ESPN More Sports

Jordany Valdespin's first career hit couldn't have come at a better time. With the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies tied at two in the top of the ninth inning, Valdespin golfed a splitter from Jonathan Papelbon over the fence, snapping a streak of six straight hitless at-bats to begin his MLB career.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Valdespin is the first player whose first career hit was a go-ahead HR in the ninth inning or later since Miguel Cabrera on June 20, 2003. He's the first player to record his first career hit via a pinch-hit go-ahead HR in the ninth inning or later since Steve Sisco for the Atlanta Braves on May 13, 2000 (also against the Phillies). While Cabrera has gone on to hit more than 280 HR in the majors, Sisco's HR was the only one of his short MLB career.

Papelbon earned his first loss as a member of the Phillies and allowed at least three runs in a game for the first time since June 4 of last year. Papelbon had good reason to think that Valdespin wouldn't be able to do much with the splitter that ended up in the bleachers. Entering Monday, opponents were just 2-13 (.154) against Papelbon's split-finger fastball this season.

Roy Halladay's streak of eight straight wins against the Mets came to an end after he allowed two runs on five hits over seven innings. After winning his first three starts of 2012, the Phillies have now lost four straight starts by Halladay for the first time since he came to Philadelphia in 2010. Halladay has a 5.13 ERA in those games after having a 1.17 ERA in his first three starts of the season.

Elsewhere in the majors on Monday:

• Philip Humber struggled for a third straight start, allowing eight runs and failing to reach the fourth inning as the Chicago White Sox fell to the Cleveland Indians 8-6. Since throwing the 21st perfect game in MLB history on April 21, Humber is now 0-2 with a 13.50 ERA in his last three starts. According to Elias, Humber's 20 runs allowed in that span are the most by any pitcher in his first three starts after a perfect game since 1900.

• Brandon Snyder, who entered Monday with five total RBI in 27 career games, drove in a game-high six runs in the Texas Rangers 14-3 win over the Baltimore Orioles. Snyder became the first player to drive in at least six runs from the eighth spot in the order since Jorge Posada on August 13 last season.

• The Boston Red Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 11-5, improving to 12-16 on the season. Despite their subpar record, Monday was the MLB-leading eighth time the Red Sox scored 10 or more runs in a game this season. Baseball-reference.com tells us Boston is the fourth team to score 10 or more runs eight times in its first 28 games of a season in the live-ball era (since 1920), joining the 1997 Rockies, 1950 Yankees and 1928 Athletics.

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 Tampa Bay Rays play host to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the middle game of a three-game set tonight (ESPN2, 7 ET). The two teams are moving in opposite directions – the Rays have won five of six, while the Angels have lost five of seven.

What’s Wrong with the Angels?
The Angels have stumbled out of the gate, falling to 6-11 to start the season after their 5-0 loss Tuesday night. The Angels are in last place in the AL West, already 7.5 games behind the division-leading Texas Rangers. So what’s not working for LA?

• Scored 3.9 runs per game, 10th in the AL.

• Drawn a walk about once every 15 plate appearances, the 12th ranked walk rate in the AL in front of only the Seattle Mariners and Baltimore Orioles.

• Correspondingly, the Angels have a team .304 on-base percentage, 11th in the AL.

• Have hit an AL-low 11 home runs so far this year.

What’s Wrong with Albert Pujols?
Pujols has stumbled out of the gate in his first season with the Angels. After going 0-for-4 Tuesday night, he is homerless in his last 23 regular-season games dating back to last season, the second longest streak in his career (went 26 straight homerless games in 2011).

Pujols is also in danger of going hitless in five straight games. He’s done that just once before in his career – September of his 2001 rookie season!

Last season, Pujols batted .301 in at-bats ending with a curveball or slider, a mark that ranked 10th-best in the majors. He chased only 23 percent of those pitches out of the zone – better than the league average of 31 percent.

This season, Pujols has batted only .091 in at-bats ending with curves and sliders. He already has seven strikeouts on those pitches and he’s chased a whopping 58 percent of curves and sliders out of the zone.

Pitching Matchup
C.J. Wilson is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA in 40 career innings pitched against the Rays. Current Tampa Bay players have hit just .139 in their careers against Wilson with just three extra base hits. And four current Rays regulars are hitless in their careers against Wilson.

