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Baseball’s 16th season of interleague play is under way with celebrations of natural rivalries -- Cubs against White Sox, Orioles against Nationals, A’s against Giants among others -- and in one instance a chance for National League fans to get a load of Josh Hamilton.

The Texas Rangers will travel down I-45 and give Houston Astros fans a look at baseball’s hottest hitter.

Hamilton already has the second-highest career batting average in interleague games, but also comes into this series on a historic tear.

Hamilton’s 16-game hit streak came to an end on Thursday when his day off ended early against Oakland. He pinch-hit and ended up 0-for-2 in a loss to the Athletics, but Hamilton still leads the American League in home runs, RBIs and batting average.

Hamilton’s hitting streak included a week, from May 7-13, that might have been as impressive as any in history.

He hit .467 with nine home runs and 18 RBI and an OPS of 1.963. His week included the 16th four-home run game in baseball history, and his nine home runs for the week matched the combined total hit that week by last season’s nine leading home run hitters: Jose Bautista 3, Curtis Granderson 2, Giancarlo Stanton 2, Dan Uggla 1 and Prince Fielder 1.

Texas and Houston meet each season in home-and-home series in interleague play (competing for the Silver Boot trophy), so the Astros have experienced Hamilton’s bat. Over the past three seasons against Houston pitching, Hamilton is 26-for-65 (.400) with four home runs and 13 RBI.

The Los Angeles Dodgers placed Matt Kemp on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring after Monday night's game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Kemp's absence will certainly be felt offensively.

Kemp saw his MLB-leading active streak of 399 games played come to an end Monday, and while his production decreased this month, his early-season performance was impressive. His 12 home runs by April 30th were the fifth-most in MLB history, and according to Elias, was just the third player since 1920 (when RBI became official) to hit .400 with 10+ HR and 25+ RBI in April (excluding any March games).

Without Kemp, the Dodgers also lose one of the best high-ball hitters in baseball. Kemp is 11-for-21 (.524) against high pitches in 2012, tied with Ryan Sweeney for the best batting average on such pitches in baseball entering Tuesday.

For all of these reasons and more, Kemp has been one of the most valuable position players in baseball over the last two seasons. Using the Baseball Reference metric “Wins Above Replacement,” Kemp is second in the National League and fourth in Major League Baseball in WAR since the start of the 2011 season. Only Dustin Pedroia, Ben Zobrist and Ryan Braun have a higher WAR than Kemp in that span.

Kemp, however, did see his production trail off drastically in May. During this month, Kemp was batting just .212 in 11 games and had not gone deep. The difference has primarily come against the fastball. During April, Kemp batted .465 against the heater with nine home runs. In May, that average dipped to .250. His strikeout percentage against the fastball also jumped significantly, increasing from 11.3 percent in April to 28.6 percent in May.

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

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


1. BLACKHAWKS SCORING LATE: The Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3, in overtime. FROM ELIAS: This is the first time in NHL playoff history that a team has scored the game-tying goal with 15 or fewer seconds left in regulation in consecutive games. The Blackhawks forced OT in Game 1 when Brent Seabrook scored a goal with 15 seconds left (Coyotes won game in OT).

2. SPURS, CELTICS CLINCH: Two NBA clinchings took place on Saturday. The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Phoenix Suns, 105-91, and clinched their 18th division title over the last 35 years. The Boston Celtics defeated the New Jersey Nets, 94-82, to secure their fifth straight playoff appearance. Prior to the start of the Pierce/Garnett/Allen era (2007-08), the Celtics had just four playoff appearances in the previous 12 seasons.

3. TURNING ON THE POWER: FROM ELIAS: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz, Mike Aviles, and Cody Ross all homered at Fenway Park in the Boston Red Sox' 13-5 romp over the Tampa Bay Rays. It was only the third time that a team managed by Bobby Valentine hit five home runs in a home game. It happened previously at Arlington Stadium (Sept. 20, 1985 against the Mariners) and Shea Stadium (June 26, 2000 versus the Marlins).

4. LIGHTNING QUICK: Greg Biffle won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway. The race was run at a blistering pace. It set track records for fewest cautions (two), fewest caution laps (10), and average speed (160.575 MPH). The previous track record for average speed was 152.7 MPH (about 8 MPH slower).

5. WILSON OUT: Giants closer Brian Wilson will likely miss the remainder of the season. Wilson has “structural issues” in his right elbow. Wilson’s 164 saves since 2008 are the most in Major League Baseball. Mariano Rivera is second with 162.

