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It took a great pitching performance from Chicago White Sox starter Gavin Floyd to end the Boston Red Sox six-game winning streak.

Sunday marked the fourth time in Floyd’s career that he carried a no-hit bid into the seventh inning, but he’s yet to finish one off. The Elias Sports Bureau notes that Floyd’s four such bids are the third-most among active pitchers.

How did Floyd pitch so well?

Our pitch-performance data showed that he got five of his nine strikeouts on pitches that were out of the strike zone. He finished off all 15 hitters on whom he got a two-strike count.

Floyd’s curveball was working in those two-strike counts. He threw 11 curveballs in two-strike situations and got five strikeouts with them.

The White Sox were bidding to become the first team with two regular-season no-hitters in the same season since the 1973 Angels, who got two from Nolan Ryan. The 2010 Phillies are the last team with two no-hitters, if you combine regular season and postseason (both by Roy Halladay).

Floyd is 7-0 with a 2.75 ERA in eight career starts against the Red Sox. He’s the first pitcher to win his first seven career decisions against the Red Sox since former Minnesota Twins right-hander Kevin Tapani.

Other notable performances from Sunday included:

The day’s best pitchers
Johan Santana threw six scoreless innings in his Coors Field debut, in the New York Mets wild win over the Colorado Rockies. Santana has now pitched 22 scoreless innings against the Rockies, which (via Elias) is the longest streak by any pitcher to start his career.

CC Sabathia beat the Tigers to remain undefeated this season. The Tigers right-handed hitters were 1-for-21 against him. Sabathia got five strikeouts with his slider. He’s had at least five with that pitch in all five of his starts this season.

Speaking of sliders, Chicago Cubs starter Matt Garza got 10 outs with his, and notched six strikeouts with the pitch, in a 5-1 win over the Phillies.

Also chiming in with impressive efforts were Arizona Diamondbacks starter Wade Miley, who is 6-1 with a 2.47 ERA in his last eight starts dating back to last season after beating the Diamondbacks, and Cleveland Indians starter Derek Lowe, who beat the Los Angels of Anaheim with an efficient effort- he threw single-digit pitch totals in the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings.

The day’s best hitter
Rightfielder Jay Bruce homered for the fourth straight game, the longest streak by a Cincinnati Reds player since Adam Dunn homered in five straight games in May, 2008.
The streaky Bruce has had another hot week, hitting .476 with an OPS of 1.685 since Tuesday. His last three home runs have come on pitches over the outer-third of the plate. Bruce has 40 home runs on outer-third pitches since 2009, sixth-most in the majors in that span.

One of the greatest improvements Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Kyle Kendrick made from 2010 to 2011 was his effectiveness against left-handed batters. As a right-handed pitcher, it was an issue for him in 2010 as they hit .312 with a .902 OPS and strikeout rate of just under 10 percent. In 2011, those numbers improved to .234 BA, .763 OPS and a 13.0 percent strikeout rate. And entering Monday, his 2012 performance against left-handers had continued to improve, with a .200 BA, .585 OPS and a strikeout rate north of 15 percent. And then the Arizona Diamondbacks came along.

Monday's action stopped Kendrick's improving trend right in its tracks. The Diamondbacks may have been aware of the trends, but they may have been paying attention to a different one - in four career appearances against Arizona, Kendrick had allowed a line of .357/.379/.607 (BA/OBP/SLG) to left-handed hitters, compared to a .234/.333/.404 line against right-handers. On Monday, left-handed batters registered four hits in eight at-bats against Kendrick, including two extra-base hits.

It becomes additionally painful when one considers who was supposed to start Monday's game - Cliff Lee. Not only has Lee held Diamondbacks lefties to a .229/.222/.314 line in his career, very few pitchers have been tougher on lefties overall since Lee came to the National League - he ranks fourth among starters in opponents batting average (.191) and second in OPS (.501).

For some historical perspective on just how ineffective Kendrick's start was, consider that he became the first Phillies starter to allow 10 or more hits and and seven or more earned runs in three or fewer innings pitched since Mike Mimbs did so on May 11, 1996. In fact, it's only the fourth time it's been done since 1980.

