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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.

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.

(The Toronto Blue Jays host the Texas Rangers, Monday at 7 ET on ESPN.)

The Texas Rangers are still an offensive force, leading the majors in hits, runs, batting average, slugging and total bases.

The Rangers are also fourth in ERA and WHIP, thanks in large part to their bullpen. Texas’ relievers have a 2.05 ERA, struck out 54 and walked four, and opponents are hitting just .197.

As good as the Rangers' bullpen has been, rookie starting pitcher Yu Darvish has been almost as impressive.

Darvish is 3-0 and has an 0.89 ERA in his last three starts. The Rangers have won all four of his starts, and have given him an average of 7.3 runs of support per start.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, since 1957 (when the first official rules for rookie status were implemented) only five rookie starting pitchers were 4-0 or better in April: 1968 Jerry Koosman (4-0), 1977 Jerry Garvin (4-0), 1981 Fernando Valenzuela (5-0), 1996 Mike Grace (4-0) and 2002 Kazuhisa Ishii (5-0).

Darvish has six different pitches and has thrown each of them at least 24 times. He throws fewer than half his pitches in the strike zone, and opponents are just 4-for-29 (.138) on pitches out of the zone.

However, Darvish has had some control issues. He's walked 15 batters, which is tied for fourth in MLB, and has walked at least four batters in three of his four starts.

Darvish has not allowed a home run -- only four pitchers have thrown more pitches without allowing a home run this season. In Toronto, he’ll get his first look at Jose Bautista, who has hit 97 home runs since the start of 2010.

Bautista has three HR in 2012, but overall is off to a much slower start than last season.

He’s hitting .190 and slugging .329. Last April, Bautista hit .366 and slugged .780. The good news is that in his breakout season in 2010, Bautista hit .213 and slugged .427 in the first month of the season.

One reason for his down numbers can be attributed to bad luck on balls in play (BABIP). His BABIP is .179, much lower than his .309 average last season.

His line-drive percent is down as well from 18 percent last season to 10 percent in 2012, and his groundball percent is up slightly (37 percent last season to 40 percent in 2012).

Bautista's power is down because he’s hitting fewer balls in the air, and far fewer of those balls are leaving the ballpark or even going for extra-base hits.

Also, don't be surprised if Bautista sees a lot of off-speed pitches from Darvish, who throws fastballs less than 50 percent of the time. Bautista is hitting .167 on off-speed stuff, down more than 100 points from last season (.284 with 15 home runs).

Jose Reyes returns to Flushing, NY to face his former team, the New York Mets, starting tonight at Citi Field as the Miami Marlins begin a three-game set against the Mets.

Reyes began his career in the Mets organization before signing a six-year, $106 million deal with the Marlins this past offseason.

Reyes ranks in the top three in several career categories in Mets history: first in runs (735), triples (99) and steals (370); second in hits (1,300) and third in doubles (222).

With a healthy Reyes in the lineup, the Mets were a much different team, winning over 53 percent of the time, compared to a .437 win percentage without him in the lineup.

Check out the article written by ESPN The Magazine’s Jorge Arangure Jr. about Reyes and his return to New York.

Early Morning Baseball in Japan
The New York Yankees and Texas Rangers play the second game of their three-game set in Arlington tonight with Hiroki Kuroda facing off against Yu Darvish at 8:05 pm ET (9:05 am Wednesday in Japan).

This is just the seventh time that two Japanese pitchers have started against each other in MLB history and the first time since July 22, 2010 when Kuroda (the pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers) pitched against the Mets Hisanori Takahashi.

The two starting pitchers – who never faced each other in Japan – have had some struggles this season. Kuroda, who spent his first four years in the majors pitching for the Dodgers, is limiting right-handed batters to a .133 average (4-for-30). However, lefties are hitting .432 (19-for-44).

Darvish allowed four runs to the Seattle Mariners in the first inning of his first MLB start (April 9), but has allowed only four runs COMBINED in his 16⅔ innings pitched since (two starts).

A Look Back at Last Night
• During the Yankees 7-4 win over the Rangers, Derek Jeter went 4-for-5 with a double and RBI.

