999.

• The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-1 for their second straight home win following a six-game losing streak at Fenway Park. It’s the first time the Red Sox have won back-to-back home games since April 13-15.

The Tampa Bay Rays scored seven runs in the first four innings to roll past the Oakland Athletics for their 10th straight win at Tropicana Field. That’s the second-longest single-season home winning streak in franchise history, trailing only an 11-game run in 2008.

The Rays are the first American League team to start 13-1 at home since the Minnesota Twins won 14 of their first 15 home games in 2002. In 2009, the Los Angeles Dodgers were the last MLB team to start 13-1.

David Price was able to shut down the Athletics with the combination of his fastball and slider.

Sixty-three percent of Price’s pitches were fastballs, and the A’s went 0-for-11 with five strikeouts in at-bats ending with the heater.

With two strikes, Price went with his slider to end the at-bat. He threw 11 of his 15 sliders with two strikes and recorded six strikeouts. That’s his most whiffs with the slider since 2009.

He didn’t even need to stay in the zone to retire the opposing hitters. Over half of his pitches (56 of 106) were outside the strike zone. The Athletics swung and missed on 58 percent of pitches outside the zone, including six strikeouts. Price hadn’t induced as many chases on pitches outside the zone in a start since his rookie season.

With the win, Price improves to 30-3 at home in his career when getting at least three runs of support.

Around the Diamond
• Albert Pujols went four at-bats without a home run on Friday. His 108 at-bats without a home run this season are his longest single-season streak in his career, passing a 105 at-bat streak last season. Two long homer droughts were snapped Friday, as Shin-Soo Choo (67 at-bats) and Mark Reynolds (66 at-bats) hit their first of the season.

• Also in Anaheim, the Los Angeles Angels were shut out with Ervin Santana on the hill for the fifth straight time. Thanks to our friends at Elias, we know that this is the first time in major-league history that a starting pitcher has received no run support over five straight starts (11 pitchers had gone four straight starts without a run scored on their behalf).

• Wilson Ramos hit a bases-loaded single in the 10th inning as the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies to pick up their MLB-leading fifth walk-off win of the season.

• Mark Teixeira went 2-for-3 with a home run against Bruce Chen, improving to 11-for-22 with seven homers in his career against Chen. That is the most home runs he has hit against any pitcher in the majors.

• Stephen Strasburg allowed two home runs to right-handed hitters; entering the game, he had only allowed one homer to a righty in his career.

• Jerry Hairston Jr. went deep for the Dodgers, and has now hit a home run for six different teams since 2009. No other player has hit homers for as many teams in the same span.

• The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the New York Mets 5-4, snapping a nine-game losing streak in one-run games. According to Elias, that was the second longest streak in franchise history; the Diamondbacks lost 13 consecutive one-run games in 2004.

• Jamey Carroll singled in the first inning to snap a streak of 47 hitless at-bats for the Twins. Elias reports that it was the longest hitless at-bat streak by a team in a season since the San Diego Padres also went 47 at-bats between hits in June 1995.

Andrew Davis contributed to this post.

After one month of baseball, the American League East sits atop ESPN Stats & Info’s MLB Divisional Power Rankings by a wide margin.

Dating to last season, the AL East has never held a larger lead than its current 25.6-point lead over the National League East. Strong starts by the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays have given the AL East five of the top 12 teams in baseball, according to ESPN.com’s most recent power rankings.

Additionally, the AL East has been close to unstoppable outside of the division, posting a 44-25 (.637 win percentage) record in games against non-divisional opponents. No other division has a win percentage above .515 in non-divisional games.

What may be most surprising about the AL East is that unheralded names are making an impact for their teams. Toronto's Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson rank fourth and 20th, respectively, in ESPN’s Player Rating system, combining for 15 of Toronto’s 32 home runs through May 2.

The AL West has its share of players off to fast starts with Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Felix Hernandez, Yu Darvish and Jered Weaver all ranking in the top 10 of ESPN’s batter and pitcher ratings. Five players from the AL West is the most from one division.