Sabathia leaning on slider: CC Sabathia's slider was effective on Monday against the Texas Rangers – he threw it to register six of his eight strikeouts. Sabathia threw a total of 34 sliders, increasing the number of times he's used the pitch for the third consecutive start. It also continues a multi-year trend of increased slider usage; Sabathia threw it 12.9 percent of the time in 2010, 22.9 percent last season and 27.3 percent this season. The merits of such an increase can be debated, but what cannot be is the effectiveness it has had this season – only one qualified starting pitcher has a higher strikeout rate with the slider than Sabathia (Jered Weaver).

Lincecum velocity issues remain: Tim Lincecum’s season-long struggles with his fastball continued in the win over the New York Mets. His average velocity on the pitch continues to drop, going under 90 MPH for the first time since July 2010. Despite the issues with his fastball velocity, Lincecum threw it 70 times, which is 21 more than he used it in his previous 2012 high.

Overall, his average fastball velocity now stands at 90.1 this season, compared to 92.2 last season. He has yet to hit above 93.1 miles per hour this season, whereas he topped out at 96.6 last season.

The New York Yankees travel to Arlington to take on the Texas Rangers in Monday Night Baseball (ESPN, 7 ET). The Yankees have won seven of the last eight games against the Rangers, but have won only three of the last eight games in Texas.

Pitching Matchup
CC Sabathia will take the mound after he had his Sunday start against the Boston Red Sox postponed by rain. Sabathia is 4-0 with a 4.84 ERA in six starts against the Rangers since joining the Yankees (including playoffs).

Sabathia has a 5.59 ERA in three starts this season. His April ERA is 4.16, his highest for any calendar month from April to September (his September ERA of 2.77 is his lowest).

Sabathia has averaged 91.5 miles-per-hour with his fastball in 2012. That’s down a full mile-per-hour from what he averaged in both 2010 and 2011.

Hitters have swung and missed at the pitch at about a rate of one for every eight pitches thrown. In April, 2011, he got misses on about one of every six swings versus his heater.

With his 57th pitch on Monday, Sabathia will have thrown 20,000 pitches (combining regular season and postseason) since 2007, the most of anyone in the majors.

Derek Holland takes the mound for the Rangers. In six career appearances (five starts), Holland is 0-4 with a 9.00 ERA against the Yankees, his worst ERA among teams he’s faced more than once.

Unlike Sabathia, Holland has one of the best fastballs among left-handed starters this season; only three lefties have more strikeouts with the fastball than Holland, who has 10.

Battle of the Bullpens
Yankees relievers have gotten a lot of work this season, with 54⅔ innings pitched in 15 games.

David Robertson again has been a magician for the Yankees. He’s pitched eight scoreless innings this season and held opponents to 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position (they were 13-for-93 against him last season in those spots).

The most impressive thing about the Rangers bullpen might be the strikeout-to-walk ratio. In 38⅔ innings, Rangers relievers have struck out 36 and walked only three. Alexi Ogando, put back in the bullpen, has 10 strikeouts and no walks in relief this season.

The Yankees’ bullpen has excelled at getting strikeouts, striking out a league-high 28.6 percent of all hitters they’ve faced. Yankees relievers have 65 strikeouts, only 12 fewer than the team’s starters have.

The Yankees and Rangers are the top two bullpens this season in Win Probability Added, which aggregates the change in a given team’s win probability after every batter. Each bullpen has added close to two wins to its team’s win probability so far this season.

Stat of the Game
The Rangers have a run differential of +52, the best in baseball (the St. Louis Cardinals are second at +36).

Jeremy Lundblad and Mark Simon contributed to this post

The New York Yankees will try to complete a three-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball (8 pm ET).

Here's a closer look at the key matchups that figure to play a significant role in this contest.

C.C. Sabathia Matchups to Watch
Although Sabathia is 7-9 career against the Red Sox and 3-4 against them at Fenway Park, his individual batter-pitcher matchups aren’t as bad as you think.

Adrian Gonzalez is 5-for-25 against Sabathia and struck out three times against him in their last meeting on August 30.

Dustin Pedroia has an odd history against Sabathia -- a .244 batting average (combining both regular season and postseason)- but he was 7-for-13 against Sabathia last season, albeit with five strikeouts.

David Ortiz is 5-for-30 against Sabathia since homering against him the first time that Sabathia faced him as a Yankee.

