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The story of the season has been Red Sox domination. It's the difference in the AL East race. With the Yankees traveling to Fenway Park to take on the Red Sox, it's time to break down how the season series has gone so far.

Here are some highlights about the head-to-head series:

• The Yankees will be trying to snap a seven-game losing streak in the series. That’s tied for the third-longest losing streak for the Yankees in the rivalry, behind only a nine-game streak from 2008-09 and a 17-game streak from 1911-12.

• The Yankee starters have struggled, with a 8.18 ERA in the nine games. The losers in the eight losses were mostly the pitchers upon whom they usually rely: Bartolo Colon (twice), CC Sabathia (3 times), Freddy Garcia (twice), A.J. Burnett (once).

• Sabathia is 0-3 with a 6.16 ERA vs the Red Sox this year (he’s 15-2 vs everyone else). In 2010, he was 1-0 with a 3.96 ERA, and in 2009, he was 3-1 with a 2.22 ERA.

• However, the Red Sox pitchers have held them to a .208 batting average with runners in scoring position. In three of the games, they failed to get a hit with runners in scoring position (0-3 on April 10, 0-10 on May 14, 0-7 on June 9), and in another game they got just one hit (1-7 on May 13).

• The Red Sox shut down the Yankee lefties (and when their switch-hitters hit lefty). Red Sox pitchers held Yankees left-handed batters to a .207 BA.

• Yankees were shut out twice in nine games; they have been shut out just three times otherwise.

Notable Yankees mediocrity:

• Nick Swisher .188, 8 K
• Brett Gardner .167, double and triple
• Mark Teixeira .121 (4-33), 11 K, 0 XBH

Notable Red Sox standouts:

• Dustin Pedroia: .500 (15-30), 4 doubles, 8 walks
• Jacoby Ellsbury .371, 3 SB, 4 doubles
• David Ortiz .324, 3 HR, 4 doubles, 9 RBI

• We should note that Pedroia was the AL Player of the Month for July. He led the Majors with 46 hits, the most hits for a Red Sox player during July of any season since 1939, when 3 future Hall of Famers each collected more: Bobby Doerr (52), Ted Williams (48) and Jimmie Foxx (47) (Elias). Pedroia also led Major Leaguers in total bases (81), tied for first in runs (27) and extra-base hits (18), and posted the second-best AVG in the ML at .411 (112 AB).

Derek Jeter: Return to Form?

• Derek Jeter has picked it up after getting his 3,000th hit on July 9. Jeter has four career five-hit games and two of them have come within the last four weeks. His numbers since July 10 are more in line with his career numbers.

The Setup Men: David Robertson and Daniel Bard

• David Robertson has better numbers vs opposite-handed batters (LHB) than same-handed batters (RHB) this year. His .169 BA vs LHB is fourth-best among AL RHP (min. 75 batters faced), while his 43 K vs LHB are the most among RHP relievers.

• He has yet to allow a run on the road in 20 appearances (21 1/3 IP).

• He has yet to allow a HR in 42 1/3 IP (most IP of any AL reliever who hasn’t allowed a HR yet this season).

• Opponents are 1-12 (.083) with 10 K with the bases loaded.

• Daniel Bard has been more effective vs righties this season. His .117 opponent BA vs RHB is the lowest among AL pitchers (min. 75 batters faced).

• Prior to allowing three runs in his last outing on August 1, Bard had made 25 straight scoreless appearances (since May 27), spanning 26 1/3 IP. During the streak, opponents hit .125 vs him, and RHB were 3-40 (.075).

• It was the most consecutive scoreless outings in Red Sox history. It was the longest streak of scoreless IP in a single season by a Red Sox pitcher since Bob Stanley had a 27-inning streak in 1980.

• Yankees are 1-14 (.071) against him this season.

• His opponent BA w/RISP of .133 is fifth-best in AL (min. 50 batters faced).

• He’s pitched on zero days rest 18 times, tied for the most in the AL.

With the All-Star break almost over, and as we await the resumption of baseball on Thursday, let’s take a break from the typical chatter of second-half storylines, and shift our focus to the players on the field and the defensive All-Stars of the first half.

Baseball Info Solutions is a company specializing in determining the best (and worst) defensive players in more than 100 different metrics, from barehanded plays to home run robberies.