That was Jeter’s 42nd career four-hit game and the first time he’s had two four-hit games in April in his career (went 4-for-4 against the Baltimore Orioles on April 9).

On July 9, 2011, Jeter went 5-for-5 against the Tampa Bay Rays and in the process registered his 3,000th hit. Including that game, Jeter has hit .354 in his last 81 games. Among players with at 100 plate appearances since July 9, 2011, only three other players have a higher batting average.

In his previous 81 games (Sept. 17, 2010 to July 8, 2011), Jeter had batted just .274

• The Kansas City Royals lost to the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1, the Royals 11th straight home loss dating back to last season (the longest home losing streak in franchise history).

Kansas City finished its homestand 0-10. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only two other teams in major-league history went 0-10 or worse on a homestand: the Seattle Pilots (a first-year expansion team that became the Milwaukee Brewers in 1970) lost all 10 games of a homestand in August 1969; and the Arizona Diamondbacks went 0-11 on a homestand in July of 2004.

• The Chicago Cubs scored its first walk-off win of the season by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Joe Mather's two-run single in the bottom of the ninth, his second career walk-off hit.

The Elias Sports Bureau tells us over the last 20 years the Cubs had only one other home win against St. Louis after trailing in the ninth inning or later. That occurred on May 29, 1999, with a ninth-inning rally that featured a game-tying home run by Glenallen Hill and a walkoff double by Mark Grace. Mather became the first former Cardinals player to have a walk-off RBI for the Cubs against St. Louis since Jerry Morales on September 22, 1981.

Nate Jones contributed to this post

The 10-3 Washington Nationals are in first place in the NL East, the latest into a season that this franchise has been in first place since July 2005, the first season in Washington. That team would up finishing last in the NL East.

And they are 10-3 despite hitting just .249 and averaging 3.8 runs per game. In addition, the Nationals are 3-1 when trailing to start the eighth inning this season. Last year, they were 7-64 under those circumstances.

So what has been one of the main reasons the Nationals are an early-season surprise? The starting pitching staff sports a 1.65 ERA, the lowest by any starting unit in the majors.

In addition, here are some other reasons the Nationals are off to a hot start.

• Opponents are hitting .181 at Nationals Park

• Opponents are hitting .168 with RISP

• Opposing cleanup hitters are hitting .151 with a .367 OPS.

• In 13 games, the Nationals have allowed two HR. By contrast, the Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays have allowed 18.

Derek Jeter’s Resurgence
Derek Jeter hit his fourth home run of the season on Wednesday. He hit just six home runs in 2011, and didn’t hit his fourth until July 25 (his 79th game of the season).

It’s been a far different April for Jeter this season, who had a .272 slugging percentage in April 2011. So what changed?

Jeter is also hitting to the opposite field with authority. Already this season, Jeter has 11 hits to the opposite field, the most in the majors (David Ortiz is second with nine).

One more look back at Pudge’s career
On April 23, Ivan Rodriguez will announce his retirement at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. He’s the all-time leader at catcher in hits, runs and games played. Let’s take a look at some other Pudge facts.

• Pudge caught Nolan Ryan (born in 1947) and Stephen Strasburg (born in 1988)

• Pudge has more hits (2,844) than the two active hits leaders at catcher COMBINED. A.J. Pierzynski and Ramon Hernandez have 2,829 between the two of them

• All active catchers have combined for nine Gold Gloves. Rodriguez won 13

• Among catchers to debut in 1991, the last other than Rodriguez to appear in a game was Tony Eusebio in 2001

• Pitchers who threw to both Rodriguez and Johnny Bench: Charlie Leibrandt, Jeff Russell, Jay Howell

• His first manager was Bobby Valentine, who was the same age then (40) that Pudge is now

• Ironically, he was closer in age to his first manager (21 years younger than Bobby Valentine) than his last manager (28 years younger than Davey Johnson)

• 2011 will go down as the final season for Pudge, Jason Varitek and Jorge Posada. Those three combined to catch 5,489 games

Matchup of the Day - Joey Votto vs Adam Wainwright
The best hitter in the NL Central will face arguably the division's best pitcher.

