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Adam Wainwright regained some of his 2009 and 2010 magic on Tuesday, tossing his third career shutout and first since August 6, 2010.

For a guy who had a 9.78 ERA in his previous four home starts this season, the shutout must have been an especially sweet breath of fresh air for Wainwright.
Here's a look at what made him so succesful:

• Wainwright lived around the edge of the zone with his fastball, especially with two strikes. Fifteen of the 18 (83.3 percent) two-strike fastballs he threw were within four inches of the edge of the zone, both in and out. In his first eight starts this season, 59 percent of his two-strike fastballs were in that location. All four of his strikeouts with his fastball were around the edge; he had only six strikeouts with his fastball there in his first eight starts.

• Wainwright threw 68 fastballs among his 111 pitches (61.3 percent), his highest percentage since coming back from Tommy John surgery and second highest since 2009.

• Wainwright also used his signature curveball to put hitters away. He recorded six outs with his curveball, including four via strikeout, without allowing a hit.

• Wainwright was efficient. He recorded 10 outs on either the first or second pitch of the at-bat, his most in a start since 2009. He averaged just 12.3 pitches per inning, well below his season average of 16.8.

Elsewhere around MLB:

How long had it been since Roy Halladay last lost to the Nationals franchise? They were the Montreal Expos, Halladay was with the Toronto Blue Jays and Halladay had only 27 career wins at the time. The year was 2002. Halladay now has 192 career wins, and had won 11 straight decisions against the Nationals/Expos before this loss.

Albert Pujols' mashed his fourth home run this season and 449th of his career. That ties him with Jeff Bagwell and Vladimir Guerrero for 35th on the all-time HR list. Next up is Carl Yastrzemski with 452.

Ricky Nolasco picked up his 69th career win, passing Dontrelle Willis for the most in Marlins franchise history. Josh Johnson (50) and A.J. Burnett (49) are third and fourth on that list.

Phil Hughes again struggled with the longball. Before Hughes, the last pitcher to allow a HR in each of his first nine starts of a season was Runelvys Hernandez who did so in 12 straight back in 2006 for the Kansas City Royals.

The major league leader in ERA takes the hill Monday when Ryan Dempster and the Chicago Cubs visit the St. Louis Cardinals (ESPN, 7 p.m. ET).

Dempster has allowed just four earned runs in five starts -- a 1.02 ERA -- but is 0-1. The Cubs have lost all of Dempster's starts, scoring a total of eight runs in the five games.

According to The Elias Sports Bureau, no pitcher in major league history has had an ERA as low as Dempster through five starts without a win.

He’s using his slider more often this season while decreasing the use of his fastball and splitter. That slider has been one of the best in baseball. Hitters are just 5-for-56 against Dempster’s slider this season, a paltry .094 batting average. (Last year through five starts, he allowed 11 hits against the slide piece.) Only one pitcher in baseball -- Matt Cain -- has a lower batting average against his slider (min. 50 PA ending with a slider).

Dempster’s opponent, Jake Westbrook, is off to a fine start of his own. He’s 4-2 with a 1.76 ERA and has pitched into the seventh inning in all six of his starts. Only Felix Hernandez and Roy Halladay have pitched into the seventh inning more often this season.

Westbrook has improved his slider by keeping it out of the middle of the strike zone. Last season, more than 21 percent of his sliders were in the middle-third of the strike zone and just 52 percent were away. This season, fewer than 13 percent of his sliders are in the middle and more than 62 percent are away from hitters. As the chart to the right shows, hitters are swinging at the pitch less but are missing it nearly twice as often.

MATCHUPS TO WATCH
• Skip Schumaker is hitting .417 (20-for-48) against Dempster, the second-highest batting average by any hitter with 40 plate appearances against him.

• Rafael Furcal is hitting .154 (6-for-39) against Dempster, the lowest batting average by any player with 40 plate appearances against him.

• Alfonso Soriano is hitting .120 (3-for-25) against Westbrook, the third-lowest batting average by any player with 25 plate appearances against him.

