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A trio of hurlers went the distance on Sunday, with each dominating their opposition in different ways.

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay threw his NL-best fifth complete game this season and 63rd of his career (most among active pitchers) in a 3-1 win against the Oakland Athletics.

He improved to 5-0 with a 2.64 ERA in his past 8 starts. The Phillies have won each of those starts.

He attacked the Oakland hitters early, starting 25 of 33 hitters with a first-pitch strike, tying his third-highest percentage (75.8) in a start this season.

In the eight instances he fell behind 1-0, Halladay threw a strike on the next pitch, not going to a 2-0 count once all game. It's just the sixth time in the past three seasons he didn't go to a 2-0 count in a game.

Halladay had success with his changeup, relying on it more often than usual with runners on base. He used his changeup 23 percent of the time with runners on, his third highest percentage in a start this season.

He recorded five outs on his changeup without allowing a hit -- tying a season high -- with four of those outs coming with runners on base.

Halladay has been a great caretaker of leads since joining the Phillies. He improved to 30-3 in 35 starts when the Phillies have given him a lead (he was staked to an early 2-0 lead on Sunday).

Elsewhere, a former teammate of Halladay’s also went the distance.

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero, who was Halladay’s teammate in Toronto in 2009, threw his second career shutout in a 5-0 Blue Jays win against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Romero dominated the Cardinals by keeping the ball down. Cardinals hitters were 0-for-16 with four strikeouts and a double play in at-bats ending with a pitch down in the zone from Romero.

Sixteen at-bats ending in low pitches without allowing a hit are the most by any starter in the last three seasons. Nine of the 12 low pitches the Cardinals put in play were groundouts, including the double play.

In Romero’s hometown of Los Angeles, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw went the distance for his second straight start. Kershaw now has three complete games this season.

He struck out 11 for his second consecutive game with at least 10 strikeouts. He's the first Dodgers pitcher with at least 10 strikeouts in consecutive starts since Chan Ho Park during the 2000 season.

Kershaw continued relying on his slider with two strikes. He struck out eight Angels with the pitch Sunday, matching the second-highest total of his career.

It was the third time this month he's had at least eight strikeouts via the slider. Entering June, he had just two such starts in his career.

April showers have brought May flowers for Jay Bruce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Justin Verlander almost had more in common with Johnny Vander Meer than just initials.

In his first start since throwing a no-hitter last Saturday, Verlander took another bid into the sixth inning Friday against the Kansas City Royals before allowing a triple to Melky Cabrera with two outs.

According to Elias, Verlander’s bid was the longest in the start immediately following a no-hitter since Mark Buehrle also went 5 ⅔ innings without giving up a hit in 2009. If Verlander had made it through the sixth, it would’ve been the longest since Mike Scott in 1986.

There have been 165 no-hitters thrown including playoffs since Vander Meer threw consecutive ones on June 11 and 15, 1938. In fact, the last pitcher to throw consecutive no-hitters before another pitcher threw one was Nolan Ryan in September 1974 and June 1975.

Entering Friday, Verlander was definitely in position to make a run at Vander Meer’s historical accomplishment. Verlander is now 11-2 with a 2.47 ERA in his career against the Royals. The victory also gives him 20 career wins in May, the most he has in any month.

Verlander was not the only one to take a no-hit bid into the sixth on Friday. Ricky Romero of the Toronto Blue Jays also went 5 ⅔ innings before giving up a single to Denard Span of the Minnesota Twins.

It’s the third day in the last eight calendar days in which at least two pitchers had a no-hit bid of at least 5 ⅔ innings.

At the complete opposite end of the spectrum is Seattle Mariners closer Brandon League, who gave up a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to Travis Hafner of the Cleveland Indians.

It’s just the latest implosion in what has been a nightmare week for League.

Consider League’s last four outings:
• Allows three earned runs in 1 ⅓ innings in a loss Sunday to the Chicago White Sox.
• Blows his first save and takes another loss Tuesday, giving up two runs in the 13th inning at the Baltimore Orioles.
• Gives up a two-run single to J.J. Hardy in the bottom of the 12th to the Orioles on Thursday, his third straight loss.
• Surrenders three runs Friday for his third straight blown save and fourth straight losing decision.

League’s totals over this brutal four-game stretch: 0-4, 30.00 ERA and a .600 opponent’s batting average.

Today’s Trivia: Want to feel old? Los Angeles Angels starter Tyler Chatwood was born 16 days too soon to be the first pitcher born in the 1990s. Who was the first pitcher born in the 1980s to appear in an MLB game?

Quick Hits: Let’s take a look at some surprising league leaders so far this season.

• Howie Kendrick leads the majors with five HRs off of left-handed pitchers. That’s three more than he had last season.

• Your MLB leader in triples? Sean Rodriguez with three. Though he’s hitting just .206, six of his seven hits this season have been for extra bases.

