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The Tampa Bay Rays inched closer to the top of the AL East standings with a dramatic 5-4, extra-inning walk-off win against the Toronto Blue Jays. The Rays victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss earlier means Tampa Bay is just a game back in the division after Wednesday’s games.

This was the Rays’ fourth walk-off win of the season, which is the most among AL teams. B.J. Upton delivered the game-winning hit with an RBI double in the bottom of the 11th inning.

It was his fifth career walk-off hit, and four of those have now come against the Blue Jays. The only other Rays player with a walk-off double in the 11th inning or later was Greg Vaughn against the A’s in 2002.

James Shields held Toronto to three runs in seven innings while striking out 10 batters for his second 10-strikeout game this season.

He was effective getting the Blue Jays to chase his pitches, recording 26 swings on 50 pitches out of the strike zone (52 percent), his highest chase rate since 2009.

All 10 of his strikeouts were swinging, and nine came in at-bats ending in a changeup, his most with that pitch over the last four seasons. The Blue Jays went 1-for-13 in at-bats ending in Shields’ changeup and missed on more than half of their swings at the pitch.

The Blue Jays probably wish they didn’t have to play the Rays 10 more times this season. Toronto is now 2-6 versus Tampa Bay and 22-15 versus all other teams this season.

Elsewhere Around The Majors
•  The offensive struggles continued for both the Oakland A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates this season. The two teams have been held to one run or fewer in 14 games, the most among all teams.

The last time the A’s had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 45 games was 1979 (18), and the last time the Pirates had 14 games of one run or fewer in their first 44 games was 1918 (14).

• Jonathon Niese helped the New York Mets beat the Pirates, 3-1, allowing one run in 7⅔ innings. Niese threw 29 pitches on the inner-third of the plate, netting 11 outs and allowing just one hit in at-bats ending with a pitch in that location.

• Alex Liddi hit his first career grand slam in the Seattle Mariners’ 5-3 win over the Texas Rangers. It was the first grand slam at home by a Mariners player since July 2010. Liddi is the second Italian-born player to hit a grand slam, joining Reno Bertoia, who had one in 1958.

• The Milwaukee Brewers scored six runs in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants and held on for an 8-5 win. The six runs are the most in the first inning for any NL team this season and the most first-inning runs for the Brewers since a 10-run frame on April 18, 2010.

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.

Two of this season’s most surprising starters face each other on Friday in Los Angeles, as the St. Louis Cardinals' Lance Lynn (6-1, 1.81) meets the Los Angeles Dodgers' Ted Lilly (5-0, 2.11).

Both Lynn and Lilly are getting great results on their fastballs, and Lynn’s fastball is generating a lot of swings and misses in the zone (see chart).

Opponents are hitting a major-league low .150 against Lynn’s fastball, and .162 against Lilly’s heater.

As good as Lilly's fastball has been, his changeup has been even better. Opponents are 1-for-27 (.037) on at-bats ending in Lilly’s changeup.

If Lilly earns the win, he will be the first Dodgers starter to begin the season 6-0 since Kaz Ishii in 2002. Before that it was Orel Hershiser in 1988.

Verlander Feasts on National League Teams
It's no surprise that Justin Verlander has the highest miss percent this season on fastball in the strike zone at 26 percent. That's one reason he's dominated in Interleague play, which starts on Friday.

Verlander, who will face the Pittsburgh Pirates, is 15-2 with a 2.94 ERA in 20 interleague starts. That’s the best win percentage in interleague play among pitchers with at least eight decisions.

Time to Panic About Albert Pujols Adrian Gonzalez?
So Albert Pujols has gone deep in back-to-back games. With three on the season, Pujols has one more than the Boston Red Sox' Adrian Gonzalez.

Gonzalez last homered on April 17. That’s 106 at-bats without a home run. In that span, 280 players have gone deep at least once.

Typically, Gonzalez' power stroke is going the other way. Last year, 12 of his 27 home runs were hit to the opposite field. In 2012, he doesn’t have one.

One reason for that is Gonzalez isn’t hitting outside pitches for power. Last year he hit .310 with a .518 slug percentage on outside pitches. This season? His average is .163 and slug percentage is .204.

In his first start against the Pittsburgh Pirates since striking out 14 in his MLB debut, falling one shy of the MLB record for strikeouts in a debut, Stephen Strasburg fanned 13 in just 6 innings Thursday night.

Strasburg deftly mixed up his fastball and off-speed pitches against Pittsburgh, registering seven strikeouts with a fastball and holding Pirates hitters to one hit with six strikeouts in eight at-bats ending with off-speed pitches.

