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Craig Kimbrel closed out Atlanta's 1-0 victory against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday for his 37th save of the season, setting the NL rookie single-season save record in the process.

The 23-year-old Kimbrel moved out of a tie with Todd Worrell, who saved 36 games as a rookie for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1986. Kimbrel is now three saves shy of tying the MLB rookie record for saves in a season, a mark currently held by Rangers closer Neftali Feliz, who set the record last season.

The NL Rookie of the Year candidate has been one of many Braves, younger than the age of 25, to have significant impact this season.

Some impact has been recent, as was the case for Thursday's starting pitcher Mike Minor. The 23-year-old Minor, who's been up and down from the minors, struck out a season-high nine in six innings against and improved to 3-2 this season.

Despite the 3-2 mark, the Braves are actually 7-2 in Minor's starts this season, winning in his past six starts in a streak dating back to June 11.

Over the course of this season, fellow starter Brandon Beachy has had more of an impact on the Braves' rotation.

The 24-year-old Beachy is 5-2 with a 3.43 ERA in 18 starts this season. Beachy has been a regular in the rotation since June 22, going 4-1 in 10 starts in that span.

Beachy has averaged 9.9 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched, the best mark by a Braves starter this season. Combine that with a 3.65:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Beachy has been a solid contributor in the Braves rotation.

At the plate, a pair of lefties have been mainstays in the Braves lineup. While one has pushed his teammate in the NL Rookie of the Year race, the other has been mired in a sophomore slump.

Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman, 21, has batted .293 this season with 16 HR and 60 RBI and leads rookies with an .820 OPS. He also enjoyed a 20-game hit streak that ended August 7. The streak was the second-longest by a Braves rookie in team history, topped only by Alvin Dark's 23-game streak in 1948.

Freeman has batted .338 since the All-Star Break, compared to .274 before it.

As Freeman has thrived, 22-year-old right fielder Jason Heyward has struggled in his sophomore campaign. As of Thursday, Heyward has batted .220/.313/.392 this season is in stark contrast to the .277/.393/.456 he posted his rookie season.

But even with the disappointing season from Heyward, the Braves' future -- both in the short- and long-term -- still appears promising.

The Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds play the rubber game of their three-game series at Great American Ballpark at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday Night Baseball on ESPN.


Last night, the Reds pulled away late, scoring seven runs in the seventh inning en route to a 11-2 win. The Elias Sports Bureau reports that the victory marked the first time they beat the Braves by at least nine runs since routing Atlanta by a score of 13-1 on July 28, 1998, at Cinergy Field. The two teams met 93 times since then, prior to Saturday.

Following their win Saturday, the Reds will be trying to win consecutive games for the first time since a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 13-15.

With the loss, the Braves currently trail the Philadelphia Phillies in the standings by five games, the farthest they've been behind since June 26. After going 17-9 in June, they are just 12-7 in July and 5-4 since the break.

On the mound

Brandon Beachy takes the mound for the Braves, making his first start versus the Reds and just his 17th career start in the majors. Beachy struggled in his last outing, allowing a career-high six runs against the Rockies on July 19.

Beachy has been more effective against righties this year, limiting them to a .221 batting average and .651 OPS, compared to a .280 batting average and .836 OPS against lefties.

The slider has been his primary out pitch versus righties, and it's been a good one, as right-handed batters are just 7-for-44 (.159) with 19 strikeouts in at-bats ending in the pitch.

Against lefties, he’ll mostly use two offspeed pitches – a changeup and a curveball – but he hasn’t had much success with either. Left-handed batters are hitting over .300 (13-for-43) in at-bats ending in those two pitches.

Dontrelle Willis is making his third start this season for the Reds. The team has lost both of his previous starts, scoring just three runs combined in those games, while Willis has allowed four runs in 10.2 innings.

The key stat to watch for Willis is his walks and strikeouts. Though it’s early, his 9-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio is encouraging, considering that he hasn’t finished a season with more strikeouts than walks since 2007.

Though his rate of four walks per nine innings is still below the league average, it is less than half of what he produced in his previous three seasons, when he was walking nearly a batter per inning pitched.

Who's hot, who's not
Though Brian McCann was hitless in four at-bats Saturday, he's had a history of success against the Reds. McCann is hitting .340 and slugging .681 against them in his career, including 13-for-32 (.406) over the past two seasons.

Jason Heyward has struggled against lefty pitching this year, with a .167 batting average. After getting six hits in his first 19 at-bats (.316) versus southpaws, he’s hitting just .119 (7-for-59) against them since late April.

Sunday night slump

The Reds will try to snap a dubious streak when they take the field tonight, having lost their last seven games on Sunday Night Baseball. Their last win in the Sunday spotlight came on Aug. 13, 2000, a 3-0 win at the Cubs.

