Paul Konerko hit the 400th home run of his Major League career on Sunday as the White Sox swept the Indians. Factoring in Sunday's 2-for-4 showing, Konerko has raised his average to a Major League-best .399 for the season. He has a hitting streak of 13 games currently. The first baseman is hitting .565 over the last 13 games and the first baseman has 23 hits over his last 36 at-bats with five homers and 14 RBIs in the last 10 games.

The Rangers busted out of an offensive funk on Friday night against the Blue Jays thanks to Nelson Cruz. Cruz hit a grand slam and tied his career high with eight RBI as Texas scored 14 runs. Josh Hamilton also hit his 19th home run of the season. The Rangers are the top-scoring team in baseball despite averaging 3.5 runs over their previous 10 games. "You dream to have those kinds of days," said Cruz, who also had an RBI single in the sixth and went 4-for-5. "It can't happen every day. When it happens, you should be happy and enjoy it." He also drove in eight runs against Toronto on July 22, 2011.

The Yankees have struggled to score runs as of late, but they had just enough to defeat the Royals 3-2 on Tuesday night. New York rallied from an early deficit to end a three-game skid. "It wasn't that pretty, but that was a good win," Alex Rodriguez said. "It felt really good to win a game like this. Sometimes you need a game like this to kind of get you on a roll. Hopefully it's a good sign of things to come. We haven't been winning these kinds of games." The Yankees had lost six of seven to drop into a tie with the Red Sox for last place in the American League East.