Using their data, here’s our take on the players in the first half that have been good enough to be called a Defensive All-Star. (Note: ranks are for the player at his position, unless otherwise noted)

Pitcher: Anibal Sanchez, Marlins
Most Barehanded Plays For Outs (5)
Sanchez is averaging more than a strikeout per inning, but he gets on this list because of his defense while on the mound.

Catcher: Yadier Molina, Cardinals
Most Catcher Blocks (401)
Yadier is known for a strong arm, having thrown out over 40 percent of baserunners during his career. This season he also leads everyone in catcher blocks, defined as plays when runners are on base or if the pitch was the third strike.

First Base: Carlos Pena, Cubs
Most Difficult Throws Handled (32)
Pena can likely thank Starlin Castro for this award, as the shortstop already has 18 errors this season. Handling difficult throws applies to throws in the dirt or throws wide of the bag.


Second Base: Brandon Phillips, Reds
Most Double Plays Turned Despite An Aggressive Slide (6)
Brandon Phillips has wowed many fans with his defensive Web gems, he’s also one of the best at turning double plays.

Third Base: Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
Most Barehanded Plays For Outs (10)
Ramirez has not only been one of the Cubs best offensive players, hitting .298 with 15 home runs and a team leading 51 RBI, but he’s also been a star on the diamond, converting 10 barehanded plays into outs.

Shortstop: Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians
Most Web Gems (11) and Web Gems Points in MLB (41)
Asdrubal Cabrera has been a familiar face on Baseball Tonight, as a four-time Web Gem champ. Between two behind the back flips, a bare-hander on a short hop, and a diving stop and throw in a defensive shift, Cabrera has done it all defensively this season.

Left Field: Sam Fuld, Rays
Most Web Gems Either 1st or 2nd in MLB (9)
Despite being second in both Web Gems and Web Gem points, Fuld has more Web Gems rated as first- or second-best than any other player.

Center Field: Carlos Gomez, Brewers
Tied for Most Home Run Robberies in MLB (2)
Taking away a home run might be the most exciting play in baseball, and Gomez has done it twice, once with the bases empty and once with Carlos Beltran on first base, saving three potential runs.

Right Field: Nick Swisher, Yankees
Most Times Holding Players to a Single Among OF (6)
Swisher has recently begun to heat up at the plate, with seven homers and a .986 OPS since June 1, but his strong arm in the outfield has been an asset for the Yankees all season.

For more defensive stars, check out Baseball Tonight’s Web Gems Mid-Year Special (11:30 ET, ESPN2).

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

Bartolo Colon matchups to watch
Magglio Ordonez’s last three hits against Bartolo Colon are home runs, a run that dates all the way back to 2001. But he’s 3-for-his-last 22 against Colon.

Brandon Inge began his career 7-for-16 against Colon, but since is 1-for-his-last-7.

Justin Verlander matchups to watch
Mark Teixeira is 2-for-19 vs Verlander, but hit a three-run homer against him on Opening Day.

Nick Swisher started his career 2-for-3 with two HR against Verlander. But since he’s 6-for-his-last-41 against him.

Also on Verlander
This is the fifth straight season he’s entered May .500 or worse (he was 3-2 in 2006). During his career, Verlander is 9-14 with a 4.75 ERA in March/April, but is 49-21 with a 3.19 ERA from May through July.

Also on Colon
Bartolo Colon is 0-6 with a 7.20 ERA in his last nine starts against the Detroit Tigers. His last win against them was April 13, 2003. Colon enters the day with a sub-.500 record against three AL teams — the Tigers (8-9), the Boston Red Sox (8-10) and the New York Yankees (4-5).

Yankees at Comerica
The Yankees are 21-22 all-time at Comerica Park. They hit .195 in four games there last season, losing three.

Other items of note relating to that:
-Derek Jeter’s .245 regular season batting average at Comerica is his worst at any AL park. He was 1-for-17 there last season (.059 BA) and is 3-for-30 at Comerica since the start of 2009.

Derek Jeter vs Tigers
Comerica Park-- .245 BA, 3 HR, 9 extra-base hits in 36 games
Tiger Stadium-- .360 BA, 2 HR, 8 extra-base hits in 22 games
>> .369 BA vs Tigers in home games

Jeter is a .330 career hitter against the Tigers despite the Comerica struggles.

- Mark Teixeira is 4-for-28 at Comerica Park as a Yankee. His .220 batting average at Comerica is surpassed only by Fenway Park (.209) for his worst BA at an AL venue. His .244 career batting average against the Tigers is his worst against any team.

