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(The St. Louis Cardinals host the Chicago Cubs, Monday at 7 ET on ESPN and WatchESPN.)

Ten rookies on the St. Louis Cardinals pitching staff have combined to throw 221.2 innings this season, and are 17-8 with a 3.17 ERA. That’s one reason the Cardinals’ 3.29 team ERA is second this season only to the Atlanta Braves (3.23).

The Cardinals' crop of rookie arms has been led by Shelby Miller, who ranks sixth in the National League with 91 strikeouts. He has struck out 29 percent of batters faced, which is the highest rate in the National League this season.

He has been most successful when he climbs the ladder with the fastball. More than 40 percent of his strikeouts (39 of 91) have come on high fastballs. When Miller throws his fastball up in the zone, opponents are hitting .079 (6-for-76) and have missed on 36 percent of swings (league average is .232). When his fastball is down or in the middle of the strike zone, opponents hit .270 with a miss rate of 15 percent.

The last time Miller took the mound for the Cardinals, he allowed four earned runs – the first time in 14 career starts that he allowed more than three earned runs.

Wood Channeling His Inner Greg Maddux
Opposing Miller will be Travis Wood, who has a 2.65 ERA and has made a quality start in 12 of 13 appearances this season.

If Wood has a quality start on Monday, he’ll be the first Cubs pitcher since Greg Maddux in 1988 with 13 quality starts within the team’s first 68 games.

What’s fueling his hot start? He’s dominated left-handed hitters. Lefties are hitting .155 against Wood, that’s the fourth lowest opponent batting average this season.

He’s also done a much better job this season of keeping the ball in the ballpark. In 2012, he allowed 25 home runs, and gave up 1.44 home runs per nine innings pitched. This season, he’s allowed six home runs, and 0.64 per nine innings.

Wood has also benefited this season from the lowest opponent batting average on balls in play (BABIP) among all qualifiers at .218 (league average is .295). The low average is not because he's generating weaker contact. According to Inside Edge, which tracks well-hit balls, Wood has allowed hard contact on 16 percent of at-bats, a rate not significantly lower than the 16.5 percent league average.

Wood has recorded 21 outs on what were deemed hard hit fly balls or line drives. That's the fifth-highest total this season. Opponents have hit .524 against Wood when generating a hard hit fly ball or line drive. That sounds like a nice clip, but it's actually the lowest rate among qualifiers and well below the league average of .712. Going forward, Wood shouldn't expect to convert outs that efficiently on hard-hit balls.

The Texas Rangers have been in sole possession of first place in the AL West for 45 straight days, but they’ve lost ground in the division in six of the last 10 days. They’ll try to get back on track at the Boston Red Sox tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN2/WatchESPN.

Through 57 games, the Rangers are tied for their best start in franchise history. In each of the previous three seasons that the Rangers were 35-22 through 57 games, they went on to finish in first place.

The Rangers have been solid on the road at 17-14, but they’ve tied a season high with four straight losses away from home. Since 2009, Texas is 28-13 against the Red Sox, the best record of any team in baseball against the Red Sox in that span. Before Tuesday night’s drubbing, the Rangers had won 10 of their past 12 games against the Red Sox.

Ogando’s changeup

Rangers starter Alexi Ogando is making his first start since May 15; he went on the disabled list due to right biceps tendinitis. This will be Ogando’s eighth start on the road this season compared to just two at home. He has a 3.52 road ERA (1.59 at home).

Ogando is 2-2 overall in his career against the Red Sox (1-1 in two career starts) with a 3.93 ERA. He’s 2-0 with 1 ER in his last 10 IP against Boston since 2012, including a win against them in Texas on May 4 this season (6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 4 K, 2 BB).

Once a true flamethrower, relying heavily on a hard fastball, Ogando now throws a much softer version of the pitch less than half the time. In 2010, the right-hander threw a changeup 5 percent of the time compared to 16 percent this season.


The changeup has been effective for Ogando. Opponents are batting just .172 in at-bats ending with the pitch thus far this season, with the majority of the usage coming against lefties.

