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(The Tampa Bay Rays host the Boston Red Sox, Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.)

The American League’s most methodical starting pitchers will oppose each other in St. Petersburg, Fla., on Wednesday night: the Rays' Jeremy Hellickson and the Red Sox’s Clay Buchholz.

This season, Hellickson has averaged 24.4 seconds between pitches, second in the American League among starters behind Buchholz, who averages more than 25 seconds between pitches.

In fact, Boston’s starting pitchers haven’t been shy about taking their time on the mound. Each of the Red Sox's five starters rank in the top seven in terms of slowest paces in the American League this season.

This season, Buchholz is 4-1, but he owns the highest ERA among qualified starters at 8.31. Buchholz has four wins because the Red Sox have provided him with more run support than any other starter in baseball with 9.7 runs per game.

Buchholz has been even worse on the road. In two starts he has an 11.57 ERA and a 2.46 WHIP.

Buchholz has been so bad this season because everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Buchholz this season:

• Has allowed 10 HR in 39 innings, giving him the highest HR-per-nine-innings-pitched rate at 2.3. (In 28 starts in 2010, Buchholz allowed just nine home runs.)

• Strikes out 4.6 batters per nine innings, which is the lowest rate of his career (career average: 6.7).

• Walks more than five batters per nine innings, the highest rate of his career (career average: 3.8).

• Is one of three starters who has walked more batters than he has struck out (Ubaldo Jimenez, Derek Lowe).

What Buchholz has done well is throw first-pitch strikes. He’s tied for the American League lead with Phil Humber at 69.5 percent. However, hitters are jumping all over Buchholz, swinging at 32 percent of his first pitches, the fourth highest rate against any American League starter. When hitters put that pitch in play, their batting average is .357.

Opposing Buchholz will be Hellickson, whose start will be the 203rd straight start for the Rays by a homegrown pitcher. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, no other team this season has had every game started by players originally drafted by the organization.

Hellickson this season has allowed three earned runs or fewer in six of his seven starts. The lone exception was on April 14 against the Red Sox, when he allowed five earned runs and a career-high three home runs.

Overall, his 4.99 career ERA against Boston is his highest against any team.

Hellickson hasn’t been very efficient, throwing 16.8 pitches per inning, which ranks 43rd out of 53 qualified American League starters. (Buchholz has been worse, ranking 46th with 17.5 pitches per inning.)

He’s also struggled to get the final out of innings -- 12 of his 16 walks this season have been issued with two outs.

However, in five starts since his April 14 loss to the Red Sox, Hellickson has a 1.93 ERA. In fact, the Rays' pitching has settled into being the expected dominant pitching staff. In the past 28 games, Tampa Bay is 19-9 with a league-low 2.82 ERA.

Jon Lester narrowly missed out on tossing his first shutout since 2008, but he did manage his second complete game of the year as the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 6-1.

The win was the fourth straight at home for the Red Sox after starting the season with a 4-11 record at Fenway Park. It’s their longest home winning streak since taking nine in a row last July.

With the win, Lester improves to 2-1 with a 1.67 ERA in his last four starts, a stark contrast with his 0-2 record and 6.00 ERA through his first four games.

He was able to get the Mariners out by featuring his hard stuff. He threw a fastball, cutter or sinker on 94 of his 119 pitches. The only time this season that he threw a similar number was against the Chicago White Sox on April 28, when he pitched seven scoreless innings and struck out a season-high seven batters.

The Mariners’ lack of plate discipline played into his hands as well. He didn’t walk a hitter and only threw six pitches when facing a three-ball count. That was despite the fact that less than half of his pitches – 58 of 119 – were actually in the strike zone. He tied a season-high inducing 14 swinging strikes.

He threw 12 curveballs in the game, right at his season average, but used it as his out pitch. Lester recorded four outs, including two strikeouts, without allowing a hit against his curve.

On the flip side, the Mariners lost for the ninth time in their last 10 road games. They had started the season by winning eight of their first 12 games away from Safeco Field.

Seattle starter Jason Vargas allowed home runs to Daniel Nava and Kelly Shoppach during his outing. He has allowed seven homers this season, all of them on the road.