• David DeJesus is 7-for-26 against Westbrook, just a .269 batting average, but he’s the only Cub who’s homered off the Cardinals righty. Plus, only two players have faced Westbrook more often without a strikeout.

RIVALRY REVISITED
These two teams first met in 1892, when the Chicago Colts beat the St. Louis Browns 14-10 on Opening Day. The Cubs lead the all-time series 1,169-1,107. Since the start of the 2002 season, the series is tied 86-86.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elsewhere in the majors Saturday:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Elsewhere in the majors on Monday:

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

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

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

The New York Mets face the Philadelphia Phillies tonight (ESPN, 7 ET) with Roy Halladay getting the nod for Philadelphia.

A key tonight will be Halladay's velocity, which has decreased significantly over the last several seasons. In 2010, Halladay's cutter averaged 91.3 miles per hour. This season, it has dipped to 88.9.

His sinker has also suffered the same fate. In 2009, his sinker averaged 92.6 mph and topped out at 95.8. In 2012, that average is at 90.6 with a max of 92.8.

No pitcher in baseball has thrown more innings than Halladay in the regular season since 2006, and he has the most complete games of any active pitcher, 16 more than the next-closest.

Tonight's opponent has yet to solve Halladay, however. Since joining the Phillies in 2010, Halladay is 7-0 with a 1.68 ERA in seven starts against the Mets. He has posted a 1.66 ERA with 15 strikeouts and just one walk in three starts at Citi Field, and he didn’t allow a run in two of those starts. He has never allowed a home run to a current Mets batter.

Halladay is also 20-3 against the NL East since the Phillies acquired him with a 2.24 ERA and a K-to-BB ratio of 8.39.

His opponent tonight, Jonathon Niese, is off to a relatively strong start this season thanks to his opponents' batting average on balls in play. Last season it was .344, the highest in the majors. This year it's down to .250, lower than 97 other pitchers.

Niese is allowing runs mainly because he's having trouble keeping the ball in the ballpark. He has a groundball-to-flyball ratio of 1.10, the same as 2011, but last season only seven percent of fly balls he allowed were home runs. This season, that's up to 10.8 percent.

A key matchup tonight will be Niese against Placido Polanco, as Polanco is 10-24 (.417) against Niese.

Roy Halladay allowed eight earned runs and 12 hits in six or fewer innings for just the fourth time in 358 career starts, but the history books were rewritten hours after he left the game.

Since the Philadelphia Phillies rallied to force extra innings, Halladay remained 69-0 in his career when staked to a six-run lead. Wednesday was only the second time that he blew a six-run lead. On April 25, 2002, he blew a 6-0 lead for the Toronto Blue Jays before earning a no-decision in a loss to the Texas Rangers.

The game ended in the bottom of the 11th when Chipper Jones hit a two-run walk-off home run to give the Atlanta Braves a 15-13 victory. It was the eighth walk-off homer of his career and first since 2006.

Jones joined Jason Giambi, who hit a walk-off home run earlier in the afternoon for the Colorado Rockies. With that combination, Elias cracked open the record books to discover a pair of firsts and close-but-not-quite scoring fact.

It was the first time in major-league history that two players who had already hit 400 home runs hit walk-off home runs on the same day.

With Chipper turning 40 last week, today was also the first time that a pair of 40-year-olds hit walk-off homers on the same day. The last time that two 40-year-old players hit walk-off home runs in the same season was 1986, when Hal McRae and Davey Lopes pulled it off.

With the teams combining for 28 runs, it tied the second-highest scoring game to end with a walk-off home run in major-league history. In 1925, Ty Cobb did the honors as the Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox 16-15.

It was the first time that both teams in a Phillies-Braves game scored at least 13 runs since the Braves moved to Atlanta … or even Milwaukee. On July 6, 1934, the Boston Braves beat the Phillies 16-13.

Around the Diamond
• Carlos Ruiz entered the game with 10 RBI on the season, before driving in a career-high seven runs in the losing effort for the Phillies.

• Ruiz wasn’t the only player to drive in a career-high seven runs on Wednesday. Carlos Beltran hit two home runs and drove in seven runs – in the first three innings – as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates.

