What a month.
Albert Pujols has out-homered the Athletics.
The Royals are in first place.
Leading Off
Alex Rodriguez refuses to talk about the new steroid allegations. Selena Roberts new book sounds as if it's going to read like a Kitty Kelly bio. Jim Bambauch says A-Rod is about to step into another media firestorm. Well, duh.
Regional Roundup
Several teams were off today, including the Nats, who lost.
- The bottom third of the Orioles' lineup is a wasteland of broken dreams. Major League Baseball tells Jamie to take a Walk.
- The Mets arrive as a mess in Philly. A quick look at Jamie Moyer
- Joe Beimel is ready to return. The Nats gave out free passes Thursday.
- The Buccos say they're ready to bounce back.
Best of the Rest
We had a ridiculously dominant performance.
- Matt Garza was on. He reminded the Rays and their fans that the team can, and more importantly should, be the class of the AL East.
- The Dodgers, who are shaking up their pitching staff, have won every game at Chavez Ravine
- The Yankees won, with help from more homers to right field, on a basehit by Melky Cabrera.
- The Royals are in first place after a big hit by John Buck
Batter's Eye
- St. Louis can't fathom Ryan Franklin's success. He was awful last year and is dominant as can be this season.
Today in history
1920 -- Babe Ruth hit his first home run as a Yankee as New York beat Boston 6-0 at the Polo Grounds.
1924 -- Chicago's Bill Barrett stole home twice, in the first and ninth innings, against the Cleveland Indians.
1991 -- Rickey Henderson surpassed Lou Brock as baseball's career stolen base leader with his 939th steal as the Oakland Athletics beat the New York Yankees 7-4.
1991 -- Nolan Ryan pitched his seventh no-hitter, struck out 16 and shut down the best-hitting team in the majors when the Texas Rangers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 3-0.
1992 -- The Dodgers postponed a three-game series against Montreal because of rioting in Los Angeles following the Rodney King verdict.
1992 -- Oakland's Rickey Henderson stole his 1,000th career base in the first inning at Tiger Stadium.
The Closer
The Mets can't get knocked out of the division this early. Or can they? The Phillies and Marlins haven't played consistently, but they're well ahead of the Mets, who still have just nine wins. If the Phillies were to sweep Jerry Manuel's club, it could be a first round knock out blow.
We wouldn't say that about any other team. But, two seasons in a row now, the Mets have folded like Topps cards stuck in bike spokes.
So yeah, they could be knocked unconscious by May 3.
Unconscious by May 3? That's overstating it quite a bit, especially when you say in the same post the Rays can and should be the class of the AL East despite a worse record and bigger hole to climb out of.
You know more than anyone, a month does not a baseball season make. Even with a Phillies sweep, the Mets would be licking their wounds 7.5 games behind Philadelphia - the same hole they were in as late as June 10 last year. I don't need to remind you they had climbed into a 3.5-game lead by Sept. 10 before Billy Wagner's injury effectively cost them their season.
I'm not saying they're not without their problems at the moment (just like every other team in the division - Philly's starting pitching has been just as dismal), but it would be silly to write off any team not named the Nationals with the season less than 15 percent over.