Evan Longoria had a heck of a season for a guy who finished the year with a .244 batting average for the Tampa Bay Rays. The Boston Red Sox may have collapsed, but Longoria was as responsible for carrying his team as any player has been all season.

Longoria’s second home run of the game Wednesday night – a walk-off with one out in the 12th inning against the New York Yankees that gave Tampa an 8-7 win and the AL Wild Card berth – was his fourth career walk-off HR and second of this season. Longoria's HR is the sixth game-ending HR in MLB history which clinched a postseason berth, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Here’s a closer look Longoria’s 2011 season:

• All 31 of his HR hit came with the score tied, or within four runs, one way or the other.

• The last 10 home runs he hit during the regular season either tied a game, gave the Rays a lead, extended a lead of one or two runs, or cut a deficit to a run.

• Longoria had four home runs in the eighth inning or later that either tied a game or put the Rays ahead. Only two players in MLB had more -- Jose Bautista with six, and Jay Bruce with five.

• In the two-week stretch from September 15 to the end of the season, Longoria faced a two-strike situation 32 times. He reached nine times via hit and seven times via walk, giving him a two-strike on-base percentage of .500 (MLB average for the season was .247). He also reached base via error once.

• Despite missing 29 games, Longoria entered the final day of the season fifth in the major leagues in Defensive Runs Saved among third basemen with 12.

A chronology of some of Longoria's biggest moments down the stretch:

September 15-18 - Longoria was 6-for-15 with two home runs and seven RBI as the Rays won three of four games in Fenway Park from the Red Sox. In the game the Rays lost, Longoria homered, singled, walked twice, and made an amazing catch on a Dustin Pedroia line drive that turned into a double play in the seventh inning, with the Rays down a run.

September 27 - With the Rays down 3-2 in the sixth inning against the Yankees, and the bases loaded with nobody out, Longoria starts a 5-4-3 triple play to get the Rays out of a jam.

Then, in the seventh inning, facing an 0-2 count, Longoria fouls off three pitches (including two well out of the strike zone) and works out a walk from Rafael Soriano. The next batter, Matt Joyce, hits a home run that propels the Rays to a 5-3 win.

September 28 - Longoria helps the Rays rally from a 7-0 deficit. He hits a three-run home run to cut the lead to 7-6 in the eighth inning. Then, he hits a walk-off home run to win the game and clinch the wild card in the 12th inning.

October is fast approaching and baseball fans are lamenting the lack of pennant races. But many of those teams with their tickets virtually punched for the postseason are facing a race to get some key contributors healthy.

Entering Friday’s action, there are nine teams either leading a race for a playoff spot or within five games of one of those spots.

Among those, the Boston Red Sox have had the most 2011 contributors hit the disabled list this season with 16.

The Red Sox have the depth and star power to overcome those losses to make a playoff berth likely.

The AL has six players with a WAR above six this season and the Red Sox have three of them: Jacoby Ellsbury (8.2), Dustin Pedroia (6.9) and Adrian Gonzalez (6.1). They went 12-2 without Jon Lester in July.

But things have been rough lately without Kevin Youkilis. The third baseman was placed on the 15-day DL on August 18 and has been undergoing tests on his sore left hip. Late reports out of Boston indicate that Youkilis has bursitis in the hip and could rejoin the team this weekend.

In the meantime the Sox have gone 11-11 and seen their wild card lead over the Tampa Bay Rays shrink from eight to five and a half after Friday’s loss.

Of course not all injuries are created equal.

For example, the Texas Rangers’ missed-games total this season is 636, within a dozen of the other more “injury-prone” teams like Boston, the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies.

However, only 113 of those games have been missed by players ever named to an All-Star Game. The biggest suppliers of that 636 total are Scott Feldman (92 games), Tommy Hunter (82), Darren O’Day (60) and Eric Hurley (57).

The likely playoff team with the most combined games missed due to DL stints this season is the Philadelphia Phillies, which makes their MLB-best 93-48 record all the more impressive.

Pitching has been the source of both the team’s strength and injury woes so far. Consider how the Cy Young cases of Roy Halladay (MLB-best among pitchers 7.4 WAR) and Cliff Lee (5.9), along with the emergence of rookie Vance Worley, helped Philly go 62-36 without closer Brad Lidge and 31-16 without Roy Oswalt.

Nick Loucks and Kim Meyer contributed to this story.

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.

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.

Mike Stanton’s 24 home runs this season are well behind Jose Bautista for the MLB lead and a good distance away from Lance Berkman for the NL lead.
But Stanton still has a claim as the man who mashes the most.

