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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.

Josh Hamilton homered for the ninth time in his past six games Saturday, sending C.J. Wilson’s 80 mph curveball into the right-field seats in the sixth inning of the Texas Rangers' 4-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

One key to Hamilton’s power surge has been his ability hit breaking balls out of the yard. After Saturday, Hamilton now has seven home runs on breaking balls this season, already his most in any season since joining the Rangers in 2008.

Hamilton is hitting .420 against breaking balls in 2012, a dramatic increase over his .260 average against such pitches a year ago. And his slugging percentage against curveballs and sliders is .860, dwarfing his 2011 mark of .468.

Hamilton’s sudden ability to smash breaking balls has helped him get off to one of the best starts to a season in major league history.

His 18 homers have tied Cy Williams of the 1923 Phillies for the most all-time through 34 team games. And with nine home runs in his past six games, Hamilton is just one shy of the MLB record for homers in a six-game span set by Frank Howard with 10 in 1968, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Hamilton’s 18 home runs this season are five more than the entire San Diego Padres team and one fewer than the Chicago Cubs and Minnesota Twins.

Hamilton will look to continue his record run Sunday night against Jered Weaver and the Angels on ESPN. Hamilton has 34 career at-bats against Weaver, his second most against any pitcher, but just one home run.

Elsewhere in the majors Saturday:

• 2011 home run champ Jose Bautista hit his 10th career home run at Target Field in just his 10th game at the park. Only four players, all Twins, have more HR at Target Field since it opened in 2010. According to Elias, Bautista is the first player to hit 10 HR in his first 10 games in a ballpark since Shawn Green at Miller Park from 2001 to 2004.

• Roy Halladay took the loss after allowing seven hits and two runs in seven innings as the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Padres. The Phillies have now lost each of Halladay’s past five starts. That ties the longest losing streak for a team in Roy Halladay starts, matching the Toronto Blue Jays' five-game losing streak in Halladay starts in 1999.

• The Boston Red Sox beat the Cleveland Indians 4-1 for their second straight home win following a six-game losing streak at Fenway Park. It’s the first time the Red Sox have won back-to-back home games since April 13-15.

ESPN's Home Run Tracker analyzes video of each home run hit this season and as far back as 2006. Each month, the tracker will detail the best and worst home runs, as well as some other interesting statistics pertaining to the long ball. Below are the notable home runs for the month of April.

Power Surge: (Player with highest combined HR distance)
2011 Winner: Jose Bautista
March/April Winner: Matt Kemp
Kemp is off to a torrid start, with 12 home runs that have traveled a true distance of 4,802 feet. That’s a longer true distances than the Padres, who have hit 11 home runs, and the Cubs, who have hit the fewest HR (9) entering May. Kemp's 12 home runs are two shy of the record set by Albert Pujols in 2006 and Alex Rodriguez in 2007 for the most home runs by April 30.

No Doubter (Longest true distance)
2011 Winner: Prince Fielder (486 feet)
March/April Winner: Travis Hafner (481 feet)
On April 15, Cleveland’s DH hit a home run of the Royals Luis Mendoza, the longest HR of his career. Hafner’s previous long was 454 feet in 2006. The 481-foot shot is the longest HR by an Indian since the beginning of our database (2006).

Wall-Scraper (Shortest true distance)
2011 Winner: Asdrubal Cabrera (320 feet)
March/April Winner: B.J. Upton (323 feet)
On April 24, Upton hit a home run off Ervin Santana that hit off the left-field foul pole. Chris Iannetta hit a 324-foot HR off Phil Hughes, the only other player this season to hit a home run less than 345 feet.

Moonshot: (Highest Apex - maximum vertical height a ball reaches)
2011 Winner: Mark Reynolds (161 feet)
March/April Winner: Todd Helton (162 feet)
On April 14, Helton hit a walk-off home run off J.J. Putz. The ball hung in the air for 6.92 seconds, the highest apex HR since Alex Rodriguez reached 169 feet on Sept 11, 2009.

