Author: Vin

No longer doormats

1. Divisional Wars: If you go solely by record, the NL West has been the best division in baseball so far this year. Every team in the West is over .500, and they are packed within 2 games of each other. However, this is by no means the most talented division, as the teams have won games beating up on each other. The best division in the NL would likely be the Central, as four teams have at least 22 wins. In the AL, the East once again looks super-competitive. The Red Sox and Yankees, as always, are battling for the division lead, while the Blue Jays have nearly caught up to both of them (they’re a game out). Honorable mention goes to the Central division, which houses the AL’s best two teams–Detroit and Chicago.

2. End of their run?: The Los Angeles Angels, who have dominated this division the past few years and made the ALCS last year, have looked abominable so far this season. With a 17-24 record, they are battling for 3rd place with the Mariners while the A’s and Rangers dominate the division. Last night, their struggles continued, as they lost to Toronto 8-4. Toronto’s Roy Halladay, who pitched two complete games last week, had a mediocre game in which he allowed 4 runs in 7 innings. The game was tied after 9 innings, but the Blue Jays put up 4 runs in the tenth to effectively end the game. Toronto is in third place in the East at 23-17.

3. Beginning of their run?: The Detroit Tigers, once the laughingstock of baseball, are now rolling through the AL. They have the best record in the entire majors at 27-13, and their pitching staff’s ERA leads the league. Last night, they defeated Minnesota 5-3 to extend a 7-game winning streak. It is the team’s longest winning streak since 1993. Kenny Rogers allowed no runs in almost six innings last night, improving his record to 7-2. Rogers is the first pitcher this year to record seven wins, and he has made the Rangers’ decision to dump him look stupid. If they can continue this at all, the Tigers have a great chance of making the playoffs. Who knows what will happen then…

4. Class of the NL: We knew that the Cardinals-Mets series this week would likely prove which is the best team in the National League this season. The Cardinals won last night 6-3, and they also won the series 2-1. Not even a day off for Albert Pujols could stop St. Louis, as they knocked out Mets starter Jose Lima in the 5th inning. Jason Marquis pitched decently, allowing 3 runs in 7-plus innings. The Cardinals, at 26-15, will likely stomp over the rest of the league again this year. They won the pennant in 2004 and fell just short last year. The Mets still lead the division at 24-16, though the Braves are starting to get on track.

5. DL time is over: Kerry Wood is quite used to being on the DL, as he is injured more often than he plays. Now that he is back off the DL, how many more starts can he give? It’s at least one, because he was uninjured in the Cubs’ game against the Nationals. Unfortunately, he performed poorly. Wood pitched only five innings and gave up four runs, all off of homers. Wood’s usual control problems were not present, however, as he didn’t issue a walk and threw 52 strikes in 71 pitches. Alfonso Soriano was among the many who homered for the Nationals, giving him a surprising 13 on the year. Both teams are still next-to-last in their divisions.

1. Special K vs. Frosted Flakes: One of the best pitching battles so far this season took place when Minnesota’s Johan Santana and Detroit’s Justin Verlander dueled Wednesday night. The game was scoreless through seven innings, until Santana made his only mistake of the game, allowing a homerun to the Tigers’ Vance Wilson. Santana was marvelous up until then, with 12 K’s and only four hits allowed on the night. But Verlander, with 8 innings pitched, 6 hits and no runs allowed, and no walks or strikeouts. If Verlander had gone the distance, it would have been the second time this month that a pitcher had no K’s or walks in a complete game. On May 1, Joel Pineiro of Seattle became the first to do this since 1992. Santana fell to 4-4, though he leads the majors in strikeouts with 70 and innings pitched with 61.1. Verlander has contributed to Detroit’s pitching success with a 5-3 record and a 3.18 ERA. The Tigers (26-13) share the best record in the majors with the White Sox.

2. Pitcher’s duel no. 2: In an unexpectedly low-scoring game, the Mets fell to St. Louis, 1-0. Mark Mulder and Steve Trachsel both pitched excellently, but Mulder (5-1) picked up the win. Trachsel allowed the lone run of the game in the sixth when Scott Rolen drove in Albert Pujols. Mulder allowed 4 hits in 8.1 innings and K’d five Mets. St. Louis closer Jason Isringhausen relieved Mulder with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth, but he quickly recorded two outs to earn his 12th save. Both teams have two-game leads in their respective divisions.

3.Victory at last: As we said earlier this week, the Baltimore Orioles have struggled mightily against the Boston Red Sox this season. Coming into yesterday’s game, the O’s had a 13 game losing streak against the team. Yesterday, in Baltimore’s last game against Boston until August, they ended the streak with a narrow 4-3 victory. Erik Bedard pitched seven innings and only allowed two hits to the powerful Boston lineup. David Ortiz was their only offensive success, driving in all 3 Red Sox runs. Baltimore’s Kevin Millar homered and drove in two, and Miguel Tejada scored a key run on a wild pitch in the seventh. Once again, the Red Sox are tied with the Yankees for the division lead.

4. They’re still the Royals: The Kansas City Royals may have fooled us last week by sweeping the Indians, but in this week’s series, they have reminded us that they are still the Royals. Last night was one of those games where Kansas City’s weak hitting and poor pitching were completely exploited. Cleveland starter Jake Westbrook owned their lineup, allowing no runs and six hits in a complete game effort. Four of Cleveland’s five runs came on Travis Hafner’s grand slam in the third. At least the Royals were smart enough to walk Hafner in his next three plate appearances. They still lost, 5-0.

5. Coming back yet?: As we all know by now, Roger Clemens has a pretty nice life. He is extremely rich, currently retired, being pursued by four major league teams, and each want to pay him $4 million a month. But is he coming back or not? This decision is getting more annoying than Brett Favre’s. Well, according to ESPN’s Jayson Stark, Roger is “accelerating his workout program” and “could be back within three weeks.” Of course exactly when he will come back and which team he will play for are still mysteries. The Rangers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Astros are the biggest suitors. We’ll just have to wait and see…