"After one of the greatest starts to a season in major-league history, Marlins ace Josh Johnson on Tuesday was named the National League's pitcher of the month for April.

Johnson, who leads the majors in ERA (0.88) and WHIP (0.71), was 3-0 in six starts but had two no decisions in games in which he left with at least a two-run lead.

He also set the modern-day record for the fewest hits allowed in a 40-inning stretch. The 18 hits allowed in 41 innings are the fewest by a pitcher with at least 40 innings since 1900, one fewer than the 19 allowed by Nolan Ryan in 1978.

As for his ERA, only Fernando Valenzuela (0.20 in 1981 and 0.21 in 1985) and Juan Marichal (0.86 in 1965) posted lower numbers with at least 40 innings in April since 1913, when earned runs became an official statistic.

So what stood out to Johnson about his first month? "Our team record,'' he said. "Whenever you win games, things are a lot of fun, it's just a lot more fun to come to the field, hang out with these guys.''

Of beating Ryan's mark, Johnson said: "That's pretty awesome, one of those things you'll cherish the rest of your life. Hopefully it doesn't get broken.''

Johnson, scheduled to start Thursday afternoon's game at Busch Stadium, said his start to 2011 is probably the best he has pitched in his career. "The only other time would be a phase in 2006,'' Johnson said. "I faced [ Roy] Halladay, [ John] Smoltz, [ Jason] Schmidt twice and Pedro [ Martinez]. I was going out and throwing lights out against all aces, feeling good. That's probably the only other time I felt that good.""