Signing defensive tackle Domata Peko to a five-year contract extension through 2014 might be the best move the Bengals made during the offseason. The run stuffer does a great job providing all important pressure up the middle on passing downs, especially for a team that offers little from their rush ends.  With Peko, Robert Geathers and Antwan Odom signed to long-term deals, the Bengals defensive line is solid even if they don't put up big sack numbers.  

Bengals beat writer Chick Ludwig of the Dayton Daily News sees a big difference in the new regime.

"It has adopted a tougher, more aggressive, in-your-face philosophy and mentality under new coordinator Mike Zimmer and new linebackers coach Jeff FitzGerald in an attempt to improve on its No. 27 overall ranking," Ludwig wrote on his blog.

"The unit definitely needs to be more stout at the point of attack because it’ll play 13 games against returning 1,000-yard rushers this fall."

Here's Chick's projected opening line-up on defense:

LE — Robert Geathers, Jonathan Fanene

LDT — Domata Peko, Jason Shirley

RDT — John Thornton, Pat Sims

RE — Antwan Odom, Frostee Rucker

SLB — Rashad Jeanty, Ahmad Brooks

MLB — Dhani Jones, Jim Maxwell

WLB — Keith Rivers, Brandon Johnson

LCB — Johnathan Joseph, Deltha O’Neal

RCB — Leon Hall, David Jones

SS — Chinedum Ndukwe, Dexter Jackson

FS — Marvin White, Corey Lynch

It has only happened five times in Major League Baseball history, a team win a game without a benefit of a hit. That's exactly what happened in Saturday's Interleague match-up between the Dodgers and the Angels, as the Dodgers won 1-0 despite being held hitless.

The Angels' Jered Weaver held the Dodgers without a hit through six innings before being removed for a pinch-hitter and turning things over to Jose Arredondo, who retired the Dodgers in order in the seventh and eighth innings. The game did not qualify as an official no-hitter because the Dodgers did not bat in their half of the ninth inning.

The Dodgers scored in the fifth on a pair of errors, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly. Weaver committed the first error when he couldn't cleanly field leadoff hitter Matt Kemp's dribbler up the first base line.

Check out these interesting bits of info from ESPN's Tim Kurkjian:

• This is the third time in the expansion era (since 1961) that baseball has had an eight-inning no-hitter: Boston's Matt Young threw one against Cleveland in 1992, and the Yankees' Andy Hawkins pitched one against the White Sox in 1990. They were officially considered no-hitters at the time, but several years ago, the rule was changed. Now, according to major league rules, an official no-hitter is "when a pitcher (or pitchers) allows no hits during the entire course of a game, which consists of at least nine innings.'' So, the no-hitters by Young and Hawkins no longer are considered no-hitters, nor is the no-hitter thrown by Weaver and Arredondo, who pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the road team Saturday night.
  
  
• In the divisional era (since 1969), there have been three no-hitters in which a run was scored by the losing team: Darryl Kile allowed one in his no-hitter in 1993, Joe Cowley in his in 1986, and Blue Moon Odom and Francisco Barrios in their combined no-hitter in 1976. (Cowley walked eight in his no-hitter. Then-White Sox coach Doug Rader jokingly said after the game that "Cowley pitched so badly, I didn't even shake his hand after the game.'')
  
  
• The Angels have thrown eight no-hitters in franchise history; the past six have involved either Nolan Ryan (four) or Mike Witt, who threw a perfect game in 1984, then pitched in a combined no-hitter with Mark Langston on April 11, 1990. The most recent no-hitter at Dodger Stadium was by Kent Mercker of the Braves on April 8, 1994. But those are still in play because a no-hitter was not thrown Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, even though the Dodgers didn't get a hit.
  

STUDS OF THE WEEK
Boston's Dustin Pedroia has broke out his slump in a big way as he has 17 hits in his last 27 at bats with five multi-hit games, sporting a .630 batting average in that span. He has emerged as a must-start fantasy 2B with increase production in both HR's and SB's. Over the past 14 days, no pitcher has been as nasty as the Indians' C.C. Sabathia.  The big lefty has gone 2-0 after working 23 innings and turning out three quality starts. His 31 strikeouts and only four walks during the run has fantasy owners smiling and so does 1.57 ERA and 0.83 WHIP.

DUDS OF THE WEEK
Though he's not pitching terrible the Mets' Johan Santana (7-7) has disappointed fantasy owners in terms of wins. June was not good for the top pitcher taken in fantasy as he is 0-4 in his last five starts despite a 2.53 ERA. Manny Ramirez has disappeared over the past seven games. He continues to battle a sore hammy and it has taken its toll on him at the plate. Over the past week ManRam hit .182 with 0 HR's and 2 RBI's.

KEY INJURIES
Dan Uggla (ankle) - day-to-day after spraining ankle SAT.
Chipper Jones (quadriceps) - out indefinitely; may pinch hit
Hideki Matsui (knee) - placed on 15-day DL; could need surgery
Carlos Zambrano (shoulder) - eligible to return for 7/4 start
Shawn Marcum (elbow) - out until mid-to-late July
David Ortiz (wrist) - appears to still be weeks away
Chris R. Young (nose) - threw bullpen session; could return soon
Alfonso Soriano (hand) - still a few weeks away from action
Victor Martinez (elbow) - out until at least early August
J.J. Putz (elbow) - will not be back until after All-Star break

TWICE AS NICE
Here are some two-start pitchers to consider this week:

AL
Must-starts:
James Shields – BOS (Justin Masterson), KC (Luke Hochevar)
Roy Halladay - @SEA (R.A. Dickey), @LAA (John Lackey)
Joba Chamberlain – TEX (Scott Feldman), BOS (Justin Masterson)

Sleeper Picks:
Gavin Floyd – CLE (Jeremy Sowers), OAK (Greg Smith)
Armando Galarraga - @MIN (Glen Perkins), @SEA (R.A. Dickey)

NL
Must-Starts:
Matt Cain – CHC (Jason Marquis), LAD (Clayton Kershaw)
Ted Lilly - @SF (Barry Zito), @STL (Kyle Lohse)
Edinson Volquez – PIT (Paul Maholm), WAS (Tim Redding)

Sleeper Picks:
Aaron Cook – SD (Josh Banks), FLA (Mark Hendrickson)
John Maine - @STL (Kyle Lohse), @PHI (Jamie Moyer)

WAIVER WATCH (from leagues played at CBSSports.com)
Five most added:
SP Eric Stults (+23% roster change)
OF Josh Willingham (+20%)
OF Eric Byrnes (+18%)
2B Rickie Weeks (+17%)
SS Mike Aviles (+16%)

Five most dropped (non-injured):
SP Darrell Rasner (-14%)
SS Maicer Izturis (-11%)
SP Jose Contreras (-10%)
SP Bronson Arroyo (-10%)
SP Andrew Miller (-10%)

GAMES PLAYED
Let's take a look at how many games each team will be playing this week:

American League
7: BAL, BOS, CHW, DET, KC, NYY, OAK, SEA
6: CLE, LAA, MIN, TB, TEX, TOR

National League
7: ARI, CHC, CIN, COL, FLA, HOU, LAD, MIL, NYM, SF, STL, WAS
6: ATL, PHI, PIT, SD