ANALYZING MLB’S APRIL

It’s been a wacky first month

From the Amazin’ Mets to the Yankees’ A-Rod smacking homers, it’s been a wacky first month in the majors.

The Astros are surprise division leaders, while the defending champion Giants and underachieving Nationals are last. The Brewers — not the Phillies or Twins — have the worst record.

A former MVP already has been traded. Star pitchers got hurt at the plate. And those pesky pace-of-play rules really did cut down average time of games.

All this before the Baltimore Orioles hosted the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday in what is believed to be the first game closed to the public in the 145-year history of the major leagues.

Here’s a look at some of the most interesting things around baseball in April:

SIMPLY AMAZIN’

The Mets tied a franchise record with 11 straight wins and equaled the best start (13-3) in club history by the 1986 team, which won the World Series. Matt Harvey (4-0) is back to all-star form after Tommy John surgery and 41-year-old Bartolo Colon goes for 5-0 Wednesday night in Miami. New York has done most of its winning with David Wright on the disabled list and Daniel Murphy struggling at the plate. Alex Rodriguez certainly didn’t lose his swing during his year in exile. Rodriguez hit his way up in New York’s batting order from seventh to the three hole and is on pace for 35 homers and 100 RBIs. He’s one homer away from tying Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time list with 660. But will the Yankees celebrate the milestone and pay him a $6 million US bonus for doing it?

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A WINNER

The Astros finally broke a streak of three straight 100-loss seasons by going 70-92 last year. Now, they’re off to a 13-7 start that has most observers shaking their heads in wonder.

“If people are surprised that’s great, but that is now how we think in the clubhouse,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “I try to get the guys to not think about any of that stuff. We’re playing good baseball and we haven’t played our best yet.”

BREW CREW BLUES

Milwaukee is off to a 4-17 start, the worst by an NL team since the Cubs did the same in 1997. The Brewers have lost each of their seven series and haven’t won consecutive games yet. They’re tied for the second-worst batting average and have the fourth-worst ERA.

JOSH’S JOURNEY

After a self-reported relapse involving cocaine and alcohol use, Josh Hamilton was dumped by the Los Angeles Angels. The 2010 AL MVP returns to the Texas Rangers, where he resurrected his career the first time around and became a perennial all-Star who earned a $125-million US deal from the Angels.

“It’s been tough the past 11 weeks or so, not knowing what’s going to happen, where I was going to be, and everything that was transpiring was tough,” Hamilton said.

DH TO THE RESCUE

Cardinals ace Adam Wainwright tore his left Achilles while batting and will miss the rest of the season. Nationals ace Max Scherzer will miss at least one start after injuring his thumb while batting. Both injuries fueled the long-time debate over bringing the designated hitter to the NL.

WATCH THE CLOCK

The incorporation of pace-of-play rules cut NL games by 10 minutes and AL games are down eight minutes.

Players who don’t adhere to the new rules can be fined starting May 1, which means the threat could trim game times even a couple more minutes.