He also kept the ball away, with 52.4 percent of his pitches (54 of 103) over the outer part of the plate. The Pirates were hitless with five strikeouts in six at-bats ending with pitches away.

And while Strasburg fell one punch-out short of his career high, he did set a personal record with 20 pitches resulting in swings-and-misses.

Strasburg’s start Thursday was the 24th of his career, making him the fifth pitcher to strike out 13 or more hitters twice his first 25 career games in the divisional era and first since Kerry Wood in 1998.

Thursday was the fourth time in Strasburg’s career he struck out at least 10 batters in a game, the most such games by a Nationals pitcher since the franchise moved to Washington in 2005. He also became the first pitcher in the history of the Nationals or Expos to register 13 strikeouts in six of fewer innings.

Elsewhere in the majors Thursday:

• Josh Hamilton homered in his second game since tying an MLB record with 4 HR on Tuesday. Hamilton, who became the first player with 6 HR in a series since Hee Seop Choi in 2005 according to Elias, now has more HR since Monday than Jose Bautista, Alex Rodriguez, Joey Votto and Albert Pujols have all season.

• Josh Beckett allowed 7 runs in just 2⅓ innings as the Boston Red Sox lost to the Cleveland Indians. It was Beckett’s first start since 2008 in which he allowed at least 7 runs in fewer than 3 innings. Boston’s six straight losses at Fenway Park matches its longest home losing streak since losing 12 home games in a row in 1994.

• Elias tells us the Baltimore Orioles became the first AL team to open a game with back-to-back-to-back HR when Ryan Flaherty, J.J. Hardy and Nick Markakis homered to start the bottom of the first inning. All five of the Orioles hits were HR Thursday, making Baltimore just the third team to have five or more hits with all hits being homers in the live-ball era (since 1920).

Roy Halladay allowed eight earned runs and 12 hits in six or fewer innings for just the fourth time in 358 career starts, but the history books were rewritten hours after he left the game.

Since the Philadelphia Phillies rallied to force extra innings, Halladay remained 69-0 in his career when staked to a six-run lead. Wednesday was only the second time that he blew a six-run lead. On April 25, 2002, he blew a 6-0 lead for the Toronto Blue Jays before earning a no-decision in a loss to the Texas Rangers.

The game ended in the bottom of the 11th when Chipper Jones hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Atlanta Braves a 15-13 victory. It was the eighth walk-off homer of his career and first since 2006.

Jones joined Jason Giambi, who hit a walk-off home run earlier in the afternoon for the Colorado Rockies. With that combination, Elias cracked open the record books to discover a pair of firsts and close-but-not-quite scoring fact.

It was the first time in major-league history that two players who had already hit 400 home runs hit walk-off home runs on the same day.

With Chipper turning 40 last week, today was also the first time that a pair of 40-year-olds hit walk-off homers on the same day. The last time that two 40-year-old players hit walk-off home runs in the same season was 1986, when Hal McRae and Davey Lopes pulled it off.

With the teams combining for 28 runs, it tied the second-highest scoring game to end with a walk-off home run in major-league history. In 1925, Ty Cobb did the honors as the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 16-15.

It was the first time that both teams in a Phillies-Braves game scored at least 13 runs since the Braves moved to Atlanta … or even Milwaukee. On July 6, 1934, the Boston Braves beat the Phillies 16-13.

Around the Diamond
• Carlos Ruiz entered the game with 10 RBI on the season, before driving in a career-high seven runs in the losing effort for the Phillies.

• Ruiz wasn’t the only player to drive in a career-high seven runs on Wednesday. Carlos Beltran hit two home runs and drove in seven runs – in the first three innings – as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.

• In that game, A.J. Burnett became the first starting pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to allow 12 or more earned runs while recording less than nine outs. Before Vin Mazzaro did so out of the bullpen for the Oakland Athletics last year, no pitcher had fared so badly since 1948.

Amidst the NFL Draft craziness, the baseball season continues tonight, with the top two finishers in last year's AL Cy Young voting on the mound, looking to continue their hot streaks.

In New York, a Yankee tries to match Roger Clemens’ team record. Plus the Pirates are the first team to accomplish something, and it’s not entirely bad.

Jered Weaver Owns April
The Cy Young runner-up a season ago, Jered Weaver faces the Indians tonight, looking to continue his strong early-season pitching.

Weaver is 13-0 in his last 17 starts in March and April, the longest streak of undefeated starts in March and April since Brad Penny went 17 straight from 2004 to 2008 (thanks, Elias).

The last guy to go undefeated in 18 such starts was Pedro Martinez. The last pitcher to win 14 consecutive decisions in March and April was the always-menacing Dave Stewart, who won 20 straight decisions from 1987 to 1991.