• In that game, A.J. Burnett became the first starting pitcher in the Live Ball Era (since 1920) to allow 12 or more earned runs while recording less than nine outs. Before Vin Mazzaro did so out of the bullpen for the Oakland Athletics last year, no pitcher had fared so badly since 1948.

Philip Humber became the 21st pitcher in major-league history to toss a perfect game as the Chicago White Sox beat the Seattle Mariners 4-0 on Saturday afternoon.

It was the third perfect game in White Sox history. That ties the club with the New York Yankees with the most perfect games in MLB history. With Don Larsen throwing a perfect game in the World Series for the Yankees, the White Sox are the only franchise with three in the regular season.

Humber became the fourth pitcher to toss a perfect game in the last four seasons. Roy Halladay and Dallas Braden threw perfect games in 2010 after Mark Buehrle threw one for the White Sox in 2009.

It was the first complete game of his career, and he tied a career high with nine strikeouts.

In fact, Humber became one of the least experienced pitchers to toss a perfect game. This was his 30th start and 12th victory of his career. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only one pitcher - Charlie Robertson in 1922 - had fewer wins and starts before retiring all 27 batters since 1900.

He recorded a game score of 96, the second-highest for the White Sox since the mound was lowered in 1969. Game score rates pitchers based on box score statistics, typically ranging from 0 to 100 with an average near 50.

Humber did not go to a three-ball count until the 9th inning. He was able to recover from both, striking out Michael Saunders and Brendan Ryan. His strikeout of Saunders was the first in Humber’s career after falling behind 3-0 in the count.

One key to Humber’s success was his slider. He threw 32 sliders against the Mariners, including 15 that ended at-bats with an out. Six of his nine strikeouts were on the slider, including both in the ninth inning. He induced batters to chase eight of 17 sliders outside the zone and miss on seven of 19 swings overall.

After throwing his slider on 5 of 37 pitches (14 percent) the first time through the order, he threw 27 on 59 pitches (46 percent) the rest of the game.

Around the Bases
• With Matt Harrison's win in the first game of their doubleheader, Texas Rangers starting pitchers improved to 10-0 this season. According to Elias, it is the first time in franchise history that their starters won their first 10 decisions. The last time it happened for any team was 2003, when the Yankees (16) and San Francisco Giants (10) each reached double figures.

• After blowing a three-run lead in the top of the 9th inning, the New York Mets won on a throwing error by Giants catcher Buster Posey. Elias confirms that it was the first win in Mets history in which the game ended on an error by the opposing catcher.

• The Washington Nationals beat the Miami Marlins on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Ian Desmond. It was their third walk-off win of the season, tops in the majors.

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


1. SAVING THE DAY: FROM ELIAS: Henrik Lundqvist made 39 saves to lead the New York Rangers to a 1-0 win in Game 3 of their series against the Ottawa Senators, one day after the Kings’ Jonathan Quick stopped 41 shots in a 1-0 victory at Los Angeles. Since the NHL began officially recording shots on goal more than 50 years ago, the only other goaltender to make 39-or-more saves in a 1-0 shutout in a non-overtime game was Martin Brodeur against Carolina in 2009 (44 saves). The Rangers’ 1-0 victory was only their second playoff win by that score since 1941. Lundqvist accounted for that other 1-0 win as well, beating the Capitals by a lone goal in Washington in 2009.

2. LeBRON FINISHES STRONG: FROM ELIAS: LeBron James scored Miami’s final 17 points in the team’s victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday night. James is the fourth player to score 17 straight points for his team in a game this season, joining Deron Williams (18 on March 4), Chris Paul (17 on February 22) and Mo Williams (17 on January 22). Prior to James, the last player to score his team’s final 17 points of a game was Denver’s J.R. Smith on April 13, 2009.

3. VERLANDER THROWING HEAT: Last year’s AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander got his first win of the season as the Detroit Tigers won 3-2. Verlander had a complete game on 131 pitches, one shy of his career-high. He threw 19 fastballs in the ninth inning. Of those, seven were over 98 MPH. His final pitch of the night was 100.3 MPH, tied for the fastest pitch he threw ALL GAME. Since 2009, Justin Verlander has the highest average fastball velocity for any starter in the ninth inning. He is also the only starter in that time frame to throw a pitch over 100 MPH in the ninth.