Worst to first?

The Red Sox are enjoying a 14-6 stretch and are trying to become the seventh team since the current divisional format began in 1995 to go from worst to first in their division. Boston leads baseball in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage versus right-handed pitchers this season (.288/.362/.481).

The Red Sox have an .843 OPS against right-handed pitchers this season, the highest in the major leagues. Last season, their .717 OPS against righties ranked 18th.


Boston’s hitting performance this season has been in part due to David Ortiz's resurgence at the plate.

Ortiz appeared to be on a decline typical for a hitter of his age as recently as 2010 when he struck out in a career-high 24 percent of plate appearances. He hadn’t batted over .300 in three seasons. Since 2011, Ortiz has drastically reduced his strikeouts (13 percent of plate appearances) and he boasts a .988 OPS.

Miguel Cabrera is hitting a line drive on 25 percent of the balls he has put in play this year, his highest percentage in the past four seasons. His home runs this season have followed that trend, and because he is hitting them on a line more often, he is less susceptible to impact from the wind.

In 2012, the wind added an average of 3.6 feet to Cabrera’s 44 home runs. Only one other player with more than 20 home runs was helped by the wind more (Matt Kemp, 4.2 feet). Four of those 44 home runs would not have gone over the fence without favorable wind conditions, tied with Asdrubal Cabrera for the most wind-aided home runs in the American League.

Josh Hamilton, who finished second in the AL last year with 43 home runs, had no wind-aided home runs. If any two of Cabrera’s four “lucky” home runs had been hit on a day when the wind wasn’t blowing in his favor, he would have lost the Triple Crown.

This season, Cabrera’s only assisted home run was not thanks to the wind but to Michael Bourn, who knocked the ball over the fence trying to catch it on May 22.

Cabrera’s 25.2-degree elevation angle is the lowest this season among players with more than 10 home runs. The combined true distance of his home runs this year is 6,104 feet.

In the past eight years, only four players have hit home runs that far while hitting them as low as Cabrera is hitting them this season.

In a game against the Rangers, Cabrera hit three home runs, all of which traveled at least 420 feet. Alex Rodriguez is the only other player in the past eight seasons to hit at least three home runs of 420 feet or longer in the same game (he did it on Aug. 14, 2010, against the Royals).

Longest HR of the month
The longest home run hit in May (with one day remaining) was hit 472 feet by Mike Napoli on May 1 at the Rogers Centre. The second-longest homer of the month (467 feet) was also by Napoli -- in the same game three innings later. They are the two longest home runs of his career.

Napoli is the only player with three home runs of at least 460 feet this season. They are noted in the illustration below.

His average home run travels 425.6 feet, third best among players with at least five home runs this season and 28.6 feet farther than the MLB average.

Napoli and Colby Rasmus are the only two players with multiple home runs of at least 465 feet this season -- all four of those homers were hit at Rogers Centre in Toronto.


Trevor Ebaugh, Mike Bonzagni and Tobin Petipas contributed to this post.

Miguel Cabrera’s Triple Crown season was clearly not a fluke.

Cabrera has been even more dominant thus far this season.

After going 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI in the Detroit Tigers’ 7-6 win over the Minnesota Twins, Cabrera now has 14 homers and 55 RBI in 45 games this season.

Cabrera is on pace for 198 RBI, which would break Hack Wilson’s single-season RBI record of 191 in 1930.

Cabrera is the first player with at least 55 RBI in his team's first 45 games of a season since Manny Ramirez in 2001.

Cabrera joins Ramirez (2001), Jimmie Foxx (1932) and Chuck Klein (1930) as the only players in MLB history with at least 14 home runs and 55 RBI with a .390 or better batting average through their team’s first 45 games, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Entering Thursday, Cabrera had seen only five inside fastballs that were 86 MPH or slower this season.

Scott Diamond threw Cabrera four of those pitches in his first at-bat Thursday (four consecutive pitches), the last of which he hit for a home run (86 MPH fastball).

Cabrera’s homer came on a two-strike fastball. He’s hitting an MLB-best .432 this season on two-strike fastballs. His on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS also lead the league against those pitches.