The Los Angeles Angels play 17 more games in May against teams that currently do not have a winning record. If the Angels can turn things around and live up to preseason expectations, the AL West has a chance to close the gap on the AL East.

The AL Central currently sits at the bottom of the divisional rankings with only one team above .500. Against non-divisional opponents, the AL Central is 29-48 (.377 win percent), by far the worst win percentage of any division.

The Minnesota Twins have been the worst team in baseball outside their division, winning five of 17 games against non-divisional opponents.

The weekend of May 18 presents several opportunities to shake up the rankings.

Divisional leaders clash in the National League, with the St. Louis Cardinals visiting the Los Angeles Dodgers. Interleague highlights include the Philadelphia Phillies hosting the Boston Red Sox and Cincinnati Reds visiting the New York Yankees.

For a brief recap of how we rank the divisions, click here.

Jered Weaver threw the 10th no-hitter in franchise history as the Los Angeles Angels beat the Minnesota Twins 9-0 to sweep a series for the first time this season. It was the 250th regular-season no-hitter in MLB history.

Since the Angels entered the American League in 1961, no major-league team has more no-hitters. The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers also have 10 no-hitters in that span.

Weaver was able to shut down the Twins without needing to go to his secondary pitches. Nineteen of his 28 outs (including Chris Parmelee, who reached on a passed ball after striking out) were on fastballs. Six of his nine strikeouts were recorded on fastballs, with two on sliders and one on a curveball – his only out on a hook all night.

Since the start of the 2009 season, Weaver has relied on his fastball 56 percent of the time. Against the Twins on Wednesday, he went with the heat on 75 of 121 pitches (62 percent). While the outs came more easily than normal, his percent of pitches for strikes - 64 percent - was the same in the no-hitter as over the last four seasons.

It was the second no-hitter in major-league history thrown on May 2. The other was tossed by Fred Toney of the Cincinnati Reds in 1917.

The Halos have been brightest on Wednesday recently. With Weaver’s gem, the last three Angels' no-hitters have been thrown on Wednesday. Ervin Santana no-hit the Cleveland Indians last year, the first no-hitter for the Angels since Mark Langston and Mike Witt combined to allow no hits against the Seattle Mariners in 1990.

It was the first time that the Twins fell victim to a no-hitter since May 17, 1998, when David Wells threw a perfect game at Yankee Stadium.

Combined with Philip Humber's perfect game in April, this is the earliest in the calendar that two no-hitters have been thrown since 1994 (when there were three at this point). Last season was a near miss, as Francisco Liriano and Justin Verlander both threw no-hitters in the first week of May.

Weaver is the fifth pitcher overall, and the second in Angels history, to throw a no-hitter the year after being the runner-up in Cy Young voting. The last was Kevin Brown, who threw a no-hitter for the Florida Marlins in 1997 after finishing behind John Smoltz in NL Cy Young voting in 1996.

On the offensive side, it was the third straight game that the Angels hit two home runs. In the first 22 games of the season, they only had two multi-homer games.

Albert Pujols was one of the few hitters that didn’t benefit during the Angels’ 15-hit attack. He went 1-for-5 and has failed to hit a home run in his last 130 regular-season at-bats.

Justin Verlander found himself in a familiar position after the eighth inning with a two-run lead on Monday night against the Kansas City Royals.

Unlike his two previous starts when he and the Detroit Tigers bullpen blew leads in the ninth inning, Verlander went the distance this time and made sure he got his first win of the season. Verlander threw 131 pitches, one shy of his career high, and now has an MLB-best 33 120-pitch games since 2010.

Verlander this season has allowed one earned run in the first eight innings of his three starts, and five earned runs in the ninth inning. Prior to this year, he had allowed just one earned run in the ninth inning in his first seven seasons combined.