4. HALLADAY OUTDUELS LINCECUM: Roy Halladay won a battle of Cy Young pitchers, allowing two earned runs in 8 innings as the Philadelphia Phillies won 5-2 over the San Francisco Giants and Tim Lincecum. FROM ELIAS: Halladay has registered a win while pitching at least seven innings and allowing two-or-fewer runs in each of his first three starts of the season, something he also did in his first three starts in his first season with the Phils in 2010. In the 36 seasons preceding Halladay’s arrival, only one other Phillies pitcher that started the season with the team registered a win, seven plus innings pitched and two-or-fewer runs allowed in each of his first three starts: Dennis Cook in 1990.

5. WORKING OVERTIME: FROM ELIAS: The Utah Jazz defeated the Dallas Mavericks by a score of 123-121 in a triple overtime contest on Monday night. Utah has now played two games that have gone to at least triple overtime this season, losing a quadruple overtime game in Atlanta on March 25. Over the last 50 seasons, only five other teams have played multiple games that have gone to at least three overtimes in a single season: Phoenix in 1997-98 and 2005-06, New York in 2006-07, New Jersey in 2010-11 and Atlanta in 2011-12.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will Cohen contributed to this post

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

1. PIERCE AND KG LEAD THE WAY: Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett combined for 51 points as the Boston Celtics beat the Heat 115-107 in Miami. Boston shot 60.6 percent from the field, the highest allowed by the Heat in the “Big 3” era (last two seasons). The Celtics lead the league with 18 wins after the All-Star Break. They were just 15-17 before the break.

2. TWO UNDEFEATED TEAMS LEFT: After losses by the Tampa Bay Rays and New York Mets, the Detroit Tigers and Arizona Diamondbacks are the only undefeated teams remaining in MLB. The Tigers are 4-0 for the 1st time since 2006. That season, they made the World Series. The Diamondbacks are 4-0 for the 1st time in franchise history.

3. PETRINO OUT: Bobby Petrino is out as Arkansas head football coach. Petrino was 34-17 in 4 seasons at Arkansas. The 2011 Razorbacks finished with their highest AP Ranking since 1977 and tied a school-record with 11 wins. Their only losses were to the top-2 teams in the nation (Alabama and LSU).

4. PLAYOFF PUCK DROPS: The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday with three games. The Vancouver Canucks won the President’s Trophy for the second straight season and they host the Los Angeles Kings in the quarterfinals. The Detroit Red Wings are in the playoffs for the 21st-straight season, the longest active streak in the four major pro sports. They open at Nashville. The Philadelphia Flyers-Pittsburgh Penguins series also begins Wednesday. Pittsburgh is the favorite to win the Stanley Cup according to MGM Resorts International with 7-2 odds.

5. DUELING ACES: Dueling aces square off on Wednesday Night Baseball on ESPN2, 7 ET as Roy Halladay and the Philadelphia Phillies host Josh Johnson and the Miami Marlins. Halladay and Johnson have faced each other three previous times since Halladay joined the Phillies. In those three games, a grand total of six runs were scored, including a perfect game from Halladay on May 29, 2010.

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

1. THE BEST GOLFER WITHOUT A MAJOR? After the opening round of the Masters Tournament, Lee Westwood stands alone at the top at -5. Westwood has never won a major but has been a bridesmaid multiple times. This is the third time he’s opened a major with a 67, and both times he finished the major in second place.

2. TIGER ON THE PROWL Tiger Woods shot an even-par 72 at the Masters and is tied for 29th after the opening round. That might sound like he’s a ways back, but not for Tiger. The last time he was this far back after the opening round was 2005, when he was tied for 33rd. That year he went on to win the Masters, his last win there. Looking ahead to Friday, he’ll hope to repeat that 2005 success. He shot a 66 in the second round en route to his win.