• Jonny Gomes leads the league with five home runs in day games, one more than he had last season.

• Juan Pierre has been caught stealing five times already. The last time an AL player was caught more in April? 1988, when both Rickey Henderson and Mark McLemore were caught six times.

• Billy Butler has already been intentionally walked five times, just three shy of his career high. Over the past 50 years, the most intentional walks for an AL player in April is seven (Ken Griffey Jr. in 1993 and Travis Hafner in 2007).

• Teammates Ryan Raburn (25) and Austin Jackson (24) have struck out more than any other hitters. Combined, those two have more strikeouts than 22 of the other 29 outfields in baseball.

• A.J. Burnett already has six wild pitches. Over the past 50 years, only three AL pitchers have had more in April: Ricky Romero in 2010, Jaime Navarro in 1997 and Bobby Witt in 1986.

• Clay Buchholz has allowed six home runs, after allowing seven all last season. But that’s not even the more surprising number in the AL. Erik Bedard’s seven home runs allowed are the most in the majors. He’s never allowed more than 19 in a season.

• David Price has already hit four batters, most in the majors and one shy of his career high.

• Brad Thomas has pitched just 6 2/3 innings, but has still allowed the most sac flies this season (5).

Trivia Answer: In April 2001, CC Sabathia became the first pitcher born in the 1980s to appear in a game.

Today’s Trivia: The New York Yankees' Derek Jeter has had double-digit home runs in 15 straight seasons, but never eclipsed 30 HR. That’s tied for the third longest such streak. Who holds the record for consecutive 10+ HR seasons without hitting 30 or more?

Quick Hits: On Monday, Alex Rodriguez made it 13 straight seasons with 100 RBI. That tied Jimmie Foxx and Lou Gehrig for the longest streak all time. Not to be outdone, Jeter picked up his 150th hit. He’s now done that in 15 straight seasons. Only Hank Aaron (17) and Pete Rose (16) had longer streaks.

So who else is looking to extend streaks in 2010?

• Perhaps the most notable consecutive season streak belongs to the Seattle Mariners' Ichiro Suzuki. He needs 21 hits in the final 24 games to make it 10 straight 200-hit seasons. He already holds the record with nine straight, having passed Willie Keeler last season.

• Alex Rodriguez needs eight home runs to reach 30 for the season. It would be his 13th straight season with at least 30 HR, which would tie Barry Bonds’ record. Rodriguez currently is tied with Jimmie Foxx for the second-longest streak.

• The St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols is well on his way to a 10th consecutive season with a .300 batting average and .950 OPS. Only two players have double-digit streaks with that combination: Lou Gehrig did it in 12 straight seasons, while Ted Williams managed 17 straight.

• With 112 strikeouts, the Los Angeles Angels' Bobby Abreu has already made it 13 straight seasons with 100 or more. Only Reggie Jackson and Carlos Delgado can share that distinction in major-league history.

• With his 14th straight 20-save season, the Yankees' Mariano Rivera has already broken Lee Smith’s record. With his next save, he will tie Trevor Hoffman’s record of eight straight 30-save seasons. Hoffman’s streak will be coming to an end this year.

• The Washington Nationals' Livan Hernandez (9-10) needs two more starts to join Phil Niekro as the only pitchers since 1901 with 13 straight seasons of 30 starts and 10 losses.

• The Tampa Bay Rays' Carlos Pena needs four home runs to join Gorman Thomas as the second player in history with three straight seasons of 30 HR with a batting average below .250. Pena currently his hitting .205

• The Philadelphia Phillies' Ryan Howard entered the season hoping to join Babe Ruth as the only players with five straight 45-HR, 135-RBI seasons (Ruth had six). However, at 26 HR and 88 RBI, Howard will have to settle for a tie for the second-longest streak with Sammy Sosa.

• Can the Florida Marlins' Dan Uggla maintain his incredible statistical consistency? To start his career, Uggla has had four straight seasons hitting between 27 and 32 home runs with between 88 and 92 RBI. In MLB history, the only other player to have consecutive seasons in between those totals was Eddie Mathews, who did it for two straight. With 29 HR and 87 RBI, Uggla is essentially already where he normally finishes.



Tuesday’s Leaderboard: In Yunesky Maya and Dillon Gee, both the Nationals and Mets send out starting pitchers who are making their MLB debuts today. It’s the first time opposing starters are making debuts since Rick Porcello and Ricky Romero last season. For the Nationals, it will be their 14th starting pitcher of the season, three more than any other team. With their 11th starter, the Mets are now tied for second most.

Key Matchups: Ryan Howard is 9-for-20 with five home runs in his career against the Marlins' Chris Volstad. In fact, all five long balls have come in his last 13 at-bats. The only pitcher that he’s taken deep more is Tim Hudson (six).