-- Katie Sharp and Mark Malzewski contributed

Back-to-back home runs by Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez in the top of the first inning were only the start of the action at the Great American Ball Park on Opening Day. Even after Weeks and Gomez made the Milwaukee Brewers the first team to start a season with consecutive home runs since the 1969 Cincinnati Reds, there was still plenty of history to be made Thursday.

Trailing 6-3 entering the bottom of the ninth, Ramon Hernandez’s third career walk-off home run capped the Reds four-run rally and gave Cincinnati its third straight win over the Brewers. The Elias Sports Bureau says Hernandez is the first catcher with a walk-off homer in his team’s first game of the season since Gary Carter’s solo home run in the bottom of the 10th inning gave the New York Mets a 6-5 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on April 9, 1985.

Late rallies are nothing new to the Reds, who finished third in the majors with 45 come-from-behind wins in 2010. But even the biggest Reds fan couldn’t have been confident entering the bottom of the ninth facing a three-run deficit. Historical data shows that teams trailing by three runs entering the bottom of the ninth inning win only 5.4% of the time. Don’t tell that to the Reds, who are now 1-0 for the first time since 2007.

Elsewhere in the majors Thursday:

• Albert Pujols’ 2011 season got off to the worst start possible as he went 0-5 and grounded into a career-high three double plays against the San Diego Padres. Pujols is the first player in MLB history to ground into three double plays on Opening Day, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. He’s also the first player to go 0-5 with three or more GIDP in any game since Miguel Tejada on September 10, 2009.

• The New York Yankees won their 11th straight Opening Day game when playing at home, a streak that dates back to 1986. That ties an MLB record also held by the New York Mets, who won 11 straight Opening Day games at home from 1971-89.

• Jason Heyward became the second player ever to homer on Opening Day in each of his first two seasons as the Atlanta Braves blanked the Washington Nationals 2-0. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us Heyward joined Kaz Matsui, who did it in 2004 and 2005.

The first six of the 2,430 scheduled MLB games this season will be played on Thursday. Here’s one thing you need to know about each:

Detroit Tigers at New York Yankees, 1 ET on ESPN
The Yankees have won the last 10 times they have played an Opening Day game at home. Their last loss was in 1982 vs the Chicago White Sox, when Ron LeFlore’s single in the top of the 12th provided Chicago’s margin of victory. The only team in MLB history to have a longer win streak in Opening Day games played at home is the New York Mets 11-game streak from 1971-89.

Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals, 1:05 ET
Hopefully the Nationals pitching staff has an easier time with the Braves lineup than the Chicago Cubs did on Opening Day last season. Atlanta blasted the Cubs 16-5 on Opening Day last year behind five RBI from Yunel Escobar and four from Jason Heyward. The Braves 16 runs tied the most scored by a team on Opening Day over the last 30 seasons.

Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds, 2:10 ET
Which team will draw first blood in what could be the most competitive division in the majors in 2011? AccuScore ran 10,000 computer simulations of the 2011 season, with the Reds coming out on top of the NL Central 37.7% of the time. But Cincinnati just edged out the Cardinals (29.2%) and Brewers (26.1%) in the only division that had three different teams win the division in more than 25% of simulations.

Los Angeles Angels at Kansas City Royals, 4:10 ET
The Royals will look to get 2011 started on the right foot against the Angels, but history is not on Kansas City’s side. Among current MLB franchises, the Royals have the worst winning percentage on Opening Day (35.7%) of any club. Kansas City is 15-27 all-time in its first game of the season.

San Diego Padres at St. Louis Cardinals, 4 ET on ESPN
Will Albert Pujols again own Opening Day? Last year against the Reds, Pujols homered twice, recorded four hits and scored four runs in the Cardinals 11-6 win on Opening Day. He became the third player in MLB history with two HR, four hits and four runs in a team’s opener, joining Dmitri Young (2005) and Xavier Nady (2008). Pujols is one of seven players in the live-ball era (since 1920) with two games with two home runs on Opening Day. The others are Adam Dunn, Juan Gonzalez, Eddie Mathews, Raul Mondesi, Xavier Nady and Joe Torre.

San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers, 8 ET on ESPN
The Giants road to a repeat starts tonight in Los Angeles. The odds are against San Francisco. Only three NL teams have repeated as World Series champions, and just one in the last 85 years (1975-76 Reds). The Giants won the World Series in 7.6% of AccuScore’s simulations of the 2011 season, trailing only the Phillies (15.7%), Red Sox (10.7%) and Rangers (8.0).

There’s plenty to watch with the Detroit Tigers taking on the Atlanta Braves in ESPN’s first spring training telecast Thursday at 1 ET. Here’s a closer look at a couple of interesting storylines the new announcing team of Dan Shulman, Bobby Valentine and Orel Hershiser will be watching.

Chipper and changeups
One point of focus for Chipper Jones will be his performance against the slow stuff located away. Our Inside Edge video scouting data showed that Jones hit just .136 last season in at-bats that ended on a breaking ball or changeup on the outer part of the plate or beyond. That’s down significantly from .358 in 2008, and .274 in 2009.