Verlander cranked up the heat in the final frame, averaging 97.5 mph with his fastball. He threw four heaters to Alex Gordon in the last at-bat, and each one hit 100 on the radar gun. Those were the four fastest pitches he threw the entire game.

Since 2009, Justin Verlander has the highest average fastball velocity for any starter in the ninth inning. He is the only starter in that time frame to throw a pitch over 100 mph in the ninth inning.

Verlander also had success getting ahead and finishing off the Royals batters. He allowed just one hit in 17 at-bats that reached a two-strike count, and this season opponents are now hitting .073 (3-41) with two strikes against Verlander.

Big Game shuts out Red Sox
James “Big Game” Shields lived up to his nickname on Patriots Day in Boston, tossing 8⅓ scoreless innings as the Tampa Bay Rays avoided the sweep against the Boston Red Sox with a 1-0 win this afternoon.

Shields allowed just four hits – all singles – as he shut down a Red Sox offense that had averaged more than 10 runs per game in the first three games of the series. This was just the third 1-0 shutout by the Rays over the Red Sox and all three have come at Fenway Park.

Shields heavily featured his slider against Boston, throwing it 41 times, and using it to get 10 outs. Both of those are his most in any start over the last three seasons. He had thrown just 28 sliders in his first two outings this season and recorded only five outs in nine at-bats with the pitch.

Around the Diamond
• The Minnesota Twins beat the New York Yankees for just the sixth time in 34 regular-season games in the Bronx since Ron Gardenhire’s first season as Twins manager in 2002. Justin Morneau homered and now has five home runs in 11 career games at the new Yankee Stadium. He has five homers in 80 games at Target Field.

• Dillon Gee pitched seven innings of one-run ball as the New York Mets beat the Atlanta Braves 6-1. Gee recorded 11 groundball outs, one shy of his career-best, and induced grounders on 65 percent of balls hit into play, the highest groundball rate in a game in his career.

The Minnesota Twins begin a four-game set in the Bronx tonight (ESPN, 7 ET) against the New York Yankees, a team they have struggled against lately. Since 2002, the Yankees are 51-18 against the Twins in the regular season, and in postseason play, New York has won nine straight and 12 of the 14 games the teams have played since 2002.

Pitching Matchup
Carl Pavano signed a four-year, $39.95 million contract with the Yankees before the 2005 season but his tenure there was marred by injury and ineffectiveness. As a Yankee, Pavano made only 26 starts and missed the entire 2006 season. However, since leaving the Bronx, he has made 100 starts, including being named the Twins Opening Day starter the last two seasons.

This is only Pavano’s second start in New York since leaving the Yankees after the 2008 season. On April 19, 2009 - then with Cleveland – Pavano went six innings, allowing four hits, one run, one walk and four strikeouts as he took a no-decision in New York’s 7-3 win.

For the Yankees, Freddy Garcia will take the mound for his second start of the season. In his first start, Garcia threw five wild pitches against the Baltimore Orioles, but came out with a no-decision as New York rallied for a 5-4 win. Garcia is 10-7 with a 4.04 in 22 career starts against the Twins, but is 1-2 with a 5.24 ERA in four starts since joining the Yankees.

Player to Watch
Mark Teixeira is off to another slow start this season, but that is nothing new for him since joining the Yankees. The bad news is that after rebounding well in 2009, his performance the rest of the season has gotten worse.

His trouble so far this season has been from the left side of the plate, particularly against fastballs. Pitchers work away from Teixeira with fastballs on both sides of the plate, but he only makes them pay while hitting right-handed. He’s 1-for-12 against righties and 3-for-8 against lefties.

Stat of the Game
Alex Rodriguez is tied with Ken Griffey Jr. for fifth all-time with 630 home runs. Let’s take a quick look at some similarities between the two players.

• A-Rod has hit 112 of his 630 HR in the first inning; Griffey has hit 111.

• 330 of A-Rod’s home runs have come with the bases empty, compared to 337 of Junior’s.

• A-Rod has hit the first pitch for a home run 108 times, while Griffey has connected on the first pitch 114 times.

