Going free-form this time, starting with Sunday:

Miami’s 7-game skid is the first more than four this year. Chase Utley’s game-winning homer raised his BA to .500, with a hit in all 10 games played. He had a 35-gamer back in 2006; the longest in one season since 1987 is 36 by his DP mate Jimmy Rollins, whose HR won the game Saturday.

And another Velveeta (search below for definition), this one by Will Smith. Kyle Lohse was one out from this year’s second complete game, but he gave up a hit with pitch #100 and was pulled.

__________

Milwaukee’s 9-win skein is the only one longer than four this year, but we know Brewers fans will stay calm. They saw a 9-win streak last April, after a 2-8 start, but then came an 8-25 stretch. And while their 10-2 start is their best since 13-0 in 1987, that team lost 12 straight in May and was under .500 by the All-Star break.

__________

First 4-walk game for Jay Bruce, who also doubled, and scored 4 times. One walk to Bruce was intentional, and Chris Heisey followed with a pinch-slam, his first granny. Someday I’ll put in the grunt work to study base-filling IBBs. I’m not questioning the wisdom of this one, per se (although it came with first-and-third), but I’m not a big fan of the ploy in general.

__________

Mark Buehrle is 3-0, parsing out 2 runs over 21 IP. The other time he won his first three starts was 2002, finishing with a career-high 19 wins. On the dark side, Ubaldo is 0-3 with a 2.06 WHIP.

Jose Bautista has 9 hits, 5 HRs (Josh Stinson won’t even look after serving this meatball), and 16 walks.

Brett Lawrie can pick it & peg it. (And is it just me, or is Buehrle starting to look like David Wells on the mound?)

__________

San Diego kept Max Scherzer winless and made him use 104 pitches to get through 5 innings. Jedd Gyorko hit his first HR (after 23 last year), Will Venable had a tie-breaking double for his first two RBI, and Tyson Ross was strong over 7 for his first win.

This seems odd: Victor Martinez caught the whole game, but the Pads didn’t attempt a steal.

Miggy has 4 RBI in 19 career Petco games. He’s hit .233 there, with his worst OPS in any park. He’s hitting .225 through 10 games, but whatever; he was at .222 after 10 in 2012, and wound up OK.

__________

Aaron Harang’s allowed 2 runs in 3 starts, and someone finally got to Gio Gonzalez. No shock in who did it; Gio’s now 2-7, 5.31 in 10 starts against Atlanta. Nats have lost his last 7 starts to the Braves, scoring 7 total runs.

Washington made 3 more errors, for 4 unearned runs.

Freddie Freeman ran his hit streak to 9. Andrelton Simmons hit 5th for the first time, perhaps because of good numbers on Gio, and justified it with a triple and homer.

__________

The Angels took B.P. off B.C. and the Mets’ b.p., setting this year’s game highs with 11 XBH (by 8 different players) and 40 total bases — 5 HRs, 4 doubles, 2 triples, 8 singles, 6 walks, 3 wild pitches (two scoring). Mets lefties Scott Rice and John Lannan now have a combined 14.84 ERA (11 ER in 6.2 IP).

It’s early, but I’m feeling a Jason Bay breeze from Curtis Granderson.

__________

From 1994-2010, there were nine 1-0 games in Rangers Ballpark. Then three in 2012, three last year, and now two in one weekend. Martin Perez lasted 8 IP for the second time ever; Brett Oberholtzer’s your hard-luck loser, falling to 0-3.

Dropkick Murphys? I’m sorry, but this is confusing for me: All three active Murphys start with “D.” Texas dispatched OF David to Cleveland, but now they have Donnie backing up 2B, turning two of their four DPs today. I’m glad neither team faces the Mets and their 2B, Daniel.

__________

Michael Wacha allowed 3 runs for just the third time in 12 regular-season starts, but his mates had his back.

Matt Carpenter’s at .295 with a .411 OBP, but just one extra-base hit. He had 73 last year, the most for a middle infielder.

__________

You can’t stop Huddy, who still hasn’t walked a man this year. Yes, I was testing my kibosh powers there (see “Shore Leave” note below), knowing Hudson wasn’t done after 6 IP. Sure enough, he blew the 4-1 lead. Sorry, Giants fans, for the irresponsible experiment.

But Brandon Crawford made it all right in the end, cranking Rex Brothers’s second pitch over the RF wall in the 10th. Their 9th ended with Gregor Blanco’s bid for an inside-the-park walk-off; teammate Angel Pagan did that last May, the only one since 2004. (Helluva relay by DJ LeMahieu, after RF Michael Cuddyer first fell down, then muffed the pickup.)

__________

Dan Haren’s looking like $10 million well spent. And as soon as I typed that, he gave up 3 runs. I’m on fire! But not like Adrian Gonzalez.

__________

Minny’s come-from-behind 8th-inning rally: Three walks and a pitcher’s error. Head-scratching description of the 2-run-scoring play: “C Herrmann grounded into fielder’s choice to third, P Florimon and B Dozier scored on error by pitcher W Davis, T Plouffe safe at second on error by pitcher W Davis.” F.C. to third, how does the pitcher get involved?

