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Today’s Trivia: It was 50 years ago today that Roger Maris hit the first of his 61 home runs in 1961. (He went homerless in his first 10 games of the season.) Maris would win his second straight American League MVP that year. Who is the only player to win back-to-back American League MVP awards since?

On Monday, we looked at American League hitters who were slumping. Here’s a look at the numbers behind some of the notable slumps in the National League:

• The Rockies Carlos Gonzalez is just 3-for-34 on at-bats ending in a fastball. At .088, that’s the lowest of any regular in the majors this season. Last season, he hit .379 with 14 home runs on at-bats ending in a fastball.

• The Los Angeles Dodgers James Loney (.170 BA) is swinging at 53.5 percent of pitches, way up from 42.2 percent last season. It’s most noticeable on the first pitch where he’s swinging at 39.4 percent compared to 21.9 percent in 2010.

• It’s the soft stuff getting to the Pittsburgh Pirates Pedro Alvarez (.216). He’s 2-for-17 on at-bats ending in a change-up and 2-for-14 on sliders.

• Marlins’ shortstop Hanley Ramirez (.194) actually is 5-for-14 with three doubles against left-handed pitching, but righties have been a different story. A career .313 hitter against right-handers, Ramirez is hitting .151 against them this season. Of his swings against right-handed pitching, 27.1 percent have been swings and misses, up from 19.9 percent last season.

• Dan Uggla has a .174 batting average on balls in play (BABIP), which puts him ahead of only Angel Pagan among 99 National League qualifiers. (The league average is .297.) However, that’s not just a matter of luck. Only 10.8 percent of Uggla’s hits have been line drives, down from 22.5 percent in 2010.

• When you look at the National League players who hit the highest percentage of ground balls, speedsters Jose Tabata and Michael Bourn not surprisingly top the list. But sixth on that list is Raul Ibanez (.179) who is hitting 60.0 percent grounders, up from 44.6 percent in 2010.

• Given that he hit .196 in 2010, it’s hard to call Carlos Pena's .169 batting average a slump. However, the fact that he has only one extra-base hit (a double) would qualify as a power slump. All 28 of his home runs in 2010 came on pitches middle-away. This season, he’s hitting just .125 on those pitches.

Trivia Answer: Frank Thomas (1993-94) is the only player to win back-to-back American League MVP awards since Maris.

Some highlights (or lowlights) from Monday's games:

AMERICAN LEAGUE
• The Rays had five hits off Cliff Lee in the 8th inning. Entering Monday, hitters had been 4-21 in the 8th inning against Lee since he joined the Rangers.

• Lee also allowed four earned runs in the 8th inning against Tampa Bay. Entering the game, Lee had allowed a total of four earned runs in the 8th inning this season in 15.1 innings.

• Lee is now 2-4 in eight starts with a 3.92 ERA against the AL East this year (8-2, 2.06 ERA in his other 13 starts). The Rangers have lost five of the eight games Lee has started.

• Monday was the fifth game in 2010 that Carlos Pena had a go-ahead RBI in the 7th inning or later.

• FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Monday's 3-1 Yankees loss to Detroit was the longest 9-inning game of the season with four or fewer runs in the game (3 hours, 48 minutes).

• Derek Jeter grounded into a double play with the bases loaded to end the Yankees' 3-1 loss to the Tigers. It was the fifth time he's grounded into a double play to end a game in his career, the first since 2005. It was also the first time he's done it with the bases loaded. Jeter is now 1-12 with the bases loaded this season (.083 BA). That's the second-worst BA with the bases loaded this season in the American League.

• The Orioles won 5-4 in 11 innings. It was their 10th walk-off win of the season, tied with the Padres for the most in MLB. The O's have just 42 wins, but 11 of them have come in extra innings.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
• The Braves' 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Dodgers was their 20th last at-bat win in 2010, the most in MLB.

• Dodgers now have six losses this season when leading after eight innings -- the most in the National League, passing the Brewers and Diamondbacks.