Weaver’s career ERA of 2.66 in March and April is the third-lowest among active pitchers, trailing Mariano Rivera and Zack Greinke.

Pitching Duel in the Bronx
The man who topped Weaver in the 2011 Cy Young voting was Justin Verlander, who is 21-3 with a 1.98 ERA since last June 1.

Verlander’s counterpart on the mound tonight is Ivan Nova, who is 15-1 with a 3.31 ERA in that time span. Nova has won his last 15 decisions, which Elias says is the longest for any pitcher entering a start against a defending Cy Young winner

A win tonight would tie Nova with Roger Clemens for most consecutive decisions won in Yankees history, but he'll need help from an offense that has struggled against Verlander.

Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher all have career averages below .170 against Verlander.

The exception in the Yankees lineup is Derek Jeter, who is 12-33 (.364) in his career against Verlander.

Dead Ball Era in Pittsburgh?
In the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates are in the midst of a quirky and remarkable run.

Neither team has scored more than five runs in any of Pittsburgh’s first 18 games, the longest streak to start a season in MLB history.

The Pirates are still 13 games away from matching the longest season-opening streak without scoring five runs, which was 31 games by the 1972 Milwaukee Brewers.

Thirty-one games is also the longest season-opening streak of allowing five or fewer runs, accomplished previously by the 1972 Twins. The last team to start with 18 such games was the Athletics in 1981. Pittsburgh looks to best that mark tonight in Atlanta.

Paul Carr contributed to this post.

It’s a remodeled Andrew McCutchen who is poised to sign a six-year, $51.5 million contract extension with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The new deal – the biggest put together by the Pirates since catcher Jason Kendall’s six-year, $60 million contract signed in 2000 – brings McCutchen into line with outfielders Justin Upton and Jay Bruce, fellow members of the 2005 draft class. Upton was the No. 1 overall pick, McCutchen the 11th and Bruce the 12th.

Upton got a six-year, $51.25 million contract in March 2010 and in the offseason after the 2010 season Bruce signed a six-year, $51 million deal.

McCutchen’s extension also comes in the wake of what seemed to be a conscious decision in 2011 to sacrifice contact for increased power. It resulted in an increase in his strikeout numbers, an increase in his walk rate and an increase in the rate at which he swung and missed. It also came with a definite increase in his power – 23 home runs in 2011 after hitting 16 in 2010.

The Pirates have tied up McCutchen through his remaining arbitration years and at least two years of free agency. There’s a club option in place for 2018 that would pay him $14.75 million.

So what do the Pirates get for their money? Maybe more than fans outside of Pittsburgh realize. According to the Wins Above Replacement data supplied by Fangraphs, McCutchen’s 5.7 WAR rating was fifth among National League outfielders in 2011 behind Matt Kemp (8.7), Ryan Braun (7.8), Justin Upton (6.4) and Shane Victorino (5.9).

And in terms of the Pirates, McCutchen’s 5.7 was the franchise’s third best in the past 10 years after Brian Giles’ 7.1 in 2002 and Jason Bay’s 6.1 in 2005.

McCutchen’s adjustments weren ‘t limited to the plate in 2011. He began to position himself deeper as the Pirates center fielder and the results were striking. Pittsburgh gave up doubles and triples on 14 percent of the balls hit to center, left-center and right-center in 2010. A deeper McCutchen in 2011 cut that percentage to 10 percent and helped him improve his runs-saved rating from minus-8 in 2010 to plus-5 in 2011.

A.J. Burnett is on the verge of going from the franchise with one of the best marks in baseball over the last two decades to the one with one of the worst.

The New York Yankees have had 19 straight winning seasons, including three with Burnett. The Pittsburgh Pirates have had 19 straight losing seasons. Their last winning season came in 1992, when now-retired pitcher Tim Wakefield was a rookie.

Burnett’s career with the New York Yankees ends with the following distinctions:

• Among those who pitched at least 500 innings with the Yankees, Burnett has the second-highest career ERA (4.79), the second-highest HR per 9 rate (1.25), the second-most wild pitches (58) and the fifth-worst opponents OPS (.783).

• Burnett’s fastball velocity declined from an average of 94.1 miles-per-hour in 2009 (his first season with the Yankees) to 92.6 in 2011.
• In 2009, about one in every five Burnett pitches registered 95-miles-per-hour or faster on Pitch F/X’s radar-gun readings. In 2011, that rate was one in every 250 pitches.

When Burnett did throw a fastball over 95-miles-per-hour, he only got misses on about one of every eight swings, a miss rate that rated third-worst in the majors over the last three seasons (among 77 pitchers who met the criteria of at least 500 such pitches).

Burnett did strike out 8.2 batters per 9 innings last year, which ranked 10th among American League pitchers who qualified for the ERA title (ie: minimum 162 innings pitched).