Jones’ biggest bugaboo was the changeup away. It wasn’t that he was missing on these swings at an exorbitant rate (last season he was just above the major league average), but Jones wasn’t able to hit the ball hard when he made contact. All of our data sources indicate that Jones hit line drives and hard-hit balls at a rate well below the league average. When Jones did, he didn’t get hits. Jones was just 5-for-35 (.143) when making any sort of contact with a changeup away. The league average was .280 when making contact with those pitches.

Jones, who’s returning from a torn ACL, has missed 253 games over the past six seasons. Since 2005, the Braves are 375-344 with Jones in the lineup, and 127-126 when he does not play. Last season, Atlanta was 15 games over .500 (55-40) when he played.
-- Katie Sharp, Mark Simon, Douglas Clawson

Can the kid close?
Hershiser is picking Atlanta's flamethrowing rookie Craig Kimbrel as his National League Rookie of the Year. Even though Kimbrel isn’t pitching today, expect his name to be mentioned during the telecast.

Kimbrel’s strikeout rate (17.4 per 9 innings) isn’t the only amazing statistic. In 171⅔ professional regular-season innings, the youngster with a 95-mph fastball has yielded just five home runs (none in the majors). In his last 16⅔ innings, combining regular season and postseason, Kimbrel has not allowed an extra-base hit.

Something to watch with Kimbrel is whether he can get ahead in the count. Kimbrel threw first-pitch strikes only 43 percent of the time last season. That was the worst rate for those who threw at least 350 pitches. Kimbrel's first-pitch strike rate was just 36.6 percent in his first eight appearances. His rate improved to 55 percent over his final 13 regular-season appearances and four postseason outings.

This wouldn't be the first time the Braves went with an inexperienced closer. They did so multiple times during the 1990s, most notably in 1993 (Greg McMichael, 19 saves, 2.06 ERA), 1998 (Kerry Ligtenberg, 30 saves, 2.71 ERA) and 1999 (John Rocker, 38 saves, 2.71 ERA).
-- Katie Sharp, Jeremy Lundblad, Zach Singer

Stat of the day
A quick search of the Baseball-Reference.com Play Index shows that Freddie Freeman and Jason Heyward have a chance to be the second pair of teammates since 1900 to have an OPS of .700 or better in their “age-21-or-younger” season (age computed as of June 30). The only teammates who did that were Gary Carter and Larry Parrish in 1975 with the Montreal Expos.

Coincidentally, Parrish is in his first season as the Braves' hitting coach.
-- Ben Duronio

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey, fresh off a World Series championship, was named National League Rookie of the Year Tuesday, beating Atlanta Braves rightfielder Jason Heyward.

Posey was tied with Heyward for fifth among NL rookies with 18 home runs, and was fourth with 67 RBI in just 108 games. He finished first with a .305 batting average and a .505 slugging percentage and ran the best pitching staff in the major leagues.

Posey is the sixth Giant to win the NL Rookie of the Year, a list that includes three Hall of Famers. He is also the fifth San Francisco Giants rookie to finish the season with a .300 batting average and double-digit home runs.

Three of the other four also won the award, and the other lost out to his teammate who accomplished the same feat in the same season.

Heyward had one of the best seasons for a player as young as he is (he turned 21 during the season) in a long time. While Posey has a significant edge on Jason Heyward in both batting average and slugging percentage, there is one next-level metric in which Heyward has a decisive edge.

Win Probability Added measures the value of every plate appearance during a given season, and how much it contributes to a team’s chances to win. For example, in a tie game, with no one on base and one out in the top of the ninth inning, a player hits a go-ahead home run.

He took his team’s chance of winning (based on historical data) from 43 percent to 80 percent, so he gets a credit of 37 percent. Win Probability Added sums a player’s credits (and debits) over a season to get their total value.

Heyward had a LOT of big hits for the Braves this season, so many that he ended the season ranked sixth-best in the NL with a WPA of 4.82 wins (his offensive contributions were worth 4.82 wins). That dwarfs Posey’s 1.09 WPA, which admittedly is hurt by his only playing 108 games, but is unlikely to have been anywhere near Heyward’s had he played the full season.

Jaime Garcia finished third after going 13-8 with a 2.70 ERA for the St. Louis Cardinals. His 13 wins led NL rookies (only one other pitcher had 10) and his 2.70 ERA was second among rookies with a minimum of 81 innings pitched.

And Gaby Sanchez of the Florida Marlins finished fourth, after leading all NL rookies with 85 RBI and hitting 19 home runs, which was tied for third.

With Neftali Feliz winning in the American League, the Rookies of the Year faced each other in the World Series for just the third time in baseball history. In 1981, the New York Yankees and Dave Righetti faced Fernando Valenzuela and the Los Angeles Dodgers. And in 1951, Gil McDougald and the Yankees faced the New York Giants and Willie Mays.