With a runner on second base and one out and the game tied 6-6 in the eighth inning, the Twins intentionally walked Cabrera with a base open to get to Fielder.

That perhaps was a mistake.

Fielder hit an RBI single to give the Tigers the lead and ultimately the win.

Over the last two seasons -- since joining the Tigers -- Fielder is 8-for-16 (.500 BA) with 11 RBI following a Cabrera intentional walk.

This season alone, he's 3-for-4 with five RBI in those situations.

If you can’t walk him and he hits nearly everything, what is the best solution when facing Cabrera?

There’s probably no answer for that question.

Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher has announced his retirement after 13 NFL seasons. He’s one of four players in NFL history with 40 sacks and 20 interceptions (sacks became an official statistic in 1982).

He was an eight-time Pro Bowler and the all-time leading tackler in Bears history (according to the team).

He’s in the top 10 in franchise history in games played and sacks, and he’s tied for 11th in interceptions.

Urlacher is one of just seven players in NFL history to win the Defensive Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in his career.

Of the six others, three are in the Hall of Fame and two of the remaining three are still active players.

Hall-of-Famers Mike Singletary (10) and Walter Payton (nine) are the only Bears players with more Pro Bowl selections than Urlacher, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Urlacher’s value showed when he missed the last four games of the season in 2012, the Bears defense struggled.

Over the past four seasons, Chicago allowed a Total QBR of 39.5 with Urlacher on the field and a 60.1 Total QBR with Urlacher off the field.

During Urlacher's tenure with the Bears, which began in 2000, Chicago's defense was in the top five in the NFL in points per game, third-down percentage and takeaways.

Urlacher is part of a long line of elite linebackers the team has produced over the years. Look how he stacks up to some other Hall of Fame Bears linebackers.

The St. Louis Cardinals host the New York Mets tonight in a battle of two teams headed in different directions (7 ET, ESPN and WatchESPN).

Red-hot Cards
The Cardinals boast the NL’s best record and have been fueled by excellent starting pitching (MLB-best 2.25 ERA), and clutch hitting (MLB-best .323 BA w/ RISP).

On Monday, Lance Lynn looks to start a new win streak after a hard-luck 2-1 loss his last time out snapped a streak of 10 straight starts without a loss, dating to last season. He was 9-0 over that span with a 2.52 ERA.

Lynn has gotten impressive results when throwing sliders and curveballs this season, recording 38 outs with those pitches versus just 13 total bases allowed, a ratio of nearly 3 to 1.

Last year his ratio of outs to total bases allowed with breaking pitches was about half that: 1.6 to 1. Opponents are batting .186 in at-bats ending with Lynn's breaking stuff, a drop of over 100 points from last year (.288).

The biggest change has come against righties, where you can see how Lynn has improved the location of his pitches:



Mets slowing down
The Mets, on the other hand, have cooled off after a decent start to the season. They are 4-11 over their past 15, scoring just 2.9 runs per game in that span.

Jeremy Hefner starts on the mound tonight for the Mets. They have lost all six of his starts this season (he’s 0-4), providing him just 3.3 runs per game of support in those starts.

The Mets have really struggled without Matt Harvey on the mound this year. They are 6-2 in his starts and 8-18 with other pitchers starting. The Mets rotation aside from Harvey has posted a 5.59 ERA.

Offense has also been a major issue for the Mets of late. The team has the league’s worst combined production from their 1, 4 and 5 spots in the lineup this year -- a .196 BA and .591 OPS, with the majority of those plate appearances coming from John Buck, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada.

Wright on track
David Wright has been an exception to the Mets’ overall offensive woes this season.

From from 2009 to 2011, Wright struck out in nearly a quarter of his plate appearances (23 percent of PA), and his average fell to .284 in those years accordingly, well below his previous career rate of .309.

But last year, Wright reduced his strikeouts to his previously established rates (15 percent of PA), and his batting average rose back up to .305.