3. PITCHERS DOMINATE OPENING DAY The Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Indians treated fans to free baseball on their Opening Day. The 16 innings they played made it the longest season-opening game in MLB history. But pitchers stole the show for the day. FROM ELIAS: Justin Verlander, Roy Halladay and Justin Masterson each allowed two hits in eight innings on Thursday while Ryan Dempster surrendered two knocks in 7⅔ innings. It was the first day on which four pitchers threw more than seven innings and allowed no more than two hits since Sept. 27, 1986.

4. NO MAGIC IN ORLANDO Dwight Howard scored just two points through three quarters in an Orlando Magic loss to the New York Knicks and finished with eight points for the game. It was just the third time this season that Howard failed to score in double-digits and two of those have come against the Knicks. His team’s woes continue: the Magic have lost five straight, their longest losing streak since Jan. 12-20, 2007.

5. STAMKOS STALKING 60 Two big happenings in the NHL on Thursday: the eight playoff spots in each conference were decided BUT the seeding of each team is still up in the air. Also, Steven Stamkos moved one step closer to a landmark when he scored his 59th goal of the season. Stamkos has one game left, at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, and will try to become just the second player since 1996 to score 60 goals in a season.

Pitching was the story of the day as opening week continued with 13 teams playing their first game of the season.

After Kyle Lohse tossed a gem on Wednesday, Roy Halladay, Justin Verlander, Justin Masterson and Ryan Dempster all allowed two or fewer hits while throwing at least 7 innings. Even with 13 teams yet to make their 2012 debut, this is the first time in the Modern Era (since 1900) that there have been five season-opening starts to meet that threshold. According to Elias, the previous high was three in 1910.

The New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies and Cincinnati Reds all opened their season today by throwing shutouts. Elias points out that the last time there were three shutouts thrown by teams that opened their season on the same day was April 9, 1976. That season, the Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals all pitched Opening Day shutouts.

The Miami Marlins became the first team with two losses this season and have managed a single run on seven hits in their two games. From Elias, they are the first team with that low an offensive output in their first two games since 1993. That season, the Atlanta Braves and Colorado Rockies each had one run on six hits after two games.

Not all of the pitching news was good. Justin Verlander was denied a win after pitching 8 shutout innings after Jose Valverde blew a save for the first time since Sept. 2, 2010. Valverde was 49-for-49 in save opportunities last season and had converted 51 in a row dating back to 2010.

Going Long
The highest scoring game of the day was the Toronto Blue Jays' 7-4 win over the Cleveland Indians. But that won’t be what the game is remembered for.

The game wasn’t decided until J.P. Arencibia hit a three-run home run in the top of the 16th inning. Elias confirmed that this was the longest season opener in MLB history. The Indians have the dubious distinction of losing two of the three season openers that lasted at least 15 innings. In the other, Walter Johnson threw a 15-inning complete game as the Washington Senators beat the Philadelphia Athletics.

Going Deep
The wait for a National League home run is finally over. Jay Bruce hit a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth as the Reds beat the Marlins. Four NL games had been completed before Bruce went deep, and his homer came in the 44th NL inning of the season.

After nearly winning the MVP Award last season, Matt Kemp added to his legend in the season opener this year. Kemp became the first right-handed hitter with two opposite field home runs at Petco Park since the start of the 2009 season.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The third, and final, winner-take-all game of the 2011 LDS takes place in the City of Brotherly Love as the Philadelphia Phillies host the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals are 8-5 against the Phillies this season, including playoffs, and have won four of the six meetings in Philadelphia.

Divisional Series History
The Cardinals are 10-5 all-time in winner-take-all games. Their most recent was a 3-1 win over the New York Mets in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS, won on Yadier Molina ninth-inning home run. St. Louis is 4-4 all-time in winner-take-all games on the road.

The Phillies have only played two winner-take-all games. They beat the Houston Astros 8-7 in Houston in Game 5 of the 1980 NLCS, winning on a hit in the 10th inning by Garry Maddox. They also lost to the Montreal Expos 3-0 at home in Game 5 of the 1981 LDS. Steve Rogers pitched a six-hit shutout to beat them.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Philadelphia's 13 consecutive playoff series that did not go the distance was the longest such streak in major league history. The previous record was held by the Oakland Athletics, who went 12 consecutive series without playing a decisive game, from 1974 to 1992.