• B.J. Upton: 0-for-17, 8 K
• Desmond Jennings: 0-for-10, 3 K
• Jose Molina: 0-for-10, 3 K
• Carlos Pena: 0-for-8, 1 K

Jeremy Hellickson has seen his strikeout rate drop progressively in each season of his career so far (8.2 in 2010; 5.6 in 2011; 4.2 so far this season).

Last year in his only start against the Angels, he took the loss but struck out a season-high 10 batters in 5⅔ innings, including three strikeouts each of Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells.

Before this season, Hellickson’s two most effective out pitches were his curveball and changeup. He got to the most swings and misses on these pitches and hitters chased over 40 percent of his changeups out of the zone.

However, so far this season, Hellickson has curtailed the use of his two most effective pitches in favor of a new cutter.

He’s thrown the cutter for a strike at a high rate, but he’s also allowed a .953 OPS on at-bats ending with the pitch, the worst results of any of his pitches this season.

Stat of the Game
Evan Longoria has continued on a tear he began starting last September. Since then, Longoria is batting .309 with a .451 on-base percentage, ranking him third in the majors over that span, trailing only Miguel Cabrera (.470) and Matt Kemp (.456). In addition, his 1.036 OPS is fourth highest in the AL since last September.

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

1. BUBBA WATSON IS MASTERFUL: Bubba Watson defeats Louis Oosthuizen in the second playoff hole to win the Masters Tournament and his first major championship. It was the first time since 2009 and the 15th time overall that a playoff decided the Masters. Watson becomes the 14th different winner in the last 14 majors and the second straight American winner. He moves into fourth in the new Official World Golf Ranking. Watson won the tournament despite not being in the final pairing. It’s the second-straight year that the winner did not come from the final pairing. Prior to last year, the winner came from the final pairing in 19 of 20 years.

2. MELO IS CLUTCH: Carmelo Anthony scored a season-high 43 points, making the game-tying three-point FG in regulation and the game-winning three-point FG in OT as the New York Knicks beat the Chicago Bulls 100-99. FROM ELIAS: He is the fifth player in the last five seasons, and the first since Dirk Nowitzki in 2009 to make a game-tying shot in the last 15 seconds in regulation, then make the game-winning shot in the last 15 seconds in OT. Anthony has gone 24-52 from the field in game-tying or go-ahead situations in the last 15 seconds of fourth quarter/OT over the last 10 seasons. Among players that have taken at least 20 field goal attempts over that span, Anthony ranks first in field goal percentage (46.2). His 24 field goals are second to Kobe Bryant who has 26 (26-86, 30.2 FG pct for Bryant).

3. TIGERS USE RARE COMEBACK TO SWEEP RED SOX: Miguel Cabrera hit a game-tying three-run home run in the ninth inning and Alex Avila hit a two-run walk-off home run in the 11th inning to give the Detroit Tigers a 13-12 win over the Boston Red Sox to complete the three-game sweep. FROM ELIAS: This is the first time that the Red Sox have ever lost a game in which they held multiple-run leads twice in the ninth inning or later and it's the second time that the Tigers have won a game in this fashion, the first since September 28, 1929 against the Chicago White Sox.

4. YANKEES & RED SOX IN UNFAMILIAR PLACE: Jeremy Hellickson pitched 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball as the Tampa Bay Rays beat the New York Yankees 3-0. The Yankees join the Red Sox with an 0-3 start. It’s the second time that they’ve both started a season 0-3. The other instance was in 1966 when the Red Sox started 0-5 and the Yankees started 0-3. That season, the Red Sox finished 72-90 while the Yankees finished 70-89.

5. MUCH ANTICIPATED MLB DEBUT: Texas Rangers pitcher Yu Darvish will make his MLB Regular Season Debut Monday. Darvish will face the Seattle Mariners and likely face fellow Japanese superstar Ichiro in the first inning. Darvish was 93-38 with a 1.99 ERA in 7 seasons in Japan.

Wondering why those who are in the top 10 were picked in those spots? Here are some numbers to know about each of the top 10 players in the ESPN 500.