Why? Because Stanton has hit 20 home runs this season that went at least 400 feet. That’s not just the most in the majors, it’s three more than anyone else in the league.

Doing the math tells us that 83.3 percent of Stanton’s home runs this season have gone longer than 400 feet. He averages 414.7 feet per homer this season; only Justin Upton (425.6) has a longer average distance.
But home runs don’t just travel far, they travel high as well – and that’s what Vlad Guerrero did against the Blue Jays. Guerrero’s moonshot reached 149 feet at its apex – the second-highest home run this season. Only Adam Dunn’s 150-footer scraped more sky.

Of course, high doesn’t always mean far. Despite its height, Guerrero’s home run had a distance of just 351 feet. In fact, none of the five tallest homers this season have even traveled a distance of 375 feet.

AROUND THE DIAMOND

-Emilio Bonifacio (26 straight games) and Dustin Pedroia (25) both extended their streaks. The last time MLB had concurrent 25-game hit streaks was September 29, 2005. Jimmy Rollins was sitting on 33 games and Michael Young was at 25. Young broke his streak the next day with an 0-for-4 against the Angels.

-On the other end of the spectrum, Craig Counsell is in an 0-for-41 slump for the Brewers. Elias says that his 41 straight AB without a hit is the longest streak in Brewers history, breaking the record of 38 owned by Greg Vaughn in 1990. It’s also the longest by any player for any team since Todd Zeile went 0-for-44 over the 1996-97 seasons.

-For the first time in team history, the Mets swept a four-game road series from the Reds. The Mets recorded their 32nd road win of the season – already matching their total from last season.

-Josh Beckett had never allowed a home run to the Royals despite tossing 55.2 innings against them in his career. He had also never lost to the Royals – a 6-0 record and 2.26 ERA against them. Both of those changed when Billy Butler homered in the fourth inning and the Royals won 4-3.

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

Sunday Night Baseball turned into Monday Morning Baseball as the Boston Red Sox defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 1-0 in 16 innings. This marked just the fourth game since 1990 to last 16 or more innings with only one run being scored.

It was the longest 1-0 game in Red Sox history (by inning) and the second-longest scoreless inning game in Red Sox history (longest was July 14, 1916, a 17-inning scoreless tie against the St. Louis Browns).

It matched the longest game in Rays history by innings, a 9-8 loss in 16 innings on April 1, 2003, also at home to the Red Sox.

One of the more remarkable things from Sunday night's game is neither pitching staff allowed more than five hits in the 16 innings pitched.

Before that only one team had pitched 16 or more innings and allowed five hits or fewer in the Divisional Era (since 1969).

Dustin Pedroia matched the Rays himself with three hits. He went 3-for-7, while the rest of the Red Sox players were 2-for-45.

In charge of shutting Tampa Bay down was Josh Beckett. He allowed just one hit in eight innings of work, after throwing a one-hit shutout in his last appearance against the Rays.

Beckett is the second pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) with consecutive starts against an opponent in which he went at least eight innings and allowed no more than one combined hit and walk in each.

As good as Beckett was, Jeff Niemann of the Rays matched him allowing just two hits in eight innings, while striking out 10 batters.

According to Game Score -- a metric devised by Bill James assigning a pitcher points using innings pitched, strikeouts, hits, walks, and runs -- Beckett and Niemann each had a Game Score of 86. This was arguably the best pitchers duel in 2011 as their combined Game Score of 172 was the highest by two pitchers in the same game this season.

It was the highest combined Game Score by opposing starters since July 10, 2010, when Travis Wood (93) and Roy Halladay (85) combined for 178 in a game the Phillies won 1-0 in 11 innings.

Beckett had success keeping the ball away from Rays hitters. Fifty-five of Beckett's 106 pitches were on the outer third of the plate or further outside, the highest percentage for Beckett this season. He got 13 outs in at-bats ending on those pitches, his highest total of the season.

Niemann got Red Sox hitters to expand their strike zone. Hitters swung at 38 percent of Niemann's pitches out the zone, his second highest in a start this season. Ten of his career-best 14 swings and misses and seven of his career-best 10 strikeouts came on pitches out of the zone.

The teams played another eight innings once the starters were taken out, with the total game time lasting 5 hours and 44 minutes. It was the second-longest game this season in terms of time played, with only the Reds-Phillies game on May 25 that lasted over six hours besting it. Coincidentally, both games were played on ESPN.

(The New York Yankees host the Boston Red Sox, Wednesday at 7 ET on ESPN.)