Votto is just 1-for-12 with four strikeouts in his career against Wainwright. That includes 0-for-6 with three strikeouts on at-bats ending in Wainwright's curve.

Tuesday marked the first major league starts for former bullpen stalwarts Neftali Feliz and Daniel Bard. Both were successful in the bullpen, but only one handled the transition well in his debut.

Feliz was facing off with a familiar foe as the Texas Rangers hosted the Seattle Mariners. Entering the game, the Mariners had not recorded a hit in 48 at-bats against Feliz. Justin Smoak finally broke the hitless drought with two outs in the fourth inning.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 58 at-bats before allowing a hit is the longest streak to start a career against one team in the expansion era (since 1961). The record was previously held by Billy Wagner, who held the Pittsburgh Pirates hitless in their first 48 at-bats from 1996 to 2001.

Feliz was able to handle the move to the bullpen by mixing up his pitches. As a reliever, he threw a fastball on 80 percent of his pitches. The first time through the Seattle order on Tuesday, he threw heat on 69 percent of his pitches. After that, he relied on his fastball only 39 percent of the time.

For the game, Feliz mixed in sliders on 26 percent of his pitches and changeups on 23 percent. Mariners hitters were 1-for-8 in at-bats ending with a changeup, including two strikeouts.

Bard wasn’t as fortunate in his transition to the rotation. He allowed five earned runs without recording an out in the sixth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Boston Red Sox 7-3.

In three years as a reliever, he threw fastballs 71 percent of the time and sliders 21 percent of the time. The key to his success out of the bullpen was his slider. Opponents missed nearly half the times they swung at the pitch. He was able to coax swings on sliders outside the zone nearly a third of the time.

On Tuesday, he threw the slider 35 percent of the time and was just as successful. The Blue Jays missed on nine of their 14 swings against the slider and four of Bard’s six strikeouts came on the pitch. But they were able to tee off on his fastball, getting eight hits in 17 at-bats ending with the pitch.

Bard was unable to establish a third pitch during the game. In the first four innings, he threw only four changeups and all of them missed the strike zone. He found the zone with three of six changeups to his last five batters and induced a groundout by Adam Lind.

Quick hits
Freddy Garcia tied the American League record with five wild pitches in his start against the Baltimore Orioles.

Jayson Werth recorded his eighth career four-hit game, his first since June 27, 2009.

The Detroit Tigers are the last undefeated team in the American League, despite not getting a decision from their starters.

The Atlanta Braves snapped a nine-game losing streak dating to last season with a win at the Houston Astros.

Andre Ethier celebrated his 30th birthday by hitting the game-winning home run in the bottom of the eighth, his 11th career go-ahead home run in the eighth inning or later.

Dan Braunstein contributed to this post.

The Milwaukee Brewers head to the Windy City to open a four-game series against the Chicago Cubs tonight (ESPN, 7 ET). The Brewers went 10-6 against the Cubs last season, their first winning season against Chicago since 2005. The Cubs were 45-34 against Milwaukee from 2006-10.

Starting Pitchers
Shaun Marcum takes the mound for the Brewers in his first start of the season. Marcum is coming off a career year in 2011 – his first in the National League after starting his career with the Toronto Blue Jays - as he set career highs with 33 starts and 200⅔ IP, and tied his career high with 13 wins.

The cutter will be Marcum’s weapon, a pitch he improved and increased his use of last season. In 2011, he threw his cutter 17.7 percent of the time and has a miss percentage of 26.0, compared to throwing it 15.9 percent of the time with a 22.2 miss percentage in 2010. In addition, Marcum allowed only two HR off his cutter last season, compared to seven home runs in 2010.

Chris Volstad is 1-1 with a sparkling 1.71 ERA in four career starts against the Brewers. He’ll be excited to see Milwaukee without Prince Fielder in the lineup. Volstad’s opponents’ batting average against lefties was fifth-worst in the majors last season.

Volstad’s performance against lefties has gotten worse each of his four seasons in the majors. In 2008, he allowed lefties to hit .243 against him, but saw left-handed hitters become more comfortable in each of the subsequent years – hitting .255 in 2009; .292 in 2010; and a career-high .305 against him last season. Only four other pitchers (min. 300 AB) had a higher opponent batting average against left-handed batters last season.