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

Roy Halladay -- Halladay has 170 wins and a 2.97 ERA, averaging almost 210 innings per year over the last 10 seasons. The last pitcher to average 17 wins and 200 innings a season, over a 10-season span, and do so with a sub-3.00 ERA was Greg Maddux from 1995 to 2004.

Miguel Cabrera -- Cabrera has led the American League in at least two significant offensive categories in three of the last four seasons. Cabrera’s .977 OPS over the last six seasons trails only Albert Pujols in that span.

Justin Verlander -– Verlander won both the AL MVP and Cy Young awards in 2011, the first pitcher to win both since Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1992, and the first starter to do so since Roger Clemens in 1986. Over the last three seasons, Verlander leads the majors in wins (61) and strikeouts (738) and is third in opponents BA (.221).

Felix Hernandez -- Hernandez and Roy Halladay are the only two pitchers to average 240 innings per season over the last three seasons, and his ERA, when adjusted for ballpark, ranks second to Halladay in that span as well.

Ryan Braun –- Braun has led all major league outfielders in batting average (.318), RBI (328), runs (323) and doubles (122) over the last three seasons. The 2007 NL Rookie the Year and 2011 NL MVP has hit 161 HR in his first five seasons, the 10th-most by a player in his first five seasons.

Clayton Kershaw –- Kershaw is second to Roy Halladay among National League starters in both wins and ERA, but leads in strikeouts and opponent batting average over the last two seasons.

Troy Tulowitzki -- Over the last three seasons, Tulowitzki has 89 home runs, 34 more than any other player whose primary position is shortstop. His OPS+ of 134 also tops all shortstops in that span. Tulowitzki also ranks third among shortstops over the last three seasons in Defensive Runs Saved.

Tim Lincecum –- Since making his debut in May of 2007, Lincecum has struck out at least 10 batters in a game 31 times, the most in the majors over that span. His 977 strikeouts over the last four years is tops among all pitchers.

Robinson Cano -- Cano has led major-league second baseman in both slugging percentage and OPS in each of the last two seasons. This season, he will likely break the Yankees record for career home runs as a second baseman, a mark currently held by Tony Lazzeri (147- eight more than Cano) that has stood for more than half a century.

On Saturday, Cameron Maybin agreed to a five-year, $25 million contract with the San Diego Padres. The deal will keep the 24-year-old in San Diego through at least his first free agent year.

It's been a long journey for the former first-round pick, who was drafted ahead of the likes of fellow outfielders Andrew McCutchen, Jay Bruce and Jacoby Ellsbury and was involved in trades for both a star (Miguel Cabrera) as well as two middle relievers (Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb). But now on his third team and fresh off his fifth season of Major League action, Maybin has found a home.

Maybin had the best season of his young career in 2011, posting a .265/.323 /.393 triple slash line and swiping a team-leading 40 bases. He also led the Padres in runs scored (82), total bases (203), and triples (8). He tied for the team lead in hits (136) and was tied for second in home runs (9). His 4.7 Wins Above Replacement ranked sixth among all center fielders last season and tied for sixth among Padres outfielders in the Wild Card era.

Despite the success, Maybin’s offensive numbers suffered from hitting in the cavernous Petco Park, which consistently ranks in the bottom-third of the Majors in home runs hit and runs scored according to ESPN’s Park Factors. He batted .231 at home last year compared to .294 on the road, and there was an even bigger discrepancy in his slugging percentage (.324 to .457).

But while his home park punishes his surface-level offensive numbers, it is that same home park that represents one of the reasons Maybin is so valuable to the Padres - centerfield defense. Few parks are as spacious in the outfield as Petco, and Maybin's ability to track down batted balls represented a significant portion of his value in 2011.

Baseball Info Solutions has worked to upgrade its defensive analysis, a re-tooling that will be unveiled in The Fielding Bible III. Suffice it to say, the adjusted defensive metrics suggest Maybin was one of the premier defensive players at his position in 2011 - he ranked tied for third in Defensive Runs Saved.

While Maybin's defensive value is evident and his offense progressed, the latter still has significant room for growth. Most notably, Maybin's issues with changeups provide a clear area for potential improvement.