The Red Sox are 6-1 against the Yankees in 2011, but recent history suggests that by the end of the season this series will balance itself out. The season series each of the last three seasons has been split 9-9. (In 2009, Boston won the first eight games. Last season New York won five of the first seven.)

Recent history also suggests that Yankees' starter A.J. Burnett will struggle, which is somewhat odd since he dominated the Red Sox before signing with the Yankees.

As a member of the Toronto Blue Jays from 2006-08, Burnett was 5-0 with a 2.56 ERA against the Red Sox. With the Yankees, Burnett is is 0-3 with an 8.33 ERA. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that's the highest ERA for any pitcher who’s thrown at least 25 innings against the Red Sox over the last three seasons.

One player who has given Burnett problems is Dustin Pedroia. He has a .475 on-base percentage against Burnett, thanks largely to 10 walks in 40 plate appearances. Pedroia is part of an interesting group of hitters who have had great success reaching base against Burnett. His .475 OBP against Burnett is comparable to Justin Morneau (.481), Joe Mauer (.478) and Ichiro Suzuki (.478).

On Tuesday, Alex Rodriguez struck out to end the game, the 13th time as a member of the Yankees that he’s ended a game by striking out. Tim Wakefield is on the mound Wednesday for the Red Sox, and the only player he’s struck out more than Rodriguez (20 times), is Jason Giambi (21).

Rodriguez also has hit seven home runs off Wakefield. One tonight would tie him for the most home runs he’s hit off one pitcher in his career. (Rodriguez has eight career HR against Ramon Ortiz, David Wells and teammate Bartolo Colon.)

If Rodriguez -- or any other Yankee -- strikes out against Wakefield, don’t expect it to be on a “fastball.” Batters have swung at 11 of Wakefield’s 33 fastballs this season and have made contact each time.

Also, expect a right-handed dominant lineup for the Yankees. Left-handed batters are hitting .179 (12-67) this season against Wakefield. Righties are hitting .289 (28-97), and all six of Wakefield’s home runs this season have been hit by right-handed batters.

As for Derek Jeter, he’s 12 hits from 3,000. He's a career .287 hitter against Wakefield (31-108), but is hitless in his last nine at-bats against the knuckleballer. His last hit was a single on Aug. 26, 2008

The Yankees have relied heavily on home runs to score this season. Almost 50 percent (49.5) of their runs have been scored off home runs, by far the highest percentage in the league. The Brewers are second at 39.3. Why is this important? Of the last 10 teams (2001-10) to lead the league in this statistic, only two made the playoffs (2008 Chicago White Sox, 2009 Philadelphia Phillies) and neither won the World Series.

After scoring only 14 runs combined in four games entering Wednesday's contest with the Cleveland Indians, the Boston Red Sox have now hammered out 14 runs in each of their last two games, with Thursday's victim being the Detroit Tigers.

This marked the eighth time since 1919 that Boston scored at least 14 runs in back-to-back games, and first time since July of 1998.

Much to the relief of Red Sox fans, at the forefront of this offensive outburst is Carl Crawford, who had two triples as part of his second straight four-hit game. He's just the fourth different Red Sox player (joining Dustin Pedroia, Jim Rice and Wade Boggs, who did it three different times) with consecutive four-hit games in the divisional era.

Crawford's also the first Red Sox player with at least four hits and at least two extra-base hits in consecutive games since Del Pratt did it in back-to-back games on August 23-24, 1921.

In the last two games alone Crawford has raised his average from .212 to .244 and seen his slugging percentage jump from .293 to .368 during that same stretch.

While all the talk following the game centered on Boston's offense, entering Thursday's contest the buzz surrounded the man tasked with shutting it down. Heading into the game, Max Scherzer was 3-0 in five home starts with a 0.77 ERA, the lowest ERA for a Tigers pitcher in his first five home starts of a season since 1945, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Scherzer's home ERA is now 2.43 following the Tigers' 14-1 loss to the Red Sox.

Scherezer faced three batters in the second inning without recording an out before exiting. Almost all the damage was done by the seven left-handed hitters in Boston's lineup. Nine of the 15 batters Scherzer faced reached base, and six of the seven hits he allowed were to left-handed batters.

Elsewhere around the majors:

• After using eight different relief pitchers on Wednesday in their 19-inning win over the Cincinnati Reds, Cliff Lee gave the Philadelphia Phillies bullpen a much-needed day off, throwing eight innings. But it was his bat that contributed almost as much as his arm. Cliff Lee had two hits and three RBI, without the benefit of a home run. He's just the fifth Phillies pitcher since Divisional Play began in 1969 to do that.