Wright has adopted a much more disciplined approach at the plate - he's not swinging at pitches out of the zone as often. By laying off pitches outside the strikezone, Wright has increased his walk rate to a career-high 17 percent of plate appearances and his OBP has never been higher.

Rookie minicamps start on Friday for three teams that missed the playoffs in 2012: San Diego Chargers, Philadelphia Eagles and New York Jets.

It’ll be the first look at two of the more high-profile quarterbacks from this year’s draft class, Geno Smith and Matt Barkley, but there are other storylines worth keeping an eye on.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
The Chargers are one team that does not have a question at quarterback. Philip Rivers has started every game in San Diego since the start of 2006.

However, Rivers was sacked a franchise-record 49 times in 2012. That’s one reason the Chargers selected OT D.J. Fluker in the first round. It marks the first time the Bolts drafted an offensive lineman in the first round since taking James Fitzpatrick in 1986. From 1987-2012, San Diego was the only team that did not draft an offensive lineman in the first round.

Protecting Rivers isn’t the only reason the Chargers drafted Fluker. In 2012, San Diego was tied with the Detroit Lions for the fewest 20-yard runs. The Chargers also were one of two teams that averaged less than 2.0 yards per rush before contact.

In the second round the Chargers traded up to draft Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o. The 2012 Heisman Trophy runner-up intercepted seven passes in 13 games, the most by a linebacker since 2006.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
The Eagles drafted offensive players with their first two picks (OT Lane Johnson, TE Zach Ertz). In Andy Reid’s 14 seasons with the Eagles, they drafted offensive players with their first two picks only once (2009, Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy).

In 2012, the Eagles used nine different starters on the offensive line, tied for fourth-most in the NFL. That inconsistency on the offensive line is one reason the Eagles allowed the most quarterback pressures (239) last season.

Only one offensive lineman, left guard Evan Mathis, start all 16 games last season for the Eagles.

With Michael Vick a free agent after next season, the Eagles drafted QB Matt Barkley in the fourth round. Barkley was the third QB selected by the Eagles in the first four rounds of the last four drafts (Nick Foles in 2012, Mike Kafka in 2010).

Two areas where Barkley excelled at USC were passing against the blitz and deep passes. Both are areas that Philadelphia’s quarterbacks struggled in last season.

NEW YORK JETS
The Jets have not been stellar at the quarterback position over the last few years. Mark Sanchez has the lowest Total QBR in the NFL since 2009.

In the second round, the Jets drafted Geno Smith out of West Virginia to compete with Sanchez and newcomer David Garrard for the starting QB job. Smith is the fourth QB the Jets have drafted in the second round in the Common Draft Era (since 1967). The first three went a combined 12-29 in starts with the Jets.

At West Virginia, Smith relied on screens (34.2 percent of his passes were at or behind the line of scrimmage in 2012) and shotgun passing (over 96 percent of his passes out of shotgun during his college career). The Jets were one of the league’s worst teams on screen passes last year.

The Jets offense ranked among the bottom five in the league in points, yards and turnovers last season. They’re hoping that Smith can help drastically improve their offense in the future.

The NFL began to look more like the college game last season with mobile quarterbacks, zone-read options and spread passing attacks. With some work, Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel has the tools to continue the evolution.

Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick transformed the game with their speed and versatility, forcing defenses to adapt to a new style of play.

All three of those quarterbacks were also proficient passers. They each possess four qualities necessary to be a successful quarterback in the NFL: overall accuracy, ability to handle the blitz, downfield precision and composure under duress.

Manziel is skilled in all four categories, but he could improve in each next season to boost his draft stock if he decides to declare for the draft.

Overall accuracy
In 2012, Manziel completed 68 percent of his passes, which ranked ninth among FBS teams. He was at his best on short and intermediate passes, completing more than 76 percent of his throws within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage.

One of his greatest strengths was putting the ball in spots that enabled his receivers to run after the catch. Texas A&M ranked sixth among colleges in AQ conferences in yards after the catch, averaging 6.5 yards after the catch per reception.

Ability to handle the blitz
Opponents blitzed Manziel on fewer than 30 percent of his dropbacks last season.