As for Hudson, he hasn’t allowed an earned run to the Pittsburgh Pirates in his last three starts, spanning 22 innings. Take a look at the Pirates' roster and the outlook is not great. Active Pirates position players are 3-for-39 against Hudson, which equates to an .077 batting average.

Trivia Answer: Al Kaline had 10+ home runs in each of his final 20 seasons, but never hit 30. The next longest streak belongs to Harold Baines at 18. Both players had 29 as their career high.

Today’s Trivia: The Seattle Mariners became the first team in major league history to turn a triple play for a manager who was making his debut, turning the trick for Daren Brown on Monday. Today is also the anniversary of Rafael Furcal’s unassisted triple play, which at the time was the 12th in MLB history. The M’s have been on the wrong end of an unassisted triple play before. Who turned it, what team did he play for and what year was it?

Hint: Mike Blowers was on 2nd base for Seattle and Kevin Mitchell was on 1st when the triple play started.

Quick Hits: Suppose the season ended today. Who would you pick for most of MLB’s top awards? Let’s look at some contenders who could make team history if they win:

Joey Votto has to be the frontrunner for NL MVP this season. The last Cincinnati Reds player to win MVP? Barry Larkin in 1995. Before Larkin, the Big Red Machine owned the MVP award, winning six in an eight-year span (1970-77), with four different Reds players taking the trophy.

But suppose Albert Pujols overtakes Votto. That would give Pujols three straight MVP awards, something only Barry Bonds has done.

But suppose Carlos Gonzalez overtakes them both. Or Ubaldo Jimenez regains form and wins the Cy Young. Only one Colorado Rockies player has won an MVP or a Cy Young in the franchise’s history. Larry Walker was MVP in 1997.

Josh Johnson is your NL ERA leader, but no Florida Marlin has ever won the Cy Young (or the MVP, for that matter).

If Miguel Cabrera wins the AL MVP, he’d be the first Detroit Tiger since Willie Hernandez in 1984 to do so. But he’d be the first Tigers batter since Charlie Gehringer in 1937.

CC Sabathia is in a battle to win the AL Cy Young award. Sabathia has already won one with the Cleveland Indians. The only other pitcher to win an AL Cy for more than one team: Roger Clemens.

If Cliff Lee can convince voters to give him the Cy Young (he leads the AL in Wins Above Replacement), he’d be the first Texas Rangers pitcher to win it. The closest that Nolan Ryan got as a Ranger was 5th. Ferguson Jenkins was 2nd as a Ranger in 1974.

Today’s Leaderboard: How many guesses would you need to come up with the Baltimore Orioles as the AL team with the most walk-off wins this season? Yep, the O’s have celebrated the most with nine walk-off wins. But they’ve had their fair share of heartbreak too, with seven walk-off losses. Here are the teams who have had more walk-off elation than deflation this season:

Maybe it really is the Padres’ year.

Key Matchups: The Chicago Cubs have averaged just 2.5 runs per game over their last four games and the bats aren’t likely to awake against Tim Lincecum tonight. Cubs batters who have faced Lincecum before have combined for far more strikeouts against him (27) than hits (18). The two main scapegoats are Aramis Ramirez and Mike Fontentot; they’re both 1-13 in their career against Lincecum, combining for 10 K.

Have a “K” ready in your scorebook when Vladimir Guerrero faces A.J. Burnett tonight. Guerrero has fanned 11 times against Burnett in 45 career AB. There are nine pitchers that Guerrero has faced more times than Burnett, but only one – Felix Hernandez – has struck him out more often.

Ricky Romero has to be breathing a sigh of relief. Of the four players slugging the highest against him (min. 10 PA), three are from the Red Sox. But two won’t step in the box against him tonight – Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia. Instead, Romero might want to think about a four-finger salute to David Ortiz; Ortiz is 6-13 with a home run and three doubles against Romero.

Trivia Answer: John Valentin of the Red Sox turned the unassisted triple play on July 8, 1994. Not a bad sequence for Valentin – he led off the bottom of that inning and smoked a home run!

Bonus points if you knew that the Valentin unassisted triple play game was the same one where Alex Rodriguez made his MLB debut. A-Rod, batting ninth, went 0-3. He batted ninth the rest of the season.

Today’s Trivia: After pitching 1,198 innings in the American League (all with the Indians and Yankees), Jake Westbrook made his National League debut on Monday for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Can you name the active AL pitcher who has thrown the most career innings but never pitched for the NL? What about the active NL pitcher who has thrown the most innings but never pitched for the AL? We’ll give you the top 3 in each league at the bottom of this document.

Quick Hits on non-contenders who have owned contenders this season, on the heels of the Houston Astros improving to 5-2 in St. Louis this season (they’re 15-28 on the road against all other teams).

• The jury is still out on whether the Detroit Tigers are a contender, but they’re 3-1 against the Yankees this season. All other AL Central teams are 6-15 against the New York Yankees.