Liner: (Lowest Apex)
2011 Winner: Carlos Peguero (39 feet, twice)
March/April Winners: Curtis Granderson/Luke Scott (49 feet)
Ervin Santana, who gave up the shortest HR of the month, also gave up the lowest apex. On April 13, Santana served up a 349-foot solo shot to Granderson that had an apex of 49 feet. Scott matched Granderson with a 387-foot laser off Mark Lowe, which also never got higher than 49 feet off the ground.

Mother Nature: (Most climate-impacted HR)
2011 Winner: Luke Scott
March/April Winner: Miguel Cabrera
Even the best need help from time to time. On April 26, Cabrera hit a 382-foot home run off Hector Noesi, but a 15 mph wind gust helped the ball carry an extra 62 feet. Without the wind, it would have been a routine fly out.

Server: (Pitcher who allowed the greatest cumulative distance)
2011 Winner: Bronson Arroyo
March/April Winner: Ervin Santana
In addition to giving up the shortest and the lowest apex home runs, Santana’s 10 home runs allowed traveled a total distance of 3,844 feet.

Launching Pad: (Greatest cumulative distance in one stadium)
2011 Winner: Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
March/April Winner: Rogers Centre
Thirty-eight HR have been hit in Rogers Centre thus far, with a total distance of 15,072 feet. Chase Field in Arizona finished second, totaling 12,803 feet. Conversely, only six HR were hit at AT&T Park in April.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies continue their three-game series tonight (ESPN2, 7 ET). This will be the first game for the Marlins without manager Ozzie Guillén, who was suspended five games by the team for his comments regarding his respect for Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. This is the first time Guillén has been suspended in his managerial career. Joey Cora will make his managerial debut in the interim.

Starting Pitchers
Josh Johnson and Roy Halladay have started against each other four times, with Johnson’s teams winning three of the four games. Since Halladay joined the Phillies in 2010, they have faced off three times, with both pitchers going at least seven innings. In those games, a grand total of six runs were scored – and one perfect game was thrown (by Halladay).

The key for Johnson tonight will be how he commands his slider. Last season, opponents were 5-for-68 (.074) on at-bats ending in his slider. The league average was .217. Right-handed hitters were just 2-for-40 (.050) against the slider, with Albert Pujols and Justin Turner recording the only hits.

However, in his first outing this season, Johnson had trouble commanding the slider and allowed two hits off the pitch, both to David Frese.

In his first start this season, Halladay recorded the win over the Pittsburgh Pirates after throwing eight innings, allowing two hits, no earned runs and striking out five. The key to his success against the Pirates was his cutter, which has become his main weapon of choice. In that outing, Halladay threw only seven regular fastballs among the 92 pitches he threw.

Key Stat
The Phillies offense has been anemic to start the season. Their four extra-base hits are the fewest in the majors and no team but the Minnesota Twins have scored fewer than the Phillies’ 2.0 runs per game. Not since 1997 have the Phillies scored as few as eight runs in their first four games of the season. Philadelphia finished 68-94 that season and in last place in the NL East.

Player to Watch
Giancarlo Stanton has yet to hit a home run this season after hitting a career-high 34 last year. Overall, Stanton improved across the board in 2011, compared to his rookie year. He cut his strikeouts down, increased his walk rate from the league average to better than 83 percent of the league, all while increasing his power output. His 5.7 Wins Above Replacement, according the Baseball-Reference, ranked second among MLB rightfielders (Jose Bautista, 8.5).

Interesting Fact
Stanton’s full name is a sonorous mouthful: Giancarlo Cruz Michael Stanton. He is not Italian, and Giancarlo is not a family name – his parents just liked it. In school, Stanton, a California native, went by Giancarlo until the fifth grade.

Will Cohen contributed to this post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Things went according to form Friday night around the majors: The sport’s top four teams all won, the Mariners lost and Albert Pujols hit Paul Maholm hard.

However, the night’s top performance was in Texas, where Nelson Cruz put on a show. Cruz collected eight RBI on a 4-for-4 night with a home run. What made the effort even more remarkable was that he saw only six pitches in the game!

Cruz is the first player in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to record exactly one run, 8 RBI and four hits in four at-bats.

Cruz is also the first player to knock in eight runs without recording an out since Vladimir Guerrero on June 2, 2004. He is the second player to knock in at least eight runs in a game this season (Ben Zobrist) and Cruz is the first Ranger to do so since Ivan Rodriguez on April 13, 1999.

