I know it feels like the 2021 MLB season is just getting underway, but we're now closer to the trade deadline (eight weeks and two days) than we are Opening Day (eight weeks and six days). That happened fast, huh? The All-Star break is only six weeks away. Our weekly series examining various trends acro s the league continues with a look at a slugger turning his season around, an aging pitcher at the top of his game, and one bullpen's terrible month. . BOS LF #22 first season with the did not go according to plan. He tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after summer camp opened, then suffered a Nick Holden Men Jersey broken hamate bone in his right hand in August. It sidelined him about a month. In 31 games around the virus and hand injury, Pham authored a meager .211/.312/.312 batting line with three home runs. Things did not get better in the offseason. , though no organs were damaged. He also had surgery to repair cartilage damage in his left wrist at some point over the winter. Those five months from July through November took a toll on Pham. Early on this season, all the injuries and health problems appeared to hamper Pham at the plate. He hit .179/.209/.194 in April and did not have his first multi-hit game of the year until May 2. On the morning of May 21, Pham was sitting on .182/.313/.218 batting line, and a .191/.313/.265 batting line in 259 plate appearances as a Padre. He'd been one of the worst hitters in baseball. The tide is beginning to turn, however. Pham went 2 for 3 with a triple on May 21, and three days later he slugged a home run against lefty . With a 108-mph exit velocity, it was Pham's hardest hit fly ball since Aug. 2019, and at 430 feet, it was his longest home run since July 2020. After going deep Tuesday, Pham is now 15 for 47 (.319) with a double, two triples, three home runs, and nearly as many walks (11) as strikeouts (14) in his last 12 games. At one point he strung together four consecutive multi-hit games after having only four multi-hit games in his previous 69 regular season contests dating back to last season. "His at-bats have been a lot better," Padres manager Jayce Tingler told reporters, , this past weekend. "He's getting on base. Now there's a combination -- he's getting on base with a great eye, and he's starting to slug a Maxime Lagace Kids Jersey little bit. So I think that's a really good combination." Pham is only in the early stages of turning his season around. His expected batting average, which Statcast calculates using quality of contact measures like exit velocity and launch angle, sits at .254. His expected slugging percentage is .450. Here are the largest gaps between actual slugging percentage and expected slugging percentage going into Tuesday (min. 150 plate appearances): , : .154 (.333 SLG vs. .487 xSLG)Tommy Pham, Padres: .132 (.318 SLG vs. .450 xSLG) , : . Oscar Dansk Kids Jersey 131 (.314 SLG vs. .445 xSLG) , : .128 (.387 SLG vs. .515 xSLG) , : .124 (.302 SLG vs. .426 xSLG)More than anything, Pham looks like a player who is starting to get healthy after a rough year. He had COVID, surgery on both hands/wrists, and had a near-death experience off the field. This is a player who hit .284/.381/.475 in over 1,700 plate appearances from 2017-19. When healthy, Pham is a very good hitter, and he's starting to get back to being that guy as he gets further away from his physical i sues. "If you continue to work hard and you stay focused on the proce s, you start seeing some results," Pham recently told reporters, . "... You really just have to work on a month-by-month basis and evaluate yourself from there. To have a great season it takes two good months and four average months. I had a terrible month. I need to have three good months this year and two average months to make up for it." BOS SP #44 On Monday, left-hander stymied an admittedly weak offense, holding them to three singles and two walks in five shutout innings. That came six days after Hill struck out a career-high 13 batters in eight innings against the Royals. In his last seven starts, Hill has allowed zero runs four times, one run twice, and two runs once. "Limiting runs, a lot," Rays manager Kevin Cash told reporters, , when asked about Hill's season on Monday. "He's feeling really good on the mound right now. Pitchers go through stretches where everything lines up for them. All the pitches are working and are kind of at the top of his game. Right now, he's featuring his best weapons of the season so far, and he's been able to string it together." In six starts in May, the 41-year-old Hill pitched to a 0.78 ERA and held opponents to a Shea Theodore Men Jersey .145/.242/.214 batting line. Here are the best individual months (by ERA) among 40-somethings since earned runs became an official stat in 1913 (min. 25 innings): Eppa Rixey, age 41: 0.60 ERA (Aug. 1932 with )Johnny Niggeling, age 42: 0.64 ERA (May 1946 with Senators)Rich Hill, age 41: 0.78 ERA (May 2021 with Rays)Johnny Niggeling, age 40: 0.79 ERA (Sept. 1943 with Senators)Kenny Rogers, age 40: 0.98 ERA (May 2005 with )Furthermore, Hill is the first pitcher age 41-plus to lead his league in ERA in a calendar month since Roger Clemens in May 2005. Hall of Famers Satchel Paige, Hoyt Wilhelm, and Nolan Ryan (twice) are the only other pitchers who have done it. It's not often a pitcher Hill's age is this effective, even for just a one-month stretch. Since reviving his career in 2015, Hill has never not been excellent when on the mound. The only question is health. He averaged 109.3 innings per year from 2016-19, and he's already thrown nearly as many innings this season (57) as he did in 2019 (58 2/3). Health Brayden McNabb Kids Jersey is a concern, and fatigue could become a factor as well. (Hill threw 38 2/3 innings during the 60-game 2020 season). History suggests Hill, who has battled blister problems (among other things), will spend time on the injured list at some point. The Rays knew that when they signed him to a one-year deal worth $2.5 million. They will happily take elite performance from him for as long as po sible before figuring out how to cover the rest of the innings, and to date, it's working wonderfully. "I think that's been proven over my career," . "That's what I say, keep working and continue to put in the time and the effort, and good things happen." At 15-12, the had one of the six best records in the American League in May, and they did it despite a bullpen that can generously be described as deficient. The bullpen surrendered 70 runs (only 53 earned because of the extra innings auto-runner) in 93 innings in May, and allowed a .253/.353/.429 opponent's batting line. That ain't good. " was outstanding," Astros manager Dusty Baker told reporters, , after Greinke threw eight innings this past Sunday. "... We badly needed this to give the bullpen a rest because we didn't have l