John Fisher contributed to this post

Don’t look now, but the Washington Nationals have zoomed to the top of the NL East following their 3-2, extra-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday afternoon.

The Nationals improved to 5-2, their best start since moving to Washington, and also win their first home opener since 2008. This is just the second time in the last 15 seasons the franchise has won five of its first seven games. In 2001, the Montreal Expos were 6-1 after seven games.

The Nats took a 2-0 lead into the ninth inning but Brad Lidge blew the save, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks. Lidge had allowed just one run over his previous 16 appearances dating to August of last year.

The Nationals won it in the 10th inning thanks to a wild outing by Reds reliever Alfredo Simon. Simon hit Ryan Zimmerman to lead off the inning and Zimmerman eventually came around to score four batters later on Simon’s wild pitch with Roger Bernadina at the plate.

This was the Nationals’ fifth win on a game-ending wild pitch since moving to Washington in 2005. Entering Thursday, the Nats had lost their last six extra-inning games against the Reds and were 0-5 in one-run games versus Cincinnati over the last two season.

Gio Gonzalez got a no-decision but deserved the win, tossing seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and just two hits allowed.

Gonzalez had success going low as Reds hitters went 0-for-11 in at-bats ending with pitches down in the zone or below. Gonzalez also did a good job finishing off batters, allowing zero hits in 13 at-bats that reached a two-strike count.

Around The Diamond
• The Minnesota Twins came back from a six-run deficit against the Los Angeles Angels thanks to home runs from both Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer. It was the first time that Morneau and Mauer homered in the same game since July 6, 2010.

• Matt Garza fell one out short of a shutout when he was pulled after 119 pitches in the ninth inning of the Chicago Cubs 8-0 win. Garza had his slider working, throwing 31 of them, as the Milwaukee Brewers were hitless including five strikeouts in nine at-bats ending with the pitch.

• The Detroit Tigers improved to 5-1 this season with a win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Austin Jackson scored a run and has now crossed home plate in all six games this season, the longest streak to start the season by a Tiger since Darrell Evans scored in the first eight games in 1986.

• Madison Bumgarner took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 4-2. Bumgarner recorded a career-high 14 ground-ball outs (including a double play) with eight of them coming in at-bats ending in sliders.

For eight innings on Wednesday, Justin Verlander pitched like the reigning American League MVP and Cy Young winner. Twenty-three pitches later, the Detroit Tigers were on the way to their first loss of the season.

Verlander needed just 81 pitches to get through the first eight innings against the Tampa Bay Rays with the Tigers leading 2-0. That brought him to 16 scoreless innings with just three hits allowed on the season. In the ninth, he allowed four runs after surrendering three hits and a walk.

Verlander was the first pitcher to throw eight scoreless innings before allowing four or more runs in the ninth inning to take a loss since Tim Hudson for the Atlanta Braves on Sept. 22, 2005, against the Philadelphia Phillies.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he’s the first starting pitcher to pick up a loss after allowing no runs on one hit or fewer in the first eight innings of a game his team led entering the ninth since Mark Langston of the Seattle Mariners in 1989. Langston took a no-hitter into the ninth inning before losing to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Verlander struggled with his fastball in the ninth inning, seemingly from over-throwing the pitch. In his first 16 innings this season, Verlander averaged 93.1 mph on his fastball, reaching a maximum velocity of 97.9. On 13 fastballs in the ninth inning against the Rays, every pitch came in above that average. He measured as high as 99.5 mph and averaged 97.2 during the frame.

Even with the extra oomph, the Rays were able to get to Verlander because he was leaving the ball over the plate. Entering the ninth, opposing hitters were 2-for-25 against Verlander’s fastball as he threw only eight percent down the heart of the plate. In the ninth inning, he threw 31 percent of his fastballs straight down the middle, including two hits by the Rays.

Quick Hits

• With the Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks losing and the Minnesota Twins winning, every major-league team has at least one win and one loss.

