Ace Pitcher Brandon Webb 8-0

BY Aaron Gleeman

Brandon Webb tossed a complete-game Thursday, beating the Cardinals to become the first NL pitcher to win his first eight starts of the season since Pedro Martinez did it for the Expos in 1997. Martinez went on to finish 17-8 with a 1.90 ERA and 305 strikeouts that year on his way to the NL Cy Young, which Webb captured last season. He tired some in the ninth inning, giving up a pair of runs, but was allowed to finish the game thanks to a low pitch count and good run support.He got 18 ground-ball outs and four strikeouts, issuing zero walks while slicing his ERA to 2.41. Meanwhile, hours before he took the mound Thursday afternoon the Arizona Republic reported that Webb and the Diamondbacks have resumed long-term contract negotiations. "Yeah, some progress has been made," Webb said. "We've been talking a little bit more. We've made some headway. We'll see where it goes." He's already under the team's control through 2010.While Webb considers putting talks on hold for a while to earn a little extra cash, here are some other notes from around baseball .* If you look strictly at power numbers Carlos Pena is having a nice follow-up to his breakout 2007 season, because following his eighth long ball Thursday he's on pace for 38 homers after setting a career-high with 46 bombs. However, the rest of his offensive game has been a mess. He's struck out in 31 percent of his plate appearances, which ranks second-worst among AL hitters behind only Jack Cust and is up considerably from last season's already high 23 percent.Beyond that, Pena has 3.1 strikeouts for every walk after posting a much more palatable! 1.4-to-1 ratio (142 strikeouts, 103 walks) last season. Not ! surprisi ng given all the whiffing, Pena is batting .201 overall, has just 16 non-homer hits in 33 games, and is on pace for 35 fewer RBIs than he notched in 2007. If there's any good news, it's that Pena's batting average on balls in play is a measly .240, which is very low even for a plodding slugger.His career BABIP mark is .291, including .297 last season, which means that even if he continues to strike out in nearly one-third of his plate appearances Pena should see his batting average rise toward .240-250 going forward. He's a career .249 hitter, so asking for much more than that is likely wishful thinking, but .250-35-90 would still make him a solid value given his average draft position. The power has been there and a few more hits will begin falling soon, so stay patient.* After demoting Mark Redman to the bullpen earlier this week, the Rockies are expected to! call up Greg Reynolds from Triple-A to join the rotation Sunday. Reynolds is a 6-foot-7 right-hander who was the second overall pick in the 2006 draft, but those two facts alone vastly overstate his long-term upside. Even at the time of the draft he wasn't thought of as an especially elite prospect and he's battled shoulder problems while putting up mediocre numbers in the minors since then.His 2.98 ERA in 133 minor-league innings looks nice, but Reynolds has struck out just 80 of the 545 batters he's faced and allowed opponents to hit .331 against him in seven starts at Triple-A this year. He throws strikes and gets plenty of ground balls, which makes him a relatively good fit for Coors Field and a decent prospect, but don't expect him to develop into much more than a solid mid-rotation starter down the line and don't count on him being a fantasy asset right now.! * Justin Verlander's season-long struggles continued Thursday, as he allowed five runs on nine hits versus the Red Sox, matching his loss total from all of last year by falling to 1-6. Despite still getting knocked around, Verlander's velocity has gradually increased since he was consistently down 4-5 miles per hour early in the year and he has a 10-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio over his last two outings after posting a 20/18 mark through his first half-dozen starts. It's something, at least.* Ryan Ludwick homered twice in a losing effort Thursday, making him 9-for-14 with three homers and three doubles during the Cardinals' four-game series with the Rockies. Ludwick is up to .363 with seven homers and 21 RBIs despite getting a total of just 91 at-bats through St. Louis' first 36 games. Manager Tony La Russa has been hesitant to play Ludwick ! versus right-handers, opting instead for Chris Duncan and Skip Schumaker, but you've got to think that'll begin to change.AL Quick Hits: Richie Sexson could be facing a multi-game suspension after charging the mound Thursday and throwing his helmet as Kason Gabbard . Kevin Youkilis homered Thursday for the fifth time in five games, upping his slugging percentage by 150 points over that span . Texas designated ! Ben Broussard for assignment Thursday, signaling that Frank Catalanotto and Chris Shelton will now split time at first base . With both David Eckstein (hip) and John McDonald (ankle) placed on the disabled list Thursday, Marco Scutaro is suddenly the Blue Jays' starting shortstop . Troy Percival entered Thursday's game with a 0.00 ERA, but blew his first save of the season wwhile allowing three runs . Curtis Granderson went 0-for-4 with four strikeouts Thursday and has now fanned in 10 of his last 22 at-bats . Bartolo Colon (oblique) is scheduled to start Saturday at Triple-A . After being highlighted on this week's NBCSports.com "Fantasy Fix" show, Kevin Slowey came off the shelf Thursday and cruised through four scoreless innings before serving up a pair of homers.NL Quick Hits: A CT scan taken Thursday showed that Doug Davis' thyroid cancer didn't spread, clearing him to begin a minor-league rehab assignment . Jimmy Rollins (ankle) is scheduled to return from the! disable d list and be in the lineup Friday versus the Giants . With Paul Lo Duca (hand) expected to miss 4-6 weeks and Johnny Estrada (elbow) also heading to the DL, 23-year-old Jesus Flores is now the Nationals' starting catcher . An MRI of Rafael Soriano's injured elbow reportedly showed no structural damage, but there's no timetable yet for his return . Kyle Lohse posted a 2.54 ERA through six starts, but after getting clobbered Thursday he's allowed 15 runs over his last two outings to inflate his ERA to 4.87 . A late! addition to the lineup Thursday over Yorvit Torrealba, Chris Iannetta continued his hot hitting by driving in two runs . Unable to find a trade for Derrick Turnbow that they liked, the Brewers placed him on irrevocable waivers and may end up sending him to Triple-A . Manager Bruce Bochy said Wednesday that he's hoping to have Omar Vizquel (knee) back this weekend.