Miggy Pop
Miguel Cabrera has seven HR in his last eight games against the Yankees, six of them coming at Yankee Stadium.

Lou Gehrig
May 2, 1939 is a significant date in Yankees history. It’s the date Lou Gehrig’s streak of 2,130 consecutive games played ended - against the Tigers.

You might remember on April 5 when Delmon Young had his game-tying three-run double in the eighth inning of the Minnesota Twins eventual extra-inning win over the New York Yankees. Right fielder Nick Swisher came within a hair of making a game-saving diving catch. Instead, the ball fell just beyond his reach and the Twins tied the game and went on to win the contest a few minutes later.

On Tuesday, in a spot not far from that just-miss, Chicago White Sox right fielder Brent Lillibridge made a diving catch of Robinson Cano’s line drive to end a win over the Yankees. Lillibridge gambled with an all-or-nothing dive and came up successful. Had he missed, as Swisher did, the ball would have likely rolled by him for a walk-off two-run double.

We asked Ben Jedlovec at Baseball Info Solutions (BIS) to take a closer look at both of those plays, to help us quantify the difference between an out and a hit. The results were quite intriguing.

BIS charts every play of every game, using television telecasts to evaluate where on the field every play in a game is made. They use a timer to time how long every fly ball and line drive is in the air, allowing them to compute how often balls hit to certain spots on the field go for hits or outs.

Young’s fly ball had a hang time of 4.4 seconds. BIS was able to determine that a ball hit to a spot within a 10 foot by 10 foot zone of that hit location was a base hit approximately 57 percent of the time at that hang time within the last year. So Swisher wasn’t the only player to miss out on a ball hit into that zone.

To show you the impact that the hang time of a fly ball has on a play, check out the chart on the right, provided the day after Young got his game-tying hit. Had that ball been in the air a few tenths of a second longer, it’s almost certainly an out.

On the other end of the spectrum is Lillibridge’s play. Cano’s line drive stayed in the air for just under 2.5 seconds. Within the last year, there were 61 line drives hit to that area, with hang times that rounded to 2.5 seconds. Lillibridge was one of only three players who were able to turn that batted ball into an out.

Lillibridge’s value as a defensive replacement was accentuated by the Defensive Runs Saved stat, which relies heavily on this type of data (how frequently a fielder turns a batted ball into an out. The player who Lillibridge replaced in the eighth inning, Carlos Quentin, ranked last in the majors among right fielders in Runs Saved last season (an indication that he would have had a tough time turning that ball into an out).

Our second chart shows how frequently a line drive to that approximate spot has been turned into an out over the past season, based on hang time. Had Cano’s ball hung in the air for just a moment less, the Yankees, not the White Sox would have been celebrating.

Today’s Trivia: On Monday, the Los Angeles Angels' Jered Weaver looks to become the first American League pitcher since Zack Greinke in 2009 to win each of his first six starts. Who was the last American League pitcher to lose each of his first six starts in a season?

Weaver is off to one of the hottest starts in the American League, but there are several others who are not:

• The New York Yankees' Brett Gardner is hitting .140, which ranks last among 187 qualifying hitters. He’s 0-for-21 with 10 strikeouts on at-bats ending in an off-speed pitch.

• Gardner’s teammate Nick Swisher is 4-for-43 (.093) against right-handed pitches, a year after hitting a career-best .285 with 25 home runs against them.

• As a member of the Washington Nationals last season, Adam Dunn hit .314 with 24 home runs on at-bats ending in a fastball. In his first season in the American League, Dunn’s hitting .067 with two hits in 30 at-bats.

• The Chicago White Sox's Alex Rios is hitless in his last 20 at-bats, and has seen his batting average drop to .160. Last season, on pitches down the middle, Rios hit .392. This season? 1-for-12 (.083).

• The Angels Vernon Wells is 1-for-29 (.034) with two strikes in the count.

• Boston Red Sox center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury already has struck out looking 11 times this season, tied for the most in the majors.

• The Oakland Athletics' Daric Barton is 0-for-19 this season on pitches located up in the strike zone or above the strike zone. Last season, he hit .315 (34-108) on those pitches.

• With a 29.4 swing percent, Cleveland Indians catcher Carlos Santana has been swinging at fewer pitches than anyone else in the league. (He was at 38.7 last season.) But the bigger discrepancy is his swing percent at pitches in the strike zone. Last season it was 61.9. In 2011, it’s just 47.2, fifth lowest in the majors.