• Six days after tying a career-high by allowing 10 hits against the St. Louis Cardinals, Josh Johnson didn’t make it out of the fourth inning against the Phillies after allowing a career-high 11 hits.

• Peter Bourjos hit the second inside-the-park home run in Target Field history. The ball traveled 372 feet and would have been out of 10 ballparks.

• Tim Lincecum lasted just 2⅓ innings against the Colorado Rockies, his shortest outing in 157 career starts.

• The Oakland Athletics won in the bottom of the 12th inning when Jonny Gomes was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. It was the first time game-ending hit by pitch since … Brad Lidge hit Gomes as the Washington Nationals beat the Philadelphia Phillies on August 21, 2011. From Elias, it was the first game to end with back-to-back hit batters since 1966.

• Stephen Strasburg tossed six scoreless innings, topping 100 pitches for the first time in 19 career starts with the Nationals.

Each Sunday, ESPN Stats & Information provides a statistical recap of notable transactions from the week.

Nationals trade for LHP Gio Gonzalez
Gonzalez became known in Oakland for his nasty curveball. Over the past two seasons, he’s thrown his hook nearly 30 percent of the time, the third-most-often among left-handed pitchers. His 212 strikeouts with the pitch in that span are the most in the majors.

One thing that Gonzalez did last season was change his approach against right-handed hitters. In 2009, when he was ahead 0-2 or 1-2 on a righty, he threw his fastball only 25 percent of the time.

In 2010, he upped that rate to 35 percent, then upped it again to 47 percent last season.

By the end of 2011, he’d struck out more right-handers with his fastball (73) than his curveball (71), a dramatic swing from a year prior, when he whiffed 98 with his curve and 33 with his fastball. The heat maps above show where Gonzalez located his two primary pitches when in 0-2 and 1-2 counts.

The change worked, as noted by Gonzalez’s effectiveness in the chart on the right.
-- Mark Simon/Lee Singer

Reds acquire LHP Sean Marshall in trade from Cubs.
Marshall had a statistically superb season in 2011, his second straight strong year.

Over the last two seasons, Marshall has averaged better than 10 strikeouts per nine innings, with a strikeout-to-walk rate of better than four-to-one. He’s the only one of the 176 pitchers who threw at least 150 innings in that span to be able to hit both of those benchmarks.

Marshall’s combination of strikeouts, walks and home runs allowed was so good that he led the majors in fielding independent pitching (2.07 FIP) over the last two years. He was valued at 5.0 wins above replacement combining 2010 and 2011, the best for any relief pitcher.

What makes Marshall so good?

Marshall succeeds because he gets hitters from both sides of the plate out at a high rate. He’s one of three lefties to hold both left-handed and right-handed hitters to a sub-.600 OPS over the last two seasons (minimum 200 batters faced on each side) along with Jonny Venters and Clayton Kershaw.

Marshall does this primarily with his breaking pitches. He threw the lowest percentage of fastballs of any left-handed pitcher over the last two seasons (just under 40 percent), relying on a curveball and slider, the former of which has the biggest horizontal break of any from a lefty in the majors.
--Mark Simon

Twins sign Jason Marquis
The pitch-to-contact righty Marquis will fit perfectly into the Twins' rotation, which last season had the lowest swing-and-miss rate and highest in-play percentage in the majors.

Batters missed on one of every six swings against Marquis and put the ball in play nearly 50 percent of the time when taking a cut last year.

More than half of his opponents' at-bats resulted in a grounder (this was true for each of his three primary pitches -- fastball, slider, changeup), putting Marquis among the top 10 ground-ball specialists in the league.

Marquis has posted an ERA below 4.00 just once in his career as a full-time starter, and will be challenged to achieve that performance level this year with the Minnesota Twins.

In 2011, Minnesota’s infield defense cost the team 45 runs, the worst mark by any major league team.

The Twins did slightly upgrade at the shortstop position this offseason.