Quick Hits
• Bryce Harper hit his first career home run. He’s the youngest player to homer in the majors since Adrian Beltre hit seven home runs in 1998.

• Speaking of the Washington Nationals, they scored eight runs in today’s win against the San Diego Padres, becoming the last team in the majors to reach that mark this season.

• Adam Dunn homered off Drew Smyly, the first time he went deep against a southpaw since hitting two homers against Clayton Kershaw in August 2010. His last 30 homers had been against right-handed pitchers.

It was his 12th home run of the season, surpassing his total of 11 from last year.

• Emilio Bonifacio stole his MLB-leading 18th base on Monday. He has yet to be caught stealing this season. No other player in the majors has more than seven steals without being caught.

• On the career hit front, Derek Jeter and Placido Polanco both reached milestones on Monday.

Jeter went 1-for-5 to move past Robin Yount into sole possession of 16th place on the all-time hit list. Polanco became the 17th active player to reach 2,000 career hits.

Much of the focus on the free agent frenzy this winter will be on the top tier of available players, such as Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols and Jose Reyes. However, there are several under-the-radar free agents that could provide significant value. Let’s take a look at a two players who had disappointing seasons on the surface, but who may be better than people think from a statistical perspective.

David DeJesus
One is former Kansas City Royals outfielder David DeJesus. Last year, DeJesus had his worst offensive season for the Oakland Athletics, setting career lows in batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

However, some of his .240 batting average is likely a result of a .274 batting average on balls in play, well below his career mark of .316 and the lowest in a season for him.

Inside Edge does video tracking of every batted ball and discovered an interesting development for DeJesus; on balls categorized as “soft,” he hit .281 in 2010 (26-for-117), but just .136 (18-for-132) in 2011. That difference cost him more than 30 points on his overall batting average.


There were several positives for DeJesus last year, however. He showed good plate discipline, as his walk rate of 8.9 percent was just shy of his career-best, 9.1 percent in 2007.

Despite the low batting average, he still provided his usual power, with an isolated power (which measures extra-bases per at-bat) of .136 that was in line with his career mark of .137. And he was one of the best defensive outfielders, with 13 Defensive Runs Saved that was third among all right-fielders.

Chris Capuano
Chris Capuano won’t be stealing any headlines this winter, but he could be a steal for a team needing a starting pitcher to fill out the rotation. Capuano’s 4.55 ERA for the Mets was partly inflated by a .311 batting average on balls in play (career average of .300) that rose to .338 with men on base.

He also allowed a career-high 1.31 homers per nine innings, but that was affected by a career-high home run-to-flyball rate, as one out of every eight flyballs he allowed became a home run.

On a positive note, he struck out a career-best 8.1 batters per nine innings and walked only 2.5 batters per nine innings, the second-best rate of his career.

Looking just at the elements of his pitching that he can control – strikeouts, walks, home runs – and accounting for some bad luck on the flyballs he allowed, we see that Capuano pitched much better than his ERA may indicate.

His xFIP - Expected Fielding Independent Pitching, an ERA estimator that looks at strikeouts and walks, and presumes the pitcher will be league-average on his rate of fly balls per home run - was a career-best 3.66, just a few points higher than Jon Lester’s 3.62 last year.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Recently anything James Shields has started he's gone on to finish. For the third consecutive game Shields pitched a complete game as the Tampa Bay Rays defeated the Houston Astros. He is the first pitcher in Rays history to throw three consecutive complete games.

Shields hasn't just been piling up innings, but he's also been keeping players off the bases. In each of the starts he's allowed five hits or fewer, just the fourth pitcher since 2000 to compile such a streak.

Two of the previous three -- Roy Halladay in 2003 and Randy Johnson in 2000 -- went on to win the Cy Young award. You have to go back to Greg Maddux in 1998 for the last time a starter did so in four consecutive outings.

This is already Shields' sixth complete game this season, which sets the record for most in a season in franchise history. He is only the sixth pitcher with six complete game victories in his team's first 76 games in the last 20 seasons.

The list is rather impressive with Pat Hentgen in 1997, Randy Johnson in 1994 and John Smoltz, Tom Glavine and David Cone in 1992.

Shields continued to dominate with his changeup, relying on it as an out pitch even more than usual. He recorded 18 of his 27 outs with the pitch.