A capsule stat-based preview of the Braves-Giants NLDS matchup

Top things to know

The Braves-Giants National League Division Series matchup will feature two of the best pitching squads in the National League. The combination of these elite pitching units and average-to-below average offensive lineups sets this series up to be arguably the lowest-scoring of the four.

The Giants ranked second in the National League in both starters’ ERA (3.54) and relievers’ ERA (2.99), while the Braves were fifth among starters (3.80) and third among bullpens (3.11). Both teams were consistently near the top of the ranks throughout the season, but the Giants’ run at the end of the season could prove to be the difference. During the crucial month of September – in the midst of the postseason meat grinder that became the NL West – the Giants posted a 1.78 ERA, holding batters to a paltry .182 batting average.

Deciding factor

The Braves lack of offense is not breaking news, but it’s the lack of power that could be most critical in this series. Both Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain posted the highest home run rates of their careers in 2010, making them arguably more susceptible to the homer than they’ve been in previous years.

Unfortunately, the Braves are sorely lacking power. They have the lowest isolated power (.143) and slugging percentage (.401) of any postseason team. Specifically, the team’s two best power sources – Brian McCann and Jason Heyward – have each seen their power go out down the stretch. McCann (2 HR, .326 slug pct) and Heyward (2 HR, .385 slug pct) both struggled in September and October, mirroring the team's season-long lack of power, and one that could spell trouble for the Braves.

Most interesting matchups

Two of the most compelling figures in this matchup are Braves closer Billy Wagner and Giants catcher Buster Posey. In his final season in the majors, Wagner put together arguably his best campaign, posting his highest Wins Above Replacement (WAR) mark since 2003. In addition, among those with at least 50 innings pitched in 2010, Wagner ranked second in the National League in strikeout rate at 13.5 K per 9, behind only Carlos Marmol.

Wagner was incredibly dominant versus left-handed batters, limiting them to a .071 batting average – just four hits in 56 at-bats - and a tiny .246 OPS. No home runs. No extra-base hits. Against right-handers, however, Wagner surrendered five home runs in 183 at-bats. That is certainly solid work, but noticeably less than his performance against lefties. This sets up a potential late-inning showdown between the southpaw Wagner and the right-handed Buster Posey. Posey dominated lefties this season, hitting .309/.367/.588 against them, with an OPS increase of over 120 points from his marks against righties. The two have faced each other just once – with Wagner forcing him into a groundout – but the postseason could bring a different result.

Statistical secrets

While much of the focus on the Giants offense centers around Posey and Aubrey Huff, perhaps the most dynamic player for the Giants was Andres Torres. A journeyman throughout his career, Torres blossomed in 2010 and his overall package made him one of the most valuable players in baseball.

Despite remaining under the radar for much of the season, Torres ranked second among National League outfielders in WAR – behind only Matt Holliday – and ahead of darlings such as Carlos Gonzalez, Jayson Werth and Heyward. A significant portion of that value was derived from his defense. He ranked first among all outfielders in Ultimate Zone Rating, a potential key advantage given the spacious parks at which this series will be played.

The fact that he missed nearly two weeks after undergoing an appendectomy, yet after returning to the lineup still hit two homers in eight games during the heat of a postseason race, is just another checkmark in his favor.

SIG's Picks

Albert Larcada of ESPN Stats and Info did statistical analysis of the last 10 postseasons, looking for the factors that most separate winning and losing teams. He found three: power hitting, front-end starting pitching and the ability to turn batted balls into outs. Using his findings, he was able to make a projection.

The Giants meet all necessary criteria for a good playoff team. Outstanding front-end starting pitching, the best defensive efficiency in the NL, and decent enough power from their bats. For the Braves-Giants matchup, Larcada's system picks the Giants in four games. He gives the Giants a 58.8 percent chance to win the series overall.

Albert Pujols’ Triple Crown hopes seem rather grim at this stage after a recent slump dropped him far off the batting average lead.

But there’s another chase with some historical appeal in ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball game -- Jason Heyward's attempt to join the .400 club.

Even though the Atlanta Braves rightfielder turned 21 a month ago, for statistical purposes, websites such as Baseball-Reference.com and baseball historians still treat this as his “age 20 season.”

With that in mind, there is one list regarding performance in an “age 20 or younger season” that rates the most elite: The group of players who have had the top 10 seasons in terms of on-base percentage in the modern era (since 1900), among those who played enough to qualify for the batting title.

The list is in the chart to your right. It features nine Hall of Famers and Alex Rodriguez.

Do any other sort of list of “age 20” performance and it’s filled with great names. But on-base percentage is tops in being most inclusive of the game’s all-time greats.

Heyward is poised not only to join that list, but to land in the uppermost levels -- with the five major leaguers who have managed an on-base percentage of .400 at that age.