Ortiz has hit .346 against left-handed pitching since the start of 2011. That’s a jump of 128 points from what he averaged against lefties from 2008 to 2010.

Sabathia has a 5.59 ERA in three starts this season. His April ERA is 4.16, his highest for any calendar month from April to September (his September ERA of 2.77 is his lowest).

Sabathia has averaged 91.5 miles-per-hour with his fastball in 2012. That’s down a full mile-per-hour from what he averaged in both 2010 and 2011.

Hitters have swung and missed at the pitch at about a rate of one for every eight pitches thrown. In April, 2011, he got misses on about one of every six swings versus his heater.

With his 57th pitch on Sunday, Sabathia will have thrown 20,000 pitches (combining regular season and postseason) since 2007, the most of anyone in the majors.

Daniel Bard Matchups to Watch
Bard has the number of two Yankees hitters. Robinson Cano is 0-for-8 against him. Derek Jeter is 0-for-7. The only active pitcher whom Jeter has a worse-0-for against is Casey Janssen, against whom Jeter is 0-for-12. The only one for Cano is Gio Gonzalez (0-for-9).

Mark Teixeira has four home runs in 15 at-bats against Bard. The last three of those home runs came off fastballs recorded at 97 miles-per-hour or faster by Pitch F/X calculations. The only pitchers against whom he has more home runs are Bruce Chen (6) and Felix Hernandez (5).

Bard’s fastball velocity has come down from the 97 miles-per-hour he averaged as a reliever to about 94 miles-per-hour. He threw the fastball for strikes 75 percent of the time in his first start of the season, but that dropped to 57 percent in his last start against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Bard has a 4-4 record and a 1.69 at Fenway Park. He’s 1-11 elsewhere, with a 4.19 ERA.

It’s Not How You Start. It’s How You Finish
There is a sharp statistical contrast between the performance of the Yankees and Red Sox bullpens this season, evident Saturday when Red Sox relievers combined to yield 14 runs.

The chart on the right shows the difference between the two. Red Sox relievers rank last in the majors in all three categories listed. Yankees relievers rank second in ERA, fourth in home runs per nine innings, and ninth in opponents batting average.

Elias Sports Bureau Stat of the Game
A Yankees win would make them 459-459-4 against the Red Sox in Fenway Park. They have outscored the Red Sox there, 4,687-4,481

Albert Pujols makes his Los Angeles Angels debut tonight against the Kansas City Royals (ESPN2, 10 ET). Pujols signed a 10-year, $254 million free agent deal with the Angels in the offseason after spending 11 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Pujols is one of six players to hit 400 career home runs and bat at least .325. The others are Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Ted Williams, Lou Gehrig and Stan Musial. Pujols’ 445 home runs through his first 11 seasons are the most all-time through a player’s initial 11 years in the majors.

Pujols represents a significant upgrade for the Angels at the No. 3 spot in the order. His .906 OPS last season was a career low, but stands as a huge improvement over the Angels’ .745 OPS out of the three hole last year.

Starting Pitchers
Bruce Chen – who will turn 35 in June - is making his first career opening day start. According to Elias, only one major-league pitcher in the last 10 years was older than Chen when he was making his first opening day start. That was Jose Contreras, who was 35 when he started the first game of the 2007 season for the Chicago White Sox.

Quick Hits on Chen
• Chen threw 2,518 pitches last season. Only nine of those reached 90 mph
• Last season, his fastball averaged 85.7 mph. In the AL, the only starters with a slower fastball were Mark Buehrle, Jeff Francis and Tim Wakefield.
• Held opposing No. 3 hitters to .224 BA and .674 OPS

Jered Weaver makes his fourth opening day start (and third straight) for the Angels. Weaver is 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA in three career opening day starts. Last year, Weaver became the first pitcher in MLB history with six wins by April 25, and just the sixth with six wins by the end of April.

Quick Hits on Weaver
• No starting pitcher had a higher fly ball percentage in 2011 (50 percent)
• In his seven no decisions last season, he allowed a total of seven earned runs
• Opposing 3-6 hitters combined for a .196 BA and .570 OPS
• There are three active pitchers who had double-digit wins in each of their first six seasons: Weaver, CC Sabathia and Tim Hudson. Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte would also qualify if active.