Astros hitters were 0-for-17 with five strikeouts and a double play on at-bats ending with a Shields changeup.

Just three of his 30 two-strike pitches were fastballs, his lowest in a start in over two years. As a result, all nine of his strikeouts were with his offspeed pitches. All 24 of Shields' strikeouts over his stretch of three consecutive complete games have been with offspeed pitches.

While the Astros were outdueled by Shields, Houston's staff did complete an extremely rare feat. The Astros had three pitchers pitch Friday, all with the last name Rodriguez (Wandy, Fernando, Aneury). Our good friends at Elias passed along this gem. This was the first game in the modern era (since 1900) that a trio of teammates with the same surname pitched in the same game.

Elsewhere around the diamond:

• Jon Lester became the latest pitcher to go for his 10th victory only to come up short as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Boston Red Sox. According to Elias, excluding 1981 (strike delayed season), the last time that the Majors didn't have a 10-game winner until at least June 25 was in 1950. Four pitchers earned their tenth wins of the season on June 28 that year (Art Houtteman, Bob Lemon, Preacher Roe, and Johnny Sain).

-- Dan Braunstein contributed to this report

Some notes to know on the Sunday Night Baseball (ESPN, 8 ET) game between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

The Red Sox lead the season series, 4-1, but if recent history is any indication, neither team will have an advantage at season’s end.

In EACH season from 2008-10, the teams tied the season series at nine wins apiece.

The Red Sox are 17-10 in their last 27 games after starting the season 2-10. One of Boston’s keys has been its starting pitching. The starters have compiled a 14-6 record since the team’s 2-10 start.

Sunday’s Red Sox starter is Jon Lester, who will be going for a little history on Sunday Night Baseball. Lester held the Yankees scoreless in his last two starts against them, going at least six innings in each. Only two pitchers since 1920 have had longer such streaks – Britt Burns (four straight, 1981-1982) and Schoolboy Rowe (three straight, all shutouts, 1934-1935).

Jon Lester Matchups to Watch
Derek Jeter has 36 at-bats against Lester without an extra-base hit against him. There are only two pitchers against whom he’s had more at-bats without an extra-base hit - Darren Oliver (41) and Chuck Finley (37). Jeter does have 12 hits against Lester - all singles.

Mark Teixeira is 0-for-his-last 10 vs Lester. Nick Swisher is 0-for-his-last 7 against Lester. Jorge Posada is 1-for-his-last 10 against him.

Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-13 against Lester to start his career. He’s 5-for-13 with 3 HR against him since then.

The Yankees enter Sunday having won just three of their last 10 games but one area of the team that can’t be blamed is its power.

The Yankees have hit 58 HR through 37 games (three short of the franchise record for home runs through 37 games: 61 in 2003).


Good thing for those home runs, because the Yankees have not been good with runners in scoring position. For the season, the Yanks are hitting .236 with RISP and lately it’s been worse. Over the last four games, they are 5-39 (.128) with RISP – including 1-17 (.059) in the first two games of the Red Sox series.

Before his eighth-inning single Saturday night, Teixeira was hitless in his last 30 at-bats (with 15 strikeouts) against the Red Sox – dating back to last season.

The Yankees starter Sunday is Freddy Garcia.

Freddy Garcia Matchups to Watch
Carl Crawford was 5-for-10 to start his career against Garcia. He’s 1-for-8 against him since then.

Freddy Garcia vs Red Sox
Garcia is 8-2 career against the Red Sox. There are 23 active pitchers with at least 10 decisions against the Red Sox. Garcia’s .800 win percentage ranks best among them.

-- Mark Simon and David Bearman contributed to this report

Not a bad day's work for Tampa Bay Rays second baseman Ben Zobrist, who finished 7-for-10 with 10 RBIs in Thursday's doubleheader against the Minnesota Twins.

He's the fourth player in MLB history to notch seven hits and at least 10 RBIs in a doubleheader, and the first since Nate Colbert did it for the 1972 San Diego Padres.

In the first of the two games, Zobrist set the Rays' franchise record with eight RBIs. He was the first player with at least eight RBIs in a game since Toronto's Adam Lind had eight RBIs on Aug. 31, 2009.