On the Mound
Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay lead the Cardinals and Phillies, respectively, in this game. Since the Cy Young Award was introduced in 1956, this is the third winner-take-all playoff game in which previous Cy Young winners faced off. The others were Pedro Martinez against Roger Clemens in the 2003 ALCS and Pedro Martinez against Barry Zito in the 2003 ALDS.

Carpenter went only three innings in his Game 2 start (throwing 64 pitches), his shortest postseason start of his career. The Cardinals won that game, improving Carpenter’s teams to 8-2 in his 10 career postseason starts. In his last four road postseason starts, Carpenter is 0-2 with a 7.11 ERA.

Halladay is 2-0 with a 1.59 ERA in two career NLDS starts, including his no-hitter in the 2010 NLDS against the Cincinnati Reds. Despite the success in this round, Halladay has allowed seven earned runs in 16.0 innings in his last two starts against the Cardinals.


Players to Watch
Albert Pujols could be playing his final game in a Cardinal uniform, as he becomes a free agent at season’s end. Pujols ranks as the all-time leader in home runs and RBI for players within their first 11 major-league seasons. In Cardinals history, he ranks second or third in just about every major statistical category, trailing either Stan Musial or Mark McGwire.

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley have been driving the Phillies offensive bus this series. The two have a combined .517 batting average (15-for-29) with a 1.381 OPS while hitting seven of the teams 10 extra-base hits. The rest of the Phillies are hitting .181 with a .474 OPS.

Rollins, specifically, has been killing the ball. His performance against non-fastballs this postseason, although a small sample size, has been solid (5-for-8 with a double). And he’s not wasting any time at the plate – if he gets a pitch to hit, he’s taking his cuts.

David Freese knocked in four runs with a go-ahead two-run double and his first career postseason home run to lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a 5-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies.

Edwin Jackson won his first postseason start and the teams will head to Philadelphia for a winner-take-all Game 5 on Friday night.

Jackson threw his breaking pitches more than in any start since joining the Cardinals -- 33 of his 77 pitches (43 percent) were breaking balls, which accounted for all four of his strikeouts.

The Phillies chased 10 of the 15 slider Jackson threw out of the strike zone, his highest chase percentage (67 percent) with his slider this season. Helped by the Phillies chasing, 85 percent of his sliders were strikes, also his highest this season. Phillies hitters were 2-for-10 with three strikeouts in at-bats ending with a Jackson slider.

After hitting .400 (4-for-10) with runners in scoring position in Game 1, the Cardinals’ batting average in those situations decreased for the third consecutive game (1-for-5 in Game 4), but they left just three runners on base, a day after tying a franchise postseason record by stranding 14 runners.

The Phillies looked like they were ready to put the series away early when their first three batters went double, triple and single on Jackson’s first five pitches. But they recorded just four hits -- all singles -- the rest of the way.

Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley -- who doubled and tripled, respectively, to start the game -- are 15-for-29 with six doubles and 11 runs scored combined in the series.

Utley has really turned it up through four postseason games (.462/.588/.769) compared to his poor September (.205/.295/.337).

Cleanup hitter Ryan Howard went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, the 10th three-strikeout game of his postseason career, easily the most all-time -- only one other player has more than half as many. His career postseason strikeout rate of 40.4 percent is also the highest in MLB history (minimum 100 PA).

Roy Oswalt took his first career loss in a postseason start and the Phillies lost for the first time ever in Game 4 of the Divisional Series (3-1).

The Phillies had won each of their previous six postseason games in which they had a chance to eliminate an opponent, dating to 2008, matching the second-longest such streak in MLB history (according to Elias).

Former Cy Young award winners Chris Carpenter and Roy Halladay will square off in Game 5 Friday night. Elias tells us it’s just the third time in major-league history (the Cy Young award was introduced in 1956) that previous award winners will face one another in a winner-take-all postseason game.

Pedro Martinez was involved in each of the first two back in 2003 -- in Game 5 of the ALDS against Barry Zito and in Game 7 of the ALCS against Roger Clemens.