Stat of the Game
Milwaukee entered the season without Prince Fielder for the first time since 2005 (signed a free-agent contract with the Detroit Tigers). It’s only three games, but they are feeling his loss as their first basemen (Mat Gamel and Travis Ishikawa) are a combined 2-for-12 with five strikeouts and no extra-base hits. Fielder is hitting .417 with two HR and two strikeouts in three games with the Tigers.

Key Matchup
Chicago second baseman Darwin Barney is 3-for-7 with three doubles against Marcum, but the rest of the Cubs are 5-for-53 (.094) with two extra-base hits combined. David DeJesus is 0-for-16 with four strikeouts against him.

John Fisher contributed to this post

Stats & Info insights into this morning's top sports stories

1. THE BEST GOLFER WITHOUT A MAJOR? After the opening round of the Masters Tournament, Lee Westwood stands alone at the top at -5. Westwood has never won a major but has been a bridesmaid multiple times. This is the third time he’s opened a major with a 67, and both times he finished the major in second place.

2. TIGER ON THE PROWL Tiger Woods shot an even-par 72 at the Masters and is tied for 29th after the opening round. That might sound like he’s a ways back, but not for Tiger. The last time he was this far back after the opening round was 2005, when he was tied for 33rd. That year he went on to win the Masters, his last win there. Looking ahead to Friday, he’ll hope to repeat that 2005 success. He shot a 66 in the second round en route to his win.

3. PITCHERS DOMINATE OPENING DAY The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians treated fans to free baseball on their Opening Day. The 16 innings they played made it the longest season-opening game in MLB history. But pitchers stole the show for the day. FROM ELIAS: Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay and Justin Masterson each allowed two hits in eight innings on Thursday while Ryan Dempster surrendered two knocks in 7⅔ innings. It was the first day on which four pitchers threw more than seven innings and allowed no more than two hits since Sept. 27, 1986.

4. NO MAGIC IN ORLANDO Dwight Howard scored just two points through three quarters in an Orlando Magic loss to the New York Knicks and finished with eight points for the game. It was just the third time this season that Howard failed to score in double-digits and two of those have come against the Knicks. His team’s woes continue: the Magic have lost five straight, their longest losing streak since Jan. 12-20, 2007.

5. STAMKOS STALKING 60 Two big happenings in the NHL on Thursday: the eight playoff spots in each conference were decided BUT the seeding of each team is still up in the air. Also, Steven Stamkos moved one step closer to a landmark when he scored his 59th goal of the season. Stamkos has one game left, at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, and will try to become just the second player since 1996 to score 60 goals in a season.

Pitching was the story of the day as opening week continued with 13 teams playing their first game of the season.

After Kyle Lohse tossed a gem on Wednesday, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, Justin Masterson and Ryan Dempster all allowed two or fewer hits while throwing at least 7 innings. Even with 13 teams yet to make their 2012 debut, this is the first time in the Modern Era (since 1900) that there have been five season-opening starts to meet that threshold. According to Elias, the previous high was three in 1910.

The New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds all opened their season today by throwing shutouts. Elias points out that the last time there were three shutouts thrown by teams that opened their season on the same day was April 9, 1976. That season, the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals all pitched Opening Day shutouts.

The Miami Marlins became the first team with two losses this season and have managed a single run on seven hits in their two games. From Elias, they are the first team with that low an offensive output in their first two games since 1993. That season, the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies each had one run on six hits after two games.

Not all of the pitching news was good. Justin Verlander was denied a win after pitching 8 shutout innings after Jose Valverde blew a save for the first time since Sept. 2, 2010. Valverde was 49-for-49 in save opportunities last season and had converted 51 in a row dating back to 2010.

Going Long
The highest scoring game of the day was the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. But that won’t be what the game is remembered for.

The game wasn’t decided until J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run home run in the top of the 16th inning. Elias confirmed that this was the longest season opener in MLB history. The Indians have the dubious distinction of losing two of the three season openers that lasted at least 15 innings. In the other, Walter Johnson threw a 15-inning complete game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics.

