[Willie Bee]

Who’s in first?
AL East: Red Sox (44-28)
AL Central: Tigers (51-25)
AL West: Athletics (41-34)
NL East: Mets (47-28)
NL Central: Cardinals (42-32)
NL West: Dodgers (40-35)

Who’s in last?
AL East: Devil Rays (33-43)
AL Central: Royals (24-50)
AL West: Angels (34-41)
NL East: Braves (32-44)
NL Central: Pirates (26-51)
NL West: Diamondbacks (37-39)

Rocket’s ’06 launch fizzles: Roger Clemens’ return to the mound last week with Houston was a huge media event and drew a record 43,769 to witness the event at Drayton’s digs in downtown Bayou City. But in the end, it was just another loss for the Astros who are struggling to stay at the .500 level.

Clemens tossed exactly 100 pitches in his five innings of work against Minnesota before leaving with a 2-0 deficit. The Twins went on to a 4-2 victory behind the pitching of rookie Francisco Liriano who was about six months old when Clemens made his MLB debut back in May 1984.

Guillen’s gaffe: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has never been shy about expressing his opinions on any subject. So it should have been no big surprise this past week when the Chicago manager’s mouth go him into trouble for using less than politically correct language in his feelings for Chicago sportswriter Jay Mariotti.

Guillen used what was described by ESPN as a “homophobic slur” when discussing Mariotti, and Major League Baseball responded with a fine and ordered the Chicago dugout commander to attend sensitivity training classes.

Former Braves pitcher John Rocker, who knows a thing or two about talking his way into MLB’s doghouse, went through the same classes after an interview in Sports Illustrated touched off a media firestorm before the 1999 season. Rocker called the classes a “farce.”

"The guy told me when I got there I had to show up to make it look good for people, so after about 15 minutes I left and walked right out of the room and it satisfied the powers that be," Rocker told ESPN last week.

Guillen did apologize for offending anyone with his remarks about Mariotti. In his apology, Ozzie said he should have used a different word and then noted that the Sun-Times columnist was, “a piece of (poop).”

That should clear things up, huh?

This week's dogs: Several candidates to choose from this last week. St. Louis dropped all six games they played, including the few they had Albert Pujols back in the lineup. The Houston Astros dropped a pair of series to the Twins at home and White Sox on the road, almost blowing a 9-1 lead against Chicago on Sunday before winning in extra innings to avoid being swept. And the Cubs and Braves continue to wallow in the ranks.

But no team is a bigger dog right now than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Losers of 11 straight games, including being swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals last week, the Bucs became the first NL team to reach 50 losses when the Dodgers blanked them seven-zip on Sunday.

And Pittsburgh stand s a good chance of holding onto their present MLB K9 title this week as they host the two teams with the best records going, the White Sox and Tigers. The first five pitchers they are scheduled to face this week --- Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, Jose Contreras, Kenny Rogers and Jeremy Bonderman --- are a combined 42-15 this season. Pittsburgh will counter with Ian Snell, Paul Maholm, Oliver Perez, Zach Duck and Kip Wells. Together, that 5-man rotation is 16-29.

Injury & Trade News: Three big names returned from the injured list last week. The Cardinals and Cubs each got their slugging first basemen back with the return of Albert Pujols to St. Louis and Derrek Lee to Chicago. Toronto also got right-hander AJ Burnett back, adding one of their big winter buys to their rotation finally. Also coming off the DL last week were Oakland reliever Justin Duchscherer, Washington right-hander John Patterson, Florida OF/C Josh Willingham and Milwaukee right-hander Rick Helling.

Heading to the disabled list last week were Freddie Bynum (CHC-shoulder), Phil Stockman (ATL-hamstring), Jason Michaels (CLE-ankle), Dallas McPherson (LAA-back), Carlos Martinez (FLA-elbow), Darin Erstad (LAA-ankle), Jay Witasick (OAK-ankle), Tony Armas Jr (WAS-forearm), Mark Mulder (STL-shoulder), Ruddy Lugo (TAM-back), Milton Bradley (OAK-elbow), Dave Roberts (SDP-knee) and Kameron Loe (TEX-elbow).

The Orioles signed right-hander Russ Ortiz last week after the veteran right-hander was released by Arizona earlier … The Braves designated left-hander Mike Remlinger for assignment Saturday (June 24) … Desperate for some pitching, Boston acquired right-hander Jason Johnson from Cleveland in exchange for the proverbial player-to-be-named-later and cash. The Indians had designated Johnson for assignment just before the deal was announced … Kansas City traded pitcher JP Howell to Tampa in exchange for speedy outfielder Joey Gathright and infielder Fernando Cortez … Texas released reliever Antonio Alfonseca … Unhappy with JT Snow being unhappy about playing time, Boston released the first baseman last Monday (June 19).

Fantasy Studs & Duds: Nomar Garciaparra sits atop the NL hitting chart with a .362 average on the season that included a 10-for-24 (.417) performance last week. The Dodgers first baseman had a homer and scored seven times, and currently sports a 9-game hitting streak.

Johan Santana is the only AL pitcher with an ERA under 3.00 among those with enough innings to qualify for the column. The Minnesota southpaw is 8-4 on the year with a 2.75 ERA and has not allowed more than one earned run in his last five starts, a span covering 36 innings.

Speaking of quality pitching, check out BJ Ryan. The Blue Jays closer came up with four saves last week, including all three in Toronto’s sweep of the Braves. The lefty has 21 saves on the year, blowing just one in a 2-inning stint against the White Sox in late May, and sports a 0.66 ERA over the course of 35 games and 38 innings. His 45:8 strikeout-to-walk ratio is eye-popping.

