A Fond Farewell To April

April's in the books and so is D.J. LeMahieu's .406 batting average. No one can take either away from us. Check out what else April gifted us:

Rookie Blue Jay keystoner Devon Travis has ripped half a dozen home runs already, the same number he hit in 2013 for the West Michigan Whitecaps of the A-ball Midwest League. Travis, a Florida State product, rocks a .359 TAv in April.

Sophomore starter Nick Martinez of Texas has allowed just one earned run in 26 April innings. His 0.35 ERA is 11.9 times better than league average. But with 8 walks and 11 strikeouts in 26 innings, watch out for May.

Conversely, Citi Field's round moundsman, Bartolo Colon, has issued a single walk and authored 25 strikeouts. That's the formula for remaining in the Majors at age 42. 

At 14-7 and leading the AL West, the Astros have matched the win total compiled by the 2013 team in its 47th game., That squad was 14-33 en route to 111 losses. The best starter's ERA that year, by far, was Bud Norris's 3.93. With an 0.73 ERA in 37 innings, Dallas Keuchel would have to surrender 30 runs in his next 37 frames to reach that number -- the best Houston had that year.

There were a lot of questions about Nelson Cruz moving to the offense-killer in Seattle, about Hanley Ramirez signing with Boston where he'd have to learn a new defensive position and about Josh Donaldson leaving the magic of Oakland for Toronto. Donaldson leads the AL in runs scored. Cruz and Ramirez pace the majors in home runs and rank first and third in slugging.

As usual, Joe Mauer is batting .300. He's also so far failed to reach the seats in 2015, something he hasn't done much of late. In fact, Mauer popped 28 longballs in his MVP season of 2009, the same number he's recorded in all of 2011, all of 2012, all of 2013, all of 2014 and 21 games of 2015, combined. In his 12 seasons, that 28 has accounted for more than a quarter of his lifetime jacks.

Chris Davis is bouncing back from his dismal 2014 with above average on base and slugging lines and five home runs. He's also on pace to fan 247 times.

Stephen Drew has also bounced back from his disastrous 2014 when he batted .162. This year he's up to .177.

Clayton Kershaw and Madison Bumgarner have identical 3.73 ERAs in April. Kershaw leads the league in strikeouts but MadBum got the win in their head-to-head matchup.

Remember that vaunted Nationals rotation that seemed to be gilding the lily when it added Max Scherzer this season? Scherzer has been great, but Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann and Gio Gonzalez each sports an ERA of 4.88 or above. A league-leading 24 team errors can't be helping.

A 22-year-old outfielder leads the NL in walks, is fifth in runs scored and seventh in home runs. Great rookie year? Ha! He'd already walked 155 times and scored 210 runs in his career, that Bryce Harper.

Should be even more fun in May!