After Heyward’s home run and two walks in six plate appearances in the Braves extra-inning win over the Cardinals on Saturday, his on-base percentage now stands at .395.

One of the key reasons for that is Heyward’s walk rate, something that Baseball Tonight’s analysts said when the season started would be a key indicator of his success.

Heyward is currently drawing unintentional walks a little more than 13 percent of the time, or about once every seven to eight times he comes to bat. That’s an astounding rate, one only surpassed twice since 1900 -- by baseball legends Mel Ott and Ted Williams.

Heyward has spent much of the latter part of the season beefing up his statistical case for NL Rookie of the Year honors, for which he’s battling the likes of San Francisco Giants catcher/first baseman Buster Posey.

Since the All-Star Break, Heyward’s on-base percentage is an NL-best .432. Since Aug. 21, it’s significantly better than that -- .520. Yes, in his last 100 plate appearances, Heyward has reached base 52 times. A 3-of-6 on Saturday actually brought that number down a tick.

In June, Heyward hit just .190 and got into a habit of chasing both fastballs and breaking balls out of the strike zone, regardless of whether they came from a lefty or righty. That bad habit has been totally eradicated.

His performance against lefthanders has been statistically above-average by major league standards (an on-base percentage of .344, 32 points above the MLB average for lefties), impressive considering his age. That’s mainly been due to his ability to hang in at a reasonable statistical rate against breaking pitches. And nowadays, when Heyward sees a fastball he mauls it.

Here’s how good Heyward has been: Entering Saturday, our Inside Edge video tracking service charted him as having seen 134 fastballs in September. He had 12 base hits on those pitches, and had only swung and missed once. Thus, no one should have been surprised when he homered off a fastball from Cardinals lefty Dennys Reyes to tie the game in the seventh inning.

Kyle Lohse and his 7.13 ERA have the good fortune of facing Heyward Sunday night. The first time they met, on April 26, Lohse got him out all three times. That was against a Heyward who was 19 games into his big league career, and in the midst of a seven-game stretch in which he went 1-for-20. This version of Heyward is far removed and far improved from that one.

The Tampa Bay Rays likely figured the addition of Brad Hawpe would give them another bat as they battle with the New York Yankees for the AL East crown over the final month of the season. Hawpe averaged nearly 25 home runs and 93 runs batted in while hitting .288 over the previous four seasons but has always struggled in the Fall (his .239 batting average in September/October is 40 points lower than in any other month). However, Hawpe did much more than "struggle" in his Rays debut Wednesday night, going 0-4 with four strikeouts. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's just the fourth player to go 0-4 with four K's in his first game after changing teams since 1900.

Other notes from Wednesday's action:

• The Florida Marlins get the bats going early as they score 15 runs in the first four innings en route to their 16-10 win over the Washington Nationals. It's the first time in the history of the Marlins that they've scored 15 that quickly and first time in history of Nationals that they've allowed 15 that quickly.

• The Cincinnati Reds continue to run away with the NL Central, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 and increasing their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals to eight games. This is the first time the Reds have led the division by eight or more games since the 1995 season.

• One day after a retiring the side in his MLB debut, Aroldis Chapman turns in another perfect outing. Chapman put down all three batters he faced Wednesday, hitting 103.9 MPH on the radar gun. That's the fastest record pitch in the majors this season.

• Jason Heyward registers four hits against the New York Mets, the third time he's had four hits in a game in his last 10 games. He's the second Braves player age 21 or younger with three four-hit games in a season since the franchise moved to Milwaukee in 1953. The other was Hank Aaron who had four four-hit games in 1955. Each of Heyward's hits were to the opposite field making him the third major-leaguer to record four opposite-field hits in one game this season. The others are Adrian Gonzalez, who’s done it twice, and Chris Coghlan.

• Jon Lester allows five runs in six innings but still gets the win as the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. Lester is now 13-0 with a 2.33 ERA in 15 career starts vs Baltimore. He's the only active pitcher to have more 10 or more wins and no losses against a single opponent. He's also the only pitcher to win his first 13 career decisions against the Orioles.

• Jimmy Rollins starts Philadelphia Phillies win over the Los Angeles Dodgers with his 35th career leadoff home run. Alfonso Soriano, who has 54, is the only active player with more career leadoff homers.

• David Price continued to dominate the Blue Jays this season improving to 4-0 with a 0.58 ERA against Toronto. Wednesday Price mixed things up. After Blue Jays hitters swung-and-missed only three times on his fastball last time out on June 9, Price went to his off-speed stuff more often this time. He threw only 63 fastballs on Wednesday, his fewest total in any start this year. Mixing in more off-speed stuff helped make Price’s fastball more effective. He recorded 11 swings-and-misses on his fastball, his highest against Toronto this season.

The good news is the Texas Rangers have a comfortable lead in the American League West (eight games over the Athletics and Angels). However, after getting swept by the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas clearly has some work to do with the postseason on the horizon.