Cruz’s home run Friday (No. 22) came off the slider, his sixth home run of the year off that pitch. That total is tied for second in the majors, trailing only Jose Bautista’s seven.

In Boston, the Red Sox held on to their two-game division lead with a 7-4 win over Felix Hernandez and the Mariners. The setback extended Seattle’s losing streak to 13 games, the franchise’s second-longest slide in its history. The 1992 Mariners lost 14 straight.

In Philadelphia, the Phillies rode Cole Hamels to a 3-1 win over the Padres. San Diego hitters were 0-8 in at-bats ending with a Hamels changeup, and the pitch was responsible for five of his strikeouts. Hamels got 14 swings and misses with the change, his most in a game since September 2009.

The St. Louis Cardinals picked up a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates to jump into a virtual tie for second place with the Bucs, one game behind the Milwaukee Brewers (who defeated the Giants, 4-2, in San Francisco). Albert Pujols went 4-for-5 in the victory, with a first-inning home run off Paul Maholm. Pujols is now 21-36 (.583) against Maholm in his career.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that is the second-best average among active pitcher/hitter matchups (min. 30 AB).

The 2011 Home Run Derby will take place at Chase Field Monday night. This year the event features simultaneous individual and team contests, as well as a roster of four American League and four National League sluggers selected by captains (and former Derby champions) David Ortiz of the AL and Prince Fielder of the NL.

Let’s take a closer look at the participants and their long-ball credentials heading into the annual slugfest.

American League:

David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox
Season max: 54 in 2006
2011 HR: 19
Longest HR since 2006: May 14, 2010 at Comerica Park (459 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 4
Derby experience: 2004 (three HR, eighth place), 2005 (20 HR, third place), 2006 (13 HR, fourth place), 2010 (32 HR, first place)

Adrian Gonzalez, Boston Red Sox
Season max: 40 in 2009
2011 HR: 17
Longest HR since 2006: April 26, 2009 at PETCO Park (471 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 5
Derby experience: 2009 (two HR, seventh place)


Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays
Season max: 54 in 2010
2011 HR: 31
Longest HR since 2006: April 1, 2011 at Rogers Centre (456 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 4
Derby experience: none

Robinson Cano, New York Yankees
Season max: 29 in 2010
2011 HR: 15
Longest HR since 2006: June 16, 2010 at Yankee Stadium (451 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 2
Derby experience: none


National League:

Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
Season max: 50 in 2007
2011 HR: 22
Longest HR since 2006: April 29, 2011 at Minute Maid Park (486 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 14
Derby experience: 2007 (three HR, sixth place), 2009 (23 HR, first place)

Rickie Weeks, Milwaukee Brewers
Season max: 29 in 2010
2011 HR: 17
Longest HR since 2006: September 20, 2007 at Turner Field (471 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 4
Derby experience: none


Matt Holliday, St. Louis Cardinals
Season max: 36 in 2007
2011 HR: 14
Longest HR since 2006: September 19, 2006 at Coors Field (498 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 24
Derby experience: 2007 (13 HR, third place), 2010 (five HR, fifth place)

Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers
Season max: 28 in 2010
2011 HR: 22
Longest HR since 2006: June 10, 2011 at Coors Field (458 feet)
450+ foot HR since 2006: 5
Derby experience: none


Predictions:
The AL and NL are remarkably balanced in terms of recent home run production - the four AL hitters have struck 79 home runs to the NL’s 73. The primary difference between the two leagues is in raw power, where the NL has a clear advantage: the NL’s four sluggers have combined for 47 home runs of more than 450 feet since 2006 (including 38 by Fielder and Holliday), compared to only 15 for the AL’s four representatives. The NL will exploit this advantage to win the team portion of the event this year.

For the individual title, I expect Ortiz, Bautista, Fielder and Kemp to pass on to the second round, with Bautista and Fielder slugging it out in the final. When the last ball has come to rest in the distant reaches of Chase Field, Prince Fielder will hoist the crossed-bats of the Home Run Derby Championship Trophy for the second time.

Derek Jeter grabbed the headlines, but there were other dramatic games and performances Saturday.