Jay Bruce did hit a two-run home run off Lee. It was Bruce's 10th home run in the month of May, currently tied with Jose Bautista for the most in the month of May.

• The Florida Marlins defeated the San Francisco Giants 1-0 behind Anibal Sanchez who pitched the third shutout of his career. It marked just the fifth time in franchise history that a pitcher threw a 1-0 shutout. Sanchez has allowed zero earned runs in four of his last seven starts.

As for the Giants, their first game without Buster Posey displayed their offensive deficiencies that could prevent them from reaching the playoffs. According to 10,000 simulations done by Accuscore.com, the injury dropped the Giants' chances of making the playoffs to 44.4 percent if he is out for the entire season.

On May 13, 2007, Dustin Pedroia was hitting . 247 with seven extra-base hits. The rest of the season, he hit .330 with 41 extra-base hits and was named the 2007 American League Rookie of the Year.

Heading to Yankee Stadium on Friday the 13th, Pedroia finds himself hitting just .237 with seven extra-base hits, and already is more than halfway to his highest strikeout total in a season.

So, where have the holes been in the 2008 American League MVP's swing?

For a player who has never struck out more than 52 times in a season, Pedroia’s currently striking out at a rate that’s close to the league average (16.9 vs 17.6). In 139 at-bats, he's struck out 28 times.

His miss percentage is just above the league average at 20.7; however, last season his miss percentage was 11 percent and in 2009 it was 7.5.

As for what Pedroia’s missing, it's fastballs -- especially those thrown inside. In 2009 and 2010, pitchers paid dearly if they threw Pedroia a fastball inside. He hit .342 in 2009, and .477 with a 1.755 OPS in 2010 on inside heat.

This season, the inside fastball has gotten the best of Pedroia -- .176 (6-for-34) with a .628 OPS. As a result, his miss percentage against inside fastballs has climbed considerably, from 7.7 percent in 2009, to 10.5 percent last season and 19.7 percent this year.

Another area where Pedroia has struggled is when pitchers have been able to get ahead of him. Before this season, Pedroia had been one of the best hitters when behind in the count. In 2011, his average in those situations has dropped by more than 100 points: from .272 in 2010 to .171 this season.

Perhaps a trip to Yankee Stadium is what Pedroia needs. He’s 9-for-13 this season against the Yankees with four of his seven extra-base hits coming against New York.

Today’s Trivia: Monday is the 50th anniversary of the first game in Los Angeles Angels history. Can you name the two players with the most games played for the Angels who never made an appearance for another franchise?

After beating the New York Yankees Sunday on ESPN, the Boston Red Sox will try and win two in a row for the first time this season when they host the Tampa Bay Rays at 7 ET on ESPN.

Jeremy Hellickson will face Daisuke Matsuzaka in tonight's game. Hitters leading off an inning are just 6-for-41 (.146) with a walk against Hellickson, including 0-for-6 in his first start of the season. Compare that to Matsuzaka, who allows leadoff hitters to reach base 36 percent of the time.

Offensively, the Rays are struggling and have received very little production from the position once manned by Carlos Pena. Since the start of last season, Rays first basemen are hitting just .186. They hit .194 in 2009, but at least they drew 109 walks. This year, in nine games, their first basemen have drawn none.

With three straight three-hit games, Dustin Pedroia is one player who's swinging a hot bat for Boston. Only four Red Sox in the last 50 years have had at least three hits in four straight games: 2005 Edgar Renteria; 1992 Jody Reed; 1984 Wade Boggs; and 1974 Carlton Fisk.

Elsewhere around MLB:
• The Florida Marlins' Chris Coghlan didn’t record his first extra-base hit until his 104th at-bat of 2010. Despite hitting just .200 this season, he’s tied for the National League lead with five doubles.

• Prince Fielder is 10-for-16 (.625) in two-strike counts, and 4-for-19 (.211) in all other situations. Last season, Fielder hit .182 in two-strike counts.

• A big reason behind Jorge Posada’s .138 batting average? He has a .059 batting average on balls in play (BABIP). Last season the league average was .300.

• Jonny Gomes leads the majors with 12 walks, almost one-third his season total from 2010 (39). He picked up his 12th walk last season on May 28.

• Cleveland's Asdrubal Cabrera already has four game-winning RBI, two fewer than in 2010.

• The Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki is 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and 6-for-18 in all other situations.

• Opponents are a combined 0-22 against Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum with runners in scoring position.

Trivia Answer: Tim Salmon (1,672) and Gary DiSarcina (1,086) have played the most games for the Angels without appearing for another franchise.

-- Mark Simon contributed to this report