The eight RBIs tied Zobrist with six others (including Hall of Famers Bobby Doerr and Rogers Hornsby) for the most single-game RBIs by a second baseman since the live-ball era (since 1920). Tony Lazzeri set the record with 11 RBIs back in 1936.

ROUNDING THE BASES

• Seattle Mariners pitcher Michael Pineda (4-1, 2.01 ERA this season) joined some strong company with his win Thursday. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Pineda became just the fourth pitcher since 2006 with at least four wins in his first five career appearances -- while posting an ERA less than 2.50. The others: Mat Latos (4-1, 2.43) and Tommy Hanson (4-0, 2.48) in 2009, and Jered Weaver (5-0, 1.35) in 2006.

• Ryan Vogelsong started for the San Francisco Giants on Thursday and earned the win against the Pittsburgh Pirates. It was his first start since Sept. 29, 2004, making it six years and 211 days since his last start. That was the longest gap between starts since Scot Shields went six years and 303 days between starts from Sept. 28, 2003, to July 28, 2010 (both with the Angels), according to Elias.

• What's the difference for Pablo Sandoval this season? Some might say the weight, but what's really changed is his approach against off-speed pitches. He's swinging less and chasing less, and as a result, he's doing more with the off-speed pitches he does swing at. Sandoval is slugging .561 against off-speed pitches so far this season, compared to his .350 slugging percentage a season ago.

• Boston Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester went a season-high eight innings, improving to 14-0 against the Orioles in his career. He is the second pitcher in the past 50 years to win each of his first 14 decisions against a franchise (Roy Oswalt started 15-0 against the Reds).

• New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia improved to 17-4 career against the Chicago White Sox. His .810 win percentage is the highest by a pitcher against the White Sox franchise since the end of World War II (min. 20 decisions).

The Toronto Blue Jays scored 13 runs in their season opener against the Minnesota Twins thanks to a big game from rookie J.P. Arencibia. The 25-year-old catcher who played in 11 games last season went 3-4 with a triple, two home runs and drove in five runs.

Arencibia is the first rookie to hit two homers on Opening Day since Gary Gaetti did it for the Twins on April 6, 1982. On August 7 of last season, Arencibia blasted two homers in his major-league debut. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last player to start consecutive seasons with multiple-homer games—at any point in his career—was Joe Torre for the Braves in 1965 and 1966.

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox dropped their season opener 9-5 to the Texas Rangers. Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester allowed five runs including three home runs and did not record a strikeout. The last Red Sox Opening Day starter to give up three home runs was Hall-of-Famer Dennis Eckersley back in 1980.

It was the second time in Lester's career and the first since April 9, 2008 that he did not record a strikeout. Bob Stanley in 1987 was the last Boston Opening Day starter to not record a strikeout.

Also, the Philadelphia Phillies overcame a four-run deficit to defeat the Houston Astros Friday afternoon in the season-opening game for both teams. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the third time in franchise history that the Phillies overcame a deficit of at least four runs to win on Opening Day; the last such instance came 106 years ago.

On April 14, 1905, the Phillies trailed Brooklyn, 4-0, entering the fifth inning before rallying for a 12-8 win on the strength of a six-run fifth inning. And back on April 18, 1895, the Phillies trailed Baltimore, 6-0, entering the eighth inning, but scored twice in the eighth and five times in the ninth for the win.

Finally, Cleveland Indians starter Fausto Carmona got roughed up in his first start of 2011 allowing 10 runs, all earned, in three innings pitched against the Chicago White Sox on Friday. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us Carmona is the first starting pitcher in major-league history to allow at least 10 runs while throwing no more than three innings in his team’s first game of a season.

Felix Hernandez won the American League Cy Young Award Thursday, getting 21 of a possible 28 first-place votes after going 13-12 for the Seattle Mariners. He led the league with 249 ⅔ innings pitched, a 2.27 ERA, 30 quality starts and just seven hits allowed per nine innings. He set or tied career highs in starts, innings, strikeouts and complete games, and set a career low in ERA. And as mentioned earlier today, he led the league in xWIN and Superior Starts, two statistics created by ESPN Stats & Info.