Stat of the Game
Pujols is a .379 lifetime hitter against the Royals, giving him the highest batting average against the Royals for any player – past or present – with at least 150 at-bats against them, according to our friends from the Elias Sports Bureau.

Opening Day Note
This is the first time in 37 years that the Angels and Royals have met on Opening Day. According to Elias, it last happened in 1975, as California’s Nolan Ryan threw a three-hitter and won, 3-2. Besides Ryan, two other Hall-of-Famers played in that game: George Brett and Harmon Killebrew of the Royals.

Despite going 0-3 with a 6.08 ERA in five postseason starts, Texas Rangers ace C.J. Wilson is in a great position this offseason. Wilson is the best starter available on the free agent market, now that CC Sabathia signed an extension with the New York Yankees. His case is aided by the recent history of free-agent spending on starting pitchers.

Going back to the offseason prior to 2006, there have been nine contracts of $50 million or more given to starting pitchers. Excluding Daisuke Matsuzaka -- since he had no major-league statistics to compare prior to coming to MLB -- Wilson’s seasons leading into free agency compare well.

Derek Lowe, Ryan Dempster and Gil Meche are poor comparisons given pre-free agency track record and the return expected around the industry. Wilson will be in his age-31 season in 2012. He’s accumulated 10.5 Wins Above Replacement in the two seasons preceding his free agency, third behind only Sabathia and Lee during the period being analyzed.

Interestingly enough, the three best-compensated pitchers during this period are all left-handers. Barry Zito’s contract is considered among the worst ideas of all-time, which seems to place Wilson in the “gap” between the Sabathia/Lee class and the Burnett/Lackey class.

Wilson’s 10.5 WAR is 29.6 percent higher than Burnett’s 8.1 mark prior to his free agency. If you scale that relative to Burnett's contract, Wilson could expect to receive $21 million per season.

On the flip side, Wilson contributed 76.1 percent of what Lee did prior to his free agency. Based on that, he’d be expected to receive $18 million per season. Splitting the difference, Wilson could be looking at a contract with an average annual value of $19.5 million, or $97.5 million in a five-year deal.

His agent can argue Wilson is superior to the likes of John Lackey and A.J. Burnett -- even without the aid of hindsight -- and thus we’re already starting to look at contracts approaching $90 million.

As we saw with Jayson Werth this past offseason, it only takes one team to change the expected market for a player. As such, don’t be surprised if the Rangers ace lands one of the richest contracts in the history of the sport for his position, particularly given the idea that he has so few innings on his arm relative to most pitchers who reach free agency.

The Detroit Tigers are back in the postseason for the first time since losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in the 2006 World Series. The Tigers began that postseason run by beating the New York Yankees (3 to 1) in the ALDS. The Yankees, on the other hand, are making their 50th postseason appearance, the most all-time and almost double the second-most (Los Angeles Dodgers, 26).

Inside the Series
Detroit has won three straight against New York, but is only 2-8 in the new Yankee Stadium (since 2009).

The Tigers are 77-0 when leading entering the eighth inning and 83-0 when leading entering the ninth inning. They are the only AL team that is undefeated when leading after entering the ninth inning. The Yankees bullpen was also one of the best in the AL. They led the league in ERA (3.12), ranked second in save percentage (74.6) and were third in opponent batting average (.239).

On the Mound
Justin Verlander and CC Sabathia will face off, a rematch of Opening Day when both pitchers went six innings and allowed three runs each. New York scored three runs off Detroit’s bullpen, while Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Mariano Rivera held the Tigers scoreless. On the year, Verlander went 0-0 with a 4.50 ERA in two starts against New York. Sabathia went 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA in two starts against Detroit.

Verlander and Sabathia ranked first and second respectively in the American League in wins and strikeouts in the regular season. Verlander won 24 games (Sabathia 19) and struck out 250 batters (Sabathia 230).

Verlander, who finished second in the majors with 26 starts of at least seven IP this season, has failed to exceed six IP in any of his four career postseason starts. Sabathia is 5-1 in his last eight postseason starts, with the Yankees winning seven of those eight starts.

Getting Defensive
The Yankees ranked 12th in Defensive Runs Saved (-15) in the AL. They were hurt by their shortstop play, with -31 DRS at that position, the worst among AL teams.