• Against the division-leading Twins, Yankees and Rays (New York and Tampa Bay are tied atop the AL East), the Rangers are a combined 3-11.

• The Rays were the fifth team to sweep the Rangers this season, and the fourth from the AL East. (The Boston Red Sox are the only team in that division that hasn’t swept Texas.)

• How much do the Rangers miss second baseman Ian Kinsler? They were 59-41 before he went on the disabled list with a groin injury. In the 19 games the Rangers have played without Kinsler, they're just 8-11.

• Except for the month of June when they went 21-6, the Rangers have been a .500 club (46-46), including 6-9 in August.

NOTABLES FROM WEDNESDAY:
• The New York Yankees are 7-1 this season when Brett Gardner is the lead-off hitter, outscoring their opponents 42-19. Gardner is 12-for-31 (.387 BA) with eight runs scored and three walks in those games. He's also started six of those eight games by getting on base in the 1st inning (Jeremy Bonderman hit Gardner with a pitch in the first inning on Wednesday). The Yankees have scored in the first inning in five of those eight games, totaling 11 runs.

• Holding onto a 3-2 lead against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Milwaukee Brewers' Trevor Hoffman was brought in with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Hoffman proceeded to strike out Brendan Ryan on three pitches. According to Baseball-Reference.com, batters are now 0-8 against Hoffman in situations where he’s pitching in a game with a 1-run lead and the bases loaded in the 9th inning or later.

• Despite blowing a three-run lead in the top of the ninth inning, the A’s came back in the bottom of the inning to win 5-4. Oakland is now 51-0 this season when leading after eight innings. Only the Yankees have more wins without a loss (64-0) when leading after eight.

• The Detroit Tigers' Miguel Cabrera has now hit at least 30 home runs in six of his first eight seasons. The only players who have had more 30-HR seasons in their first eight years in the bigs: Albert Pujols (8), Eddie Mathews (7) and Ralph Kiner (7).

• The Red Sox's Jonathan Papelbon became the first pitcher (since saves became an official stat in 1969) to record at least 30 saves in each of his first five full seasons. Papelbon also struck out the side in the ninth, just the third time in his career he's had a three-out save and struck out all three batters he faced.

• The Minnesota Twins' Francisco Liriano had pitched 78⅓ innings at Target Field this season without allowing a home run before the Chicago White Sox's Andruw Jones hit a three-run shot in the second inning. And while Liriano gave up his first HR at home, Joe Mauer went deep at Target Field for the first time this season (49 games).

• The Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins was the first player since Nomar Garciaparra in 1997 to have a triple, home run and two stolen bases in a game. Also in that game, Jayson Werth had been hitless in his last 35 at-bats with two outs and runners in scoring position before his seventh-inning double scored Raul Ibanez from third.

• The Atlanta Braves are tied for the major league lead with 10 walk-off wins, and rookie Jason Heyward has accounted for three of them following his RBI single in the ninth inning against the Washington Nationals.

• Atlanta Braves rookie Jason Heyward hit his 12th HR of the season on Monday, just his first longball since June 17th. Heyward showed signs of stardom when he hit a 476-foot HR in his first major league AB, the third-longest HR in the majors this season. But his HR in the 3rd inning against the Houston Astros, which gave the Braves a 2-0 lead, may say more about where his career is headed than anything else he's done so far. Heyward joined EXCLUSIVE company when he hit a HR on his 21st birthday, becoming only the 4th player in major league history to accomplish that feat.

How Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter beat the Reds for the 9th straight time:
Mixed it up:
- Threw 53.1 pct curveballs and sliders (43.8 pct this season entering Monday)
- Threw 43.9 pct fastballs (51.6 pct this season entering Monday)
- As a result, hitters had ZERO hits in 13 at-bats that ended on curves and sliders, and haven't had a hit against either of those pitches in his last three starts
- Threw 73.1 pct first-pitch strikes, his 3rd-highest mark this season (58.8 pct this season entering Monday)

• The Cincinnati Reds began a huge 3-game series Monday night when they hosted Chris Carpenter and the St. Louis Cardinals. The Reds entered the game leading the division by two games, but Carpenter threw seven strong innings to close the gap to one.

Quick Hits: With Todd Helton and Joe Mauer in opposing dugouts this week, it has highlighted the fact that neither slugger has hit a home run at home this season. Some other intriguing home/road notes:

• Denard Span is hitting .378 at home and .172 on the road. That .206 discrepancy is the largest in baseball.
• On the other hand, Ryan Braun is hitting .370 on the road, but just .216 at home, the largest discrepancy in the other direction.
• Chris Young has hit 10 of his 12 home runs at home. Paul Konerko is next, having hit seven more homers at home.
• Nine of Justin Morneau’s 11 home runs have come on the road, while David Wright has hit eight more homers on the road than at home. Meanwhile, all seven of Ian Stewart’s homers are away from Coors.
• Of Ryan Sweeney’s 28 RBI, 23 have come at home.
• At .391, Martin Prado is on track for the highest home batting average since teammate Chipper Jones hit .399 at home in 2008.
• Over the last 55 years, only two Yankees have posted a higher home batting average than Brett Gardner’s .385: Paul O’Neill (.409 in 1994) and Mickey Mantle (.387 in 1957).
• Casey Kotchman’s .175 batting average at home would be the fifth worst among qualifying players over the last 50 years.
• Jason Heyward has 17 more walks on the road than at home, the biggest difference in the majors.