The National League The Kevin Towers AZ Snake Pit: "The problem with expectations is that they have a tendency of not working out. 2012 was supposed to be the glory year for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and although anything could still happen, there are definitely fans in full meltdown mode. It's easy to see their perspective, what with so many D-backs players struggling to reach the lofty expectations placed upon them." The Frank Wren David O-Brien of Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Mike Minor enters his start tonight in Cincinnati with a 7.09 ERA that's soared in the past couple of weeks, and a lot of folks are asking how long the Braves can wait before they ship him to the minor leagues." The Jed Hoyer Steve Rosenbloom of Chicago Tribune: "[Tom] Ricketts seems to have problems dealing with the public in an honest manner. Specifically, he has trouble treating Cubs fans as adults. Maybe a Cubs fans shouldn't be the owner of the Cubs, after all. Or at least, maybe a Cubs fan shouldn't be the talking hood ornament for the riches of the Ricketts empire." The Walt Jocketty Mike Bauman of MLB.com: "Sunday, the inevitable occurred. [Aroldis] Chapman's talent and the needs of the Cincinnati Reds intersected and the 24-year-old left-hander got the ball and the save opportunity in the ninth inning against the New York Yankees." The Dan O-Dowd Patrick Saunders of Denver Post: "With the Rockies trailing the Mariners 6-4 on Sunday at Coors Field, Helton was at the plate with two on, two outs and facing a full count. Brandon League threw a fastball right down the middle and Helton swung and missed. Game over." The Michael Hill Juan C. Rodriguez of South Florida Sun-Sentinel: "Three times this season [Heath] Bell had a hand in costing [Carlos] Zambrano wins. His first two blown saves came in Zambrano starts. In another Zambrano outing, Steve Cishek was charged with the blown save, but it was Bell who created the mess. Throughout it all, Zambrano has been nothing if not even-tempered and supportive." The Jeff Luhnow Chip Bailey of Houston Chronicle: "One of my biggest struggles this year in my own mind is how to judge the quiet enigma who is managing the Astros in his third season, Brad Mills. Some might say this runs deep into my earliest religious roots "Judge not, lest ye be judged," But c'mon this is baseball blogology." The Ned Colletti Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.: "Clayton Kershaw took the mound twice last week, starting Monday against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Saturday against the St. Louis Cardinals. He pitched 16 innings and didn't allow a single run, including his fourth career shutout against St. Louis." The Doug Melvin Todd Rosiak of Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: "On the heels of his second four-strikeout game in three days, second baseman Rickie Weeks was out of the lineup Sunday in the Milwaukee Brewers' 16-4 walkover of the Minnesota Twins at Miller Park." The Sandy Alderson Mets Blog: "Jason Bay and Josh Thole are heading to Port St. Lucie to begin baseball activities, according to the team's beat reporters on Twitter. Bay will begin taking batting practice on Wednesday and will initially appear as a designated hitter during minor league rehabilitation games." The Ruben Amaro Jr. Jonathan Nisula of Phillies Nation: "The Phillies will host the Nationals tonight in the first of a three-game set, and the series is sure to be one of the more intense ones this year. This is because the Phillies and the Nationals have developed a new found rivalry this that has never been present before, because the Mets were the Phils biggest rival." The Neal Huntington Charlie Wilmoth of SB Nation: "Think about what your expectations for the 2012 Pirates were before the season started. Personally, I expected a big season from Andrew McCutchen, and a team that would, overall, be vaguely watchable, if not exactly competitive." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "I decided to take a look at the Cardinals' getaway days this season, the amount of distance traveled on the flight to the next game, and the amount of time between games in order to get an idea of the most grueling two-game combinations on the schedule. The results are after the jump." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "[Josh] Byrnes made the decision to release Orlando Hudson a week or two ago. With the acquisition of Alexi Amarista and the transition of Jedd Gyorko to AAA it felt like it was time to do it." The Brian Sabean Scott Ostler of San Francisco Chronicle: "Sunday might have been the low point of the season for the Giants, even though they left town with a 2-1 series win over the A's. The house was packed with fired-up fans, the Giants had been playing well with their new semi-stable kiddie lineup, and they gave Lincecum a 2-0 lead. He whiffed five A's in the first three innings. Hope was in the air. Then Lincecum blew up in the fourth inning, gave up four runs on four hits and two walks, and failed to back up third base on a throw from right field." The Mike Rizzo James Wagner of Washington Post: "The last time the Nationals and Phillies met, the series produced, in no particular order: two hit batters, one intentionally, warned dugouts, a fuming and fined general manager, a suspended pitcher, a broken wrist and plenty of boos." The American League The Dan Duquette Dan Connolly of Baltimore Sun: "In an early season of surprises, no one has been a more pleasant revelation or a bigger key to the Orioles' success than Jason Hammel. The big right-hander allowed two runs or fewer in his first seven starts. He didn't lose a game until April 30. Not bad for a guy that entered the season with a career 34-45 record and a 4.99 ERA." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI.com: "Jarrod Saltalamacchia embraces the demands of his position. He is that special species of baseball player known as catcher, a position that has evolved over the generations to reflect a different set of priorities than any other on the field. Success is defined more as a reflection of the performance of others than through one's own statistics, a point that the switch-hitting catcher makes clear when discussing his offense." The Kenny Williams David Haugh of Chicago Tribune: "A wind blowing out at 12 mph made it anything but shutout weather. Yet after Peavy overcame unforgiving elements to give up three measly singles in 61/3 innings in a 6-0 win over the Cubs, the Sox appear capable of making waves in the American League Central." The Chris Antonetti Mike Brandyberry of Cleveland Plain-Dealer: "[Chris] Perez spoke out about being booed by the home fans and low attendance at the ballpark. After reading the transcript of his comments on Sunday, I came to a realization; Chris Perez is just like a lot of Clevelanders." The Dave Dombrowski Tom Gage of Detroit News: "Alex Avila, how about a little roller past the mound, beyond the glove of a diving shortstop and into center field for a two-run single? What's that? Whatever works? Well, such a seventh-inning single turned out to be the winning hit for the Tigers in their 4-3 victory Sunday over the Pirates." The Dayton Moore Royals Review: "For the purposes of discussion, let's consider the 2006 season to be fully Allard Baird's team. The Royals hired [Dayton] Moore on May 31st and he didn't take over until a few weeks later. From 2002-06, Baird's last five seasons, the Royals averaged 64.2 wins. In my mind, the Royals have just been an unrelenting train of bad the last decade, but those years were rough. That's averaging 64-98, even with a random 83 win season mixed in." The Jerry DiPoto Bill Shaikin of Los Angeles Times: "With the Angels scrapping for the run that might have won Sunday's game, Manager Mike Scioscia essentially took the bat out of the hands of his hottest hitter, Mike Trout. Trout had singled twice and homered as he waited on deck in the 11th inning. The Angels had one out, Bobby Wilson on first and Ryan Langerhans at bat. Scioscia called for a sacrifice." The Terry Ryan Star Tribune: "A list of position players that have pitched for the Twins." The Brian Cashman Roderick Boone of Newsday: "The crowd rose in unison, thinking this was finally it. Alex Rodriguez had gotten a hold of one, based on the unmistakable sound that emanates from a bat when a player puts good wood on the ball. He followed its flight before moving toward first base, only to see leftfielder Chris Heisey line it up a couple of steps on to the warning track after the ball had been knocked down some by the wind." The Billy Beane Eric Branch of San Francisco Chronicle: "A day after Manny Ramirez didn't hit very well, he didn't play at all. Ramirez followed Saturday's 0-for-4, three-strikeout debut for Triple-A Sacramento by sitting out Sunday's game with a sore left wrist." The Jack Zduriencik Geoff Baker of Seattle Times: "Last week at Fenway Park, I was asked if I'd participate in a podcast for the FanGraphs website and after agreeing to, was asked on-air by writer David Laurila about why the Mariners don't draw many walks. I had no idea what questions were going to be asked, so my quick response was to mention that the team as a whole had to stop chasing pitches out of the strike zone and also learn to better punish pitchers once they came inside the zone." The Andrew Friedman Martin Fennelly of Tampa Tribune: "The way it is going right now, the ball is hitting Carlos Pena more than he is hitting the ball. That was Sunday afternoon all over. Pena went 0-for-3, but in the space of about one minute in the eighth inning, he was hit by a pitch and then struck by Luke Scott's rocket grounder, ending the inning and killing off a possible bases-loaded game-tying hit." The Jon Daniels Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News: "Per a press release: "Pitcher Michael Kirkman was diagnosed in January with a form of skin cancer during an examination that took place in Gainesville, FL, which is near his off-season home in Lake City, FL. He is currently undergoing regular treatment in Round Rock and is being continually monitored by his doctors in both Florida and Texas. He is allowed to participate in full baseball activity while undergoing the treatment, and the prognosis is for a full recovery.'" The Alex Anthopoulos Grant Brisbee of SB Nation: "Blue Jays pitcher Jesse Litsch was supposed to miss a week after an injection this spring, but now he's worried about his career."