The Tigers were tied for 14th in Defensive Runs Saved (-18) in the AL. Each of the four infield positions had a negative DRS, the only team in the AL to do that.

Stat of the Game
Miguel Cabrera is hitting .563 (9-for-16) with two HR and 11 RBI in his career against Sabathia. That’s his ninth-best batting average against any pitcher (min. 10 plate appearances). However, Cabrera doesn’t have a hit in 12 at-bats against lefties in his postseason career. He is hitting .321 (18-for-56) with four HR and 12 RBI against righties.

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.

The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees resume their rivalry, with a three-game series starting Tuesday at Fenway Park. The Red Sox are 10-2 against the Yankees this season. It’s the first time Boston has won at least 10 games in a season against the Yankees since 2004 (11-8).

Four of those 10 losses by the Yankees have come with CC Sabathia on the mound (Sabathia will take the ball in the opener on Tuesday). Sabathia is 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox and 17-3 with a 2.40 ERA against everybody else this season.

Why has Sabathia struggled so much against the Red Sox this season?

Left-handed batters: Red Sox lefties – Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, David Ortiz, Jacoby Ellsbury and Adrian Gonzalez - have hit .333 (16-48) with two home runs against Sabathia. All other teams’ left-handed batters have a .153 batting average with two home runs in 157 at-bats against Sabathia.

Falling behind: Sabathia fell behind more often and pitched in more hitters’ counts against the Red Sox (26 percent of batters faced) than against other teams (18 percent). As a result, he has had to rely on his fastball more often, which the Red Sox have crushed. All other teams have hit .264 against his heater, while the Red Sox batters hit .389 (21-54) in at-bats ending in the pitch.

Not fooled by his slider: The Red Sox have laid off his slider, swinging at 43 percent of those pitches overall and chasing 30 percent of them out of the zone. The rest of the league has swung at 52 percent of his sliders with a chase rate of 45 percent.

On the other side of the rivalry, Dustin Pedroia has excelled against the Yankees this season.

Pedroia, a career .313 hitter against the Yankees, is batting .439 with 10 RBI and nine walks in 11 games against them in 2011. He’s cooled off after the first two series, however. In the first seven games, he was 13-for-24 (.542), but is just 5-for-17 (.294) over the last five games in the series.

Over the last week or two, Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander has gained increasing support -– or at least motivated discussions – to be considered not only the American League Cy Young winner, but also the league’s Most Valuable Player.

The discussion certainly has a great deal of legitimacy, but then you cannot ignore the credentials of Philadelphia Phillies starter Roy Halladay to win the MVP in the National League.

Whether using traditional or advanced statistical tools, Halladay has been, at the very least, Verlander’s equal.

When looking at all-encompassing stats like Wins Above Replacement (WAR), Halladay outpaces Verlander and edges him in Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP) by a noticeable margin.

Halladay leads in both categories despite a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .317, well above his career average of .293. Conversely, Verlander has been the beneficiary of some luck, with a depressed .233 BABIP, compared to a .286 career mark.

When it comes to WAR, Halladay’s 6.9 is the highest in the National League. Verlander’s 6.3 ranks fourth in the American League.

Further, Halladay has done a better job of separating himself from other pitchers in his own league. Halladay has a 1.3-WAR gap between himself and the second-best National League pitcher, Clayton Kershaw (5.6). Verlander has just a 0.2-WAR gap between himself and the next-best pitcher in the AL, CC Sabathia (6.1).

Of course, the voters like wins, and Verlander has four more than Halladay (19-5 vs 15-5) entering play on Saturday. Pitcher wins are influenced by factors far beyond just the individual pitcher, such as run support, the timing of those runs and quality of opponents. But on that note, did you know that the Phillies have a .769 win percentage this season in games started by Halladay, while the Tigers’ mark is .714 in games started by Verlander?

A couple of pitchers combined to make baseball history Friday night and they will look to quickly forget that fact.

Carlos Zambrano and CC Sabathia each surrendered five home runs in losses for the Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees, respectively.

According to Elias, the ONLY other time in MLB history that two pitchers gave up five home runs on the same day was Sept. 21, 1996. Oakland’s Dave Telgheder and Milwaukee’s Jeff D’Amico were the victims.