Today’s Trivia: If Alex Rodriguez returns to the lineup against Jamie Moyer on Wednesday, it will mark the second time that a player with 500 career home runs has faced a pitcher who has allowed 500 long balls. The only other instance occurred in 1966. Who were the players involved?

Today’s Leaderboard: The best hitters at home this season? A pair of players that could find themselves playing elsewhere in a couple months. Who knows if Paul Konerko will still be calling U.S. Cellular Field home after the trade deadline, but for now Konerko is crushing the ball at home. His 1.201 OPS at home is the best in baseball, and is on track to be the best since Barry Bonds in 2004. Second on the list is Kelly Johnson’s 1.133 OPS.

Key Matchups: David Ortiz faced Rodrigo Lopez each year from 2003 to 2006 as AL East foes. In 50 plate appearances, he’s hitting .326 with a .932 OPS. That includes a memorable two triple game in 2004, the only in Ortiz’s career. However, one thing has eluded Ortiz against Lopez: A home run. Ortiz is homerless in 50 plate appearances, the most he’s faced any pitcher without going deep. Even stranger? Despite that .932 OPS, Ortiz only has one RBI against Lopez.

Alex Rodriguez is expected back in the Yankees’ lineup on Wednesday, and he’ll face Jamie Moyer in a matchup that dates back to 1996. They’ve faced each other 59 times in total, and A-Rod is a .389 hitter against Moyer with a 1.218 OPS. This will be the first meeting since 2005, but in his last nine at-bats against Moyer, Rodriguez is 7-9 with four home runs.

Trivia Answer: When Willie Mays stepped in against Robin Roberts on August 6, 1966, he had 529 home runs to his credit. In his previous start, Roberts became the first pitcher to allow 500 career home runs when Hank Aaron took him deep. It was Aaron’s 429th career home run.

Prior to the start of the season the buzz around Jason Heyward was as much about his plate discipline as his power potential. Every few years we come across a rookie who makes an immediate impact with his power, but it typically takes a few years to develop discipline in the batter’s box.

Yet Heyward looked mature beyond his years in spring training, walking 11 times in 22 games and posting a .423 on-base percentage. The stage was set for what is shaping up to be one of the most impressive rookie seasons we’ve seen in quite some time.

Heyward has followed up his spring performance by showing off his discipline in the majors. He enters Tuesday with a .410 on-base percentage and has walked 29 times in 195 plate appearances.

But could Heyward’s discipline actually be hurting him? Let’s investigate.

On April 28, when Heyward was 1-20 in his previous seven games, the Atlanta Journal Constitution quoted Bobby Cox as saying “He’s taking way too many pitches for strikes. [As a result] he’s getting one pitch to swing at right now.”

What Cox was essentially getting at was that Heyward is backing himself into a corner. While his plate discipline is drawing walks, it’s also forcing him to swing at two-strike pitches that he may otherwise wish to let pass.

Just take a look at his numbers in two-strike counts as evidence.

At the time of Cox’s comments, Heyward had gotten into a two-strike count in 51 of his 81 plate appearances (63.0 percent). In those two-strike counts, Heyward was batting just .111 with a .216 on-base percentage. Those percentages were well below the league average of .181 and .254, and not even close to his impressive numbers in non-two-strike counts.

But since Cox made those comments, Heyward has noticeably changed his approach at the plate. He has worked his way into a two-strike count just 51.7 percent of time.

While his numbers in non-two-strike counts have fallen considerably, his overall stats are up and, perhaps most importantly, more consistent. Since April 28 he’s batting .340 with a .447 on-base percentage.

Numbers aside, perhaps the most impressive take away from this is Heyward’s ability to take advice from his manager and implement it immediately. If he’s making adjustments like this at the age of 20, what will he be capable of in 5-10 years?

To check out Heyward’s new approach for yourself, tune in to ESPN at 7 ET tonight as the Braves host the Phillies.

Today’s Trivia: With his 6-0 start, Ubaldo Jimenez can probably book his trip to L.A. for the All-Star Game already. Who are the only four Rockies starting pitchers to be selected to the All-Star Game?