Burnett also led the majors in strikeouts with his curveball with 123.

Burnett’s new team, the Pirates, had the worst strikeout rate in the majors last season (5.6 per 9 innings). The Pirates also got the second-fewest innings from starting pitchers in the majors last season- 923 1/3.

Burnett is one of eight AL pitchers who threw at least 185 innings in each of the last four seasons.

Last season, Burnett gave up 177 fly balls, of which 29 went for home runs (two of his homers came on balls deemed to be line drives).

Burnett’s rate of allowing a home run on 17 percent of his fly balls (about one of every six) was the highest in the majors among those who qualified for the ERA title.

Only three other pitchers—Jake Arrieta, Bronson Arroyo, and Chris Volstad, had a rate of 15 percent or higher.

Yankee Stadium rated among the most homer-friendly ballparks in baseball, but Burnett actually had a lower home runs per fly ball rate at home (16.0%) compared to on the road (19.0%) last season.

Burnett finished last season with a 5.15 ERA. Burnett’s xFIP (a stat that attempts to estimate a pitcher’s ERA based on strikeouts, walks, and fly balls allowed) was 3.86.

The gap of 1.29 between Burnett’s ERA and xFIP (which stands for expected Fielding Independent Pitching) was the fourth-largest in the majors.

Burnett is going from a home ballpark in Yankee Stadium that statistically rates as the second-friendliest for home run hitters in the majors over the last three seasons to one that rates considerably less homer-friendly.

There have been 388 home runs hit at PNC Park since 2009, compared to 441 in Pirates road games. PNC Park’s three-year Park Factor of 87 rates tied for ninth-lowest in the majors.

Scott Beaman also contributed to this post

Luke Scott: Signs one-year deal with Tampa Bay Rays
The player that the Rays hope they signed is the Scott of 2010, the one who prior to shoulder surgery in 2011, was one of the best power hitters in baseball against right-handed pitching.

That season, Scott was a fastball masher. His batting average (.372) and OPS (1.130) against fastballs, cutters, and sinkers from right-handers were each sixth-best in baseball, alongside the likes of Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto.

He was arguably the best hitter in baseball against hard stuff from righties in the lower-third of the strike zone and below.

He netted 41 hits and made only 37 outs when he made contact against such pitches. That included 11 doubles and five home runs. His miss rate of only 13 percent was three percentage points below the league average.

Scott’s numbers against right-handed pitching in 2010 represent a significant upgrade from those that the man he’s replacing at designated hitter, Johnny Damon, put up against right-handers last season (see chart on right).

-- Mark Simon

Paul Maholm: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
The 29 year-old Maholm, who rebounded from a dismal 5.10 ERA in 2010 to record a career-best 3.66 ERA in 2011, faces a stiff challenge in trying to repeat that breakout performance in Chicago.

Maholm is a worm-burning specialist, posting a ground-ball rate of over 50 percent in each of the last three seasons. Last season, he was most successful at getting outs on grounders up the middle.

That trend was hardly surprising given the defensive strengths of his two primary middle infielders, Ronny Cedeno and Neil Walker.

Cedeno ranked as the third-best shortstop turning batted balls into outs last season with a Plus-Minus rating of +15 overall. He was at his best on balls hit to his left, where he converted nine more balls into outs than the average shortstop.

Walker was below average overall in making outs, but most of his problems were in getting to balls hit to the first base/second base hole (-18). When going after balls hit up the middle, he converted an incredible 24 more of them into outs than the average second baseman.

Maholm now joins a Cubs team that is expected to have Starlin Castro at shortstop and Darwin Barney at second base in 2012. Castro was one of the worst defensive shortstops in the league and his biggest shortcoming was on balls hit up the middle, where he turned eight fewer balls into outs.

Barney ranked in the middle-of-the-pack defensively but his only strength was in getting to balls hit to the first base hole (+4). When going to his right on balls up the middle, Barney was below average, making two fewer plays than the average second baseman.

-- Katie Sharp

Kerry Wood: Signs one-year deal with Chicago Cubs
Wood got hit a bit harder in 2011 than he did in 2010 and much of the damage was done against pitches over the middle-third of the plate, height-wise.

Of the 16 extra-base hits Wood allowed last season, 13 of them came on pitches to that area. He only allowed three extra-base hits on pitches to that area in 2010.

Yet there is optimism for the Cubs with this deal as Wood showed considerable improvement in one critical area – limiting walks.

He cut his walks per nine innings nearly in half and much of the decline came against lefties. After walking nearly one-quarter of the lefties he faced in 2010, Wood walked only one out of every 10 opposite-handed batters in 2011.