Elias also tells us that Sabathia is the sixth pitcher in Yankees history to allow five homers in a game.

And then there’s Zambrano. After giving up his fifth home run, he was ejected by home plate umpire Tim Timmons for throwing inside to Chipper Jones on consecutive pitches.

He then went into the locker room and told team officials that he was retiring -- and then left the ballpark.

Zambrano is the fourth Cub to allow five homers in a game since 1920, joining Ismael Valdez (2000), Steve Stone (1974) and Warren Hacker (1954).

Dan Uggla belted two of the homers off Zambrano to extend his hitting streak to 32 games. Uggla's first home run was his 25th of the season. Only four other players in MLB history have had a 32-plus-game hitting streak and 25-or-more home runs in the same season: Rogers Hornsby in 1922, Joe DiMaggio in 1941, Tommy Holmes in 1945 and Chase Utley in 2006.

Elsewhere around the majors:

• Pablo Sandoval hit a solo homer for the Giants’ only run in their 2-1 loss to Florida. It was their 20th straight home run without anybody on base. Elias says that is the longest such streak in the divisional era (since 1969). With Arizona’s 4-3 win over the Mets, the Giants dropped two games behind the Diamondbacks.

• Ervin Santana pitched a complete game in the Angels’ 5-1 win in Toronto. Since July 1, Santana's ERA is 1.41, the second lowest in the majors over that time behind only teammate Jered Weaver (1.35). Also, Santana has 103 strikeouts on his slider this season, the second most in the majors behind Clayton Kershaw (104).

With the Red Sox prevailing 10-4 in this afternoon’s matchup against the Yankees, Boston and New York are once again tied atop the AL East standings. However, the season series has hardly been even, as the Red Sox have won nine of the first 11 matchups, outscoring the Yankees 72-44.

CC Sabathia brought a 0-3 record and 6.16 ERA into the game and both those numbers got worse, as he allowed seven earned runs in the loss.

Sabathia is the first Yankee pitcher to lose four games in a single season to the Red Sox since Pat Dobson went 1-4 in 1975. He also became the first Yankee pitcher in the Live Ball Era to allow six-or-more earned runs in three straight starts vs Boston.

Red Sox lefties teed off on Sabathia, going 5-for-11, including a three-run homer by Jacoby Ellsbury and a double by Carl Crawford. The five hits by lefty batters matches the second-most Sabathia has allowed in his career.

Ellsbury now has 19 home runs this season, one shy of matching his total in 349 career games entering 2011. Ellsbury finished with six RBI, the most runs driven in by a Red Sox leadoff batter since Ellis Burks had seven RBI on June 10, 1987 against the Orioles.

Crawford went 4-for-4 with three runs scored for his fourth four-hit game this season. Three of the four hits came off the lefty Sabathia. Entering Saturday, Crawford had just three hits in his last 24 at-bats versus lefties.

On the west coast...

The Phillies beat the Giants 2-1, as they extended their win streak to nine games and sent the Giants to their eighth loss in their last nine games.

Cole Hamels tossed his ninth career complete game and second one this season for the victory. Hamels threw first-pitch strikes to 28 of 32 batters, including 22 straight between the second and eighth innings.

Hamels continued his dominance with his changeup. The Giants went 2-for-17 in at-bats ending in the pitch, and chased 13 changeups out of the zone. Opponents are now hitting .125 against his changepiece this season, the fourth-best mark among starters.

Both the Phillies and Giants made significant trades at the deadline, with the Phillies acquiring Hunter Pence and the Giants getting Carlos Beltran, but the teams have gone in different directions since making the moves.

The Phillies are 8-0 with Pence in the lineup, and Pence is hitting .382 with two homers and seven RBI during this stretch. The Giants are 2-8 since Beltran joined the team, and Beltran is batting .244 with a .366 slugging percentage in his first 10 games with the Giants.

The story of the season has been Red Sox domination. It's the difference in the AL East race. With the Yankees traveling to Fenway Park to take on the Red Sox, it's time to break down how the season series has gone so far.

Here are some highlights about the head-to-head series:

• The Yankees will be trying to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series. That’s tied for the third-longest losing streak for the Yankees in the rivalry, behind only a nine-game streak from 2008-09 and a 17-game streak from 1911-12.

