Who’s in first?
AL East: Red Sox (8-4)
AL Central: ChiSox, Indians & Tigers (7-5)
AL West: Angels (6-6)
NL East: Mets (9-2)
NL Central: Astros (8-4)
NL West: Giants (7-4)
Who’s in last?
AL East: Blue Jays & Yankees (6-6)
AL Central: Royals (2-9)
AL West: Rangers (5-8)
NL East: Marlins (3-8)
NL Central: Pirates (4-10)
NL West: Padres (4-7)
AL East beasts? It is still way too early to go out on any limb right now. But the AL East is cooking along at a pretty good clip from top to bottom. Boston leads the pack with an 8-4 mark, with Toronto and New York bringing up the rear with .500 marks (6-6). Last year’s NL East saw all five teams finish .500 or better, the only time that’s happened since splitting into six divisions in 1994. Certainly, it would be a long shot to see another division do it again this year, and this week finds four intradivsion series, so we could easily have a pair of teams down below .500 by this time next Sunday.
But the AL East is certainly a candidate to do it this year. We all knew the Yanks and Red Sox, along with the improved Blue Jays, stood solid chances of winning records. The Orioles and Devil Rays were not expected to win 81+, nor should they still be expected to do so now. If Tampa Bay wins just 71 games, they will set a franchise record. And the mid-to-upper 70s were all that was really hoped for in Baltimore. If just one or the other makes it to 81 to give the division a quartet of .500 or better teams, it will be a minor miracle. Still, it’s something to watch for.
This week’s dogs: The Royals are just 2-9, with both the Nationals and Marlins already finding themselves six games south of the red hot Mets. And the Padres and Rangers, two teams that were expected to be better than they’ve shown so far, are also at the bottom of their respective divisional barrels.
But the real dogs, as in dog-tired, are the Pirates. Pittsburgh opened the season on April 3, like most other teams, and they haven’t had an off day since while struggling out of the gate 4-10. At a time that the vast majority of MLB teams have had to use their #5 starter once, the Pirates will be using theirs for the third time tomorrow (Mon, Apr 17) when they host the St. Louis Cardinals. They will get their first day off this Thursday (Apr 20) when they travel to Houston for a weekend series against the Astros.
I’ve grumbled about the overall slapdash nature of the MLB schedule before, from the unfairness caused by the interleague rivalry to the unevenness of the home-away lineups between several division foes. But not building in at least one day off on every team’s slate during the first couple of weeks is ridiculous if you just factor in the chances of early weather problems alone.
The major league schedule maker has a daunting task, no doubt. And until the interleague rivalry segments are removed, the person and/or computer are hamstrung from the get-go. But MLB simply has to tighten up on this front in the future.
Injury News: The DL list was increased this last week by Chipper Jones (ATL-knee), Mark Hendrickson (TAM-shoulder), Coco Crisp (BOS-finger), Ian Kinsler (TEX-thumb), Aubrey Huff (TAM-knee), David Riske (BOS-back), David Wells (BOS-knee), Terry Mulholland (ARZ-elbow), Jay Witasick (OAK-ankle), Brandon Backe (HOU-elbow), Ryan Drese (WAS-elbow), Sean Casey (PIT-back), Dmitri Young (DET-quad), Rick Helling (MIL-elbow) and Fernando Cabrera (CLE-ankle). Ben Sheets (MIL) and AJ Burnett (TOR) were the two biggest names to come off the DL this past week.
The Barry Watch: Barry Bonds, still homerless this season, is reportedly suffering from several chips floating around in his left elbow. Quoted by Miami Herald wire services, Bonds said, ''I'm going to keep playing until it blows up. If I have to have a procedure, then I'm done. Finished. That would be it.'' Aw gee, how will baseball survive without its egomaniacal superstar? If nothing else, his departure would certainly give Bonds more time to concentrate on his legal woes. Of course, we have to remember that Barry threatened to retire as soon as he reached the 500 HR-500 SB levels. Considering that happened in 2004, he’s already about two years late in my book.
Early studs: With three bleacher souvenirs on Sunday, Albert Pujols has eight on the season to go with a .341 average and 17 RBI in St. Louis’ first 12 games. Phat Albert was pretty much the consensus NL MVP pick before the season started, and he’s done nothing to disappoint so far.
Detroit’s Chris Shelton also slapped his eighth homer of the season on Sunday, this time lifting the Tigers to a 1-0 win over the Indians. Shelton is now batting .479 with 16 RBI, and he’s a huge reason the Tigers are off to a 7-5 start. Chicago’s Jim Thome (.342, 7 HR, 12 RBI) is nipping at Shelton’s heels in the AL race on my current ledger.
Top pitchers so far in the AL can be found on Boston’s mound. Both Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett are 3-0 in their first three starts for 2006, Schilling’s ERA an impressive 1.64 and Beckett’s at 1.29 after Sunday’s performance. But the real stud on the mound is Jonathan Papelbon. The big rookie righty out of Baton Rouge is now 6-for-6 in save opportunities, allowing no walks and just two hits in his seven innings of action so far.
You could make a case for several NL hurlers right now if you were trying to hand out a Cy Young up to now. What I find most interesting is seeing the Cubs’ Greg Maddux and the Mets’ Tom Glavine on top of the present ERA leader board. Maddux leads the Senior Circuit at 1.46, with his former Braves teammate Glavine just behind at 1.50. Glavine is also turning heads with 21 strikeouts in his first 18 innings of work. The veteran lefty has averaged less than half-a-K per inning the past three seasons.
Quote(s) of the Week: “I can eat and drink for free in Chicago. What’s better than that?!” --- White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on being a celebrity in the Windy City.
“We aren’t going to wait on them too much longer.” --- Bexar County judge Nelson Wolff on the situation surround the possible relocation of Florida Marlins to San Antonio, as quoted in the Express-News.
“No one is waiting for a green light. This is a fluid process. This is not a black-and-white thing.” --- MLP president Bob DuPuy, also quoted in the San Antonio Express-News, injecting a little color into the Marlins situation.
“There really was no reason to run back to first because the guy was laying on the ground not moving. And Javy doesn't need to pass him. It was just a botched play." --- Orioles manager Sam Perlozzo on Javy Lopez’ home run that wasn’t after teammate Miguel Tejada returned to first base thinking Angels outfielder Darin Erstad made the catch over the wall at Camden Yards. In the process of Tejada returning to first, Lopez wound up ahead of him on the basepaths, and saw his home run changed to a single in the scorebook.
This week’s series to watch: We start the week with a couple of really big series in the Senior Circuit. NL East rivals the Braves and Mets meet Mon-Wed in New York. The Mets are off to a torching start and a series sweep over the Braves, who are struggling in the bullpen, could go a long way towards unseating Atlanta atop that division ... In the NL Central, the Brewers travel to Houston for a 3-game match against the Astros. Milwaukee struggled a bit last week after a sizzling 5-0 start to the season while Houston won its third series of the year (out of four), winning their third game on the road Sunday in Arizona. The Astros did not win their third road game in 2005 until late May … Weekend series to pay attention to include the Orioles at the Yankees, Red Sox at the Blue Jays, Angels at the A’s and Cubs at the Cardinals.
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