Going Deep
The wait for a National League home run is finally over. Jay Bruce hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth as the Reds beat the Marlins. Four NL games had been completed before Bruce went deep, and his homer came in the 44th NL inning of the season.

After nearly winning the MVP Award last season, Matt Kemp added to his legend in the season opener this year. Kemp became the first right-handed hitter with two opposite field home runs at Petco Park since the start of the 2009 season.

While the Hot Stove season is largely dominated by free agency and trade talks, an overlooked aspect of every MLB offseason is the arbitration process. If a player is eligible, the team and the player submit figures for the upcoming season’s salary. If the two sides cannot agree on a compromise, they advance to a process that is resolved by an arbiter, who picks one of the two figures submitted.

The 2011-12 arbitration season has brought with it two statistical and historical storylines - the potential end of the Cleveland Indians’ streak of avoiding arbitration and the unbeaten run of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Indians & Arbitration: Like Oil & Water

While it looked like it might be snapped any number of times, the Indians have not gone to arbitration with a player since 1991. Thanks to Maury Brown's Business of Baseball website, we can tell you that is the longest such streak in the Major Leagues. The last time the Indians went to arbitration was 1991, when the team did so with Greg Swindell and Jerry Browne.

Why is this relevant? The Indians currently have one arbitration-eligible player unsigned – SS Asdrubal Cabrera. The Indians and Cabrera are continuing discussions on a long-term contract, but without a resolution on that front, the team and player will likely head to arbitration. Cabrera's camp has requested a 2012 salary of $5.2 million, while the Indians have countered with an offer of $3.75 million.

For additional context, the landscape of Major League Baseball was noticeably different in 1991 than it is in 2012. The Indians played their home games in Cleveland Stadium and resided in the AL East. The team's Opening Day payroll was $18,270,000, roughly one-third of what it projects to be in 2012.

The last time the Indians went to arbitration, the highest Opening Day payroll in baseball was held by the Oakland Athletics - $33,632,500. The Athletics have a projected Opening Day payroll for 2012 of $38,765,500.

The last time the Indians went to arbitration, the Opening Day payroll of the New York Yankees was $27,815,835. That represents just 13.7 percent of the $202,689,028 payroll the team had for 2011.

Rays: Great on the Field, Better off it

While the Rays track record on the field has been impressive enough under the Andrew Friedman regime, no team can match the success of Friedman and the rest of the front office at the arbitration table.

The team’s arbitration win over starting pitcher Jeff Niemann earlier this week improved the Rays franchise to 6-0 all-time in arbitration, the best win percentage in MLB.

The Rays have as many arbitration wins in six all-time cases (6) as the Detroit Tigers have in 20 all-time cases (6-14). In all, the Rays have defeated Niemann (2012), B.J. Upton (2010), Dioner Navarro (2009), Josh Paul (2006, 2007) and Esteban Yan (2002).

Stats & Information's weekly roundup of notable baseball moves:

Toronto Blue Jays sign pitcher Francisco Cordero to one-year contract
Three notes on the changes related to Cordero’s performance over the last two seasons.

1-- Cordero’s average fastball velocity dropped from 94.3 miles-per-hour in 2010 to 92.6 in 2011. Fastballs and sinkers, which made up more than two-thirds of his pitches in 2010, represented 44 percent of his pitches in 2011.

2-- Cordero’s ground ball rate increased from 42 percent in 2010 to 48 percent in 2011. His opponents’ batting average on ground balls dropped 100 points, from .250 to .150 in that span. That .150 ranked sixth-best in the majors among those who induced at least 75 ground balls in 2011.

3-- Our advanced hit location data shows Cordero’s batting average made the biggest drop on ground balls hit between 15 degrees to the right and 15 degrees to the left of second base (in other words, the middle of the field).

The chart on the right shows the difference, as well as an increase in plays made by Reds shortstops.
--Mark Simon

Blue Jays sign infielder Omar Vizquel
to minor league contract
If Vizquel makes the major-league roster, he will be chasing two milestones, both with the same number -- 3,000.