Sunday was Derek Jeter’s first four-hit game before the month of May since April 9, 2001, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Jeter now has 36 four-hit games in his career, tied for third among Yankees in the Live Ball era (since 1920). Lou Gehrig has the most with 53 followed by Earle Combs’ 37.

Staying with the Yankees, A.J. Burnett is 8-0 in the month of April as a member of the Yankees, and 18-24 after April. The Yankees will be facing Phil Humber tonight at Yankee Stadium. Opponents are hitting just .061 (2-33) against Humber’s off-speed pitches this season.

Trivia Answer: In 2007, Jered’s brother Jeff Weaver was 0-6 after six starts for the Seattle Mariners.

The New York Mets and Colorado Rockies got the day started at high noon with a rare single-admission afternoon doubleheader. The Mets struck first in each game, but the Rockies rallied both times to take the double-dip and sweep the four-game series at Citi Field, improving to an MLB-best 10-2.

The Mets have now lost five straight games and have held at least a two-run lead in each of them. Over these five games, the Mets' team ERA is 5.94 and their bullpen ERA is 6.48. It is just the second sweep by the Rockies of the Mets in a series of three-games-or-more in New York in franchise history. The only other time came in 1994.

Troy Tulowitzki went 10-for-16 with four homers and eight RBI in the four-game series with New York. He is the first player to go deep in each game of a series of at least four games against the Mets. The Elias Sports Bureau also tells us that Tulo is the first player to attain each of those stats in one series since Vladimir Guerrero went 12-for-17 with five homers and nine RBI for the Angels in a four-game series against the Rangers in 2004.

Cliff Lee had a forgettable start to the season, allowing nine runs in 10⅓ innings over his first two outings. Lee was back in vintage form on Thursday night, though, tossing a three-hit shutout with 12 strikeouts and just one walk against the Washington Nationals. He is the first Philadelphia Phillies pitcher to throw a shutout with at least 12 strikeouts and three hits or fewer since Curt Schilling in 1996.

This was the second night in a row that a Philadelphia pitcher threw a complete game, following Roy Halladay’s 59th career complete game Wednesday night. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Phillies hadn't gotten consecutive complete games since Paul Byrd and Curt Schilling did it May 11-12, 1999 at St. Louis.

The Tampa Bay Rays got their first home win of the season in dramatic fashion as Johnny Damon hit his sixth career walk-off homer in the 10th inning off Minnesota Twins reliever Matt Capps. Damon has now hit a walk-off home run with the Rays, Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox and Royals. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that Damon is the first player in MLB history to hit a walk-off homer with five different teams.

Another AL East team also walked off with a win Thursday night as the New York Yankees swept their rain-shortened series with the Baltimore Orioles thanks to a game-ending sacrifice fly by Nick Swisher. Swisher is the first Yankee to hit a walk-off sacrifice fly since Ruben Sierra in June 2004 against the Padres. Alex Rodriguez continued his march up all-time RBI list too, moving into sole possession of 11th place with an RBI in the sixth inning.

Tonight is the third game of a four-game set between the Minnesota Twins and New York Yankees (7 ET on ESPN2). Since 2002, the Twins are 17-46 against the Yankees, their worst record against any opponent over that span. Did you know? In the last 20 seasons, the Twins have only won a season series from the Yankees only 3 times — 1991, 1992 and 2001.

Pavano’s Matchups to Watch
Nick Swisher is 1-for-6 against Carl Pavano in the regular season with 5 strikeouts. Pavano also struck him out twice in two at-bats in the 2009 ALDS (Swisher did go 1-3 against him last year’s ALDS).

Mark Teixeira’s lone HR against Pavano came in his last regular season AB against him - May 31, 2009.

On Carl Pavano’s Yankees tenure (and why wins don’t tell the whole story for a pitcher)
There are a number of pitchers who have been the subject of Yankees fans derision, among them Ed Whitson, Javier Vazquez, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Weaver, and Pavano. Yet those names all share a common thread. All finished with ERA’s of 5 or higher in their Yankees tenure … and they all finished their Yankees career with winning records!!

Garcia’s Matchups to Watch
Joe Mauer’s .419 BA vs Freddy Garcia includes a 6-for-10 in 2010. He homered in his last AB against Garcia on August 10, 2010.