Hernandez’s 13 wins are the fewest of any starting pitcher to win the Cy Young in a non-interrupted season, and the four lowest win totals by a Cy Young-winning starting pitcher have all been posted in the last five seasons. This means that the AL wins leader has won only five of the last nine Cy Youngs, while the AL ERA leader has won four of the last five and five of the last seven awards.

Hernandez is the second Mariners pitcher to win the award joining Randy Johnson, who won in 1995, after posting the lowest ERA by a starting pitcher in franchise history. He’s also just the third American League pitcher since 1980 to throw at least 240 innings with an ERA below 2.30, joining Cy Young winners Bret Saberhagen in 1989 and Roger Clemens in 1997.

Playing on a bad team did not keep Hernandez from winning the award, something that might not have been true before the turn of the century. His team was an even .500, the lowest ever for a Cy Young Award winner. And the Mariners had the worst overall win percentage in baseball history for a team that boasted the Cy Young winner, beating the 1972 Philadelphia Phillies and their .378 win percentage when Steve Carlton won in 1972.

David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays got four first place votes after going 19-6 with a 2.72 ERA and 188 strikeouts in 208 ⅔ innings for the team that posted the league's best record. He threw the first two complete games and the first shutout of his career, and he shattered the franchise record for wins in a season when he got his 15th on August 9. And his team went 24-8 in games he started, the best team win percentage in starts among the top seven vote-getters.

CC Sabathia, who won the award in 2007, finished third after going 21-7 with a 3.14 ERA and 197 strikeouts in 237 ⅔ innings for the New York Yankees. He led the league in wins for the second consecutive season, his first time winning more than 19. And he also led the AL in Win Probability Added, as detailed earlier today by Mark Simon. Sabathia has now finished in the top five of the Cy Young voting in each of the last four seasons.

Jon Lester of the Boston Red Sox finished fourth, after going 19-9 with a 3.25 ERA and 225 strikeouts in 208 innings. He was second in the AL in wins, third in strikeouts, first in K per nine innings among starting pitchers and tied for the major league lead with seven double-digit strikeout games.

It might be a different year, but it's the same result in the American League Division Series for the Yankees. For the second straight season, the Bronx Bombers swept the Twins to advance to the American League Championship Series. New York has now won nine straight postseason games against Minnesota dating back to 2004. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that's tied for the third-longest winning streak vs one opponent in postseason history.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees' sweep of the Twins was their 13th postseason series sweep, most all-time. That's seven more than the Braves and Reds have and eight more than the Cardinals, Athletics and Red Sox.



Phil Hughes, making the first postseason start of his major-league career, picked up the win by pitching seven innings and allowing no runs. Hughes is the fourth pitcher this year to win his first career postseason start without giving up a run. (Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum and C.J. Wilson are the others.) That matches the number of pitchers who did that over the previous four postseasons combined (Chris Young in 2006, Jon Lester in 2007, Hiroki Kuroda in 2008 and Vicente Padilla in 2009).

Also, Hughes (age 24) is the youngest pitcher to start and win a postseason game for the Yankees since Game 3 of the 1981 ALCS, when Dave Righetti, then 22 years old, wrapped up a three-game New York sweep with a victory against the A's.

A quick look at Game 1 of the ALDS between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays.

• The Rays will send 25-year-old David Price to the mound in Game 1 to face the Rangers. The young lefthander has never made a postseason start, although he appeared in five playoff games back in 2008.

FROM ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: In the 2009 postseason, four pitchers started Game 1 of a series at age 25 years or younger: Ubaldo Jimenez (Colorado Rockies, NLDS), Jon Lester (Boston Red Sox, ALDS), Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers, NLCS), and Cole Hamels (Philadelphia Phillies, NLCS). Hamels and the Phillies were the only of those four teams who came out victorious in Game 1 of their series.

• Rangers Game 1 starter Cliff Lee pitched in the postseason for the first time last year with the Phillies, and went 4-0 in five starts with a 1.56 ERA, two complete games and a 5.5 K/BB ratio (33/6).

However, against the Rays this season, Lee was 0-3 in three starts with an ERA of 4.56.

• Sadly for the Rangers, they’ll be starting this series on the road, and they’ve had no success this season against the other AL playoff teams when playing in their ballparks. In fact, Texas is the only American League team still playing that has a losing record on the road, and they haven’t had a winning road record since 2006.