Vizquel has 2,841 hits, leaving him 159 away from becoming the 29th player with 3,000 hits. Vizquel has 137 hits over the last two seasons.

Vizquel could be the fourth player of Hispanic heritage in the 3,000-hit club, joining Roberto Clemente, Rod Carew, and Rafael Palmeiro.

Another milestone would occur if Vizquel (2,908 games played) plays in 92 games. He would become the ninth player in major league history to play in 3,000 games. Vizquel who turns 45 on April 24, played in 108 and 58 games the last two seasons.

Both the active leader and the No. 2 man in sacrifice bunts signed this week. Vizquel has 255 sacrifices, 111 more than new Phillies free agent signee Juan Pierre.

Thirty players who played in the majors last season were born after Vizquel made his major league debut on April 3, 1989, including Vizquel’s infield mate, Brett Lawrie.
--Zachary Singer/Kevin Gibson

Other moves of note
Quick hits on other signings from the past week-- players who share a theme of being given opportunity despite recent struggles.

New Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jeff Francis is 14-32 in four seasons since starting Game 1 of the 2007 World Series (he was 17-9 that season). His .304 winning percentage is third-worst among the 162 pitchers who have made at least 50 starts in that span.

New Houston Astros pitcher Zach Duke is 40-72 over the last six seasons. His .357 winning percentage is the worst among the 105 pitchers who made at least 100 starts in that span. Duke was 8-2 with a 1.81 ERA in 2005.

New San Francisco Giants shortstop Ryan Theriot has dealt with injuries and not fared well via advanced defensive metrics over the last two seasons. His -17 Defensive Runs Saved (a stat that measures a shortstop’s effectiveness of turning batted balls into outs and converting double plays) in 1,001 innings are tied for fourth-worst among shortstops in that span.
--Mark Simon

The 2011 regular season finished, arguably, in one of the most exciting fashions in baseball history. Now that the postseason has been set, let’s take a look back at which players won batting and pitching titles this season.

AL Crowns
• For the second consecutive year, Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays claimed the home run title. His 43 on the season were two ahead of the New York Yankees' Curtis Granderson. He's the first to claim the crown in two straight years since Alex Rodriguez did it in 2002-03.

• Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers - who also led the league in doubles with 47 - was the AL (and MLB) batting champion at .344. He is the second Tigers player to win the batting title in the last 50 seasons (Magglio Ordonez in 2007).

• Although Granderson and Robinson Cano started the day one-two in the AL RBI race, it was Mark Teixeira who came up big for the Yankees on Wednesday. His five-RBI game gave him 111 on the season and propelled him into fourth place. The last time three teammates finished within the top four of their league's RBI race was the 1966 Baltimore Orioles. That year, Frank Robinson (122) won the AL RBI race, while teammates Boog Powell (109) and Brooks Robinson (100) finished second and tied for fourth, respectively.

NL Crowns
• Jose Reyes singled in his first at-bat Wednesday and was promptly subbed out for a pinch runner. That left the New York Mets' leadoff hitter with a batting average of .337, potentially caught only by Ryan Braun who started the day at .335. Ultimately he finished the game 0-for-4 for a season average of .332, giving Reyes - and the Mets franchise - their first-ever NL batting champion. Reyes won the NL batting title in only 126 games played this season. That's the fewest amount of games played for a batting champion since Manny Ramirez hit .349 in 120 games played in 2002.

• Prince Fielder and Matt Kemp were tied for the NL home run lead entering Wednesday, but with just three innings left in the season, Kemp launched his 39th of the season out of Chase Field and claimed the title outright. Fielder finished with 38 and was followed by Albert Pujols' 37. The last season the National League leader did not finish with at least 40 HR was in 1992 when Fred McGriff had 35. Kemp also finished as the National League RBI leader with 126, six above Fielder.

• Starlin Castro led the National League in hits this year with 207. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 21-year-old Castro is the youngest player ever to lead the NL in that category, breaking the mark set in 1918 by another Chicago Cubs player, Charlie Hollocher, who was 22 years, 83 days old on the final day of that war-shortened season.

