Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Micah Owings celebrates his game-tying homer Wednesday.

OWINGS GONE

By Mark Simon, ESPN Research

Sometimes, if you play with numbers long enough, you can create lists that are utterly fascinating. Of course, that leads to all sorts of intriguing possibilities to contemplate.

ESPN research director Jeff Bennett took a closer look at Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings' stats after Owings hit an opposite field, game-tying, pinch-hit home run in Arizona's win Wednesday over the Astros. He discovered that, when the stats were manipulated just right, they compared closely with some of baseball's all-time greats.

Granted, Owings still has a long way to go to prove himself, but perhaps the next Babe Ruth is in our midst. Owings already has five home runs, and he's been in baseball barely a year.

HIGHEST CAREER OPS
Minimum 75 plate appearances:
Babe Ruth	1.164
Ted Williams	1.116
Lou Gehrig	1.079
Barry Bonds	1.051
Micah Owings	1.044*
Albert Pujols	1.042
* .373 OBP, .671 slugging percentage

MOST HOME RUNS
Active pitchers
Pitcher	Home runs	At-bats
Mike Hampton	15	664
Carlos Zambrano	12	428
Livan Hernandez	9	789
Dontrelle Willis	8	351
Kerry Wood	7	345
Jason Schmidt	7	591
Micah Owings	5	79
John Smoltz	5	933
Greg Maddux	5	1,546

Past Baseball Tonight Clubhouses: April 29 | April 28 | April 27 | April 24 | April 23 | April 22

GREINKE ENJOYING HIS SUCCESS

By Rick Sutcliffe, ESPN

Zack Greinke has pitched in the big leagues every year since 2004 … and he's still just 24 years old. At the time, I thought the Kansas City Royals made a mistake when they first called him up four years ago -- two years after he was the sixth overall pick. At the time, Greinke had thrown just 180 innings in the minor leagues and was brought up to play for a team that wasn't really a big league team. In almost every game Greinke started, the opposing team had a better player at every position. Plus, he was trying to strike everyone out.

Greinke missed most of 2006 for personal reasons, and he lost his spot in the rotation after a slow start in 2007. He returned to the starting rotation in August and had a 1.85 ERA in his final seven starts. That strong finish carried over to this season; Greinke is 3-0, with wins against the Yankees, Tigers and Mariners. It was good to see him seek out the help he needed in his personal life. He's clearly a much different pitcher on the mound, and he's learned that he doesn't have to rely solely on a 95 mph fastball to get major league hitters out. He's throwing changeups to start off hitters and curveballs on full counts. More importantly, I see a kid who's having fun again, which is good, considering it's been less than two years since he wasn't sure if he even wanted to continue his baseball career.

NEWS AND NOTES

•  Placido Polanco hit his first and second homers of the year as the Tigers beat the Yankees and Andy Pettitte.

•  Tampa Bay (15-12) finished April with a winning record for the first time in franchise history. The Rays closed the month by winning seven of eight, including Wednesday's 8-1 win over the Orioles.