• The Tampa Bay Rays only have a losing record against one AL team this season (the Texas Rangers), but they have losing records against four different NL teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks (1-2) and Florida Marlins (2-4).

• The Cleveland Indians can claim dominance over the Chicago White Sox this season, going 8-4 against Ozzie Guillen’s club. Cleveland is 12-14 against the rest of the division.

• The Rangers need to stay away from AL East bottom-feeders. Texas is 3-9 against the Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles this season.

• If the Philadelphia Phillies could beat the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates, they’d be a lot closer to the Atlanta Braves in the standings. Philly is 4-8 against the Cubs and Pirates this season, but 6-0 against the other two NL Central non-contenders (Milwaukee Brewers and Astros).

Today’s Leaderboard: Today is Sid Bream’s 50th birthday, so let’s celebrate the player who memorably scored from 2nd base with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS to send the Braves to the World Series. Who, in Bream’s footsteps (pun not intended), has scored from 2nd base on a single most often this season?

It would be Martin Prado, who recently was placed on the disabled list.

And, since you’re wondering, which MLBers have a 100 percent success rate? It’s a tie among two guys who are 6-for-6: Asdrubal Cabrera and Kyle Blanks.

Key Matchups:
• Here’s the daily A-Rod vs Opposing Starter update: Rodriguez is 4-13 (.308 BA) in his career against Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero. But he has never homered off Romero and has only one extra-base hit (a double). And Romero really has Rodriguez’s number this season – A-Rod is 0-5 with 2 strikeouts and a double play in his last 5 AB’s against Romero.

• Bud Norris has gained a reputation as a Cardinals-killer in his career (4-1 with a 1.60 ERA vs STL, 5-9 with a 6.35 ERA vs all other teams) despite getting knocked around by the Cardinals in his most recent start against them. But Norris still owns plenty of Cardinals individually. Felipe Lopez is 0-8, Matt Holliday is 4-16, Colby Rasmus is 2-13 and Skip Schumaker is 2-14. What about the Great Pujols? Not great either, just 3-14 and no home runs.

• In a battle of the newly-acquired players for NL West teams, give a strong edge to Ted Lilly when he pitches against Ryan Ludwick tonight. Ludwick is batting just .192 (5-28) with twice as many strikeouts (10) as hits (5) in his career against Lilly.

• Pat Burrell hasn’t been an everyday player this season, but he should find himself starting tonight against the Rockies’ Aaron Cook. Pat the Bat is batting .591 (13-22) and slugging .773 against Cook. Of all the pitchers Burrell has faced at least 20 times, Cook is the pitcher Burrell has hit the best.

Trivia Answer: Your top AL guys who have never pitched for the NL: Mark Buehrle (2,193.1 IP), John Lackey (1,641.2) and Kelvim Escobar (1,507).

As for the other way around, it’s the recently-traded Roy Oswalt (1,938.1 IP), Randy Wolf (1,823.1) and Ryan Dempster (1,769.2).

Stephen Strasburg - much hyped prior to throwing a pitch in the big leagues - has gotten off to quite a start this season. Strasburg rang up 10 more strikeouts Friday in a no-decision, giving him a total of 32 since he was called up. It's the most strikeouts ANY pitcher has had in his first 3 games dating back to 1900. The old record was 29 by J.R. Richard. We break down how the phenom is getting it done in this edition of The Closer.


Strasburg regained his control after issuing five walks last Sunday as he went to a 3-ball count to just two hitters. The main difference in Strasburg’s approach was the increased use of his changeup, especially with two strikes. Strasburg struck out 6 batters with his changeup Friday after getting just a total of 3 with the pitch in his first two starts.

Nine of Strasburg's 10 strikeouts came on offspeed pitches. This was the fifth start this season in which a pitcher had double digit K's with at least 60% on the changeup and at least 90% on off-speed pitches. The others to accomplish the feat were Ricky Romero, James Shields, Tim Lincecum and Dallas Braden.

Since Stephen Strasburg made his MLB debut on June 8, the Nationals starting pitchers are 3-5. Strasburg has 2 of the wins. His numbers dwarf what the rest of the starters have done in that span. The rookie is 2-0 with a 2.19 ERA and 22 strikeouts. The rest of the Nationals rotation has a 1-5 record with a 7.92 ERA and just 14 strikeouts total.

Quick Hits: With about 100 games to go on each team’s schedule, several players are on pace for history. Yesterday, we touched on hitters, and today it’s the pitchers’ turn.