Jason Kubel was 6-for-8 against Garcia last season with 3 BB. He’s reached base in 4 straight PA vs Garcia. One other note on Kubel: He went 7-for-15 with 3 HR against the Yankees in the regular season last year.

Jim Thome has walked 9 times against Garcia in 28 regular season plate appearance, and twice more in six postseason PA. His last 2 AB vs Garcia are a HR and a 2B.

Twins hitters hit .337 against Garcia last season (he made 4 starts vs MIN)

Jeter Watch
Derek Jeter is hitting .167 through the Yankees first 5 games of the season. The only season in which he hit worse within the Yankees first 5 games of a season was in 1998 when he was hitting .150 (3-for-20). Jeter rebounded to hit .324 and the Yankees ended up winning 114 games.

Teixeira Watch
Mark Teixeira is hitting .373 in the regular season against the Twins. But if you just go back to 2007, it’s even more ridiculous. Since 2007, he’s hitting .453 against them in the regular season (39-for-86) and has a walk-off HR against them in the postseason.

Teixeira is glad to have Freddy Garcia on his team. Teixeira is 0-for-16 in his career against Garcia!

Twins righty struggles
The Twins are hitting .174 against right-handed pitching this season. Mauer’s game-winning hit last night made him 1-for-7 against right-handers this season.

Lastly, from the Elias Sports Bureau
The Twins came back from 4 down to beat the Yankees last night, the first time they've rallied from 4+ down to beat the Yankees since May 5, 1997 (the Yankees catcher that day was Joe Girardi), when they beat the Yankees, 9-8 at Yankee Stadium.

CC Sabathia (six innings, 11 hits, two earned runs, no walks, seven strikeouts) is the first pitcher since Bruce Hurst in 1986 to allow at least 11 hits and two runs or fewer in a postseason start.

From the Elias Sports Bureau: Since joining the team in 2009, Sabathia has now won a team-high 16 starts (including two in the postseason) following a Yankees' loss.

Robinson Cano's four home runs in this series is one shy of the most HR in a postseason series by a second baseman. Chase Utley hit five HR in last year's World Series.

Cano and Josh Hamilton each have four HR in this series. The only other postseason series where opposing players each had four HR was the 2004 NLCS: Houston's Carlos Beltran and St. Louis' Albert Pujols.

During the regular season, C.J. Wilson allowed just one home run with no outs in an inning. In Game 5, Nick Swisher and Cano both homered off Wilson with no outs in the third inning. The home runs by Swisher and Cano were the first back-to-back home runs in a postseason game by the Yankees in an LCS since Game 3 of the 2000 ALCS at Seattle (Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez).

Kerry Wood has picked off two Rangers in this series (Ian Kinsler in Game 1, Elvis Andrus in Game 5). He's the first pitcher with two pickoffs in a postseason series since Mark Mulder did it in the 2001 ALDS against the Yankees.

In three wins, the Rangers are hitting .448 (13-for-29) with runners in scoring position, and just .176 (3-for-17) in two losses.

It's hard to imagine the Texas Rangers reaching the World Series without Cliff Lee winning his Game 3 start against the New York Yankees.

Lee in his career against the Yankees:
• 2-0, 3.38 ERA in two postseason starts (both in 2009 World Series).

• 6-4 in 12 regular-season starts with a 4.42 ERA, and 4-1 with a 2.55 ERA since 2008.

• 4-2, 4.46 ERA in New York.

• Including the postseason, Derek Jeter is 19-for-44 (.432 BA) against Lee, the best batting average against the left-hander among the Yankees starters. Mark Teixeira is 11-for-38 (.289) and Nick Swisher is 8-for-30 (.267) with two HR against Lee.

If the Rangers are going to force the ALCS back to Texas for Game 6, they will have to do something in the postseason that they weren't able to do in the regular season: beat the Yankees in New York. The Rangers were 0-3 and their pitchers had a 6.14 ERA at Yankee Stadium in 2010. On offense, the Rangers scored six runs in those three games and hit just .181 (15-83) with one home run.

Then again, Texas was 0-3 at Tampa Bay during the regular season before winning three ALDS games at Tropicana Field.

Lee’s counterpart, Andy Pettitte, is 7-2 in 13 LCS starts with a 3.93 ERA. He beat the Rangers back in April at Yankee Stadium, throwing eight innings, allowing four hits and two earned runs. Michael Young had two of those hits, and the Rangers’ 3-4-5 hitters -- Josh Hamilton, Vladimir Guerrero and Nelson Cruz -- were a combined 0-9 against Pettitte.