The four shortstops that accounted for minus-27 defensive runs saved in nearly 1,500 innings in 2011 will be replaced by 37-year-old Jamey Carroll, who had minus-5 defensive runs saved in 504 innings at shortstop last year.
--Katie Sharp

Each Sunday, ESPN Stats & Information reviews significant moves from the past week.

Dodgers sign Mark Ellis

Two things to note about the newest Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman, Mark Ellis, using advanced statistical measurements:

1-- Ellis has a good defensive statistical history at second base.

Ellis’ presence could be a boost to the Dodgers, whose second basemen ranked tied for third-worst in the majors with -13 Defensive Runs Saved. That metric considers a fielder’s ability to turn batted balls into outs and convert double plays.

Ellis finished tied for fifth among second basemen with 10 Defensive Runs Saved in 2011. His 43 Defensive Runs Saved since 2008 rank tied with Dustin Pedroia for third-best among second basemen (largely due to his 24 Defensive Runs Saved in 2008).

2-- Ellis had one of the roughest offensive seasons of anyone in baseball in 2011.

Win Probability Added (charted at Fangraphs.com) measures a hitter’s ability to do things that contribute to his team's chance to win (reaching base late in close games has greater value than doing so in a 10-0 game).

Ellis ranked third-worst among anyone who came to bat in 2011 in Win Probability Added. He was viewed as costing his team 3.35 wins with his offensive contributions (2 players rated worse- Alcides Escobar and Alex Rios).

This is likely largely due to his hitting .184 with runners in scoring position in 2011, well below the .337 and .339 he hit the two previous seasons.

Ellis was 6-for-51 in what were termed by Fangraphs as "high leverage” situations. Those are instances in which the Win Probability had the chance of having its greatest swing.
-- Mark Simon

Twins agree to sign Ryan Doumit
The reshaping of the Minnesota Twins continued with their agreeing to terms with catcher Ryan Doumit. His intended use will be as a designated hitter, catcher and first baseman, serving as injury insurance for stars Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau.

It will be interesting to see how the switch-hitting Doumit fares as a left-handed hitter at spacious Target Field.

As a Pirate, Doumit averaged a homer every 26 at-bats batting left-handed and hit a robust .288 with 17 home runs from that side in 441 at-bats over the last two seasons.

That batting average came from a penchant for getting hits with his line drives at a good rate. Over the last two seasons, our pitch-performance data has Doumit as 55-for-65 when hitting a line drive when hitting a line drive from that side of the plate.

Major leaguers typically get hits on about 72 percent of their line drives, meaning that in this span, Doumit has been about eight hits better than the average big leaguer.

Also worth noting: Target Field rated the seventh-toughest park for a left-handed hitter to homer in, according to the Park Factors from Baseball Info Solutions.

While Doumit may have some value as a left-handed power bat, he may not bring much to the Twins defense.

Since the start of 2010, Doumit has thrown out just 16.7 percent of baserunners, second-worst among qualifying catchers. His 13 passed balls rank third-worst over the last two seasons behind Josh Thole (20) and Miguel Montero (14).

According to a study done by Baseball Prospectus' Mike Fast in September, Doumit has cost his teams a total of 66 runs because of his poor pitch-framing skills since 2007, as measured by getting extra strike calls at the edge of the zone. That is the most of any catcher in the last five seasons combined.

Doumit has played fewer than 50 innings at first base since 2007, and none last year. In 251 career innings at the position, he's totaled -4 Defensive Runs Saved.
Mark Simon & Katie Sharp

Chris Carpenter threw a two-hit, 11 K shutout on the final day of the regular season to propel the St. Louis Cardinals into the postseason. Friday he was just as good… maybe better as he recorded his first career 1-0 shutout.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Carpenter is the third pitcher in MLB history to throw a 1-0 shutout in a winner-take-all game. He also became the third Cardinals’ pitcher to throw a shutout in a winner-take-all game (Danny Cox, 1987 NLCS & Dizzy Dean, 1934 WS).