Aaron Harang and four relievers held the Dodgers without a hit for 8 ⅔ innings before Juan Uribe doubled to end the Padres' bid for the franchise's first no-hitter. One batter later, Dioner Navarro hit a walk-off single to give Los Angeles a 1-0 win. The Dodgers' pitching wasn't too shabby either, only allowing one hit to the Padres.

From the Elias Sports Bureau: The Dodgers and Padres combined for three hits. It's just the third 1-0 game in the last 25 seasons that featured three or fewer hits.

The Dodgers weren't the only team to walk off with a win.

Josh Hamilton finished off a 4-for-5 night with a two-run, walk-off home run to give the Rangers their sixth straight win, a 7-6 victory over the Athletics.

Alexei Ramirez, who homered earlier in the game, singled in the bottom of the ninth to drive in A.J. Pierzynski and give the White Sox a 4-3 win over the Twins. The victory snapped Chicago's nine-game losing streak against Minnesota.

Later, Cardinals pinch-hitter Tony Cruz doubled home Colby Rasmus in the ninth to give St. Louis a 7-6, walk-off win over the Diamondbacks.

Of the 15 games played on Saturday, eight of them were decided by one run.

Jose Bautista hit two more home runs, including the go-ahead shot in the 10th inning, as the Blue Jays edged the Indians, 5-4. Bautista increased his MLB-leading home run total to 31 and is the first AL player to hit that number before the All-Star break since David Ortiz in 2006. Bautista has 13 multi-HR games over the last two seasons, the most in MLB.

He is also the first Blue Jays player to hit 30 before the All-Star break in a single season. It's also his 100th career homer with the Blue Jays, the fastest anyone has reached 100 homers in team history, doing so in 377 games with the club.

John Lackey entered Saturday with an ERA of 9.17 at home this season. He pitched 6 ⅔ shutout innings against the Orioles, the first time he has had a scoreless start at home since his very first with the Red Sox (April 7, 2010, vs. the Yankees).

Before Saturday, Lackey had allowed at least one run in 24 straight starts at Fenway Park.

For the second time this season the San Diego Padres found themselves playing a game delayed four times by rain. This time -- with a combined delay of two hours and 25 minutes, just under the game time played of two hours and 49 minutes -- the Padres prevailed as they defeated the Boston Red Sox, taking two of three in the series at Fenway.

San Diego won consecutive games for the first time since winning three straight from June 3-5. Boston lost consecutive games for the first time since its four-game losing streak back from May 29-June 1.

John Lackey allowed five earned runs in just 3⅓ innings pitched to see his ERA balloon all the way up to 7.36 for the season. That's the highest ERA by any starter this season with a minimum of 10 starts.

It's also the highest ERA by a Red Sox starter with 10 or more starts through the teams first 74 games played since Mickey Harris in 1948, who had a 7.66 ERA at that point in the season.

In the loss on Wednesday against the Padres Lackey struggled with his slider as three of his five hits allowed, including the home run to Will Venable to leadoff the game, came against a slider.

Lackey has relied on this pitch more often since joining Boston. Using pitch data from the last three seasons his slider percentage thrown has jumped from 11.6 in the season before joining the Red Sox to 16.5 percent in the two seasons since.

He has gotten fewer swings and misses with his slider the last two seasons as his miss percentage has dropped from 41.4 percent in 2009 to 30.7 percent since 2010 began.

Elsewhere around MLB:

• Kevin Correia picked up his ninth win of the season as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles. He is the first Pirates pitcher with nine or more wins through the teams first 74 games of a season since Denny Neagle had 10 in the 1995 campaign.

It also set up a logjam of 11 pitchers tied for the major-league lead with nine wins. According to Elias, this is the first day since June 27, 1950 there will be nine or more players tied for the ML lead with exactly nine wins. Through games of that date the following 10 players were tied for the major league lead in wins: Joe Dobson, Ted Gray, Art Houtteman, Bob Lemon, Ed Lopat, Robin Roberts, Preacher Roe, Johnny Sain, Curt Simmons, and Warren Spahn.

• Jose Bautista homered in the Toronto Blue Jays loss to the Atlanta Braves. It was just his third home run in his past 28 games. He had hit 15 home runs in his previous 28 contests.