Although Manziel’s completion percentage was significantly lower against the blitz, he exploited blitzing defenses with big plays.

Manziel averaged a play of 20 yards or more once every 6.4 dropbacks when opponents blitzed, compared with once every 8.5 dropbacks when they sent standard pressure.

His biggest plays came when scrambling, with him rushing for 389 yards and seven touchdowns on 32 scrambles against the blitz.

Downfield precision
This is probably the one area Manziel could improve the most. Last season, he completed 38.7 percent of his passes of 20 yards or longer with eight touchdowns and four interceptions.

To put that into perspective, Griffin III, Wilson and Andrew Luck all completed a higher percentage of their passes on throws of this distance in their final year of college.

Manziel can learn from those quarterbacks, who all increased their completion percentages on throws of at least 20 yards downfield in their final college seasons.

Composure under duress
Last season, Manziel completed 51.4 percent of his passes when under duress, about 11 percentage points higher than the FBS average.

He was at his best when forced to improvise. Manziel ran for 857 yards and 10 touchdowns on 86 scramble attempts in 2012. He also threw for 581 yards and eight touchdowns when forced to throw from outside the pocket.

Many question whether this aspect of Manziel’s game will translate to the NFL, given his size and the speed of NFL defenses. At 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, Manziel is small for an NFL quarterback. Of the 49 NFL quarterbacks who attempted at least 30 passes last season, only three were 6-1 or shorter, and only one weighed 200 pounds or less.

In terms of the speed of NFL defenses, Texas A&M faced its share of NFL talent last season; 26 opposing defensive players were taken in the 2013 NFL draft.

Last season against Alabama, the top defense in the nation, Manziel ran for 92 yards. It was the most rushing yards the Crimson Tide had allowed to an opposing quarterback since Nick Saban became Alabama's coach in 2007.

The biggest surprise of the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft may have been the Buffalo Bills trading back and selecting Florida State QB EJ Manuel with the 16th-overall pick.

According to Scouts Inc., Manuel was the sixth-ranked quarterback entering the draft, which begs the question:

What did the Bills see in him?

Bills’ general manager Buddy Nix and head coach Doug Marrone conducted a post-draft interview and defended their pick, pointing to Manuel’s tremendous upside and athleticism.

When asked to size up Manuel’s best attributes, Marrone stated:

“Well I think you could start listing many things. He can throw the football vertically down the field, he has a good arm, he can get himself out of trouble, he can create things with his feet, he has good presence in the huddle, he’s accurate and we are excited to have him.”

Let's break that quote down to show you what Marrone was looking at.

He can throw the football vertically down the field
Manuel improved his completion percentage on passes of 20 yards or longer in his junior and senior seasons. In 2012, Manuel completed 49.2 percent of his passes of 20 yards or longer, the highest completion percentage of any of Scouts Inc.’s top six quarterback prospects.

He can get himself out of trouble
In 2012, Manuel completed 55.8 percent of his passes when under duress, a higher completion percentage than Geno Smith (49.3), Matt Barkley (49.3) and Landry Jones (37.1).

Marrone pointed to Manuel’s ability to keep his eyes downfield when flushed out of the pocket. In the past three seasons, Manuel actually was more accurate when outside the pocket than inside it.

When forced out of the pocket, Manuel completed 60 percent of his passes with five touchdowns and no interceptions.

He can create things with his feet
In addition to passing on the move, Manuel scrambled for first downs when he chose to. In 2012, Manuel scrambled for 199 yards and 10 first downs on 28 scrambles, averaging 7.1 yards per scramble. On third downs, Manuel scrambled for six first downs and averaged 7.7 yards per scramble.

He also rushed for 208 yards on designed running plays, including six rushes for 45 yards on zone-read options. Comparatively, Geno Smith gained 27 yards on designed rushes in 2012.

Good presence in the huddle
There is no statistical measure of leadership, but Marrone pointed to Manuel’s superior record as a starter.

Manuel led the Seminoles to a 25-6 record as a starter, including four straight bowl wins. No other top QB prospect had a better win percentage as a college starter than Manuel.

