More from the Rumblings and Grumblings file:
More proof Manny Ramirez is the scariest RBI machine on earth: This weekend, the Blue Jays became the first team to hold him without an RBI for an entire series since the Red Sox opened the season in Baltimore. Before that, you have to go all the way back to last July 25-26, when the Blue Jays kept him RBI-less in a two-game series in Toronto.
So that means Ramirez had driven in a run in at least one run in 14 straight series -- and 33 of his last 34 -- before the weekend. How out of control is that?
It's been a bizarre year in Texas, all right. The Rangers just went 30 straight games without winning two in a row despite averaging nearly six runs a game. The Senators-Rangers franchise record for longest streak without winning two straight: 48 games over two seasons, from Aug. 20, 1963 to April 23, 1964.
Despite issuing his third walk of the season Friday, Mets strike machine Rick Reed still has a shot to become the first starting pitcher since Bret Saberhagen in 1994 to have more wins in a season (he's at five now) than walks (three at the moment). If you'd like to keep track at home, the three hitters Reed has walked are Dmitri Young on April 22, Ryan Klesko on May 14 and Cliff Floyd on Friday.
We still can't believe the Red Sox have lost five straight games Pedro Martinez has started against the Yankees. Since Pedro showed up, their longest losing streak against any other American League team in games he started is two games.
Elias' Randy Robles reports that back in Pedro's NL days, the Expos once lost four straight games he started against the Giants, between April 18, 1994, and May 29, 1995.
Our personal favorite home-run event of the week: Jason Giambi's homer off Jason Grimsley last Tuesday. Why? Because it was only the second home run in history by a Jason (or a Jayson) off a Jason. The other, courtesy of the Sultan of Swat Stats, David Vincent, occurred on Aug. 15, 1995, when Giambi homered off another Royal, Jason Jacome.
Now that he's thrown a no-hitter and a one-hitter in the same season, Hideo Nomo is in mind-boggling territory. The only four other pitchers to do that in the last 25 years, according to Elias: Kevin Brown in 1997, Nolan Ryan in 1990, Tom Browning in 1988 and Dennis Eckersley in 1977.
Mike Mussina became the first pitcher ever to strike out Carl Everett four times in one game Thursday. (Everett has four other four-punchout games -- but not against one pitcher.) Everett in that game: 10 swings, no contact of any kind (10 misses).
Just as we all expected, Kip Wells as many wins this month (one) as David Wells.
Let's put Barry Bonds' home-run blitzkrieg in perspective one more time: No other hitter in history has had two streaks of six straight games with a homer in his career. Bonds has two this year in back-to-back months. And in case you missed it, Bonds' last streak of singling in six games in a row was May 29-June 3, 1998.
From our How'd-That-Happen Dept.: Trevor Hoffman really did give up four runs -- on two two-run homers -- Sunday against Arizona.
It was only the second time in the last eight seasons (462 appearances) that Hoffman had served up two homers in one game. (The other: last Aug. 1, when Scott Rolen and Pat Burrell hit back-to-backers off him for the Phillies.)
It was also the first time he'd allowed four runs in an appearance since last July 16, when he gave up four against Anaheim. And it was the first time he'd done that against an NL team since June 2, 1999, when he allowed four at Wrigley Field.
Before Sunday, the Padres had been 325-4 in games they'd led after eight innings, dating back almost five years to the middle of the 1996 season. And you can sum up the main reason for that record in two words: Trevor Hoffman.
Cubs historian Ed Hartig dug up all kinds of trivia on the Cubs' back-to-back one-hitters:
Last time the Cubs even had two one-hitters in the same season: 1972, when they threw two no-hitters (Burt Hooton, on April 16 vs. Philadelphia, and Milt Pappas, on Sept. 2, vs. San Diego) and two one-hitters (Fergie Jenkins, on July 27 at Philadelphia, and Bill Hands, on Aug. 3 at Montreal).
This makes 14 Cubs one-hitters since their last no-hitter (by Pappas, 4,485 games ago).
Of those 14 one-hitters, 13 have taken place at Wrigley.
The Cubs hadn't twirled two games of one hit or none in the same month since May 1955, when Sam Jones no-hit the Pirates on May 12 and Warren Hacker one-hit the Braves on May 21.
And the only time the Cubs had ever been involved in back-to-back one-hitters of any kind was Sept. 19-20, 1911, when they were one-hit by the Phillies' Bill Burns one day, then got even with a one-hitter by Leonard (King) Cole the next day.
There are many reasons this season has gone slightly better in Philadelphia than the ones that preceded it. But here's another: This is the first season since 1997 when the Phillies got to May 25 with their projected closer not on the disabled list. (Mike Jackson never threw a pitch in 2000. Jeff Brantley had labrum surgery in 1999. And Ricky Bottalico needed elbow surgery in 1998.)
We don't know why it's tougher to get over Mount .500 than to just reach the summit. But the Tigers are living proof. Over the last six seasons, in games played when their record was exactly .500 (not counting Opening Day), they're 2-17.
Paul LoDuca had one of those rarified 6-for-6 games Monday for the Dodgers. The last catcher to go 6-for-6: Walker Cooper, for the Reds, on July 6, 1949.
And Mark McGwire's return to the lineup reminds us that on the Cardinals' next road trip, they go to Colorado. Now working for the Rockies is the active pitcher (not counting Bret Saberhagen) whom McGwire has faced more times without a homer than anyone else.
That pitcher, believe it or not, is Denny Neagle, the man who has given up more fly balls the last two years than any pitcher in baseball. But McGwire is up to 23 at-bats, zero homers against him. For now.
Jayson Stark is a Senior Writer at ESPN.com. Rumblings and Grumblings appears each Monday.
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