• The Yankee starters have struggled, with a 8.18 ERA in the nine games. The losers in the eight losses were mostly the pitchers upon whom they usually rely: Bartolo Colon (twice), CC Sabathia (3 times), Freddy Garcia (twice), A.J. Burnett (once).

• Sabathia is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA vs the Red Sox this year (he’s 15-2 vs everyone else). In 2010, he was 1-0 with a 3.96 ERA, and in 2009, he was 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA.

• However, the Red Sox pitchers have held them to a .208 batting average with runners in scoring position. In three of the games, they failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position (0-3 on April 10, 0-10 on May 14, 0-7 on June 9), and in another game they got just one hit (1-7 on May 13).

• The Red Sox shut down the Yankee lefties (and when their switch-hitters hit lefty). Red Sox pitchers held Yankees left-handed batters to a .207 BA.

• Yankees were shut out twice in nine games; they have been shut out just three times otherwise.

Notable Yankees mediocrity:

• Nick Swisher .188, 8 K
• Brett Gardner .167, double and triple
• Mark Teixeira .121 (4-33), 11 K, 0 XBH

Notable Red Sox standouts:

• Dustin Pedroia: .500 (15-30), 4 doubles, 8 walks
• Jacoby Ellsbury .371, 3 SB, 4 doubles
• David Ortiz .324, 3 HR, 4 doubles, 9 RBI

• We should note that Pedroia was the AL Player of the Month for July. He led the Majors with 46 hits, the most hits for a Red Sox player during July of any season since 1939, when 3 future Hall of Famers each collected more: Bobby Doerr (52), Ted Williams (48) and Jimmie Foxx (47) (Elias). Pedroia also led Major Leaguers in total bases (81), tied for first in runs (27) and extra-base hits (18), and posted the second-best AVG in the ML at .411 (112 AB).

Derek Jeter: Return to Form?

• Derek Jeter has picked it up after getting his 3,000th hit on July 9. Jeter has four career five-hit games and two of them have come within the last four weeks. His numbers since July 10 are more in line with his career numbers.

The Setup Men: David Robertson and Daniel Bard

• David Robertson has better numbers vs opposite-handed batters (LHB) than same-handed batters (RHB) this year. His .169 BA vs LHB is fourth-best among AL RHP (min. 75 batters faced), while his 43 K vs LHB are the most among RHP relievers.

• He has yet to allow a run on the road in 20 appearances (21 1/3 IP).

• He has yet to allow a HR in 42 1/3 IP (most IP of any AL reliever who hasn’t allowed a HR yet this season).

• Opponents are 1-12 (.083) with 10 K with the bases loaded.

• Daniel Bard has been more effective vs righties this season. His .117 opponent BA vs RHB is the lowest among AL pitchers (min. 75 batters faced).

• Prior to allowing three runs in his last outing on August 1, Bard had made 25 straight scoreless appearances (since May 27), spanning 26 1/3 IP. During the streak, opponents hit .125 vs him, and RHB were 3-40 (.075).

• It was the most consecutive scoreless outings in Red Sox history. It was the longest streak of scoreless IP in a single season by a Red Sox pitcher since Bob Stanley had a 27-inning streak in 1980.

• Yankees are 1-14 (.071) against him this season.

• His opponent BA w/RISP of .133 is fifth-best in AL (min. 50 batters faced).

• He’s pitched on zero days rest 18 times, tied for the most in the AL.

The Cleveland Indians' Asdrubal Cabrera entered this season with 18 home runs in 387 career games.

Following his two-HR game on Monday against the Boston Red Sox, Cabrera now has 19 this season.

His second home run came in the eighth inning off Daniel Bard, who had not allowed a run in his last 25 appearances (26.1 innings). The last time Bard gave up a run was May 23 -- an RBI double by Cabrera that gave Cleveland a 3-2 lead and eventual win.

That second home run traveled a distance of just 320 feet, making it the shortest homer hit in 2011. The previous shortest home run was 323 by Sam Fuld of the Tampa Bay Rays back on April 11.

Cabrera also became the first Indians shortstop in 60 years to hit two home runs in one game at Fenway Park. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that had last been done in July 1951 by Ray Boone, whose grandson, Aaron, was part of ESPN’s broadcasting crew for Monday night’s game.