KC had gone ahead in the top half with 3 runs, fueled by a bungled bunt. But they’re now 0-5 on the road.

__________

Reclamation duel: Chris Young went 6 scoreless in his first start since 2012; Scott Kazmir matched that, and whiffed 9 with no walks, 2 singles. Both made 30+ starts in 2007, not since.

Yoenis Cespedes settled it with a 2-run drive in the 8th, after Charlie Furbush walked the leadoff man.

Oakland has a 2.17 ERA through 12 games (1.95 by their starters), but this was their first shutout.

__________

Saturday

You’ll laugh, but … over the offseason, I actually forgot I possessed this telekinetic/anti-“Shore Leave” superpower. When I saw Raul Ibanez step in as the tying run against Papa Grande, I naturally flashed back to this Tigers trauma. And while the thought might have gone unpunished, I had to open my big online mouth. Pressed “Submit”; and before it was even posted, I was crushed. (I say anti-“Shore Leave” because it makes things I don’t want to happen, come true.)

That was Raul’s 2,000th hit, 1,785 of them after his 30th birthday. He’s in the top 20 for hits starting in seasonal age 30, and many other counting stats.

So I got bonus baseball. And one fun thing about watching a long extra-inning game: When the crowd thins out, you can clearly hear each individual heckler. “Hey, Murphy! I don’t like you, Murphy! Get out of baseball!” I guess that’ll teach him to take paternity leave.

The “one that got away” from Mike Trout was the game’s biggest play before Ibanez. My favorite Met, Juan Lagares, busted from first on the 2-out full count and scored lead run on that single. Not a good night for the Meteor, with his first GDP of the year.

Ex-Met Colin Cowgill was a real thorn in our side. I commend Eric Young for challenging him; Cowgill had to make a perfect throw, and he did.

But it’s sad to see Albert these days. His movement doesn’t seem much better than last year. He has some home runs, and had an RBI hit in this game; but I didn’t feel scared the other two times he was up with a man on, nor even when he had a shot to end it in the 11th (all infield outs). Pujols led the majors with 10 game-ending blasts from 2003-11, but he has none since joining the Angels.

__________

Justin Verlander came in hitless in 26 career trips, 15 Ks and no walks. But he looked hitterish last night — made contact all three times, notched his first and second hits, and scored his first big-league run. Win #138 brings J.V. within two of Wild Bill Donovan, 8th on the franchise list, and not a bad bat himself. (1907: 25-4, 2.19 on the hill; .266, 19 RBI, 20 runs at the dish.)

__________

Astros blew a 9th-inning lead, but still snapped their 9-game losing streak in Arlington. Now to break their 9-series skid there, dating to 2006.

You know the Rangers are hurting when you see Kevin Kouzmanoff batting 5th. Or maybe Wash just doesn’t like to change his order; “you fill in for a star, you bat in his place.”

__________

Rockies won 1-zip in San Fran. That’s happened just once before: September ’98, Pedro Astacio improving to 12-14 with a 6.30 ERA. Those were the days…. (Not.)

90th career loss for Matt Cain, and #42 with 1 run or less scored by the Giants. Just the 6th time he gave up one and lost; four of the other five were in 2007.

__________

Watching Giancarlo’s second shot of the night, I hear my brother’s rendition of Hawk Harrelson: “Thayt bawl was scawlded!” The first one was merely bludgeoned.

__________

And we have a Velveeta, the cheesiest cheese-save of all! Kenley Jansen gets one out with one on and a 3-run lead — yup, that’s a save, kiddies! And the lowest WPA in a save yet this year.

AZ had 5 pitchers in the #1 spot in the order, tying a known record for 9-inning games.

__________

Toronto was the last team without a one-run game, but the O’s took care of that.

Chris Davis is 6 homers behind last year’s pace. His longest drought last year was 10 games; he’s 0 for 12 so far. (Written before Sunday’s shot.)

__________

Counting postseason, Sonny Gray now has 5 scoreless starts in 15 outings, and 10 quality starts.

Seattle scored in the 1st on a 3rd-and-1st grounder for the first out. From there, they had 9 at-bats with a man in scoring position, and only advanced one runner — from 2nd to 3rd on a groundout.

Justin Smoak has struck out in all 10 games he’s played so far, the longest by a Mariner from the actual start of a season. (Two others went longer after 2nd-half call-ups.)

I’m on a mission: We must call this guy “Sergio,” and we must have this music when he comes in.

__________

The Braves’ and Nats’ cleanup men both went 0-5 with 4 Ks; first time ever in regulation. Two other games with no hits and 4 Ks by both 4th batters, each one featuring Ray Lankford.

Washington made 3 errors, went 1-16 with RISP, and had runners picked off 2nd base in the 4th and 5th innings when they trailed by 3 runs. Second guy raised the ante by breaking his thumb. (“The thumb, the thumb! … always the thumb!“)

__________

Yankees’ sixth 5-HR game since The Stadium III opened in 2009, and third against Boston; did that just twice to their rivals in 84 years at the old park. First of those was the last career start by George Pipgras — one of the many good pitchers whom the Yanks got for a song from the Sawx in that era, milked dry, and returned.