Curtis Granderson ranks second only to Jose Bautista this season with 17 home runs, and also leads the New York Yankees in RBI (41) and OPS (.960). The center fielder is hitting a home run once every 12.3 at-bats, and is on pace to hit 51. (His career-high is 30 in 2009, his last season with the Detroit Tigers.)

Granderson’s power surge coincides with a swing change he made last August. He worked with hitting coach Kevin Long to shorten his swing and simplify his approach. The result has been an increase in power and much more success against left-handed pitchers.

After struggling throughout his career against left-handed pitching (career .213 batting average entering this season), Granderson actually has a higher average against left-handers than righties in 2011. Against left-handed pitching, Granderson leads all of baseball with nine home runs and is hitting one every 7.3 at-bats. Against right-handers, he’s hitting a homer once every 17.9 at-bats.

Why is Granderson having success against left-handers? One reason is that he’s hitting fly balls with more power since his swing change. In the first 54 games of 2010, he hit 23 fly balls against lefties, but only one of those left the park. Through 54 games this season, Granderson has hit 25 fly balls, but has been hitting home runs with much more frequency.

Since changing his swing on Aug. 12, 2010, Granderson has hit 31 home runs. That’s the third-most behind Bautista (39) and Jay Bruce (32). His HR/Flyball rate has increased from 9.6 percent to 22.1 after the change. (The league average was 10.6 percent in 2010.)

Granderson’s performance on fastballs against lefties is another reason for his power surge. When he’s seen fastballs this season from left-handed pitchers, Granderson is hitting .385 with a slugging percentage of 1.000.

In his time with the Yankees, Granderson’s increased his slugging percentage on fastballs from left-handed pitchers from .422 before the swing change to .797 after the switch. He was hitting a home run once every 64 at-bats on these pitches before the swing change, but now is hitting a homer once every 7.7 at-bats since altering his swing.

Jay Bruce dialed long-distance like no one else in the big leagues in May, according to ESPN's Home Run Tracker, and Mark Trumbo had the kind of mammoth blast that hadn't been seen in Kansas City in four years. What were some of the other home run oddities from the month of May?

Player Power Surge: HRs Totaling Most Distance (Jay Bruce, Cincinnati Reds)
Mike Stanton averaged more than 425 feet per home run in May, but no one totaled more total distance than Bruce. His 12 home runs tallied 4,776 feet, besting last month's winner, Ryan Braun, by nearly 700 feet. Jose Bautista, who leads the majors in home runs, has yet to win this award.

No Doubter: Longest True Distance (Mark Trumbo, Los Angeles Angels)
Trumbo's Memorial Day blast off of Royals pitcher Louis Coleman at Kauffman Stadium traveled a true distance of 472 feet. It was the longest home run hit by an Angels player since Vladimir Guerrero's 473-foot shot off Zack Greinke at Kauffman on May 1, 2007.

Wall-Scraper: Shortest True Distance (Danny Valencia, Brennan Boesch)
On May 8, Valencia hit a 329-foot HR off Daisuke Matsuzaka. Eleven days later, Boesch hit a 329-foot shot off of Daniel Bard. Both home runs were hit at Fenway Park, which is not surprising. Of the 10 shortest home runs hit in 2011, six have been at Fenway Park.

Moonshot: Highest Apex* (Shelley Duncan, Cleveland Indians)
Duncan's 431-foot shot on Memorial Day off of Blue Jays pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes landed in the fifth deck at Rogers Centre, with an apex of 152 feet. Duncan became just the 15th player to reach the fifth deck at Rogers Centre, and the first since Jayson Werth on June 27, 2009 off of Brad Mills.

Line Drive: Lowest Apex (Carlos Peguero, Seattle Mariners)
Peguero’s May 16 shot came off Twins starter Scott Baker. With an apex of 39 feet, it was the lowest home run hit since Travis Snider’s 39-foot apex home run on May 3, 2010.

Fastball of the Month: Fastest Speed Off Bat (Juan Rivera, Toronto Blue Jays)
While his teammate Jose Bautista may steal all the attention, Rivera hit the fastest speed off bat in May. Rivera’s shot on May 22 off of Astros starter Wandy Rodriguez traveled 117.7 mph off the bat, and went 431 feet.