Wood made the biggest jump in his ability to throw strikes against lefties when the count was full. In 2010, fewer than two-thirds of the 28 pitches he threw on a 3-2 count were strikes; in 2011, he threw 27 of his 29 3-2 pitches for strikes.

Because of that, he walked just two of the 19 lefties that reached full counts last season, after allowing more than half (10 of 19) to take a base in 2010.

-- Mark Simon and Katie Sharp

Stats & Information reviews the week in MLB moves each Sunday

Pirates trade for 3B Casey McGehee
The Pittsburgh Pirates will try to help McGehee return to the quality of production he achieved in 2009 and 2010 after a disastrous 2011.

McGehee’s struggles last season were largely due to issues hitting offspeed pitches (curveballs, sliders, and changeups).

In 2009 and 2010, McGehee hit .285 against offspeed pitches, with 16 home runs.

McGehee had 199 at-bats end in offspeed pitches in 2011. In simplest terms, McGehee went from ranking among the top 10 percent of hitters against offspeed pitches to the bottom 10 percent (the heat maps at the top of this piece show the difference).

If he had matched the level of production he averaged in 2009 and 2010, pro-rated to 199 at-bats, his end-of-season line would have looked completely different.

It would have included 26 more hits and four more home runs, giving him an end-of-season batting average of .271 (instead of .223) with 17 home runs (instead of 13).

That sort of line would be a major statistical offensive improvement for the Pirates at third base in 2012. Over the last five seasons, their third basemen have hit .241 and averaged 13 home runs per season, both fourth-worst in the majors in that span.
-- Mark Simon

Rockies sign Michael Cuddyer
Should the Colorado Rockies elect to play Cuddyer regularly in the outfield, they’ll have to deal with some of his statistical shortcomings.

There are two components to the metric Defensive Runs Saved. One of them, Plus-Minus rating, deals with the ability to turn batted balls into outs.

Over the last six seasons, Cuddyer’s inability to turn batted balls into outs when he played right field, cost the Twins 58 runs, the most for any right fielder.

Much of that was due to difficulties getting to balls in the deepest parts of right field, where by Baseball Info Solutions measure, he rated 94 bases worse than the average player at the position.

The spacious outfield of Coors Field could make that position particularly challenging for Cuddyer. The Rockies yielded 70 doubles and triples to right field/right-center field last season, the most of any National League team.

Though Carlos Gonzalez is considered by many in baseball to be a good defensive outfielder, it should be noted that the Rockies outfield play was a statistical weakness last season.

They were the only team in the National League whose defensive performance at all three outfield positions cost the team runs.

Cuddyer can make up for those deficiencies in one regard. The other component of Runs Saved measures the deterrent value of one’s throwing arm. Since 2006, Cuddyer’s arm has saved his team 33 runs, third-most of any right fielder in the majors in that span.
-- Mark Simon

Phillies sign Dontrelle Willis
Though Willis has made just three career relief appearances, his platoon splits over more than 200 starts show that he has the potential to be an effective lefty specialist out of the bullpen for the Philadelphia Phillies next season.

Willis’ career .562 OPS allowed vs lefties ranks third among active pitchers behind only Mariano Rivera and C.J. Wilson (min. 800 PA).

Despite finishing the season with a 5.00 ERA, Willis had one of his most impressive seasons against lefties in 2011, holding them to a .127 average with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 20-to-2.

His success against same-sided batters was largely the result of a slider that he was able to consistently locate low-and-away from lefties. The heat map below shows where he located his slider most often to lefties.

Hitters missed on over 50 percent of their swings against his slider, including more than three-quarters of the time when the pitch was thrown out of the strike zone.

Willis fits in this role for the Phillies because the other lefty on their current staff, Antonio Bastardo has platoon splits (.623 OPS vs right-handed hitters, .653 vs lefties) that are more evenly balanced than Willis’.

Willis’ platoon splits don’t make him well-suited for facing righties. His career 227-point difference between his opponents OPS against lefties and righties (.562 vs .789) is the biggest among active pitchers.
-- Katie Sharp

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

Rangers sign Joe Nathan: 2 years, $14.5 million
The Texas Rangers must have liked what they saw from Joe Nathan's last three months with the Minnesota Twins in 2011.

The key to Nathan's improved performance after coming off the disabled list in late June (he missed a month with a muscle strain) was a much more effective slider.

In his first 17 appearances back from Tommy John Surgery, Nathan's slider was flat, averaging 1.5 inches of vertical break. Hitters weren't fooled, going 4-for-20 while missing on only one of every four swings.

After a month on the disabled list, Nathan returned with a slider that was nearly unhittable.

Batters managed just two hits in 35 at-bats (.057) and whiffed on almost half of their swings in his final 31 appearances.

