<u>National League</u> Mets- Ryan Church has been awesome. There is no legitimate reason to bat Luis Castillo number two when Church has shown he will produce at that spot in the lineup. If Reyes and Beltran don’t hit, this is going to be a very frustrating year for Mets fans. Delgado is terrible. Oliver Perez shouldn’t be resigned unless he fires Boras, which ain’t gonna happen. Wagner has been very good, but I don’t think I’d want him to be my closer given the choice. How long until Willie Randolph starts to really feel the heat? Atlanta- If you look at their supposed top four starters from spring training, it ain’t good. Smoltz is on the DL and says he can’t go more than five innings. Mike Hampton=hurt. Shocking. Tom Glavine is old. Thankfully Tim Hudson has been phenomenal. Jair Jurrjens has also performed well so far. Washington- Tim Redding has been respectable so far. Odalis Perez has pitched well but not gotten a victory yet due to some tough luck. They are at the bottom of basically every offensive category. Phillies- Chase Utley and Pat Burrell are crushing the ball. Utley is the front-runner for league MVP so far. Ryan Howard is not performing well at all, and doesn’t seem close to getting out of the funk he is in right now. Cole Hamels is pitching great. None of the other starters are though. Brad Lidge has been lights out. Florida- Who would have guessed they would be leading the division at this point? Fredi Gonzalez deserves a ton of credit for his work. Young infielders Dan Uggla, Mike Jacobs, and Hanley Ramirez are all hitting. Veteran Mark Hendrickson and youngster Scott Olsen have pitched well. Andrew Miller, the key piece of the Dontrelle/Miguel Cabrera deal, has been a disappointment. Luis Gonzalez provides some nice veteran leadership for this ball club. Pittsburgh- They just swept the Giants. Don’t laugh at me please, okay? Thanks. Let’s move on. Quickly. Cubs- Lee, Ramirez, and Fukudome have been good. Soriano will be. Zambrano and Dempster have pitched well. The other starters haven’t. Houston- Lance Berkman can still hit. Tejada has done fairly well considering all the stuff about him going on in the media. But half the lineup is an automatic out. Milwaukee- Ben Sheets has been awesome. Can he stay healthy now? Eric Gagne is done. He is in Benitez type territory. St. Louis- Pujols certainly looks healthy with bat in hand. Braden Looper has been phenomenal. I still don’t believe they will be there in September. Cincinnati- Edison Volquez is good. Wow. It’s time to trade Griffey and Arroyo. Everyone else is young and has time. Arizona- Awesome start. They everyday lineup is so young it’s scary. Webb and Haren have been great. How long until Max Scherzer is too? Dodgers- Horrible start turns into 19-15. Huh? I don’t get it. Must be some sort of Torre Magic or something. Rafael Furcal has been a sparkplug. Andruw Jones has been a rip-off. Colorado- The slow start hurt. The Troy Tulowitzki injury killed them. He’s too important to not have around. The magic dust has worn off this team. Padres- They still need some pop in the lineup besides Gonzalez. The starters numbers aren’t as bad as I thought, but they still aren’t good. That’s a problem for them with how their lineup is currently constructed. How long until Maddux gets win #350? Giants- Aaron Rowand has been good. He damn well better be considering we already had twelve center fielders before signing him. Fred Lewis has been great at the top of the lineup. I don’t like Rich Aurilia. I don’t like Ray Durham. I don’t want to see Fred Lewis lose any at bats to Dave Roberts when and if he comes back. Matt Cain worries the hell out of me. He’s too good to have all this bad stuff happen to him every single start. You have to be happy with most of the kids playing, given their expectations coming in to the season. I think Brian Wilson is going to be a good closer. I think Tim Lincecum is a good starter already. And I’m going to keep repeating that until we get a few more good players on this team.
<u>American League</u> Boston- Matsuzaka has been phenomenal. This is what they were making him out to be. Not the guy we saw last season. Lester has been good for the most part, but the Sox are going to need more from him. Buchholz has been up and down too much. They can’t count on Schilling, so someone needs to step up behind Beckett. Yankees- Girardi ran a tough camp to avoid another sluggish start in the Bronx. Now they’re off to another sluggish start and they’re all banged up. Tampa Bay- Everyone said they would be improved, and yet most are surprised that they are playing fairly well. Longoria certainly has cooled off recently, though. Toronto- AJ Burnett is down again after most expected a good year from him. Was Frank Thomas really bad enough in that short of a period to screw him like that? Baltimore- I told you they would be good! You just didn’t read it. I swear. Okay so I was wrong. I’m guessing I’m not the only one. That’s okay. They can remember their wonderful start when they are eliminated in early September. They made out like bandits in the Bedard trade. Minnesota- Mauer and Morneau. Those guys can hit. They’re good hitters. But is Livan Hernandez really their ace? Really? Joe Nathan still rocks. Detroit- I have no idea. I assumed Willis would come back strong this year. Wrong! Pudge might finally be “old.” How long is Sheffield going to be in the outfield? Cleveland- Last year CC Sabathia just had big bones. This year, he’s fat. Sorry, that’s how it works. So much for performing well to get a big contract. Fausto Carmona has been good. Cliff Lee has been amazing. But didn’t we all expect that anyways? White Sox- Carlos Quentin started out on fie! Orlando Cabrera? Not so much. Juan Uribe? Don’t ask. Kansas City- They started out 6-2 against Detroit, Minnesota, and the Yankees. Yay!!!! Now they’re 15-20. Shucks. Oakland- Who keeps getting these hits to win them games? Most of the names aren’t recognizable and none of the numbers jump out at you. They might be playing so well that they won’t be sellers at the deadline like expected. Angels- Ervin Santana is one of those “stuff” guys that you expect to blow it for your team when you need him most. But 6 wins and a 2.02 ERA is impressive. Seattle- Never again will I assume Richie Sexson will do any good. So long John McLaren. We hardly knew ye. Texas- Vicente Padilla and Kevin Millwood. One-two in the CY Young ballot right there. Hopefully no GM believes in the start by those two and gives up anything of value to get one of them. There’s not much doubt about Josh Hamilton’s abilities, though.
Jays are so bad this year, I don't even want to go to a game. We have a great line-up, but it's the same story every year. No one is hot at the right time and every one has their horrible streaks.
I'll give my thoughts on the 2 teams I follow. Yankees - Get well soon A-Rod. Bats will be fine, but I still don't see how we're winning the division or making a late post-season push with the current pitching staff. Astros - besides the A-Rod comment, "see yankees." Berkman is out of his mind right now, Tejadas has been a stud, and Lee and Pentz have been good at the plate also..........I just think we need "at least" one more starting pitcher.....