__________

Junior Lake lambasted the first pitch, but it was all Cardinals from there. Six for 17 with RISP raised that mark over the Mendoza Line at last.

Carlos Villanueva is the 7th searchable Cub to yield at least 9 ER in a start lasting 3 IP or less. Just one guy raised the volume from there, all the way to 11.

Randy Choate’s third straight outing of a full inning. He hasn’t made it to four straight since 2002.

__________

David Murphy has two 4-RBI games in 8 starts for Cleveland, after one in his last 223 games with Texas. Though he hits in the bottom third, almost half Murphy’s PAs so far have come with men on, thanks to Cleveland’s patient middle. They were 2nd last year in RBI from the bottom third.

__________

Facing Minnesota, James Shields now has 2 straight games charged with 7 runs and committing an error. This time, the bobble came in haste from trying to make a play at third on a bunt. (See 0:41 here.) Seems like a lot of over-aggressive bad moves on sac bunts so far. He did have the play, if he fielded it cleanly and threw well, but the angle makes it a challenge for a righty, and the situation says take the easy out: Down 1-0, 2nd inning, #8-9 men due up. The general difference in expected runs between 1st-and-2nd with 1 out, and 2nd-and-3rd with 1 out, is about half a run; between the latter and bags full/no outs, a full run. Shields walked the next man, perhaps flustered, and the inning unraveled for six runs.

__________

Nineteen total hits in two games between the Rays & Reds. First time since 2006 that a Reds visitor won back-to-back with 2 runs or less.

__________

Scrambled leftovers from Friday

Through Thursday, the highest Game Score was 86 by Mark Buehrle. Then we got 88 from Yu Darvish, and 94 by Andrew Cashner, the latter’s 1-hitter just edging out the one he threw last September.

The righty Cashner joined the southpaws Bruce Hurst and Randy Jones with two 1-hitters for the Padres. A Mets fan must apologize for pointing out what every Friar fan knows too well: The Pads are the only team without a no-hitter since their 1969 inception. Only the Cubs and Yanks have not had an individual no-hitter against them in that time. The last two against Chicago were in 1965, by Sandy Koufax and Jim Maloney, each one noteworthy, and both within a 3-week span. Last against the Yanks was (of course) by Hoyt Wilhelm, 1958; there was also a team effort in 2003 by Houston.

__________

Twelve shutout innings is a record for Rangers Ballpark. Now in its 21st year, the park has hosted just one other shutout that went extra innings.

Nine Ks in 8 innings was well under Yu’s prior average against Houston. You may recall this Darvish gem from last April, or this one from August.

Was that really Kevin Kouzmanoff igniting Texas’s winning rally? He hadn’t crossed home plate in the majors since 2011.

__________

Just 20 innings into his year’s work, the Cubs finally scored a run for Jeff Samardzija, even rallied to give him a lead. But Jose Veras blew it, letting in 2 runs with just one hit.

Before Wellington Castillo’s game-breaking 3-run shot, Ryan Kalish tried to squeeze in the run. He popped out.

__________

Speaking of run support, Johnny Cueto has three straight high-quality starts (my definition: 7+ IP, 2 runs or less) — and the Reds have lost all three, totaling 4 runs on 13 hits.

__________

Jose Fernandez’s road rates aren’t bad at all, but they’re still quite different from his home work. He hasn’t lost yet in 17 home starts — 11-0, 1.14 ERA, .453 OPS. On the road, he’s 3-7, 4.00 and .640 in 13 games.

__________

With his 408th HR, Alfonso Soriano stands alone at #50 all-time … and #23 since 1990.

__________

Fastest to a second multi-HR game:

• 7th career game — Mark Quinn (1999, age 25)
• 9th career game — Dino Restelli (1949, age 24)
• 10th career game — Jose Abreu (2014, age 27)
• 12th career game — J.D. Drew (1998, age 22) and J.P. Arencibia (2011, age 25, 2nd season)

__________

In 2013, base hits that stayed in the park outnumbered strikeouts by a margin of 728. Through Saturday, this year projects a deficit of about 3,000.

But I’m cheating. April is not a representative month; there’s a reason for the cliche that “the pitchers are ahead of the hitters.” Last year’s margin in this made-up stat was -118 for April, +846 for the other months. Even so, this year’s margin through about 2 weeks is -211. In fact, there have been only 3% more total hits than strikeouts so far; last April saw 11% more hits.

__________

Finally … Belated Happy 50th to Bret Saberhagen. He never did pitch on his birthday, April 11, but he tossed gems the day before nos. 23 and 25. (And here’s a Sabes start that Mets fans might recall — finished (not well) by Wally Whitehurst, who was born on the very same day.) Meanwhile, Mark Teixeira marked his 34th in the same place he went last year…. Also born April 11, two notable BoSox backstops: Jason Varitek, their all-time leader in games caught; and of course, Ossee Schrecongost — their first-ever regular; a survivor of that baseball Titanic, the 1899 Cleveland Spiders; and the only man ever traded for Candy LaChance.