He’s accurate
Manuel completed more than two-thirds of the passes he threw in his career.

In his last three seasons, 81 percent of his passes were on target (passes that were not overthrown, underthrown or wide of his receiver), comparable numbers to Smith (83.4) and Barkley (80.3).

When Matt Harvey climbs the mound tonight against the Dodgers (7 ET on ESPN), he'll attempt to become the third pitcher in Mets history to go 5-0 or better in the month of April.

The company he'll attempt to join has four Cy Young awards and more than 5,400 career strikeouts between them: Dwight Gooden, who did it in 1988, and Pedro Martinez (2006).

It starts with the fastball...
Harvey is averaging almost 95 MPH on his fastball this season, second in the majors among qualified starters.

Incredibly, the top three in that category all play in the NL East and all three are under 25 years old: Harvey, Stephen Strasburg and Jose Fernandez.

The fastball has been Harvey's strikeout pitch. He's racked up 19 strikeouts from the fastball alone this season, second in the majors to only Shelby Miller.

And Harvey has shown the ability to ramp up the velocity as the situations get tougher.

With the bases empty, his average fastball velocity is 94.6 MPH. With runners in scoring positions and two outs, he's bumped that average velocity to 95.5 MPH.

In his last start, Friday against Strasburg, Harvey had some of his best heat. His average fastball sat at 97.2 MPH.


...and sets up the changeup...
That fastball really sets up the changeup, which averages 86.3 MPH, a difference of more than eight MPH from his average fastball.

Only seven starters have a bigger difference between their average fastball and changeup.

...to go with a hard slider
And his slider is nearly as devastating.

Harvey's slider averages 88.8 MPH this season, the fastest average slider among all starters. Harvey's slider has been thrown harder than James Shields' or Madison Bumgarner's slider.

Batters are just 1-19 in at-bats ending against Harvey's slider this season, striking out on it an astonishing 41 percent of the time.

It's the highest strikeout rate of any of his pitches, with the fastball second and the changeup third.

Key matchups against the Dodgers
Carl Crawford is hitting .385 (5-13) with a .923 OPS against changeups this season.

Crawford is having early success this season by laying off pitches outside the strike zone. His chase rate is down to 20 percent this season after hovering in the mid-30s in each of the last four seasons.

Likewise, Matt Kemp is hitting .375 (3-8) with an .875 OPS against changeups this season, his best numbers against any pitch. Overall, Kemp is batting .247 with an OPS of .594 this April.

That's a steep decline from last April when he batted .417 with a 1.383 OPS.

Eddie Lacy
Lacy was the beneficiary of one of the top offensive lines in football. Lacy gained 65 percent of his yards before initial contact and averaged 4.2 yards before contact per rush. He made it at least five yards past the line of scrimmage without being touched on 35.8 percent of his rushes.

Lacy runs downhill with 64.7 percent of his rushes coming between the tackles. Lacy averaged 7.6 yards per carry on such running plays with about one in every four attempts going for at least 10 yards.

In comparison to former Alabama running back Trent Richardson, Lacy averaged 2.5 more yards per rush inside the tackles in his final college season.

Montee Ball
Ball was undoubtedly the most productive back in FBS over the last two seasons. Ball led FBS in rushing yards, rushing touchdowns and rushes of 15 yards or longer since the start of the 2011 season.

Ball gained 36.1 percent of his FBS-leading 3,750 yards on rushes outside of the tackles over the last two seasons. Ball averaged 7.1 yards per carry on such running plays with at about one in every four gaining at least 10 yards.

Andre Ellington
Ellington gained over 40 percent of his yards after contact in 2012 but struggled to gain tough yards against top competition. Ellington averaged twice as many yards after contact per rush against teams that did not finish the season ranked in the top 50 in total defense than he did against the five top-50 defenses that he faced.

Le’Veon Bell
Bell gained over half of his yards after contact and led BCS-AQ running backs with 921 yards after contact.