Houston’s Lance Berkman poked four homers and drove in eight runs last week to take over the RBI lead in the majors with 68 … Mets southpaw Tom Glavine became the first pitcher to the 11-win plateau when he chunked seven innings in New York’s 6-1 win Friday over Toronto … Minnesota’s Justin Morneau is a big reason the Twins are as hot as they are right now. Morneau batted .435 (20-for-23) last week with three home runs. Hitting just .208 at the end of April, the first baseman now has his average up to .282 … After Arizona won nine straight games with Brandon Webb as their starting pitcher from April 14 – May 26, the Diamondbacks have lost all five of his most recent starts … Jason Marquis’ most recent start is one he’ll try to forget. The Cardinals right-hander allowed 13 runs, all earned, last Wednesday in St. Louis’ 13-5 loss to the White Sox. Marquis allowed four homers in his five innings of work. This was a day after Chicago embarrassed the Cards in a 20-6 beating.

Quote(s) of the Week: "For there's no more money grubbing athlete in all of sports than Clemens. He's always been up for sale to whoever would pay him the most, bend to his demands the easiest. Clemens is a much worse example of athletic greed than Terrell Owens. Yet TO's savaged while The Rocket is celebrated." - - - Chris Baldwin in his TravelGolf.com blog. Of course, Baldwin wrote this after Clemens had already given him an interview about golf for his website. You can bet Baldwin didn’t have the cojones to mention this part of his angle during that interview.

"They kicked our butt. I'm probably going to have to sleep standing up." - - - St. Louis manager Tony La Russa after his Cardinals were slapped around in a 20-6 loss to the White Sox.

"It was fun to watch Roger. But on our side it was actually more fun to watch Francisco. He's what we come to see." - - - Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire discussing his rookie left-hander Francisco Liriano’s 4-2 win over Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros on Thursday.

"I think the commissioner ordered that in order to calm things down, but, obviously, to attend one of those, I'll have to take English lessons first. I'll do what I have to do, at least when I have time, but I don't think I'll take those sensitivity lessons." - - - White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen’s comments about being ordered to take sensitivity classes after using a politically incorrect term to describe Chicago sportswriter Jay Mariotti.

On Deck: The last of interleague play for the 2006 regular season is on tap with a few interesting matchups to open the week. Atlanta travels to New York to face the Yankees in a flashback to the 1996 and 1999 World Series. Tim Hudson opens that series for Atlanta on Monday opposite Randy Johnson for the Pinstripers.

Look for about 30,000 in Miami as the Sunshine State rivalry gets underway between the Marlins and Devil Rays. That’s 30,000 for the entire series, by the way.

Roger Clemens makes his next start on Tuesday when the Astros play the Tigers in Detroit. His counterpart on the mound for Motown should be Nate Robertson.

Tuesday is also when the Red Sox open a 3-game set against the visiting New York Mets. Pedro Martinez will make his first start at Fenway since leaving Boston after 2004 on Wednesday, and will be opposed by Josh Beckett. Thursday’s pitching matchup shows Tom Glavine for New York against Curt Schilling for Boston.

Several geographic interleague rivalries take place next weekend. The White Sox will take the El to Chicago’s North Side to face the Cubs. The Astros will be in North Texas to play the Rangers. La-La Land finds the Dodgers at the Angels. The Indians will bus across Ohio to visit the Reds. And the Royals travel to St. Louis to face the Cardinals. I’ll have my TV set on WGN next Sunday afternoon when the Pale Hose start Mark Buehrle against Carlos Zambrano of the Cubs.

[BuddyBear]

as a tiger fan it sucks for me to see the Tigers 26 game over
.500 and only 1.5 games ahead of the white sox's. If the Tigers were in any other division they would be running away with it (c.f. N.L. East). I hope they don't pull a washington from last year.

[Willie Bee]

What's amazing is they didn't stutter a bit when Mike Maroth went down after his fine start to the season, BB. I think they have better pitching, and certainly better defense and offense, than the Nats had going for them last year.

They may not be able to hold off the White Sox. But it will be fun to watch the Yankees and/or Red Sox chase them since New York and Boston have sort of gotten spoiled the last few years with the idea that the AL East runnerup is the auto wildcard.

[Mudcat]

Guillen did apologize for offending anyone with his remarks about Mariotti. In his apology, Ozzie said he should have used a different word and then noted that the Sun-Times columnist was, “a piece of (poop).”

I would like to nominate Ozzie Guillen as the next Secretary-General of the U.N.

[Mudcat]

But no team is a bigger dog right now than the Pittsburgh Pirates. Losers of 11 straight games, including being swept by the lowly Kansas City Royals last week, the Bucs became the first NL team to reach 50 losses when the Dodgers blanked them seven-zip on Sunday.

Now this highlights a fascinating race. KC is currently at a .324 winning percentage while Pitt is at .338.

Too bad they are both comfortably over the .250 mark - the pace required to match the futility of the 1962 Mets. There could have been some gripping drama if that race was in the picture.

[Illusion]

But it will be fun to watch the Yankees and/or Red Sox chase them since New York and Boston have sort of gotten spoiled the last few years with the idea that the AL East runnerup is the auto wildcard.

I can't even remember the last time the wild card didn't come from the east. It sure will be a refrshing change if the central can claim the wild card.

Don't count out the Twins either. They have been on fire and if Detroit or Chicago start slipping they might be able to push their way back into contention.