Maybin chased almost 39 percent of soft pitches (changeups, sliders, curveballs) low and away out of the strike zone and had only two hits on 239 such pitches in 2011. That .038 BA ranked 131st out of 145 qualified hitters. Specific to the changeup, Maybin ranked among the bottom of the league in batting average, OPS and strikeout rate against that pitch over the last three seasons combined.

He did, however, improve against the changeup from 2010 to 2011 - he raised his batting average (.091 to .197) and his OPS (.182 to .505), while reducing his strikeout rate (46 percent to 27 percent). Maybin - and the Padres - hope the trend continues in 2012.

Prince Fielder has agreed to terms on a nine-year, $214 million contract with the Tigers.

This will be the fourth-largest contract, in terms of total value, in MLB history, trailing the two contracts signed by Alex Rodriguez ($275 million and $252 million) and the contract signed by Albert Pujols this offseason ($240 million).

Fielder ranks second in the majors with 200 home runs since 2007, and also ranks in the top five in that span in RBI, slugging percentage, and OPS.

In 2011, he ranked in the top two in the majors in games, home runs, RBI, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage.

Fielder joins a Tigers team that had a lineup spot to fill after it lost Victor Martinez to a torn ACL. The Tigers finished in the top four in the American League in runs scored, batting average, and OPS last season, and were seventh in the AL with 169 home runs.

Fielder averaged 20 home runs per season at Miller Park over the last six seasons, but will now play his home games at Comerica Park.

Since Comerica opened in 2000, the most home runs hit by a left-handed hitter there is 14, by Carlos Pena in 2005.

Since 2009, left-handed hitters hit 209 home runs at Miller Park, and hit 174 in Brewers road games, giving the park a Ballpark Factor of 116 for left-handed hitters, sixth-highest in the majors.

In the same span, left-handed hitters hit 191 home runs at Comerica Park and 213 home runs in Tigers road games, giving Comerica Park, a Park Factor of 89. That's eighth-lowest in the majors for left-handed hitters.

Last season at Miller Park, Fielder hit 77 fly balls, 22 of which went for home runs. On the road, he hit 85 fly balls, 13 of which were home runs.

Fielder ranks among the game's top hitters in terms of situational offensive contribution, with almost identical numbers as Pujols.

Over the last three seasons, Fielder ranks third among all players in Win Probability Added, which rates player performance on a play-by-play basis. Fielder added approximately 17.5 wins to his team with his offensive production, trailing only Joey Votto (19.9 wins) and Albert Pujols (18 wins).

Fielder ranks fifth among first baseman in the advanced metric, Wins Above Replacement, with 15.3 wins contributed over the last three seasons, trailing Pujols (21.5), Votto (18.9), new teammate Miguel Cabrera (18.9), and Adrian Gonzalez (18.0).

Fielder’s defensive value can be evaluated with the metric Defensive Runs Saved, which rates players based on the skills most pertinent to their position. That stat shows that Fielder has cost his team 48 runs since 2006, 10 more than any other first baseman in that span.

Prince will become one of several notable father-son pairs to play for the same team at some point in their career, joining the likes of the Bonds’ (San Francisco Giants) and Griffey’s (Cincinnati Reds, Seattle Mariners).

Prince’s father, Cecil Fielder, hit 245 home runs as a first baseman for the Tigers in the 1990s. That ranks fifth-most in team history. For Fielder to match his father, he would have to average approximately 27.2 home runs per season.

The emphasis in the 2011 World Series shifted from pitching to hitting in Game 3 and the ramifications were such that both teams will have some fatigued relievers in Sunday night’s Game 4.

In the fourth through sixth innings, the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers combined for 17 runs, more than twice as many as were scored in the first two games. They had just five fewer hits over those three frames than in the 18 innings of Games 1 and 2.

This could play a major role not just in this game, but for the rest of the series.

With that in mind, here are a few things to watch for in Game 4

Mound Matchup
The last time Edwin Jackson was on the mound, the Cardinals celebrated a trip to the World Series following their 12-6 win in Game 6 of the NLCS. Jackson, who got just six outs in the game, became a historical footnote as the second starter in major-league history to allow three homers in two innings or fewer in a postseason game.