• Zack Greinke is on pace for just 5 wins and 197 strikeouts. The fewest wins for a pitcher with 200+ strikeouts is 8. Bob Johnson was 8-13 with 207 K for the 1970 Royals. Nolan Ryan was 8-16 with 270 K for the Astros in 1987.
• Kevin Millwood is still winless through 90.2 innings. If his season ended today, he’d have thrown the 19th most innings without a win in MLB history. Terry Felton has the most innings in a season without recording a win. He went 0-13 in 117.1 innings for the Twins in 1982.
• Ricky Romero already has 14 wild pitches – the same number that Chad Billingsley led the NL with last year. Romero is on pace for 34 wild pitches. The modern (since 1900) record is 30 by Red Ames in 1905.
• Dan Haren has given up 17 home runs and issued 17 walks. The only pitcher in MLB history to allow 40+ home runs in a season and issue fewer walks than homers was Robin Roberts (46 HR, 40 BB) in 1956.
• Joel Pineiro has allowed 9 triples already, putting him on pace to allow 21. No pitcher in the last 35 years has allowed more than Larry Christenson’s 17 in 1976.
• At 8-3, Tyler Clippard is on pace for 20 wins -- as a reliever! Unsustainable? Probably. But then there is the example of Roy Face, who went 18-1 in 57 relief appearances for the Pirates in 1959. It’s been 24 years since a pitcher won as many as 13 games in relief. Both Mark Eichhorn and Roger McDowell won 14 in 1986.
• Juan Gutierrez has allowed 10 HR in 21.1 innings, putting him on pace to allow 25. Over the last 50 years, the only relief pitcher to allow 20 homers in a season was John Wyatt, who gave up 23 in 123 relief innings in 1964.

Today’s Trivia: Tim Lincecum and Andy Pettitte were both born on this day -- albeit 12 years apart. Who are the only two active players who have been teammates of both players?

Today’s Leaderboard: Roy Halladay and CC Sabathia square off in the Bronx tonight. Since Sabathia broke into the majors in 2001 only Halladay has more wins.

Key Matchups: Jhonny Peralta has appeared in 33 straight games for the Indians, only coming off the bench in one of those. If there was ever a night to give him a rest, it would be when Johan Santana takes the mound. Peralta has struck out in 22 of 28 at-bats against the Mets’ ace and is hitting just .107. Even more amazing? In his last 23 at-bats against Santana, Peralta has 3 hits and 20 strikeouts. Not one out has been recorded in the field.

Roy Halladay has a 2.84 career ERA against the Yankees and -- at 18-6 -- has the third best winning percentage against the Bombers among pitchers with at least 20 decisions. A big reason is his neutralization of Derek Jeter, who has more strikeouts (24) against Halladay than any other pitcher he’s faced. A lifetime .242 hitter against Halladay, Jeter has just five hits in his last 43 at-bats against him, a .116 batting average.

Trivia Answer: Randy Winn and Aubrey Huff are the only active players who have been teammates of both Lincecum and Pettitte.

Following Joe Nathan’s injury this past March, Mark Simon introduced a stat which he labeled “putaway rate.” He defined it as “the percentage of two-strike plate appearances that ended in strikeouts.”

Taking his idea a step further, we set out to determine who has the best “putaway pitch.” It’s the same concept, but narrows down the stat to a specific pitch. For example, if a pitcher threw 100 two-strike fastballs and recorded 25 strikeouts on those pitches, his “putaway rate” would be 25 percent.

We applied this measurement to fastballs, curves, sliders and changeups, using data for this season from Inside Edge. Since each pitcher uses his pitches at varying rates, we considered the top 100 pitchers who had thrown the most two-strike fastballs and the top 50 for the three off-speed pitches. While there’s certainly some amount of subjectivity in that cutoff, it essentially gives us a list of the players who actually use that particular pitch as a “putaway pitch.”

So here are the top “putaway pitches” through May 24
FASTBALLS
1. Yovani Gallardo – Putaway Rate: 25.0 pct
Gallardo’s fastball is somewhat of a mystery. His speed (92.6) is only slightly above average for two-strike fastballs. His chase percentage (19.4 percent) is well below the league average of 31.7 percent. And his strike percentage (64.9) is also below the average of 66.7. Yet, he has thrown 148 two-strike fastballs, 37 of which have resulted in strikeouts.

2. Brandon Morrow – 22.6 pct
It’s been a rough season for Morrow, but the 25-year-old is currently tied for the league lead, averaging 11.8 strikeouts per nine innings. His two-strike fastball, which averages 94.6 mph, has induced whiffs on 26.8 pct of the pitches swung at – a rate which trails only Ryan Dempster’s 27.0 pct.

3. Josh Johnson – 20.6 pct
When Johnson works his way into a two-strike count, he prefers pure heat to finish the job. 40 of his 63 strikeouts this season have been recorded via the fastball, which averages 94.7 mph.

Best of the rest: Cole Hamels (20.4), Ryan Dempster (20.2), Dan Haren (19.9) and Ubaldo Jimenez (19.7)

CURVEBALLS
1. Tommy Hanson – 39.5 pct
Based on our criteria, Hanson’s curveball rates as the best strikeout pitch in the game this season. Of hitters who have offered at his two-strike curve, less than half have made contact (47.8 pct).