The vertical break on his slider nearly doubled to 2.8 inches during this stretch, and of the 18 sliders put in play, not a single one was classified as "well hit" by video scouts at Inside Edge.

Nathan has a good history against the Rangers current AL West opponents, converting 43 of 48 save chances for his career against the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Angels, and Oakland Athletics.

In 83 innings against those three teams, he’s allowed just 10 earned runs, and his WHIP against each is 0.85 or lower.
--Katie Sharp and Michael Bonzagni

Pirates sign Clint Barmes: 2 years, $10.5 million
Amazingly, this deal was the Pirates first free-agent signing to a contract with a total value of at least $10 million since inking third baseman Steve Buechele for four years and $11 million in the 1991-92 offseason.

What did the Pirates get for their investment in Barmes?

Barmes had 12 Defensive Runs Saved last season, four more than Ronny Cedeno had in nearly the same number of innings.

The major difference in their performance was in Barmes’ success rate at turning double plays.

Barmes converted double plays at a 66 percent rate. Cedeno converted 59 percent.

Offensively, Barmes had a .141 isolated power last year, seventh-best among shortstops (min. 400 PA). All 12 of his homers went over the left-field fence last season and 40 of 43 have since 2009.

He'll be challenged to retain that home-run power as a Pirate. Minute Maid Park in Houston boosted homer production by seven percent for right-handed batters in 2011.

PNC Park deflated right-handed batters' home runs by 16 percent over the last three seasons, according to ballpark factors from Baseball Info Solutions.
--Katie Sharp

Marlins trade Josh Baker to Padres for Wade LeBlanc
The Florida Marlins attempt at adding depth to their starting rotation netted them a pitcher with previous big-ballpark success.

LeBlanc succeeded in PETCO Park, where he had a 2.97 career ERA, but had a 6.16 ERA in his road appearances since debuting in 2008.

The 3.19 difference between road and home is the largest for any pitcher who pitched at least 100 innings in the last four seasons, and is largely due to LeBlanc’s rate of home runs allowed (one every 5.4 innings on road, every 8.7 innings at home).

Leblanc, a lefty, has two issues that the Marlins staff will look to fix. One is a cutter that got 48 outs and allowed only 14 hits against right-handed hitters, but got just 10 outs and yielded 11 hits to lefties.

The other is that his stuff is simply too hittable. Left-handed hitters were 29-for-61 when making contact against LeBlanc last season. Of the 60 balls that lefties hit that stayed in the ballpark, nearly half (28 of them) were classified as line drives.

LeBlanc’s 47 percent line drive rate versus lefties last season was the worst in the majors.
-- Mark Simon

The Hot Stove heated up this week with our first major free-agent signing of the winter, when the Phillies agreed to a four-year, $50 million deal with Jonathan Papelbon (pending a physical). We covered that signing in detail on Friday.

Here's a closer look at some other notable transactions from the past week, including a potentially significant trade and a few under-the-radar signings.

Jonathan Sanchez Traded by Giants to Royals for Melky Cabrera
This was a classic trade where both teams dealt from a strength while looking to improve a weakness. The San Francisco Giants last year had the second-best ERA and the fourth-worst OPS in the majors, while the Kansas City Royals had the fourth-worst ERA and seventh-best OPS.

In Sanchez, the Royals receive a hard-throwing left-hander who has the third-highest strikeout rate since 2008 (minimum, 500 innings pitched). He also struggles with his command, never averaging fewer than four walks per nine innings in a season, including last year’s league-high rate of 5.9.

One concern for the Royals is Sanchez’s diminishing strikeout rate and fastball velocity over the past three seasons. Last year, when Sanchez missed more than a month with a biceps injury, his fastball averaged below 90 mph for the first time in his career.

Sanchez should help a Royals rotation that struck out just 621 batters, fifth-fewest in the majors last year. But he’ll need to improve his efficiency if he is going to make an impact on a Royals rotation that ranked 24th in innings pitched. His average of 5.3 innings per start was second-worst in the majors (minimum, 100 innings).

The Giants hope that Cabrera, who had a breakout season with 18 homers and a .305 batting average in 2011, can help improve an offense that scored the second-fewest runs in the majors last year.

Cabrera's career-best numbers were partly fueled by a .332 BABIP that was well above his career mark of .299. Cabrera also posted the lowest walk rate (5.0 percent) and highest strikeout rate (13.3 percent) of his career.

Pirates Sign Rod Barajas
The Pittsburgh Pirates inked Barajas to a one-year, $4 million deal following his 16-homer season with the Dodgers. Barajas will bring some much-needed power behind the plate to the Pirates. Since 2004, only three catchers have hit more homers than Barajas’ 111.