Marcus Lattimore
Lattimore gained 41 percent of his yards after contact in his career. Against SEC opponents, Lattimore was even better, gaining 43 percent of his yards after contact and averaging 2.0 yards after contact per rush.

Lattimore ran between the tackles on 78.9 percent of his career carries. He averaged at least 4.5 yards per carry inside the tackles in every season of his career. Lattimore was at his best in the fourth quarter, averaging 5.5 yards per run inside the tackles with 54.2 percent of his yards coming after contact.

San Diego Padres slugger Carlos Quentin rushed the mound and wrestled Los Angeles Dodgers right-hander Zack Greinke to the ground after getting hit by a pitch Thursday night. A bench-clearing brawl ensued, but in the melee Greinke suffered a fractured collarbone.

This wasn’t the first time Greinke and Quentin have had a run-in.

July 18, 2008: With two on in the bottom of the first, Greinke hit Quentin to load the bases, and the Chicago White Sox went on to score five runs that inning. Quentin then led off the second inning and homered to left field.

April 8, 2009: In their first meeting the next year, Quentin struck out in the bottom of the first, in an at-bat that included a high-and-tight pitch. Greinke then hit Quentin between the shoulders in the fourth inning. Quentin took a step toward the mound before plate umpire Bill Hohn jumped in front of him. Greinke said afterward, "The first at-bat kind of scared me because you never want to do that to anyone. It happens. You hit guys sometimes."

April 9, 2013: In the first game of this series, Dodgers reliever Ronald Belisario hit Quentin with a high and tight fastball, right in the right wrist. Quentin had to leave that game and missed the next one recovering from the bruise.

Greinke is the fourth pitcher to hit Quentin three or more times, and in total 18 pitchers have hit Quentin at least twice in his career.

In fact, getting hit is nothing new for Quentin who led MLB in hit-by-pitch in both 2011 (23, in 118 games) and 2012 (17, in 86 games).

While losing Quentin’s pop at the plate is a big deal for the Padres, the loss of Greinke to the Dodgers’ rotation could have a bigger impact. Greinke signed the fourth-largest total value contract by a pitcher this offseason.

Plus he’s been durable and effective on the mound.

Greinke is one of six pitchers who threw 170+ innings and struck out 170+ batters each year from 2008 to 2012 (CC Sabathia, Tim Lincecum, Cliff Lee, Felix Hernandez, Matt Cain). His FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), which considers a pitcher's three true outcomes of HR, K and BB) is the third-best in MLB since 2009.

So who will replace Greinke? Here are a few options from the Dodgers 40-man roster.

LHP Ted Lilly: 53 starts for Dodgers since 2010. He threw 90 pitches in Triple-A rehab start on Thursday.

LHP Chris Capuano: 33 starts for Dodgers last season. He replaced Greinke on Thursday.

RHP Stephen Fife: five starts for the Dodgers last season. He started for Triple-A Albuquerque on Wednesday.

It's rare that we get to see an elite point guard matchup in the Final Four like we'll see when Michigan's Trey Burke and Syracuse's Michael Carter-Williams meet on Saturday.

This will be just the second time since assists became an official stat in 1983-84 that two players who averaged at least 12 points and six assists per game for the season will meet in the Final Four.

The other meeting was North Carolina's Raymond Felton against Illinois' Deron Williams in the 2005 National Championship.

Offense

Carter-Williams ranks third in the country in assists per game this season, while Burke is 12th. Both account for about 40 percent of their teammates’ field goals while they’re on the court.

Although Carter-Williams averages more assists, Burke has the edge in most other offensive categories. Burke averages more points per game, shoots a higher field-goal and 3-point percentage and turns the ball over less often.

Burke also has the higher offensive rating (an estimate of points produced per 100 possessions) this season. Burke produces about 124 points per 100 possessions, while Carter-Williams produces 106.

Pick-and-Roll

Burke excels in the pick-and-roll. He averages more than one point per play on pick-and-roll plays including passes. More than a third (237 of 696) of his points are from pick-and-roll plays and he's shooting 44 percent on those plays.