Server of the Month: Greatest Total Distance Allowed (Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds)
Arroyo allowed 10 home runs that traveled 3,981 feet. Last month's winner, Armando Galarraga, now finds himself in Triple-A Reno.

* Defined as the maximum vertical height a ball reaches during its flight

After a slow start in April, the American League East sits atop the ESPN Stats & Information Divisional Power Rankings, a performance metric that debuted last month in the SIG Blog.

Entering Tuesday, eight of the top 30 individual batters reside in the AL East, according to ESPN's Player Ratings. The east found its power in the month of May more than any other division.

Jose Bautista, David Ortiz, Mark Teixeira, Curtis Granderson and Adrian Gonzalez each hit at least nine home runs in May. No other division had more than one player hit that many. American League East teams also averaged more runs (4.7) and extra base hits (3.1) per game in May than any other division.

As a result of their offensive outburst, three of the top 10 teams in ESPN’s Power Rankings are in the AL East, and the five teams in the division combined to post the best record in non-divisional games during the month (50-39).

The National League East continued its solid start, with all five teams within a game of .500 when playing teams outside the division. That’s an impressive feat considering they played the toughest overall schedule through two months.

After a slow start in April, the NL Central jumped from last to fourth. The biggest difference was that the division’s players, specifically batters, performed at a high level. Five of the top 10 batters according to ESPN’s Player Ratings play on teams in the NL Central.

As a result of losing 11 points since the last rankings were released, the AL Central sits at the bottom of May's rankings. The April 25 Power Rankings contained no AL Central team below 23rd place, but after two months, the division now has two teams ranked 23rd or lower, and four teams in the bottom half of the rankings. Only the Chicago White Sox had a winning record outside of divisional play in May, leading to a .443 non-divisional win percentage for the month, by far the lowest percentage of any division.

As the second edition of the MLB Divisional Rankings shows, plenty can change in one month. Look for the next edition of the rankings to again change as interleague play returns on June 17, highlighted by Boston traveling to Philadelphia and Cleveland facing off with the defending World Champion San Francisco Giants in the final week of June.

April showers have brought May flowers for Jay Bruce.

The Cincinnati Reds slugger Sunday hit his National League-leading 15th home run of the season and his 11th homer in May, which ties Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays for the most during the month this season.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 11 home runs in May are the most by a Reds player in a single calendar month since Adam Dunn hit 12 in July 2008.

Bruce ended the month of April struggling with four home runs, 11 RBI and a .237 batting average, which ranked 135th in MLB among players with at least 75 plate appearances.

This month has seen a completely different story. He’s hitting .330 with 11 HR and 29 RBI. In his previous two years in May, Bruce had just a .239 batting average with 12 homers and 30 RBI over 57 games.

So what’s been the difference? According to Inside Edge, Bruce is getting aggressive and taking advantage of fastballs. In the month of April, Bruce had a slugging percentage of .364 on at-bats that ended on the first pitch. That is up to .778 this month.

On at-bats that ended on the fastball, Bruce hit .254 during the month of April. That was below the MLB average of .285 in the situation. This month, he’s increased that to .344 and his slugging percentage is at .889.

But Bruce wasn’t the only “Jay” that had a strong Sunday.

• The Toronto Blue Jays scored 13 runs, including a six-run first inning as they clubbed the White Sox 13-4.

• Ricky Romero got the win for the Blue Jays as he allowed two runs over seven innings. According to Baseball Reference, his nickname is “RR Cool Jay”, like the rapper and entertainer “LL Cool J.”

• J.A. Happ (pronounced “Jay") did not allow a hit until the fifth inning for the Houston Astros. He also hit his first career home run.

• Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals had three hits, but he was left stranded in scoring position in the eighth inning as the potential go-ahead run.

• J.J. Hardy of the Baltimore Orioles had a pair of hits, including a double.

• Jay Gibbons of the Los Angeles Dodgers had three hits. He entered Sunday with a .190 batting average and eight total hits for the season.

• Jon Jay of the St. Louis Cardinals and John Jaso of the Tampa Bay Rays each hit their eighth career home run. Alphabetically, those two are next to each other on the active player list. It was the first time they've gone deep on the same day.