Max Scherzer struck out 15 batters over seven innings as the Tigers defeated the Pirates 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. The right-hander's 15 strikeouts were the most by a Detroit pitcher in 40 years and they were the most by a Major League pitcher this year. "Even when I've struggled, I've always believed the next time I go out there that I'm going to have a great start, no matter what," Scherzer said. "That's always been my belief ever since I've been in the big leagues, and today was no different."

Andy Pettitte tossed eight shutout innings against the Reds on Friday night to earn his first Major League victory since 2010. "Big league W's are precious," Pettitte said. "It's a good feeling any time you get a win. It's what we're playing for, to win games and help this team to win. I didn't come back not to help us win. I just feel like I'm doing my job, really." Pettitte allowed just four singles to the Cincinnati lineup, striking out nine and walking one in a 115-pitch masterpiece to earn his first victory since July 8, 2010 against the Mariners. "Nobody wants to be out there more than he does right now," said catcher Chris Stewart. "He had a pretty long break to think about it; all these emotions are going through his head. To go out there and do what he did tonight is outstanding."

Roy Halladay threw eight innings for the Phillies on Thursday night to earn his first win in a month. Philadelphia held on to beat Chicago 8-7 at Wrigley Field. Halladay hadn't won since April 16. The Phillies have won five straight and six of seven and are over .500 for the first time since their Opening Day win. The right-hander had lost three straight decisions to match a career high, but held the Cubs to three runs and scattered seven hits. "To put together five games and get ourselves at or above (.500) is important," said Halladay. "I think sometimes when you start thinking about it too much, it's hard to put together a run like that. So now that we have it out of the way we can get to a point where we're not worrying about it."

The Yankees beat the Mariners 6-2 on Saturday afternoon as Phil Hughes won consecutive starts for the first time this season. "He did a good job," manager Joe Girardi said of Hughes. "We're going to need innings out of our rotation." Andy Pettitte is making his return to New York's rotation on Sunday, but the team's starting pitchers appear to have righted themselves. Over the five games of this homestand, Yankees starters are 4-0 with a 1.31 ERA, 27 strikeouts and 11 walks. "It's been a process overall to get myself right," Hughes said. "As far as a turning point, it's hard to get worse than the beginning of the year." Hughes allowed six hits and a run in 7 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and a walk against Seattle.

Josh Hamilton hit his 18th home run of the season on Saturday afternoon against the Angels. Los Angeles defeated Texas 4-2 at Rangers Ballpark. Hamilton has hit nine home runs in his last six games, including a four-homer game this week. He leads the majors with a .402 batting average and 41 RBIs.

On Friday night, Jesus Montero returned to Yankee Stadium for the first time since New York dealt him to Seattle in January. In the sixth inning, he homered to right field. Montero's homer marked the third straight season that a former Yankee homered in his first game against them after leaving the team. Johnny Damon did it in 2010. Melky Cabrera did it in 2011.