Two of the three longballs he allowed in that game came on inside pitches to right-handed batters, a spot that has given Jackson trouble all season. Righties are slugging .642 in at-bats ending with a pitch on the inner third of the zone or closer this season, a rate that is nearly 200 points higher than the league average.

The tailing fastball of Rangers starter Derek Holland against right-handed hitters could be worth watching on Sunday night. That pitch was among Holland’s most effective during the regular season. According to the data from Pitch F/X (the pitch-tracking system in major-league ballparks), his fastball averaged 11 inches of “tailing break,” the most among starting pitchers in baseball.

The Tigers were ready for it in Game 4 of the ALCS. Their right-handed hitters got four hits against it, including home runs from Miguel Cabrera and Jhonny Peralta in the first two innings. That’s as many hits as he allowed on fastballs away to right-handed hitters in his last seven regular-season appearances (spanning 119 pitches).

Pujols and Freese the perfect combo
Albert Pujols and David Freese each have 16 RBI this postseason, marking only the second time in postseason history that two teammates have had at least 16 RBI in a postseason. Three members of the 2002 San Francisco Giants did it- Rich Aurilia (17) Barry Bonds (16), and Benito Santiago (16).

Neither has faced Derek Holland in a major league game. But Pujols is 8-for-17 against left-handed pitching this postseason, including his home runs against Mike Gonzalez and Darren Oliver. Freese has been all-or-nothing against lefties. He’s 6-for-15, but with seven strikeouts.

Cruz Control Nelson Cruz is 2-for-10 in the World Series with a home run, but the Cardinals have done their best to limit his damage. He’s whiffed four times in the three games, twice on pitches at the very top of the strike zone, twice on pitches down around his toes.

The Cardinals approach has been virtually the opposite of how the Tigers pitched to Cruz in the ALCS. In that six-game series, Tigers right-handed pitchers threw Cruz 40 pitches (out of 90 total) on the inner-third of the plate, or that missed inside.

In the three World Series games, Cruz has seen 38 pitches from right-handers. Only four have been inner-third or missed inside.

Trailing 2-0 entering the bottom half of the third inning in Game 6 of the ALCS, the Texas Rangers responded with an unforgettable frame.

The breakdown: nine runs, 14 batters, four Detroit Tigers pitchers (who combined to throw 50 pitches) for a half inning that took 37 minutes to complete. Six innings (and six more runs) later, the Rangers had clinched a return trip to the World Series by way of a 15-5 rout.

The Rangers are the first American League team to win consecutive pennants since the 2000-01 Yankees. Their 15 runs tied the most by a winning team in an elimination game, matching the 1996 Braves, who scored a 15-0 win against the Cardinals in Game 7 of the NLCS.

Powering the way for the Rangers was ALCS MVP Nelson Cruz who hit his sixth home run of the series in the win. His six home runs are the most by a player in any postseason series.

Cruz also added 13 RBI, alsothe most by a player in a postseason series in MLB history. Bobby Richardson had 12 RBI for the Yankees in the 1960 World Series for the Yankees; John Valentin had 12 RBI in the 1999 ALDS for the Red Sox.

The power surge by Cruz is perhaps more interesting considering how he was a non-factor at the plate in the Rangers’ previous series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Cruz managed just one hit in 15 at-bats and failed to drive in a single run.

Texas’ offensive outburst came in support of a starting rotation that saw its postseason struggles continue.

Derek Holland (4 2/3 IP, 4 ER) continued a trend of short outings for Rangers starters; no Rangers starting pitcher has completed more than six innings in any game so far this postseason (10 games).

They became the first team to ever have a streak of 10 such games in a single postseason. The previous record was nine by the 2005 Angels.

The Rangers starters finished this series with a 6.59 ERA, the second-worst starters’ ERA in the ALCS by any team that won the series.

Despite the loss, Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera still shined in defeat. Cabrera hit a pair of home runs and finished the ALCS with a .400/.556/1.050 line in the loss.

His first home run extended his hit streak in LCS games to 13, tied for third-longest in LCS history.

The ALCS returns to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 6 tonight as the Texas Rangers look to clinch a berth in the Fall Classic.