• Dodgers reliever Hong-Chih Kuo has now allowed seven runs this season, and all of them have come on the road.

• Chad Billingsley has not allowed a home run in his last 81.1 innings. That's the second longest active streak in MLB behind the Twins' Francisco Liriano (95.1).

• The Padres are 70-47, the first time in franchise history (since 1969) that they are the first National League team to win 70 games.

• Trade deadline pickup James McDonald now has a 2.55 ERA in three starts with the Pirates. Pittsburgh rookie Pedro Alvarez has 14 RBI in his last 12 games.

You often hear talk about "five-tool players" in baseball. We had plenty of hitting for average on Sunday (Jose Guillen and Josh Hamilton both extended their hit streaks to 21 games). We had some power-- more than 70 extra-base hits and two dozen home runs (including the longest one by distance this season). Fielding and throwing didn't give us too many issues.

Baserunning, on the other hand...

No matter which game you watched, there was bound to be at least one of those "head-scratcher" plays. The ones where you look at your TV and say, "what was he thinking?" At the risk of Monday-morning, er, Sunday-night quarterbacking, we present a sampling of the unnecessary, and sometimes obscure, outs that were run into on the basepaths Sunday.

Tampa: Justin Upton on third. Chris Young grounds back to the pitcher. Upton gets run back and tagged out. Young thinks the defense isn't paying attention and tries to take second, where he's also tagged out.

Tampa: Pinch runner Carl Crawford doubled off first when Sean Rodriguez lines one to third base.

Chicago: Gordon Beckham strikes out, but his backswing gets in the way of Geovany Soto as he tries to nail a stealing Alexei Ramirez. Ramirez gets called out for the interference of his teammate.

Cincinnati: Corky Miller thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Anaheim: Jason Giambi thrown out at third trying to advance on a pitch in the dirt.

New York: Jeff Francoeur thrown out trying to tag and take third on a ball to shallow right.

Oakland: Jose Tabata's ground ball hits runner Pedro Alvarez between first and second. Oh, by the way, it's the final out of a one-run game.

(Bonus question: If you're keeping score, how do you write THAT down?)

Florida: Jorge Cantu is called for interference while trying to break up a double play at second base. The batter, Dan Uggla, is called out as a result.

Milwaukee: Rickie Weeks thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Baltimore: Miguel Tejada thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.

Baltimore: In the bottom of the eighth in a tie game, Julio Lugo legs out a double and then immediately gets himself picked off second.

(Bonus answer: Infield single for the batter. The putout is awarded to the closest fielder, in this case the first baseman.)

** The trunk with the Mets' bats in it finally arrived back at Citi Field. Six consecutive Mets batters went double, homer, homer, triple, single, single, during the fifth inning on Sunday. That's 15 total bases in a single inning. The Mets hadn't had 15 total bases in a GAME since last Tuesday.

** The aforementioned triple was off the bat of Jason Bay, marking his 1,000th career hit. The last time a player had a triple for his 1,000th career hit was almost exactly three years ago, when then-Oriole Aubrey Huff did it on June 29, 2007.

** The Pirates committed four errors and managed to lose Sunday's game to Oakland without allowing an earned run. Even for them, that's impressive. They haven't done that since June 29, 2002, when the Tigers scored on a missed catch at home plate and a passed ball to beat them 2-1.

** One afterthought on the Oakland/Pittsburgh series: On Saturday, the two teams donned "throwback" uniforms from the 1970s. (They say styles have a 30-year cycle, so watch for neon green to make a comeback soon.) But you have to forgive those two teams for wanting to "turn back the clock". During the '70s they combined for five world championships, including four straight from 1971-74. Since then, they have ONE (Oakland's in '89).

** Jamie Moyer didn't quite pitch IN the '70s, but at the rate he's going, he might well pitch INTO his 70s. Moyer became the all-time leader in home runs allowed on Sunday when Vernon Wells took him deep in the third inning.