2. Clay Hensley – 33.3 pct
Hensley is one of three relievers who makes our list. His curve, which comes in at just 72.0 mph (league average: 76.8) has been used to record 19 of his 32 strikeouts this season.

3. Ricky Romero – 31.0 pct
Romero isn’t afraid to throw his curve across the plate (55.2 strike pct) because it’s nearly unhittable. Hitters have missed 50.0 pct of their swings against his two-strike curve.

Best of the rest: Jason Bulger (28.3 pct), Gavin Floyd (28.0 pct), Gio Gonzalez (27.8 pct) and Ricky Nolasco (25.5 pct)

SLIDERS
1. Brandon Morrow – 34.6 pct
Morrow makes his second appearance on the list, this time with his slider. He’s used his slider to record 28 of 59 strikeouts this season. He throws it for a strike 79.0 pct of the time, and induces a swing and miss 40.0 pct of the time (5th best rate in the majors).

2. Matt Garza – 33.8 pct
Garza boasts one of the league’s fastest sliders, which averages 86.3 mph in two-strike counts. He’s recorded 36 of his 54 strikeouts this season with his slider.

3. Luke Gregerson – 33.8 pct
The key to Gregerson’s slider is his ability to get hitters to chase it out of the zone. He’s induced swings on a league-high 67.5 pct of the sliders he’s thrown out of the strike zone on two-strike counts. He’s used his slider to record an astounding 24 of his 26 strikeouts this season (92.3 pct).

Best of the rest: Carlos Marmol (32.7), Francisco Liriano (31.6 pct), Edwin Jackson (30.4 pct) and Justin Masterson (27.9 pct)

CHANGEUPS
1. Leo Nunez – 36.4 pct
Nunez, whose fastball clocks in at 93.5 mph, takes a full seven mph off on his change (86.5 mph). While changeup is a fairly uncommon “putaway pitch” it’s Nunez’s go-to selection. He’s recorded 16 of his 20 strikeouts with the changeup.

2. Ricky Romero – 36.0 pct
Ricky Romero joins his teammate Brandon Morrow as the only two pitchers to appear in the top three with two different pitches. Hitters have whiffed on a league-high 50.9 pct of their swings on his two-strike changeups.

3. Cole Hamels – 34.2 pct
Hamels may have the most deadly putaway pitch combo, as his changeup rates 3rd and his fastball 4th. His success likely comes from a drastic 10 mph difference between the pitches – 91.3 mph on fastballs, 81.6 mph on changeups.

Best of the rest: John Ely (33.3), James Shields (32.7), Jorge De La Rosa (31.4) and Francisco Rodriguez (30.8)

Curious where someone's pitch ranks? Post a comment and we'll try to track down an answer for you.

Quick Hits: A number of pitchers take the hill today who have found success this season getting hitters to chase pitches out of the strike zone. Here’s a look at a few of those guys...

* Hitters are chasing Scott Baker’s fastball out of the zone 26.5 percent of the time, the second highest average in the majors, trailing only Phil Hughes.

* Right behind Baker is Justin Verlander, whose fastball has been chased 25.7 percent of the time.

* Adam Wainwright leads the majors with a 39.6 chase percentage on his curveball.

* Hitters have chased Jon Lester’s slider out of the zone 41.3 percent of the time, the eight highest rate in the baseball.

* James Shields leads the majors with a 49.6 chase percentage on his changeup.

* Ricky Romero’s changeup has been chased out of the zone 47.9 percent of the time, trailing only Shields.

Today’s Trivia: Casey McGehee currently leads the NL with 39 RBI. Last season his teammate Prince Fielder led the NL with 141 RBI. If McGehee keeps up his pace, it will be the first time two different players from the same team led the NL in RBI in consecutive years since 2003 and 2004. Can you name the players?

Today’s Leaderboard: It’s no surprise that Vladimir Guerrero has chased more pitches out of the strike zone than any hitter this season. He’s swung at 41.0 percent of the balls thrown to him outside the zone – 5.1 percent higher than anyone else. But Guerrero isn’t necessary the best bad-ball hitter in the game. Here’s a look at the leaders in batting average on pitches out of the strike zone.

Key Matchups: Nick Markakis has hit safely in seven straight games and has a .357 average during that span. He may struggle to keep that streak alive tonight against Dallas Braden. Markakis is 1-14 with six strikeouts in his career against Braden.

Arguably no one has given Jon Lester more trouble in his career than Carlos Pena. In his career against Lester, Pena is batting .310 (9-29) with five home runs. No other player has hit more than three homers against Lester.

TRIVIA ANSWER: The Rockies’ Preston Wilson led the league with 141 RBI in 2003. The following season Vinny Castilla led the league with 131. Prior to Wilson and Castilla, the last set of NL teammates to lead in RBI in consecutive years were Dante Bichette (1995) and Andres Galarraga (1996).