Carpenter registered an 84 on the Bill James Game Score scale. Game Score rates a pitcher's start, usually from 0 to 100, with rare games being higher or lower. The average start rates around 49 or 50. His start is tied for the second-highest Game Score in a winner-take-all postseason game.

Carpenter’s teams are now 9-2 in his 11 career postseason starts.

The only offense of the game started with a first-inning leadoff triple by Rafael Furcal, making him the first player ever to have two leadoff triples within the same postseason. That was immediately followed by a Skip Schumaker double, which scored Furcal and proved to be the only run of the game. It is the first time in MLB postseason history that every run in a game had been scored before a single out was recorded.

The loss snaps the Philadelphia Phillies streak of three straight NLCS appearances. Being shut out is uncommon for the Phillies as they were blanked just seven times during the regular season, tied for third-fewest in MLB.

The Cardinals will meet the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS. It's not the first time these two franchises will face off in a postseason series. These two clubs met in the 1982 World Series, when the Brewers were part of the American League. The Cardinals would overcome a 3-2 series deficit to win the final two games at home and capture their first World Series title since 1967.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in the midst of one of the more remarkable turnarounds in baseball history. After taking two of three on the road from the San Francisco Giants, the Diamondbacks now lead the National League West by seven games with just 22 left to play.

Should the Diamondbacks make the playoffs, they would be the third team to do so one year after losing 97 games. Arizona would be the ninth team in baseball history to make the playoffs the year after finishing in last place; of those teams, five made it to the World Series, with the 1991 Minnesota Twins being the only team in history to win the World Series a year after finishing in last place.

No team has ever lost more than 91 games the year before winning the World Series. Only the 1987 Twins won the World Series after losing at least 90 games the season before.

One area that the Diamondbacks have excelled this season is hitting in "late and close" situations -- defined as in the seventh inning or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck. The Diamondbacks came through again in San Francisco on Sunday, scoring four runs in the eighth inning after trailing 1-0.

In 2010, the Diamondbacks hit .222 in late and close situations, which ranked fourth-worst in the league. This season, no team has been better (see chart).

Who are Arizona’s best players in such spots?

Justin Upton is one; however, with Upton getting ejected in the fourth inning on Sunday, others had to come through. One who did was Ryan Roberts, who has had a terrific season as Arizona’s everyday third baseman. Roberts this seasn is 22-for-59 (.373) in late-and-close situations with 14 walks and 10 RBI.

This may be a trait that the Diamondbacks picked up from their manager, Kirk Gibson, who was the master of one late-and-close situation. He had four regular-season, come-from-behind, walk-off home runs (walk-offs with team trailing at time).

When you include Gibson’s 1988 World Series Game 1 walk-off HR, his five would match the most ever, shared by Babe Ruth, Frank Robinson and Fred McGriff.

There were a number of strong performances on the mound Monday. Here's a look at how some of Monday's pitchers got the job done:

How Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle shut out the Minnesota Twins:
• Buehrle struck out four in 7 2/3 scoreless innings to lead the White Sox to a 3-0 win over the Twins. Buehrle earned his 27th career win against the Twins, the most wins for any active pitcher against a single team. Buehrle is now 27-19 in his career versus the Twins (most wins versus Minnesota since the team moved to Minnesota in 1960).

• In four starts against the Twins this season, Buehrle is 2-1 with a 0.29 ERA (30 2/3 IP, 1 ER). Buehrle is holding the Twins to a .144 average this season, but the numbers are even better against non-fastballs. After a 2 for 17 effort Monday, the Twins are now 5 for 51 (.098) in at-bats ending with Buehrle's non-fastballs.

• Buehrle did walk two hitters, but of the 29 hitters he faced, only one saw a 2-0 count. In addition, he only went to a three-ball count on four hitters (including the two walks).