Bonus question #2: Those 42 parks include ALL of the current 30 stadiums except two. We'll spot you Target Field because it just opened. What's the other current park where Moyer has yet to surrender a dinger? ** After being no-hit by Edwin Jackson on Friday, the Rays put together a two-hit attack against Arizona on Sunday. They did at least score a run this time. Ironically, the last team that was held to two or fewer hits twice in a series was these same Diamondbacks. That was in late May against the Giants.

** Combined with their amazing five-hit performance on Saturday, the Rays ended up with seven base hits over the entire three-game series. The Elias Sports Bureau tells us that the last team to finish with seven or fewer hits in a three-game series was the 1965 New York Mets. They were one-hit by the Milwaukee Braves on both September 10 and 11 before "exploding" for five hits (and a 1-0 victory!) in the series finale on the 12th.

Bonus answer #2: Busch Stadium in St Louis. Moyer surrendered three long balls in the PRIOR Busch Stadium (which closed in 2005), but has made only two visits to the current building.

In his column today, Doug Glanville takes a look at Mark Teixeira, a player who didn't find a position until he got to the majors. Not finding a true defensive home until reaching the majors is nothing new. When it comes to signing amateur players, tools and athleticism rule the day, and the difficulty of each position needs to be accounted for. The best athlete on a high school team plays shortstop, but once you drop that player into professional baseball, he might only be a first baseman. With that in mind, here are five big-name prospects who will likely end up at a different position than the one they are playing in the minors.

Dustin Ackley, 2B, Mariners: The second overall pick in the 2009 draft might just be the most interesting defensive case in the minors. He was primarily a first baseman during his college career at North Carolina, but that was because he was recovering from Tommy John surgery and couldn't throw. He's a plus-plus runner with up-the-middle athleticism, and while most teams thought center field was his most logical landing spot, the Mariners initial play is second base, a position at which he has no experience. Though he's been struggling with his bat at Double-A this year (he's hitting .153), scouts say he looks surprisingly comfortable with the glove.

Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Pirates: Like Ackley, Alvarez is also a second overall pick (2008) with questions about his ultimate defensive home. Nobody has questions about his bat, but at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds (and probably more than his listed weight), his range at the hot corner is a bit limited, although his hands and arm are solid. The Pirates kept him out of winter ball in the offseason so he could focus solely on conditioning, but they're likely just holding off the inevitable move to first base. Expect a Jim Thome-like transition where at least the first few big league years are spent at third.

Jesus Montero, C, Yankees: Montero is one of the best hitters in the minors, period. But if the 20-year-old can't stick at catcher, it's difficult to figure out where his future lies for the Yankees other than as a massive trade chip. First base is Montero's only other option, and Teixeira is signed through 2016. To his credit, Montero wants to be a catcher, and he's putting the time in to improve, but the 6-foot-4, 225-pounder is slow behind the plate, and he's thrown out just one out of 14 attempted base stealers this year at Triple-A Scranton. Few believe he can stick at catcher, but many think he could help in the big leagues at DH this year. However, Montero currently has a .715 OPS, so it's not as if he is banging down the major league door.

Miguel Sano, SS, Twins: Sano was the biggest prize in last year's International market, and the Twins surprised many by giving him a $3.15 million signing bonus. He's listed as a shortstop, but one will notice that few players signed at 16 years old are ever listed as anything but shortstops or outfielders. At 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Sano has almost already grown out of shortstop, and could make his debut later this year at third base, with some thinking that right field could be his final destination. He is yet to play a professional game, so this will play itself out over the next few years.

Josh Vitters, 3B, Cubs: The third overall pick in 2007, Vitters is in some ways a younger version of Alvarez. Scouts are mixed on his defense. Some see a solid-but-unspectacular defender at third base that projects as an acceptable big leaguer, while others think he's destined for a move to first base or the outfield. From years of experience covering prospects I've learned that if there are even whispers of a defensive move for a prospect, they tend to happen, as the bar at the big league level is higher than we often realize. Therefore, don't expect Vitters (or Alvarez for that matter) to stick at third.

Kevin Goldstein is an author of Baseball Prospectus.