Quick Hits: Chris Coghlan went 0-6 with three strikeouts and was the Marlins only starter who failed to collect a hit on Sunday. In five of his at-bats he found himself in a two-strike count, a situation where he has struggled all season, batting just .125 (MLB avg: .181) and striking out 36.5 percent of the time. Here’s a look at a few others who struggle in two-strike counts.

* Ian Stewart has a .081 OBP in two-strike counts, worst in the majors.

* Rod Barajas chases a league-high 64.3 percent of pitches outside the strike zone in two-strike counts.

* Kyle Blanks has struck out 44 times in 74 two-strike counts, a league-high 59.5 percent.

* Mark Teixeira is batting .094 against fastballs in two-strike counts.

* Mark Reynolds is batting .055 against non-fastballs in two-strike counts.

* Tim Lincecum has been in a two-strike count 10 times this season and has struck out all 10 times.

Today’s Trivia: In Sunday’s game Trevor Hoffman recorded a hold while his teammate picked up the save for the first time since September 12, 1993. Who closed the game for the Padres on that date?


Today’s Leaderboard: On the flip side, here are the pitchers who have excelled in two-strike counts this season. Brandon Morrow leads the way, having recorded a strikeout in 59 of his 106 two-strike counts.

Key Matchups: John Danks is just 2-5 with a 4.89 ERA in his career against the Indians. One reason for his struggles as of late is Shin-Soo Choo. In his career against Danks, Choo is batting .462 (6-13) with a home run.

Carlos Pena’s season-long slump likely won’t come to a halt tonight against the Red Sox. In his career against Clay Buchholz, Pena is batting just .091 (1-11) with three strikeouts.

Trivia Answer: Gene Harris, the Padres’ closer in 1993, picked up the save. Hoffman took over as their full-time closer the following season.

Quick Hits: Will Venable went 3-3 with two doubles and a triple off sliders from Jeff Weaver and Ramon Ortiz last night. The performance raised Venable’s average vs sliders this season to .474 – third highest in the majors. Let’s take a look at some other hitters who are crushing sliders this season.

* Casey McGehee is batting .481 with two home runs. Only Ryan Zimmerman (.520) has a higher batting average vs sliders.

* Alfonso Soriano is batting .390 against sliders with a league-leading 11 extra-base hits (nine doubles, two home runs).

* Marco Scutaro has been the most patient hitter against sliders this year. He’s chased just 4.5 percent of sliders he’s seen outside the strike zone.

* Andre Ethier is crushing everything this season, but he’s been particularly good against sliders. He has a well-hit average of .471, highest in the majors.

* Ty Wigginton leads the league with five homers of sliders.

* Mike Napoli is batting just .229 this season, but he’s hitting .412 with six extra-base hits against sliders.

Today’s Trivia: With 12 saves through the Blue Jays’ first 42 games, Kevin Gregg is on pace for 46 this season. If he keeps up that pace, he’ll become just the second Blue Jays closer to reach 40 saves in a season. Who would he join?

Today’s Leaderboard: Arguably the game’s best slider will be on display tonight in Arizona as Tim Lincecum takes the mound. Lincecum has thrown 96 sliders this season, 46 of which were out of the strike zone. Of those 46 out of the zone, hitters chased the pitch a league-high 52.2 percent of the time.

Key Matchups: Lincecum’s slider should be especially effective tonight against the Diamondbacks. As a team the D’Backs are batting .203 vs sliders, but Mark Reynolds has struggled more than most. He’s swung at 91 sliders this year, but has just three hits. In other words, Reynolds gets a hit just 3.3 percent of the time he swings at a slider.

Ricky Romero could be in line for another impressive outing tonight against the Mariners. Romero has developed one of the game’s most devastating curveballs, against which opponents are batting .103. The Mariners have truly struggled against the curve this season. Ichiro Suzuki is batting .429 against curves this season (12-28) but the rest of the team is hitting just .124. The league average against curves is .216.

Trivia Answer: Duane Ward recorded 45 saves in 1993. The Blue Jays’ career saves leader, Tom Henke, never had more than 34 in a season.

Pitching has enjoyed a renaissance in 2010 and Saturday was no exception. Effective - if not dominating - starting pitching performances were seen throughout the day. A good sampling occurred in the American League East as Tampa Bay's James Shields and Toronto's Ricky Romero were dominant in their teams' wins, Andy Pettitte continued his amazing season for the Yankees, while Baltimore's Brian Matusz and Boston's Jon Lester pitched deep into their games.

Here's a look at some of those efforts and several others from Saturday in Why They Won:

Why Rays starter James Shields deserved a win:
- Control. Not only did Shields not walk anybody, but he didn't go to a 3-ball count on any hitter.
- Changeup. Mariners hitters were only 1-10 (.100) against the pitch Saturday and Shields is holding batters to a .188 mark (12-64) vs. the change in 2010.
- Put them away. When he got 2 strikes on a hitter, they were just about done as 93 pct of such at-bats ended in outs (MLB average: 72 pct).