Ron Washington may have a tough decision to make with his starting lineup tonight. Guerrero, Hamilton David Murphy and Jeff Francoeur are a combined 26-for-63 (.413) with a home run apiece in their careers against Pettitte, while Nelson Cruz is just 1-for-11.

Additionally, Pettitte has 19 career postseason wins, the most in major league history and four more than second-place John Smoltz. In fact, Pettitte is the only player in the top 10 who is still active. And if Pettitte finishes the fourth inning, he’ll pass Greg Maddux for the third-most innings pitched in LCS history.

But neither starting pitcher will be excited to have Jim Reynolds calling balls and strikes. Lee is 0-2 with a 4.34 ERA in three career starts with Reynolds behind the plate, while Pettitte has fared even worse. The Yankees hurler is 1-4 with a 6.90 ERA, and a K/BB ratio less than two, in six career starts with Reynolds behind the dish, while allowing a batting average of .354.

Ryan Howard hit his 28th home run of the season off of Andrew Miller in the fourth inning of the Philadelphia Phillies' 10-6 win over the Florida Marlins. The blast was the 250th of Howard's career and came in his 855th career game. According to our friends at the Elias Sports Bureau, this makes Howard the fastest player in terms of games played to reach 250 career home runs in MLB history. The previous fastest was Ralph Kiner (871 games).
• Howard also matched his season high with six RBI. He is the only player in baseball with multiple games with at least six RBI this season and the Phillies have now had a franchise-record four player games with six RBI this season.

• Howard's home run was already his fourth of September. This should come as no surprise. He now has 54 September home runs since 2005, which is easily the most in baseball. In fact, no other player has more than David Ortiz's 41 according to Elias.

• Phillies' starter Cole Hamels entered Wednesday's game winless in his last 10 starts against the Marlins. However, he pitched seven shutout innings in picking up the win. He has now tossed 25 consecutive scoreless innings, which is the longest such streak by a Phillies pitcher since Randy Wolf's 27-inning streak in August of 2002. Hamels now sports a 1.83 ERA in his last 12 starts and has limited opponents to a .203 batting average over that span. After allowing 19 home runs in his first 17 starts, Hamels has surrendered just five over his last 12.

Here were some of the keys to Hamels' success on Wednesday:

• 59 of his 106 pitches were out of the strike zone, and the Marlins went 0-for-10 (including four of Hamels' five strikeouts) against those. It was a good adjustment for Hamels, who surrendered three of his four hits to the first 11 batters. Florida didn't register a single swing-and-miss against a pitch in the zone.

• He kept his fastball up and had 'em reaching for it; Hamels threw the same number of offerings (44) high as he did low, and his percentage of pitches that hit the middle (16%) was his lowest in eight starts. Marlins went 1-for-12 against high pitches and grounded out 60% of the time.

• The Marlins were 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, and four of Hamels' five baserunners came with two outs.

Let's take a look at some other notes from around baseball on Wednesday:

• The Atlanta Braves, now in second-place in the NL East, got a needed win against the Pittsburgh Pirates from a remarkably likely source: Derek Lowe. Lowe allowed one run over six innings to pick up the win, which improved him to 10-0 in his career against the Pirates. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the only other pitcher to win his first 10 starts against Pittsburgh was Hall of Famer Kid Nichols, who won his first 12 spanning the 1890 and 1891 seasons. The last pitcher to win his first 10 starts against any major league team was Jamie Moyer, who won his first 10 starts against the Marlins from 2006 to 2008.

• Nelson Cruz' home run in the top of the ninth in Toronto was measured by our HitTracker tool at 467 feet (that's 142.3 meters for you Canadians out there). That makes it the longest home run at Rogers Centre this season, surpassing the 458 (139.6) that Vladimir Guerrero hit yesterday.

• Ryan Braun hit his 20th HR of the season, becoming the fourth active player to hit 20+ HR in each of his first four seasons. He joins Albert Pujols, Mark Teixeira and Dan Uggla.

• In an afternoon game, the New York Yankees avoided getting swept by the Baltimore Orioles thanks to Nick Swisher's walk-off home run. It would have been Baltimore's first three-game sweep of the Yankees in New York since 1986. The Yankees remain the only team in baseball that has not been swept in a three-game series this season. Swisher now has three career walk-off home runs. The last one he had hit was exactly one year ago. The Yankees have an MLB-leading 44 comeback wins this season.

FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU:
The Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia, who turns 27 Tuesday, is expected to be activated from the disabled list and play for the first time since June 25. On that date, Boston was three games back of the Yankees and tied with the Rays for the wild-card lead. Since then, Boston is 23-21 while Tampa Bay has the best record in baseball at 29-16. The Sox were averaging 5.5 runs per game before Pedroia was injured. Without him in the lineup, they have been averaging 4.5 runs.

Today’s Trivia: In a matchup of the National League Wild-Card leaders, the Philadelphia Phillies host the San Francisco Giants in a three-game series. The Phillies are one of the seven teams that have never been the NL Wild Card representative. Can you name the other six?

TUESDAY'S KEY MATCHUPS:
• Tigers at Yankees: Only one batter has struck out more against Justin Verlander than the Yankees' Nick Swisher - who has whiffed 14 times. The only player to fan more against Verlander is teammate Jhonny Peralta, who has 20 strikeouts.

• Giants at Phillies: Raul Ibanez knows how to end a hit streak in style, or lack thereof. Since the last game of his 18-game hit streak, Ibanez is 0-18 with four strikeouts. And it’s not likely to get better tonight against Barry Zito. Ibanez has an OPS of .486 against Zito in 47 at-bats. That’s Ibanez’s worst against any pitcher he’s faced at least 40 times.

• Angels at Red Sox, White Sox at Twins: Good luck to the right-handed batters in the Angels and Twins lineups. The American League’s two toughest pitchers against right-handed hitters – Boston’s Clay Buchholz and Chicago’s John Danks -- toe the rubber. Buchholz is allowing a .523 OPS to righties and Danks is close behind with a .529.

• Rangers at Rays: Since throwing a no-hitter on July 26, the Rays Matt Garza is winless in three starts (0-2, 3.05 ERA).

• Blue Jays at Athletics: Toronto's Brandon Morrow makes his first start since coming within one out of a no-hitter on Saturday against the Rays. As for the A's, they have been no-hit through at least six innings in each of their last two games.

MORE FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU:
• Ichiro Suzuki has hits against 629 different major league pitchers, but the one he enjoys seeing most is Kevin Millwood, who is scheduled to start for Baltimore on Tuesday. Ichiro has 30 hits off Millwood, the most against any pitcher he's faced. The only active player who Millwood has surrendered more hits to than Suzuki is Vladimir Guerrero (33).

• Arizona's Daniel Hudson (starting Tuesday against the Reds) will try to win his fourth straight start since joining the Diamondbacks. With a victory, Hudson would join Philadelphia's Roy Halladay as the only pitchers this season to get a victory in each of their first four starts with a new team.

• The Mets' Johan Santana brings a 16⅓-inning scoreless streak to the mound tonight against the Astros. Santana has won each of his last two starts, going at least seven innings in each game without allowing a run. No Mets pitcher has ever had three consecutive starts like that. Santana has made seven starts this season with no runs allowed in seven innings or more, tying Halladay for the league lead. The last Mets pitcher with more scoreless starts of seven or more innings in one season was Dwight Gooden, who had 11 in 1985.

• With a win tonight at Tampa Bay, the Rangers' Tommy Hunter will join Ubaldo Jimenez and Phil Hughes as the third pitcher this season to win 10 of his first 11 decisions.

Trivia Answer: The six teams other than the Phillies that have never been the NL Wild Card representative are: Braves, Reds, Padres, Diamondbacks, Nationals and Pirates.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 599th home run on July 22. He hit No. 600 Wednesday against the Toronto Blue Jays after a span of 46 at-bats and 51 plate appearances. That is the longest drought between number 599 and 600 in MLB history. The previous longest drought was 21 at-bats by Willie Mays. Here are some home run facts from that time period.



During the drought, Rodriguez saw 209 pitches. Meanwhile, 322 home runs were hit by 187 different players. The Yankees hit 17 home runs as a team, led by Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher who hit five longballs each.

Maybe Alex Rodriguez was stuck on 599 for so long because he wanted the situation to be exactly right... as in exactly like it was when he hit home run number 500. Both happened on August 4th at home. Both were in the 1st inning of games in which Phil Hughes was starting.