How Philadelphia Phillies starter Cole Hamels bounced back against Cincinnati:
• Hamels may not have gotten the win in his first start back from the disabled list, but he still pitched well enough to help the Phillies beat the Reds, 3-2. In his previous start before hitting the disabled list with shoulder inflammation, Hamels' fastball averaged just 88.6 MPH, almost a full three MPH below his season average of 91.5. On Monday, Hamels' fastball averaged 90.1, a big step up from his last start, but still his second-slowest fastball of the season.

• Despite that, the pitch was effective for him. Reds hitters were just 1 for 11 with two strikeouts on at-bats ending with a Hamels fastball. Only one of the nine fastballs hitters put in play was well hit, according to Inside Edge.

• Hamels' changeup was dominant, as usual. Five of the six outs he recorded on his changeup were strikeouts. Reds hitters missed on eight of their 11 swings (72.7 percent) against the pitch, Hamels' third-highest miss percentage on his changeup in a start this season. No starter in baseball has induced swings and misses on changeups at a higher rate (51.2 percent) this season than Hamels.

How New York Yankees pitcher Freddy Garcia beat the Baltimore Orioles:
• Forty-four percent of pitches taken against him were called strikes, his highest percentage of the season.

• His fastest pitch was clocked at 89.6 mph. It was his fastest pitch since June 28, when he reached 90.9 mph on the gun.

•He recorded four strikeouts on the night – all four at-bats ended with a splitter.

• The home run Garcia surrendered to Mark Reynolds was his first allowed since June 7. Garcia went 69 innings between gopher balls – the longest active homerless streak among starting pitchers, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Lee Singer and Mike Trainor contributed to this story.

Justin Verlander didn't waste any time in his quest for 20 wins. In his first start since picking up his 19th win on Monday, Verlander rallied from a rocky outing and picked up his major league-leading 20th win Saturday in a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins.
Verlander threw 120 pitches over six innings and allowed eight hits, four runs (all earned), and three walks.

For the second time this season, Verlander allowed back-to-back home runs. On April 22, Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko did it in the seventh inning for the Chicago White Sox.

Verlander is the first to reach 20 wins before September 1 since Curt Schilling in 2002 and the first AL pitcher to do it since Roger Clemens in 1997. This is the first 20-win season for Verlander.

Verlander has won his last seven road starts. That's the longest road win streak by a Tigers starter since Jack Morris won seven straight road starts in 1981.

A next-level look: Verlander survived a rough day with his fastball. Twins hitters had six hits and three walks in 17 plate appearances ending with Verlander's fastball, the second-most hits Verlander has allowed off his fastball this season.

Verlander threw a season-high 64.5 percent of his fastballs in the strike zone, which resulted in five of the Twins' hits, including Luke Hughes' home run.

Verlander countered his struggles with success with his offspeed pitches. He threw his second-lowest percentage of offspeed pitches in a start this season, but Twins hitters were 2 for 10 in at-bats ending with his curveball, slider and changeup. He threw 32 of his 44 offspeed pitches on the outside part of the plate and the Twins were 1 for 6 with two strikeouts in at-bats ending with offspeed pitches away.

Verlander has now won his last 15 starts in which the Tigers have scored three or more runs.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last pitcher to win at least 15 straight games when his team scores three or more runs was Joaquin Andujar, who won 18 in a row for the Cardinals in 1985.

ELSEWHERE AROUND MLB:

• Matt Kemp hit a walk-off home run, his third of the season and fourth of his career to lead the Dodgers to a 7-6 win in 11 innings over the Rockies. Kemp's three walk-off home runs are the most by a player this season. James Loney helped force extra innings with his game-tying home run in the ninth, his eighth home run this season.

• Jim Thome homered on his 41st birthday to lead the Indians to an 8-7 win over the Royals. According to Elias he is the third Indians player to hit a home run at the age of 41 or older (Dave Winfield and Sam Rice). The only other player in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to homer on their 41st birthday was the Tigers' Darrell Evans (May 26, 1988 versus the Brewers).

Jacob Nitzberg contributed to this story.