Matt Kemp's Hamstring Hates Him And Other MLBullets

The third calendar month of the season is here, and you can bet that teams hope to separate themselves clearly into contenders by the time July rolls around...

• Matt Kemp was in early stages of what could have been an historic season when his hamstring jumped up and bit him. The injury not only cost Kemp a couple weeks of play, but it also cost him his then league-leading consecutive games played streak. Kemp returned from that injury earlier this week. And now his hamstring bit him again. Kemp strained his hamstring in a slightly different place (same hamstring, though), and is now expected to be out for a month. Sources say four weeks is the best case scenario, so it could even be longer. It's always a bummer when elite players go down with an injury (OK, well maybe not "always," depending on the character of the player involved), and that's certainly true with Kemp. He could have had something special this season - something we all would have wanted to watch - but now he'll have to settle for a healthy return, and a very good, but shortened, season.

• Kemp's (re)injury wasn't the only high profile injury of late. Dustin Pedroia's ongoing thumb issue (torn muscle in his right thumb) is preventing him from swinging the bat, and the Red Sox will probably have to send him to the DL if he isn't better within a couple days. The Rockies had to place Troy Tulowitzki on the DL with a strained left groin. Nick Markakis has a broken hammate bone, and is going to be out for as much as a month after wrist surgery.
• FanGraphs doles some love out for Mike Trout, who continues to play second fiddle to Bryce Harper. Trout is on pace to have one of the best seasons ever by a 20-year-old.
• Carlos Gonzalez is getting mighty hot, and just did something that even Josh Hamilton didn't do: CarGo homered in four consecutive at bats.
• Well, it's a bummer, but it's happened: the Rockies have designated Jamie Moyer for assignment, which could mark the end of the 49-year-old's career. He was getting hit hard in every start of late, allowing a league-high 75 hits in just 53 innings. Eh, but you know what? I still wouldn't put it past Moyer catching on somewhere.
• Jerry Crasnick offers a great profile on rookie Astros GM Jeff Luhnow. I've said it before about this guy: I'm glad the Astros are moving out of the NL Central next year.

Brett Taylor is the Lead Writer at Bleacher Nation, and a Contributor here at Bleed Cubbie Blue.