Why Yankees starter Andy Pettitte Won:
- More effective with the fastball. Coming into the game, batters were hitting .295 against Pettitte's heater. Saturday, the Twins were 1-11 (.091) against the fastball.
- Only allowed two hits over 6.1 innings pitched. Prior to 2010, the left-hander surrendered 1.05 H/IP. This season, he's only allowed 36 hits in 45.1 IP (0.79 H/IP).
- Finished off hitters. 82 percent of his 2-strike at-bats became outs (MLB average is 72).

Why Blue Jays starter Ricky Romero threw a shutout:
Used his power changeup:
- 29 of his 116 pitches (25 pct) were changeups, his most in a start this season
- Got eight of his 12 strikeouts with changeup (most in a start in his career)
- Hitters chased 71.4 pct of changeups out of the zone, most in a start in his career
- 11 swings-and-misses with his changeup, matching total from previous two starts
- Hitters went 0-for-13 against changeup

Why Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw Won:
Used his fastball:
- Threw fastballs on 85 of 110 pitches (77.3 pct, most in a start this season)
- Fastball averaged 94 MPH, up from 92.5 this season before Saturday
- Hitters went just 1-for-17 (.059 -- .238 against fastball entering the game)
- Got 5 of his 7 strikeouts with the heater (2nd straight start with 5 or more)
- K pct of 26.3 with fastball (highest in a start this season)

Why Reds starter Mike Leake Won:
- Down and away. Cardinals hitters were 0-7 on pitches "down and away" Saturday. Leake threw 38 of 93 pitches in that "spot" (a whopping 40.9 pct - since there are 9 "spots"). For the season, the rookie has thrown 40.5 pct of his pitches and has held the opposition to a .118 average there.
- Put them away. 83 pct of his 2-strike at-bats became outs (MLB average: 72 pct).
- Good starts. Retired 5 of his 6 leadoff hitters (83 pct) in innings. (MLB average: 68 pct).

Why Indians starter Mitch Talbot Won:
- Wouldn't let Orioles get started. Talbot retired all 8 leadoff hitters in innings (MLB average: 68 pct).
- The fastball. The O's were only 3-21 against the heater. Talbot threw fastballs on 86 of 102 pitches (84.3 pct). Prior to Saturday, he only used the pitch 72.7 pct of the time.
- Three and done. Half of Talbot's 8 frames were 1-2-3 innings (MLB average: 31 pct).

Why Giants starter Tim Lincecum was fortunate to win:
- First-batter problems. He only retired 3 of 8 leadoff hitters (MLB average is 68 pct).
- Control. Lincecum walked 5 over 8 innings and 31 pct of at-bats went to 3-ball counts (MLB average: 19 pct).
- More control. First-pitch strike pct was only 47 (lg avg.: 58) and his overall strike pct was only 56.
- He was facing the Astros. Houston is hitting a MLB-worst .227 this season. Lincecum is now 4-0 in his career vs. the Astros with a 1.33 ERA (best ERA vs. any NL foe).

The season is only 2 weeks old, but some surprising names find themselves atop some statistical categories entering Monday.

Who has the most hits in baseball? Odds are prior to the start of the season, you wouldn't have said Scott Podsednik, Placido Polanco or Franklin Gutierrez would lead baseball in hits with 21 on this date. Podsednik leads baseball with a .457 BA.

Even more bizarre, Ivan Rodriguez leads the NL with a .444 BA.

I'm sure everyone thought Jorge Cantu would be the player with the most RBI with 16.

No Joe Nathan, no problem. The Twins Jon Rauch has the most saves with 6.

Felix Hernandez or CC Sabathia have to lead the AL in strikeouts, right? Wrong. That honor goes to the Orioles Brian Matusz with 23, one fewer than Tim Lincecum's ML-leading total 24.

Of course Lincecum leads baseball in K per 9 then... Wrong again. Fellow Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez has a higher K per 9 than any starter in baseball (12.41).

Your ML leader in XBH? None other than Blue Jays SS Alex Gonzalez with 11. In fact 11 of his 17 hits have gone for extra bases.

Stop the presses, a Nationals pitcher leads baseball in ERA. We told you Stephen Strasburg was the real deal. Wait. It's not Strasburg you are talking about? Nope. Livan Hernandez has yet to allow a run in 16 innings this season. In case you missed it, Hernandez' ERA is almost 6 over the last two years. Matt Garza leads the AL in ERA at 0.75.

Obviously the Blue Jays knew Ricky Romero would have the lowest opponent BA among AL starters at this point (.143). Why else would they have traded Roy Halladay? And if you guessed a Cardinals starter led the majors in Opp BA, you guessed right. Except it's not Adam Wainwright or Chris Carpenter we're talking about. We'd be talking about Jaime Garcia, who has held opponents to a .116 BA this season.