A late bulletin from the corner of First Time for Everything and the Boulevard of Broken Streaks....

-- Jacoby Ellsbury had never hit a game-ending HR. Joe Smith had not allowed a HR since last August 6, a span of 67 games and 57.2 IP. Both streaks died with 2 out in the 9th on Ellsbury's 18th HR.

• Ellsbury never had a game-ending RBI before Tuesday; now he has 2 in a row. He also has 50 extra-base hits, and is 16 for 35 (.457) in the 9th inning this year.
• It was just the 2nd time in his last 29 appearances that Smith was charged with a run. The RHP had held lefties to just 4 for 44 this year before Ellsbury's blow. 
• Boston leads the majors in most measures of production from the leadoff spot -- Runs, RBI, OPS+.

-- Casey McGehee had no HRs in his previous 81 PAs, and just 5 HRs in 425 PAs all year; then he stroked 3 in 4 ABs off Edwin Jackson.

• Rafael Furcal also snapped a 105-PA homerless streak with his 2nd of the year.
• Milwaukee is 41-15 at home (.732), 21-35 away (.375), a W% difference of .357. Among postseason teams, the biggest home/away split I know of was .333 by the '87 Twins, who went 56-25 (.691) at home and 29-52 (.358) away. The Brewers are on a 59-win pace at home. Since 1979, only the '98 Yankees (62) had at least 59 home wins.

-- Delmon Young snapped a 33-game, 127-PA HR drought by swatting a pair off Joel Pineiro.

• Minnesota rallied to beat the Angels and keep them from grabbing a share of 1st place.
• Anthony Swarzak (5 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs) notched the longest relief win in the AL this year. The last AL relief win longer than 5 IP was in 2007, by (would you believe it, Yankee fans?) Kei Igawa against the Red Sox -- the best game of his Yankee career.

-- Koji Uehara's 16-IP scoreless streak ended on a HR (naturally) by Ryan Raburn. Uehara has allowed 4 runs in his last 30 IP, all on solo HRs.

• Doug Fister can buy a win, after all.
• Detroit's division lead grew to 4 games.
• Since returning from the DL on July 4, Mike Napoli is 30 for 69 with 7 HRs and an .855 slugging average. He's slugging .615 for the season, with 17 HRs in 205ABs ... and it's not a park effect.
• The Rangers are 5-9 since their 12-game win streak, and needed Minnesota's help to keep their division lead.

-- Brad Lidge earned his first save of the year.

• Roy Halladay topped his personal best with his 33rd straight start of 2 walks or less (including the postseason). The last time he walked 3 or more was August 20, 2010, while tossing 7 scoreless IP in a 1-0 win.
• RBI are overrated, but I'll still mention that since 2006, Ryan Howard leads the majors by 97 RBI over Albert Pujols, and has grounded into half as many DPs as His Phatness.

-- Staked to a 13-1 lead after 3 innings, A.J. Burnett did not survive the 5th, allowing 7 runs on a career-high 13 hits.

• Stubbornly out of step with our "first time for everything" theme, Burnett remained winless in August as a Yankee; in 12 starts, he's 0-8 with a 7.28 ERA since 2009.
• Eric Chavez had his first HR in more than a year, and his first 4-RBI game since 2007.
• Curtis Granderson had 5 RBI and has 84 for the season. He leads the AL with 55 extra-base hits, and leads MLB with 98 runs scored, 16 more than the #2 man (Ellsbury).
• The Yankees are 16-7 since Alex Rodriguez went out of the lineup.

-- Craig Kimbrel earned his 32nd save and lowered his ERA to 2.00 -- the worst of the 4 Atlanta relievers who worked in this game. Jonny Venters is at 1.26 in 64 IP; Eric O'Flaherty is at 0.89 in 51 IP; and Anthony Varvaro has not allowed a run in 4.2 IP, with 10 Ks and 1 hit in 20 batters faced.

• Kimbrel, Venters and O'Flaherty have each allowed just 1 HR in 50+ IP. Atlanta has the best relief ERA in the NL (park-adjusted) -- and it's a good thing for them, since they've also hurled the most innings.

-- Ryan Vogelsong helped the Giants regain sole possession of 1st place. His All-Star nod was questionable, but he's backed it up by going 3-0, 2.28 in 4 starts since the break. He has allowed more than 3 ER just once in 18 starts this year. He's now 9-1, 2.19, and his only loss was a 1-0 game.

-- Is Ben Zobrist the most underrated player in the game today?

• Did you know that he's 5th in the AL in OPS+ and WAR/position players, and 2nd in extra-base hits?
• Or that he's never been charged with an error in 229 OF games?
• Or that, since 2009, he ranks 2nd among all second basemen with a 130 OPS+, trailing only Chase Utley (133), tied with Robinson Cano and well ahead of Dustin Pedroia (124)? (min. 1,000 PAs)

-- The 4th quality start in 5 tries by Dontrelle Willis went to waste -- along with his first HR since 2007 -- as Cincy's bullpen allowed 3 runs in the last 2 innings to Houston's ragtag lineup. The Reds lost 2 of 3 to the woeful Astros and fell 7.5 games out in the division.

• Willis walked 1 in 6 IP, and the only 2 runs he allowed came on a 1st-inning HR. At the plate, he's 5 for 10 with a HR and a double this year. But he's still looking for his first win with the Reds.

-- Greg Holland closed out KC's win with 3 Ks in 1.2 scoreless IP, giving him 47 Ks in 36 IP, with 10 walks and a 1.50 ERA.

• Despite an off year by Joakim Soria, the Royals have had an effective bullpen, ranking 7th in the AL in relief ERA, thanks largely to Holland and a pair of 1st-year pitchers, Aaron Crow and Louis Coleman, who also have sub-2 ERAs and excellent peripherals. And the KC offense is 6th in scoring. Now, all they need is a rotation....
• Nice debut by KC catcher Manuel Pina: 2 for 4 with a double, and threw out the only runner to attempt a steal.

-- The Mariners used 14 singles (no XBH) to beat the A's, 7-4.

• Four relievers came between them, but you've still gotta like the win-save tandem of Furbush-League.

-- The Pirates and Cubs combined to go 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position. The game's only run came on an 8th-inning leadoff HR by Starlin Castro.

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