WHY THEY WON

How Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg was Able to beat Cain (and the Giants):
- Threw 31 curveballs (most in any start). Had the most swing and misses (7) and most chases (8) with the curveball in any start as well.
- Hitters swung at 6 of his 13 changeups: 5 were missed and 1 was fouled off.
- Held Freddy Sanchez to 0-2: Has not allowed a hit to a second basemen in 7 starts (0-12).
- With RISP: Giants were 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
- Held Giants to 0-for-7 on pitches inside (1st time allowing 0 hits inside).

How Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright shut down the lowly Astros:
- The number 3: Astros hitters were 0-for-3 in 3-ball counts. Opponents are now 0-for-8 against Wainwright in 3-ball counts in his last 3 starts.
- Consequently, the Astros were 1-for-8 while AHEAD in the count against Wainwright.
- Batters were 3-for-17 (.176 BA) against his fastball (.262 entering Friday).


HITTER OF THE NIGHT
Adam Dunn, WAS: 3-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R

Dunn has all contending teams salivating at the thought of inserting him in the middle of their lineup. Since the beginning of July, Dunn has improved upon his already gaudy power numbers.



LOOKING AHEAD TO SATURDAY

ATHLETICS
Ben Sheets’ fastball has not been effective. When throwing the fastball this year he makes batters miss only 11% of the time and has walked more (29) than he’s struck out (26).

CUBS
Tom Gorzelanny: Left-handed batters hitting .310 (18-58) and slugging .517 (5 XBH) as a starting pitcher. Left-handed batters hitting and slugging .083 (1-12, 0 XBH) as a relief pitcher.

DODGERS
John Ely: Opponents hitting .333 (30-90) and slugging .544 (4 HR) against fastball over last 7 starts (5.17 ERA); Opponents hit .267 (27-101) and slugged .317 (0 HR) against fastball in first 6 starts (3.00 ERA).

RANGERS
Josh Hamilton during 29-game hit streak in Arlington:
- vs fastballs: .540, OPS 1.686
- vs high pitches: .474, OPS 1.629
- With runners on base: .455, only 4 K's in 59 PA
- 27 of 51 hits to the right side; 10 of 13 homers have been to right or right-center

WHITE SOX
The 4th inning is the only inning in his career that Brian Bannister has allowed an opponent’s batting average above .300 (.312), and the inning has also historically produced the worst ERA (6.62) for any inning over Bannister’s career.

YANKEES
Nick Swisher: Batting .406 (13-32) on 1st pitches of AB this season after hitting only .265 (13-49) on 1st pitches in 2009.

Javier Vazquez: opponents batting only .221 (25-113) early in the count this season after hitting .305 (91-298) early in the count in 2009

In a battle of aces, the Yankees and CC Sabathia get the better of Roy Halladay and the Phillies in a World Series rematch. Sabathia allows three runs on five hits to improve to 4-0 at Yankee Stadium this season. Roy Halladay entered Tuesday's game having given up three home runs TOTAL on the season, all to right-handed hitters. Tuesday the Yankees hit three home runs, all from the left side (Curtis Granderson, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira). Tuesday was the ninth time in Roy Halladay's career that he allowed three or more home runs in a game - four of those have come against the Yankees, including the last three. We break down how CC Sabathia held on to the lead the Yankees gave him in this edition of The Closer.

How CC Sabathia beat the Phillies:

- Tough to hit: according to the Inside Edge trackers, Sabathia only allowed one well-hit ball all night, his lowest total in any start this season
- 30.8 miss percentage, his second highest percentage in any start this season
- Mixed speeds well: opposing hitters were 0-6 against off-speed pitches (.193 entering Tuesday)
- Owned righties: RHB were 2-for-19 on Tuesday (.105; .233 entering Tuesday)


How Josh Johnson dominated the Rangers while getting a no decision:

- Got hitters to go fishing: 38.3 percent chase percentage, his second highest percentage in a start over the past two seasons
- Allowed no walks for only the second time this season
- Allowed no extra base hits for only the third time this season
- Kept the ball down: 63.2 percent groundball percentage, his second highest percentage in a start this season


How Max Scherzer mowed down the Nationals:

- Attacked the strike zone: 63 of Scherzer's 112 pitches were in the strike zone, his highest total this season. Five of his nine strikeouts were in the strike zone and four were called.
- Kept hitters off balance: According to Inside Edge, Scherzer threw 19 changeups to go along with his mid-90s fastball. The Nationals swung at 10 of them, missed on five and struck out on four - all swinging. Scherzer now has nine strikeouts on his change over his previous two starts. He had only 12 over his previous 10 starts.