Quick Hits: Yesterday we covered the rookie pitchers, today we’ll tackle the rookie hitters:

* Austin Jackson is currently batting .377. If he were to somehow keep up that pace, it would be the highest batting average by a rookie since Shoeless Joe Jackson hit .408 for the 1911 Cleveland Naps.
* From the Elias Sports Bureau: The two highest batting averages in the major leagues over the past seven days (April 27 through May 3) belong to rookies: David Freese is batting ..519 (14-for-27) over that span, and Austin Jackson is hitting .516 (16-for-31).
* With 23 RBI through the Braves first 25 games, Jason Heyward is on pace for 149 this season. That would top the rookie record of 145 set by Ted Williams in 1939. It would also shatter the Braves rookie record of 119 set by Wally Berger in 1930.
* Heyward is averaging 4.45 pitches per plate appearance this season. Since the stat was first tracked in 1988, the highest average by a rookie is 4.44 by Reggie Willits with the 2007 Angels.
* David Freese is batting .358, on pace to break the Cardinals record held by his teammate Albert Pujols (.329 in 2001).

Today’s Leaderboard: Fernando Nieve pitched two scoreless innings of relief for the Mets last night, despite also pitching the day before. That’s nothing new for the Mets bullpen though. Mets relieves have thrown 26 innings already this year on zero days rest – the most in the majors. Amazingly, they have a 0.69 ERA in those 26 innings.

Key Matchups: Jose Guillen, who has just 2 hits in his last 25 at bats, will have a hard time breaking out of his slump tonight against Gavin Floyd. Guillen is batting just .182 in 22 career at bats against Floyd.

Chipper Jones is struggling to keep his batting average above .200, but maybe facing Livan Hernandez can break him out of his slump. Jones is a career .354 hitter against Hernandez with a .438 on-base percentage.

Trivia Answer: Mike Hampton (2001), Shawn Chacon (2003), Aaron Cook (2008) and Jason Marquis (2009).

Today’s Trivia: Who is the winningest active National League pitcher age 26 or under?

Quick Hits: The numbers don’t always hold great meaning, but there are some fascinating win-loss trends that have held true thus far. Thanks to both Baseball-Reference.com and BaseballMusings.com, here are some of those quirky records:

* The Braves are 8-2 when Jason Heyward gets a hit and 0-10 when he doesn’t.

* The Braves are 7-1 when they hit a home run and 1-11 when they don’t.

* Six of the Pirates' 12 losses have been by eight or more runs. Last season, it was only nine of their 99 losses.

* Last season, the Mariners rode a 35-20 record in one-run games, best in the majors. This season? Just 2-5. Only the Orioles have more losses.

* The Red Sox are 4-4 when allowing four or fewer runs. Last season, they were 70-17.

* Then again, Boston is 6-6 when allowing six or more runs, when they were just 11-37 last season.

* Scott Linebrink has a 1.13 ERA and 11 strikeouts in eight innings, but the White Sox are 0-6 when he makes an appearance and 8-6 when he doesn’t.

* The Reds are 9-7 when Scott Rolen appears in a game and 0-4 when he doesn’t.

* The Rockies are 2-6 when Chris Iannetta starts, compared to 9-4 with Miguel Olivo behind the plate. Iannetta was demoted to the minors on Tuesday.

* The Royals are 2-10 when Zack Greinke, Brian Bannister or Gil Meche start, and 6-2 otherwise.

* The Mets are now 8-1 with Ike Davis appearing in the game.

* The Mets are 0-7 when allowing a home run and 12-2 otherwise.

Today’s Leaderboard: The A’s and the Padres are two of the more surprising teams early in 2010. Even the Pirates, at 8-12, are probably exceeding expectations. A big reason for all three? Success in close games. The Pirates are 4-1 in one-run games, the best winning percentage in the majors. Last year, Pittsburgh was an MLB-worst 12-22. Meanwhile, the Red Sox have already played an amazing nine one-run games, including five straight going into Wednesday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Red Sox haven’t played six straight one-run games since May 1964.

Key Matchups: Quite simply, Paul Maholm owns Prince Fielder. Fielder was hitless in his first 12 at-bats against the lefty, and is just 3-for-33 (.091) lifetime. That includes 10 strikeouts and just one walk. That .091 average is Fielder’s worst against any pitcher he has faced 20 times. No pitcher has fanned Fielder more than Maholm, who is not exactly known as a strikeout pitcher.

Very few pitchers make Chase Utley look bad. Very few pitchers are as good as Tim Lincecum. Utley is just 2-for-17 (.118) against Lincecum, but even that doesn’t tell the whole story. Utley’s two hits came in his first four at-bats against Lincecum, and they were in the future Cy Young winner’s first month in the majors. Since then, Utley is 0-for-13 with six strikeouts.

Trivia Answer: With 50 career wins, 26-year-old Cole Hamels has the most among NL pitcher 26 or under. Tim Lincecum, his opponent on Wednesday, is tied with teammate Matt Cain for third with 44 wins. Felix Hernandez, still only 24, has the most in the majors with 60 wins, closely followed by 26-year-old Scott Kazmir’s 59.