Pirates catchers hit just 13 homers (23rd in MLB) and had a .382 slugging percentage last year (18th in MLB). The last Pirates catcher to hit more than 15 homers in a season was Jim Pagliaroni, who had 17 in 1965.

Diamondbacks Sign Willie Bloomquist
Twins Agree to Terms with Jamey Carroll
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Bloomquist to a two-year, $3.8 million contract. On a positive note, Bloomquist is a versatile defender, having played at least 100 innings at every position except catcher in his 10-season career.

But he is also the definition of a replacement-level player. Bloomquist has never posted a season with a WAR of at least 1.0. His career OPS of .654 is the ninth-worst among active players (min. 2,000 PA), and his .073 Isolated Power is seventh-worst.

The Minnesota Twins also found a utility man to their liking with the addition of Jamey Carroll, who has reportedly agreed to a two-year deal. The Twins had a rough go last season at second base and shortstop. The metric Defensive Runs Saved, which measures a middle infielder's ability to turn batted balls into outs and turn double plays, showed that Twins middle infielders went from saving the team 27 runs in 2010 to costing them 39 runs in 2011.

Though Carroll contributed positive value defensively at second base as recently as 2009, last season was his worst in that regard. Carroll's defense was viewed by that metric as costing his team 14 runs.

The Milwaukee Brewers entered Friday’s winner-take-all game just 1-5 when in position to clinch a postseason series. They did not let history dictate their future overcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks in extra innings.

The last time the Brewers won a postseason series was October 10, 1982. Nyjer Morgan, who had the game-winning RBI Friday, was two years old. His RBI single in the 10th inning was the first walk-off hit by a Brewer in a postseason game. Morgan is the 11th player with a walk-off hit in a winner-take-all game and first to do it since Aaron Boone in Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Another key storyline was the play of battery-mates Yovani Gallardo and Jonathan Lucroy. Gallardo allowed one earned run in six innings to move his career ERA versus the Diamondbacks to 1.23. That’s the lowest of any pitcher against the Diamondbacks in the history of their franchise (regular season and postseason).

Although Gallardo didn’t have the high strikeout total he did in his previous four starts (45 K), he was able to utilize his fastball and curveball enough to get the job done. Gallardo's fastball averaged 93.5 MPH, which was tied for his highest in a start this season. He used his curveball more than usual as he threw it 27 percent of the time in Game 5 compared to 20 percent in Game 1. It proved to be an effective pitch as 23 of his 30 curveballs were down in the zone and hitters were just 1 for 8 with two strikeouts in at-bats ending in curveballs.

Lucroy helped his pitcher, especially when receiving the curveball, recording 10 catcher blocks according to Baseball Info Solutions data. That's tied for his eighth-most in a game this season. Not an unusual stat as Lucroy ranked second among MLB catchers in blocks during the regular season.

The Diamondbacks failed to become the first National League team to come back from a 2-0 division series deficit. They lose two straight starts made by Ian Kennedy for the first time since June 27 to July 3. Overall, the team scored only seven runs in three games in Milwaukee, all losses. That's compared to 18 in their two wins in Arizona. They have now lost seven of their last nine postseason games.

Did you know:
The Brewers and Detroit Tigers (who advanced Thursday) are the first two teams ever to win a postseason series 3-2, where the score in the deciding game was also 3-2.

With all the firepower of the Philadelphia Phillies rotation entering the season, what are the chances the Phils would find the most success not in games started by Roy Halladay, he of the two Cy Youngs and two no-hitters? Not in starts by $120 million man Cliff Lee? Not in the starts of former World Series MVP Cole Hamels? Nor the outings of 3-time All-Star Roy Oswalt? Against all odds, the top team in the majors has been at its best when a 23-year old rookie is on the mound.

When the Phillies beat the New York Mets Tuesday, they improved to 14-2 in games started by Vance Worley this season. Not only is that Philadelphia’s best record with any pitcher on the mound, the Elias Sports Bureau tells us it’s the best mark any team has in games started by a single pitcher in 2011 (minimum 15 starts).

Worley allowed one run on five hits while striking out a career-high nine and walking one over seven innings. The win was the Phillies 12th straight in a game started by Worley, the longest team win streak in starts by a single pitcher since the Boston Red Sox won 12 straight starts by Daisuke Matsuzaka over the 2007-2008 seasons.

Prior to Tuesday, the last time the Phillies had won 12 consecutive starts by a single pitcher was 1972 when they won 15 straight outings by Steve Carlton. Worley’s next start is scheduled for Tuesday in Cincinnati. If the Phillies win, Worley would be the first pitcher to have his team win 13 of his starts in a row since the Oakland Athletics won 14 straight starts by Dan Haren in 2005.