Other Point of Interest
• Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw both won the pitching Triple Crown in their respective leagues (Wins, ERA and Strikeouts). While the pitching Triple Crown has been won several times in MLB history (most recently by Jake Peavy with the San Diego Padres in 2007), this is the first time there’s been dual pitching Triple Crowns since 1924.

The American League Wild Card race goes to the final day with the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays tied at 90-71. The Red Sox will turn to Jon Lester against the Baltimore Orioles (7 ET on ESPN) while David Price will pitch for the Rays at home against the New York Yankees (7 ET on ESPN3). If both teams are still tied after Wednesday, a one-game tiebreaker would be Thursday at Tampa Bay.

Since 1995, 13 different teams have clinched a playoff spot on the final day of the postseason, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, not including regular season playoff games. The biggest September deficit ever overcome by a team that made the postseason was 8½ games by the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals, who went on to win the World Series. The Rays were nine games out of a playoff spot on Sept. 2.

The Red Sox actually entered September leading the AL East by 1½ games. They have since gone 7-19 (.269 win pct), and with one more loss, Boston will match the 1952 team (7-20) for the most losses in September in team history. According to Elias, the worst Sept/Oct winning percentage by a team that made the postseason was .375 by the 1998 San Diego Padres.

Story to Watch
Jon Lester is 14-0 with a 2.33 ERA in 17 career starts against the Orioles, including a win in his only start against them this season. Lester has made one career start on three days' rest – April 23, 2008 against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He allowed four runs, nine hits, two home runs and struck out one batter in five innings and did not factor in the decision.

Lester has struggled over his last three starts, going 0-3 with a 10.54 ERA. One problem has been his lack of success with his fastball and cutter, indicated by his opponent’s .448 BA against his fastball and .400 average against his cutter.

Key Stat
Red Sox starting pitching has struggled throughout September. Boston starters are 4-13 with a 7.28 ERA this month. They have made four quality starts (three ER or fewer in six or more IP) this month, but only one in their last 11 games, and it was by John Lackey on Sunday (six IP, three ER).

For Tampa Bay, David Price takes the mound against the Yankees. Price is 0-2 in five September starts, though he has a 3.03 ERA. He has allowed two ER or fewer in eight of his last nine starts. In his last seven home starts, Price is 0-5 with a 3.55 ERA. The Rays have scored a total of five runs in those five losses.

Against New York, Price has a 4.26 ERA in four starts this year. However, he has allowed just three ER in 15⅓ IP (1.76 ERA) in his last two starts against the Yankees.

Story to Watch
It will be interesting to see how much Price uses his changeup against the Yankees. During a four-start stretch in August, beginning with a win over the Yankees on Aug. 12, Price dominated, and much of the credit for that was given to increased usage of the changeup.

He got a season-high six outs with the pitch against the Yankees that day, then got seven outs with it in his next start, a win over the Red Sox.

In those starts, Price threw 18 percent changeups (one of every six pitches). The feeling was that the changeup would help make Price’s fastball even harder to hit, and it did. In his start against the Toronto Blue Jays on Aug. 28, Price threw changeups a season-high 21 percent of the time, but used the fastball as his out pitch, using it to net 10 strikeouts.

In that four-start stretch, Price beat the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays, and lost to the Detroit Tigers, finishing 3-1 with an 0.87 ERA.

However, in September, Price has gotten away from the changeup. He’s only thrown it 9 percent of the time, and in his most recent start against the Blue Jays (one in which Price was done in partly by his own bad fielding), he only threw two changeups. This month, Price is 0-2 with a 3.03 ERA.

Key Stat
Derek Jeter is 11-for-36 (.306) in his career against Price, including getting his 3,000th career hit on July 9.

The Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees play the third game of their four-game series in New York on Wednesday Night Baseball (7 ET on ESPN). The Rays were nine games out of a playoff spot on Sept. 2. No team has ever overcome that large of a deficit in September to make the postseason. The 1964 St. Louis Cardinals overcame the largest deficit – 8½ games back on Sept. 3.

