Baseball rules the winner. This is known as a walk-off. The basic contest is always between the "pitcher" for the fielding team, and a "batter". The pitcher throws—"pitches"—the ball towards home plate, where the "catcher" for the fielding team waits (in a crouched stance) to receive it. Behind the catcher stands the home plate umpire. The batter stands in one of the batter's boxes and tries to hit the ball with a bat. The pitcher must keep one foot in contact with the top or front of the pitcher's rubber — a 24×6 in (61×15 cm) plate located atop the pitcher's mound
Major League Baseball Pitcher of the Month Award Maddux (10), Pedro Martínez (8), Randy Johnson (8), and Johan Santana (8). Major League Baseball Pitcher of the Month Award The Pitcher of the Month award is a Major League Baseball award named by each league for each month of the regular season. The National League started recognizing the award in . The American League followed in . Upon the introduction of each league's award, pitchers became ineligible for the (position players') player of the month award. Players listed with multiple occurrences are denoted by parentheses containing the ordinal. The highest number of Pitcher of the Month awards won by