• The Rangers have lost their last nine LDS games and are the only major league franchise to have never won a postseason series.

Today’s Trivia: As Tim Lincecum appears on his way to a third consecutive season leading the NL in strikeouts ... who was the last right-handed pitcher to lead the NL in strikeouts for three straight seasons?

Quick Hits: September has been quite a month on the mound, as eight pitchers are 4-0 or better. There are 15 starting pitchers with an ERA below 2.00, 11 of whom reside in the NL. Let’s dive into some September numbers:

Derek Lowe is 4-0 with a 1.08 ERA in September, but the rest of the Atlanta Braves rotation is just 4-11 this month. Wednesday against the Florida Marlins, Lowe looks to become the first Braves pitcher to go 5-0 in September since Dave Jolly in 1954. Jolly picked up all five wins in a relief role.

Both Lowe and Carlos Zambrano (4-0, 0.78) have a shot at a 5-0 September with an ERA below 1.00. Over the last 50 years, that’s only been done five times in the NL: Randy Johnson (2002), Orel Hershiser (1988), Joaquin Andujar (1982), Don Sutton (1976) and Tom Seaver (1969).

Madison Bumgarner is just 1-2 this month despite a 1.00 ERA. That’s on pace to be the lowest September ERA for an NL rookie (min. 25 innings) since 1974 when Dale Murray of the Montreal Expos had a 0.26 ERA in 14 relief appearances.

The San Francisco Giants’ 1.85 ERA is on pace to be the lowest in September for any team since the 1967 Giants posted a 1.79 ERA.

With his start on Thursday, Jon Lester has a shot at becoming the first pitcher to go 6-0 in September since Jose Contreras in 2005. The last Boston Red Sox pitcher to do it was Bobby Ojeda in 1983. In his career, Lester is now 15-2 in September.

Carlos Marmol has 12 saves this month and hasn’t allowed an earned run. Since saves became an official stat, the only pitcher with more saves and a perfect ERA in September was Ryan Dempster with 13 in 2005.

Milwaukee Brewers rookie Mark Rogers has faced 18 batters this month (and in his career) without allowing a hit. Over the last 50 years, which rookie faced the most batters in September without allowing a hit? Would you believe that it’s NBA Hall-of-Famer Dave DeBusschere? In September 1962, he faced 24 batters for the Chicago White Sox and did not allow a single hit. Unlike Rogers, DeBusschere had pitched in the big leagues earlier that season.

It’s not all positives. Jason Vargas takes the hill today for the Seattle Mariners trying to avoid an 0-6 September. The last pitcher to do that was Bud Black in 1992 for the Giants. In the AL, you’d have to go back to Jim Clancy for the 1986 Toronto Blue Jays. Clancy, who lost another one in October, was 14-7 going into September.

Today’s Leaderboard: How good has the pitching been in the National League this September? The league as a whole has a 3.85 ERA this month, which would be the lowest over the course of ANY full month since April 1993.

Key Matchups
Not only is Derek Lowe pitching on three days rest, but he faces a team that has hit him hard this season. In a pair of starts, he has a 9.35 ERA thanks in part to eight walks in 8 2/3 innings. But a much bigger problem has been Dan Uggla. A career .429 hitter against Lowe, most of the damage has been done recently. Going back to last season, Uggla has six hits in his last seven at-bats against Lowe, including two doubles and a home run.

With Adam Wainwright (213) done for the season and Roy Halladay (219) unlikely to pitch more than the equivalent of a side-session, Tim Lincecum (220) is in the driver’s seat to take home his third straight NL strikeout title. And guess who he gets to face Wednesday: The Arizona Diamondbacks, the team that’s struck out more than any in MLB history. Mark Reynolds (13 K in 21 AB vs Lincecum), Stephen Drew (12 K in 36 AB) and Chris Young (13 K in 36 AB) are the main targets.

Trivia Answer: Dizzy Dean led the NL in strikeouts in four straight years from 1932 to 1935. The three to do it since – Johnny Vander Meer (1941-43), Warren Spahn (1949-52) and Randy Johnson (1999-2002) - were all lefties.

The Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays and New York Yankees entered Tuesday with a chance to clinch a berth in MLB's postseason. All three wrapped up spots in the playoffs with wins, one in dramatic fashion.

Jay Bruce clinched the NL Central title for the Reds with his second career walk-off as they knocked off the Houston Astros 3-2. It's the Reds first division title and playoff berth since 1995. The Reds' 14 straight seasons missing the playoffs was the fifth-longest active drought in MLB.

Bruce is the fifth player all-time to hit a walk-off HR to clinch a postseason berth and the first since Steve Finley for the 2004 Los Angeles Dodgers. It is the Reds 22nd win in their last at-bat this season, tied for second in the majors.

The Yankees clinched their 49th postseason berth, the most of any team in MLB history, with a 6-1 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

CC Sabathia had his third game allowing three hits or fewer while pitching at least eight innings this month. He is the first Yankees pitcher to have three starts of that kind in a month since Jimmy Key in April 1993.

The Rays also clinched a playoff spot with a 5-0 win over the Baltimore Orioles in front of 17,981 at Tropicana Field. Using the attendance figures on ESPN.com, the Rays average attendance this season of 22,913 would be the third-lowest by a playoff team since 2001.

Not to be forgotten Tuesday was the battle for AL Cy Young, which had three candidates on the mound. Sabathia, David Price and Felix Hernandez all were outstanding as usual.

Price won his 19th game with eight scoreless innings. He is second in the AL in wins to Sabathia's 21 and is the only pitcher in the league to rank in the top three in wins and ERA, which lowered to 2.73.

Hernandez gave up one run over eight innings in the Seattle Mariners 3-1 win over the Texas Rangers. It was the 13th time this season Hernandez has gone at least eight innings while giving up one run or fewer. That's the most by a starting pitcher in a single season since Roger Clemens in 1997. Clemens went on to win the Cy Young that year.

According to ESPN's player rankings, Hernandez has the lead among AL starting pitchers over Boston Red Sox ace Jon Lester. Price ranks fourth while Sabathia is sixth. Time will tell who will take home the hardware.

Today’s Trivia: To go with 21 wins, Roy Halladay now has 219 strikeouts and just 30 walks. Who is the only pitcher since 1900 with a season of at least 21 wins and 200 strikeouts with 30 or fewer walks?

Quick Hits: Don’t be surprised if the AL Cy Young is determined on Tuesday, as CC Sabathia, Felix Hernandez and David Price all take the hill. Basking in a 5-0 September, Halladay likely locked up the NL award on Monday. But let’s revisit the AL battle, which also has a pair of Red Sox quietly tapping on the door.

• As strong as all of his other numbers are, could Felix possibly win the award with a losing record? He enters today 12-12. The worst winning percentage for a starter who won the Cy Young was .600. That was Gaylord Perry in 1972 when he went 24-16.

• Hernandez has a 2.31 ERA, but there’s a decent chance he ends up with a losing record. The last AL pitcher with 30+ starts and an ERA that low to post a losing record? Dutch Leonard went 16-17 despite a 2.17 ERA for the 1917 Red Sox. Since then, the closest thing would be Joe Horlen (12-14, 2.37 ERA) for the ’68 White Sox.

• Sabathia goes for his 21st win on Tuesday. He is 10-1 combined against the Indians, Orioles and Mariners – the teams with the three worst records in the AL.

• How important is run support? Sabathia is 19-2 when the Yankees score three or more runs and just 1-5 otherwise. Hernandez is 10-2 with three or more runs of support and just 2-10 with fewer.

• Since August 1, King Felix is just 5-4 despite a 1.22 ERA. Sabathia is 7-4 with a 3.46 ERA.

• Price and Sabathia both have six no decisions this season. In his, Price has a 2.70 ERA and the Rays have offered up a total of eight runs while he was in the game. In other words, his no decisions are the result of a lack of support. Meanwhile, Sabathia has a 4.03 ERA in his six no decisions, with a total of 29 runs scored while on the mound.

• While the above may point to Price over Sabathia, factor this in as well. In his 12 losses, the Mariners have scored a total of seven runs while Hernandez was in the game. His last five losses? They have not scored a single run while he was still in the game.