On the mound
For the Yankees, CC Sabathia is making his third attempt at winning 20 games this season. He’s trying to become the first Yankees pitcher since Tommy John in 1979-80 to win at least 20 games in consecutive seasons.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one active pitcher won at least 20 games in back-to-back seasons. That was Roy Oswalt, who was 20-10 in 2004 and 20-12 in 2005. The last American League pitcher to win 20 games in consecutive seasons was Roger Clemens, for the 1997-1998 Toronto Blue Jays.

Sabathia has 224 strikeouts this season, ranking third on the Yankees single season all-time list. Ron Guidry holds the record with 248 strikeouts in 1978 (Jack Chesbro is second with 239 strikeouts in 1904).

Sabathia has struggled against the Rays (fellow AL East rival, the Boston Red Sox) all season.

Besides struggling against the Rays and Red Sox, Sabathia has struggled with his fastball lately. Check out ESPN's Stats and Info's Mark Simon's blog on Sabathia's last nine starts.

For the Rays, Jeremy Hellickson takes the mound, searching for his 14th win of the season. Hellickson has a 2.91 ERA and is allowing the opposition to hit only .212 against him this season. Among qualified American League starting pitchers, his ERA and opponent batting average are each fifth-best.

Player to watch
Curtis Granderson is the first Yankees left-handed hitter with 40 home runs in a season since Jason Giambi in 2003. He’s also the first Yankee since Joe DiMaggio in 1937 with 40 home runs, 20 doubles and 10 triples in a season. Granderson also joins Willie Mays as the only players in MLB history to hit 40 home runs, record 10 triples and steal 20 bases in a single season. Mays did it in 1955.

According to Elias, only four players have ever finished a season in sole possession of the major-league lead in home runs, RBI and runs: Babe Ruth (three times, 1920, 1921 and 1926), Ted Williams (1942), Mickey Mantle (1956) and Alex Rodriguez (2007).

Granderson has struggled in his career against the Rays, with a career .147 batting average against current Tampa Bay pitchers. Against Hellickson, Granderson has just one hit in six at-bats, with three strikeouts.

Stat of the game
B.J. Upton has hit 13 career home runs against the Yankees, tied for his most against one team (Baltimore Orioles). He has three home runs this season against New York after having three combined against them from 2008-10.

David Price set a single-game Tampa Bay Rays record with 14 strikeouts in a 12-0 victory Sunday over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Price's 14 strikeouts passed the previous Rays record of 13 set by James Shields earlier this season and first done by Scott Kazmir in 2007. Price's strikeout total finished one shy of the most by an American League pitcher this season. Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels struck out 15 -- also against the Blue Jays -- on April 10.

The most strikeouts in a game this season belongs to Cliff Lee of the Philadelphia Phillies, who struck out 16 against the Atlanta Braves in seven innings on May 6.

Price, who just turned 26 years old on Friday, flirted with the possibility of nearing the MLB record for strikeouts in a nine-inning game of 20 held by Roger Clemens (done twice in 1986 and 1996) and Kerry Wood in 1998.

Price struck out 10 batters through four innings, which was one more than what Clemens had in his two 20-strikeout games and was two more than what Wood had.

Price proceeded to strike out two more batters in the fifth, which kept him on pace with what Clemens had and was one ahead of Wood's pace. However, Price did not strike out a batter in the sixth inning, the only frame in which a batter did not go down on strikes.

But the left-hander finished with two more in his seventh and final inning of the game. He became the fourth pitcher this season to record 14 strikeouts in seven or fewer innings.

Price became the fourth pitcher to record at least 14 strikeouts on the road against the Blue Jays and the first since Bartolo Colon on May 29, 1998. The first to do it was Mark Langston in 1988 at Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays original home from 1977 until 1989.

So how was Price able to rack up so many strikeouts? He relied on what he always does, the fastball. He picked up 10 of his 14 strikeouts on pitches ending on the fastball. It's his third start this season in which he had 10 strikeouts with his fastball. No other starter in baseball even has one. This season, Price has 128 strikeouts ending on the fastball, 30 more than Colon, who is second with 98.

Blue Jays hitters swung 32 times against the pitch and put only four in play, the fewest fastballs ever put in play in a start against Price with a minimum of 20 swings.