Plus, Burke has created 251 points for teammates on pick-and-roll plays. Fifty-five percent of his pick-and-roll passes go to spot-up shooters (his teammates shoot 43 percent on those attempts), 35 percent go to players rolling to the basket, and 10 percent go to cutters.

What's more, Burke's teammates are shooting 49 percent and averaging 1.1 points per play when he passes them the ball on pick-and-roll plays.

Contrary to Burke, only 15 percent of Carter-Williams' points (70 of 472) come from pick-and-roll plays. Carter-Williams averages just 0.6 points per play when he creates plays for himself on pick-and-rolls, and he shoots 37 percent on those plays.

Defense

Carter-Williams has the edge defensively. He averages nearly three steals per game and has a better defensive rating. He also allows just 87 points per 100 possessions, the second-best defensive rating among Power 6 point guards (only Oklahoma State's Marcus Smart is better).

Burke and Carter-Williams are both solid on-ball defenders. Burke holds opponents to 36 percent shooting and 0.75 points per play in on the ball situations, while Carter-Williams holds opponents to 32 percent shooting and 0.79 points per play.

So who is the more valuable point guard overall? For that we turn to win shares and player efficiency rating. Win shares are an estimate of the number of wins contributed by a player due to his offense and defense. Player efficiency rating is the overall rating of a player's per-minute statistical production.

The answer is Burke. He has the edge in win shares and player efficiency rating this season.

Now that the Miami Heat win streak is over ...

The Pittsburgh Penguins will try and extend their win streak on Thursday to 14 games when they host the Winnipeg Jets, a team the Penguins have beaten 11 straight times at home.

During the Penguins’ 13-game win streak, 52 percent of their goals have come in areas directly around the net or in the slot. Before the streak, the Penguins had more success scoring from the edges of the offensive zone -- more than 60 percent of their goals came from around the faceoff circles or point.

Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 19-4 in the third period during its win streak, the highest differential in the NHL the month of March. (In the first two periods combined they have outscored their opponents by just three goals.) In their first 21 games the Penguins outscored their opponents by six goals in the third period.

Sidney Crosby has led the charge for the Penguins, notching 23 points during the win streak. He’s the only Penguin with at least 20 points during the streak, and his 17 assists are the most in the NHL in the month of March.

The 13-game win streak is the longest of Crosby’s career and is now tied for the fifth longest single-season streak in NHL history. (The 1992-93 Penguins own the NHL single-season mark with 17 straight wins.)

Eight teams in NHL history have had a single-season win streak of at least 13 games, but only the 1981-82 New York Islanders (who won 15 in a row) went on to win the Stanley Cup that season.

Five stats to know about Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez.

He can hit
Perez has played a little less than three-quarters of a season (115 total games) in the last two years, and his numbers rate very well.

His .310 batting average and .471 slugging percentage are a near-match for what Yadier Molina has done in the same span (albeit in more than twice as many at-bats).

He can hit anything
Perez is one of the game’s best contact hitters. Last season, he put 55 percent of his swings in play, the fifth-highest rate among players with at least 250 plate appearances.

He was able to do this because he was very adept at hitting pitches outside the strike zone. Perez put half of his swings against those pitches into play, the highest rate in the majors.

All right vs lefties
Perez’s contact numbers are even better against left-handed pitchers. In two seasons, he’s hitting .393 with as many home runs as strikeouts (6) in 112 at-bats against lefties.

In the first 200 swings Perez has taken against left-handed pitching, he’s missed only 10 times. That 5 percent miss rate is bettered over the last two seasons by only Jeff Keppinger.

A good glove
Perez has brought value on the defensive end. Last season, he finished with nine Defensive Runs Saved. Perez threw out 15 of 40 runners attempting to steal, the best rate among any American Leaguer who caught at least 50 games. His five pickoffs were the most of any catcher in baseball.

Lots of value
In his 115 games, Perez has been worth 4.2 Wins Above Replacement. The five other players who have caught games for the Royals in that two-year span have combined for 0.4 Wins Above Replacement.

Perez’s 4.2 WAR is tied for 11th-best among catchers. It’s the same total as Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, but in half as many games.