With a win, the Rangers will be just the fifth team to win the ALCS in consecutive seasons. The select group they’ll join includes the Orioles (1969-1971), Athletics (1972-1974 and 1988-1990), Blue Jays (1992-1993) and the Yankees (1998-2001).

The Tigers will need to overcome history to make it to their second World Series in the last 25 seasons. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, teams trailing 3-2 in a best-of-seven series have emerged as winners just 27 times and have lost 62 series.

On the Mound
The Rangers send lefty Derek Holland to the mound tonight, who is coming off the shortest postseason start in franchise history when he allowed three runs on four hits in just 2⅔ innings in Game 2.

One issue for Holland in that game was that he left too many pitches up in the zone. Half of his 76 pitches were in the upper third of the zone or above, his second-highest percentage in a start this season. Two of the four hits he allowed were on those pitches, including a three-run homer by Ryan Raburn.

The Tigers give the ball to Max Scherzer, hoping that he can give them another strong outing and force a decisive Game 7. Scherzer is 1-0 with a 2.70 ERA in three postseason games this year.

Scherzer was knocked out of his ALCS Game 2 start in the seventh inning when Nelson Cruz sent a 94-mph fastball over the fence. The Rangers have pounded his heater this season, slugging over .600 in at-bats ending in the pitch over four games.

X Factor
The Texas rotation, which ranked third in the AL in ERA and fifth in innings pitched in the regular season, has been inconsistent in October. No started has gone more than six innings in any of their nine postseason games, which matches the 2005 Angels for the longest streak of its kind within a postseason.

The Rangers bullpen has pitched 23 of the 47 innings in the LCS and has carried the team with a 1.17 ERA, compared to a 6.38 ERA by the starters. That would be the lowest ERA by any team in a single League Championship series all-time (min. 20 IP).

Players to Watch
Miguel Cabrera has played in 12 LCS games and has a hit in all of them, batting .348 in 46 career at-bats. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that’s the second-longest LCS hit streak to start a career by any player, behind Greg Luzinski who it in his first 13 LCS games from 1976-1980.

Nelson Cruz has homered in four of the seven games in his career in which the Rangers had an opportunity to clinch a postseason series, according to Elias. Cruz has a .320 (8-for-25) batting average in those seven games.

The Detroit Tigers staved off elimination on Thursday with a 7-5 win over the Texas Rangers at Comerica Park in Game 5. The Tiger bats exploded, scoring more than five runs for the first time this postseason, helped by a team-record four longballs.

The Tigers broke the game open with a four-run sixth inning. Their first four batters singled, doubled, tripled and hit a homer -- batting for the natural cycle. It is the first time in postseason history a team had four straight batters hit for the natural cycle, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Delmon Young hit two homers, becoming the fourth player in franchise history with a postseason multi-homer game. He also joins Hank Greenberg and Craig Monroe as the only Tigers to hit five homers in a postseason career. Monroe and Young both did it in a single postseason.

Justin Verlander got the win to keep the Tigers season alive, allowing four runs over 7⅓ innings. Verlander went 16-3 following a Tigers loss in the regular season. According to Elias, that was the most such wins since Steve Carlton had 19 for the Phillies in 1972.

Miguel Cabrera extended his LCS hitting streak to 12 games with a double in the sixth inning. He now owns the second-longest LCS hit streak all-time to begin a career, one behind Greg Luzinski's 13-game streak, according to Elias.

Nelson Cruz did his best to rally the Rangers, sending a 99.9 mph fastball from Verlander over the fence in the eighth inning. That was the fastest pitch this season to be taken out of a ballfield.

With five homers in this series, Cruz tied a major-league postseason record and became the first player to hit five homers in a single LCS.

The Rangers rotation once again failed to go deep, as no starter has thrown more than six innings in any of their nine postseason games.

Elias reports that only one team has ever had a streak of games in a single postseason like that: the 2005 Angels, who lost in the ALCS, also had nine such games in a row.

The series now returns to Texas for Game 6 on Saturday night. Despite the loss, there is still some good news for Rangers fans: entering this year, teams up 3-1 in a best-of-seven postseason series have won 64 of the 75 series, according to Elias.