Elsewhere around the majors:

• Craig Kimbrel worked a scoreless 9th inning for his 40th save of the season, tying the MLB rookie record set by Neftali Feliz last year. Kimbrel has not allowed a run in his last 31T innings, the longest streak by a rookie since Brad Ziegler in 2008 (39 innings), according to Elias.

• Sean Burroughs provided the only offense in the Arizona Diamondbacks 2-0 win vs the Washington Nationals, hitting a two-run HR in 7th inning. It was Burroughs’ first HR since April 30, 2005, a span of 2,306 days. During that span, the MLB HR leader was Ryan Howard with 277.

• Prince Fielder became the first player to reach 100 RBI in 2011, scoring Ryan Braun on a double in the 6th inning in the Milwaukee Brewers win over the slumping Pittsburgh Pirates. Fielder now has four career seasons with at least 100 RBI, tying Cecil Cooper’s franchise record.

• Ricky Nolasco passed Dontrelle Willis for the most strikeouts in Florida Marlins history when he fanned Johnny Cueto in the 2nd inning. Nolasco finished the night with eight strikeouts, tied for his second most in an outing this year.

For two weeks in August the kids become the stars in Williamsport at the Little League World Series (coverage begins Thursday, August 18 on ESPN and ESPN2). For some it’s the beginning of bigger things to come. We give you the best Little Leaguers to become big leaguers.

LHP - Wilson Alvarez, 1982 Maracaibo, Venezuela
•  In his second LLWS start Alvarez struck out 15 batters while allowing only two hits in a win over Madrid, Spain. Second starts were good to Alvarez who pitched a no-hitter in his second career start in the Majors.

RHP - Jason Marquis, 1991 Staten Island, NY
•  Marquis pitched a three-hit shutout while striking out 11 hitters against Ohio in the U.S. Semifinals. He also added three hits and drove in three runs in the game which came on his 13th birthday.

Catcher - Jason Varitek, 1984 Altamonte Springs, FL
•  Varitek’s Little League team lost in the LLWS final. He was also on the Georgia Tech team that lost the College World Series final in 1994 and two Boston Red Sox World Series winning teams. Varitek is one of only two players (Ed Vosberg the other) to have played in all three World Series (LLWS, College, MLB).

1B - John "Boog" Powell, 1954 Lakeland, FL
•  Powell faced Jim Barbieri in two World Series: The first at the 1954 Little League World Series when Powell lost to Barbieri's team from Schenectady, NY. The second was in 1966, when Powell's Baltimore Orioles swept Barbieri's Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.

2B - Todd Frazier, 1998 Toms River, NJ
•  Frazier went 4-4, with a HR in the LLWS Championship Game win over Japan. He pitched as well, striking out a batter to end the game. Frazier finished the LLWS batting .600 with four HR. He made his MLB debut this season with the Cincinnati Reds.

3B - Carney Lansford, 1969 Santa Clara, CA
•  Lansford started in right field and went 1-3 in a LLWS championship game loss against Chinese Taipei. Lansford went on to be the fourth MLB player to play in the LLWS and MLB World Series.

SS - Gary Sheffield, 1980 Tampa, FL
•  Sheffield hit a HR and drove in five runs in a U.S. Championship game win before falling short in the LLWS champion game against Taiwan. Sheffield is the only player in the 500-HR club who played in the LLWS.

LF - Jason Bay, 1990 British Columbia, Canada
•  Bay scored Canada's only run against eventual LLWS Champion Chinese Taipei. He became the first Canadian Little Leaguer to play in the Little League World Series and play Major League Baseball.

RF - Derek Bell, 1980-81 Tampa, FL
•  In 1981, Bell drove in three runs as Tampa earned a spot in the LLWS final. Bell pitched in the final vs Chinese Taipei, striking out five batters in the first two innings before eventually taking the loss.

CF - Colby Rasmus, 1999 Phenix City, AL
•  Rasmus struck out 13 batters picking up a win to clinch a spot for Phenix City in the LLWS. Phenix City went on to win the U.S. Championship before falling to Japan in the LLWS final. His brother Cory, also a first round pick, played on that Phenix City team as well.
DH - Sean Burroughs, 1992-93 Long Beach, CA
•  Burroughs led Long Beach to consecutive LLWS titles, the first U.S. team to accomplish the feat. He pitched two no-hitters at the Little League World Series.

Manager - Lloyd McClendon, 1971 Gary, Indiana
•  McClendon hit five home runs on the first pitch in his only five official at bats, leading Gary to the LLWS title. McClendon is the manager of our team as he managed some other notable LLWS participants -- Bay and Bell -- on the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2001.