• Jon Lester is 5-0 with a 2.12 ERA in September with another start scheduled for Thursday. If finishing strong is a factor in the award, consider this: With a win and six strikeouts, Lester would be just the third AL pitcher over the last 50 years to go 6-0 with 50 strikeouts in September/October. The others? Nolan Ryan in 1973 and Jim Kaat in 1967.

• Also in line for one more start, Clay Buchholz could – rather quietly – post 18 wins and an ERA under 2.30. Since 1975, only nine AL pitchers have posted those numbers. Six won the Cy Young. Randy Johnson lost out in 1997 to another pitcher with those qualifications (Roger Clemens). The other two were both Red Sox: Pedro Martinez (2002) and Clemens (1990).

Today’s Leaderboard
Hernandez makes his final road start of the season. His 2.55 road ERA is the third best in the AL, but he has just a 4-8 record to show for it. In those eight losses, the Mariners have provided just four runs while he was in the game. Meanwhile, the top two road ERAs belong to Red Sox, neither of whom have had trouble picking up wins.

Key Matchups
• With their postseason hopes dwindling, the Rockies face a familiar foe on Tuesday in Hiroki Kuroda. In possibly his last start with the Dodgers, Kuroda comes into the game with a 3.27 ERA. However, take out the 5.64 ERA from three starts against Colorado and it would fall to 2.95. It’s not CarGo or Tulo doing the most damage against Kuroda. Rather, Seth Smith has been his nemesis with six hits in 11 at-bats.

• Sabathia is looking for his 21st win. Jose Bautista seeks his 53rd home run. So who has the better shot? Sabathia hasn’t faced the Blue Jays in 2010, but is 8-3 lifetime against the Jays and 4-1 in Toronto. He’s owned Vernon Wells (.194) and Aaron Hill (.158). Bautista is 0-for-8 with four strikeouts against Sabathia. But in a sense, these two have never met. That is to say it was a different Bautista given that their most recent meeting was in May 2009

Trivia Answer: In 1904, Cy Young went 26-16 with 200 strikeouts and 29 walks. Of course, his miniscule walk total came in 380 innings.

Saturday night in Colorado, Troy Tulowitzki continued his September to remember with a home run and five RBI. And, oh yeah, his fifth RBI also just happened to come on a walk-off double in the 10th inning. It's Tulo's fifth career walk-off hit


The Colorado Rockies' shortstop now has 15 home runs and 40 RBI this month as he continues one of the finest Septembers in baseball history. He is two home runs shy of matching the MLB record for September home runs, which is currently shared by Albert Belle (1995) and Babe Ruth (1927).

His 40 RBI are the second most any player has had in September since RBI became an official stat in 1920. Ruth's 43 September RBI in 1927 are the most, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Tulowitzki is the first player with 40 RBI in any month since Ryan Howard's 41 RBI in August 2006. He is just the fifth player in the last 50 years to drive in at least 40 runs in a calendar month. Ryan Klesko did this in 2001, Sammy Sosa in 1998, and Frank Howard in 1962.

In other action:

• With their victory over the Oakland Athletics, the Texas Rangers clinched their first postseason berth since 1999. The Rangers have lost in the ALDS in each of their previous three postseason appearances and are the only active MLB franchise that has never won a postseason series.

• The New York Mets topped the Philadelphia Phillies, snapping the Phillies' 11-game win streak. Kyle Kendrick took the loss for the Phillies, meaning that a pair of Kendrick losses to the Mets sandwiched both ends of the Phillies' win streak. In fact, Kendrick has taken three of the Phillies' last four losses.


• Jon Lester tossed seven scoreless innings as the Boston Red Sox knocked off the New York Yankees. Lester has won six straight starts, making him the first Red Sox lefty to win six straight starts since Bob Ojeda in 1983. Furthermore, Lester's 19 wins this season are the most by a Red Sox southpaw since Mel Parnell's 21 in 1953.

• Chris Denorfia's second career walk-off hit gave the San Diego Padres a win over the Cincinnati Reds. Denorfia's other walk-off hit came back in 2006.

• The Detroit Tigers defeated the Minnesota Twins, 11-10, on Brandon Inge's walk-off single in the 13th inning. It was Inge's seventh career walk-off hit. Three of those have come in extra-innings.