Tigers fans also have some good news following Thursday’s win: Elias tells us that the only other time a Tigers team took Game 5 when down 3-1 in a seven-game series was in the 1968 World Series, which they eventually won.

Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli were the stars -- both offensively and defensively -- as the Texas Rangers beat the Detroit Tigers 7-3 in 11 innings. The Rangers are one win away from their second straight World Series appearance.

Elias tells us it’s the sixth outfield assist at home plate to preserve a tie in the eighth inning or later in postseason history. The last one that was part of a double play came in the 1975 World Series.

Elias also says that Napoli is the first player since both leagues began recording caught stealings in 1951 to throw out a runner attempting to steal and drive in the game-winning run in the same postseason game, both in extra innings.

Here's how it unfolded.

Cruz to Napoli in the eighth inning
The Rangers intentionally walked Miguel Cabrera with one out and nobody on base, and Victor Martinez followed with a single to put runners at first and third for Delmon Young. It was only the 10th free pass in postseason history with nobody on -- and the previous nine all came with two outs.

When Young lifted a fly ball to right field, Cruz threw a one-hop strike to the plate. Cabrera plowed into Napoli, who held on to the ball to preserve the tie and end the inning.

There were only three intentional walks with nobody on base this year during the regular season, and none of the on-deck hitters were the caliber of Martinez. Chris Coghlan, Geovany Soto and Adam Lind were the on-deck hitters in the three regular-season instances, which all came with two outs.

Napoli in the 10th inning
The game went to extra innings and in the 10th, the speedy Austin Jackson -- a career 81 percent base-stealer -- was hit by a pitch with one out. Napoli, who had thrown out 36 percent of would-be base stealers during the regular season, threw Jackson out attempting to steal second base and the game eventually headed to the 11th.

Napoli then Cruz in the 11th inning
The Tigers intentionally walked Adrian Beltre with one out and a runner on second to get to Napoli. The Rangers catcher grounded into double plays in 11 percent of his opportunities this season, right in line with the American League average. Jose Valverde, who was on the mound, recorded double plays in just seven percent of his chances.

Napoli singled in the go-ahead run and Cruz followed with a three-run home run, his 10th of his postseason career and fourth of the series.

Two of them have come in the 11th inning where Cruz has done nearly all of his damage.

He’s the first player with two extra-inning home runs in the same postseason series and only the fourth ever with two in the a postseason career. He’s got 10 homers in 24 postseason games -- only Carlos Beltran had more in 24 games or got to 10 faster (according to Elias).

The Detroit Tigers won for the seventh time in their last nine postseason home games to cut their ALCS deficit against the Texas Rangers to two games to one.

The Tigers tied a team single-game postseason record with three home runs. They hadn’t hit that many home runs in a postseason game since Game 5 of the 1984 World Series. Victor Martinez (fourth career postseason homer), Jhonny Peralta (third career LCS home run) and Miguel Cabrera (sixth career postseason home run) all found the seats for the home team.

The Tigers have won eight of their last nine Game 3s, and are 5-0 all-time in Game 3 of the ALCS. They went on to win two of the previous four series, but they lost both series when they won Game 3 after losing the first two games of the series.

Colby Lewis entered the game with a 4-0 record in five postseason starts and hadn’t allowed more than two runs in a game. The Tigers handed Lewis his first postseason loss, as he allowed a postseason career high in runs (4) and hits (8).

Austin Jackson entered the game with three hits in 25 postseason at-bats. He went 3-for-5, matching the most by a Tigers centerfielder in a postseason game. The others were Hall of Famer Sam Crawford (twice), Doc Cramer (twice) and Curtis Granderson.

Yorvit Torrealba had just three at-bats in the Rangers first six postseason games, but replaced Mike Napoli behind the plate Tuesday. He became the first catcher to get three hits without recording an out in a postseason game since A.J. Pierzynski in 2005.

Doug Fister went 7⅓ innings to pick up his second win of the postseason. That’s an average day at the park for Fister. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he pitched at least seven innings and allowed two-or-fewer runs in seven of the 10 starts he made for the Tigers during the regular season after making his debut with the team on August 3rd.

The Tigers still have a tough road to climb. Only 13 of 71 teams that lost the first two games in a best-of-seven series have come back to win the series.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The 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.