And while Indians' Josh Tomlin didn't pitch great (10 hits, five earned runs), he did go six innings. Tomlin now has pitched at least five innings in each of his first 34 starts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only pitchers who debuted in 1900 or later with longer such streaks than Tomlin are Oscar Jones (51 straight starts from 1903-04) and George Winter (37, 1901-02).

AROUND THE REST OF MLB

Adam Dunn of the Chicago White Sox went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts against CC Sabathia, and now is hitting .039 this season against left-handed pitchers. Dunn has 18 games with at least three strikeouts this season twice as many more as Austin Jackson and Ryan Raburn of the Detroit Tigers have for second most.

Joey Votto’s double in the third inning on Monday night gave him an extra-base hit in each of his last 11 games at Minute Maid Park. The Elias Sports Bureau tells that in modern major-league history (that is, since 1900), only two other visiting players produced an extra-base hit in at least 11 consecutive games at a particular park: Jimmie Foxx in 12 straight games at Sportsman’s Park, over 1939 and 1940, and Jeff Bagwell at Candlestick (3Com) Park, from 1993 to 1995.

Derrek Lee hit two home runs in his Pirates debut on Monday night, but that was the extent of Pittsburgh’s scoring in a 5-3 loss to the Cubs. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Lee is only the second player in Pirates' history to belt two home runs in his first game with the team. The other was Shawon Dunston in September 1997, after he was traded, coincidentally, by the Cubs.

CC Sabathia bolstered his case for the AL Cy Young Award with another gem on Tuesday night. He struck out a career-best 14 batters while allowing just one hit in seven innings, as the New York Yankees sent the Seattle Mariners to their 17th straight loss.

Sabathia took a perfect game into the seventh inning before Brendan Ryan broke it up with a one-out single. It was the longest perfect bid by a Yankee since Andy Pettitte went 6⅔ innings in 2009.

Sabathia also struck out seven straight Mariners, the longest streak by a Yankee since Ron Davis set down eight in a row on May 4, 1981. Sabathia’s 14 strikeouts are tied for the fourth-most by a Yankee left-hander, the most since David Wells had a 16-strikeout game in 1997.

Sabathia’s pitching line of 14 strikeouts and one hit allowed has been duplicated by just four other left-handers in the Live Ball Era. Randy Johnson had six such games, while Steve Carlton (1972), Sandy Koufax (1965) and Warren Spahn (1960) also did it.

The Mariners extend their franchise-record losing streak to 17 games, the longest since the Royals dropped 19 in a row in 2005. They struck out 18 times, tied for the second-most strikeouts in a game in team history, and got just one hit on the night.

Only one other team in the Live Ball Era has struck out at least 18 times with one hit or fewer: in 1998, the Chicago Cubs Kerry Wood tossed 20-strikeout, one-hit shutout against the Houston Astros on May 6, 1998.

Around the Diamond
•  Vance Worley allowed two runs for his first career complete game. He snapped his streak of six straight starts with five-or-more innings pitched and one earned run or fewer allowed, which was tied for the longest by a Philadelphia Phillies starter since earned runs became official in 1913.

Worley didn’t get a swing-and-miss during his complete game, the first pitcher since Steve Trachsel on May 28, 2007 to throw a complete game without getting a swing and miss.

• Jered Weaver tossed seven innings of one-run ball, extending his streak of quality starts to 13. He’s now tied with Hall-of-Famer Bert Blyleven for the second-longest such streak in Angels history.

•  Joe Nathan recorded his 254th career save, tying Rick Aguilera for the most in Twins franchise history.

•  Justin Verlander allowed two homers in a game for the third time this season. It’s the seventh time the Chicago White Sox have taken him deep twice in a game during his career, the most multi-homer games against him by any team. Only three other teams (Oakland Athletics, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays) have even had two such games.

•  One of those home runs was by Adam Dunn after he was down in the count 0-2. It was his first home run - and only second hit this season - after being down in the count 0-2. Prior to that at-bat, Dunn was 1-for-74 (.014) with 50 strikeouts after being down 0-2.

•  Dustin Pedroia extended his hit streak to 23 games, tied with Del Pratt in 1922 for the longest by a Boston Red Sox second baseman in the Live Ball Era.

Thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau and Baseball-Reference.com for providing many of the notes