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This Week in MLB

by Marty Gabel

ThisWeekMLBFirstly, apologies for this column’s non-appearance last Sunday. I know it was only my second week on the job, but this writer was enjoying a previously planned holiday, taking a break from the game of baseball and instead enjoying the natural joys of a warm and sunny Hawaii.

So much has been going on in the past two weeks. We’ve seen the first weekend of interleague play, witnessed some crazy ejections (see Matt’s post below for more on this), and are almost at the one-third mark for the season. Some of the more favoured teams have started to dig-in and improve their records, while some of the early front-runners are beginning to slump a little, but of course, there’s still a long, long way to go. We’ll take this round-up league-by-league as usual, and point out the highlights and lowlights for most of the teams therein.

In the AL East, the Toronto Blue Jays have had a tough end to May so far. They lost 9 games straight and relinquished their lead at the top of the division to both the Red Sox and Yankees. Boston continues to play steadily and consistently, if not spectacularly. Their series win against the aforementioned Blue Jays helped tip the balance of power in their favour, and the divisional rivals meet again this weekend. Meanwhile, things have been good in the Bronx of late. The Yankees are back to winning ways and had a four game series sweep against Minnesota a couple of weekends back which included three (yes, three) walk-off wins in a row. Whoever says a single player can’t make a difference should look at A-Rod and the Yankees. With him in the line-up, New York have improved to 29-20, they were barely scraping .500 before. The Tampa Bay Rays have been under-performing lately, and were swept by the Indians in a four-game series this week. Remarkably, they haven’t won a game at Progressive Field since September 2005, but they’ve got back to winning ways on their most recent home stand. Finally, Baltimore remains lodged at the bottom of baseball’s toughest division, but nevertheless swept Toronto, and continue to improve having won five straight up to Saturday.

In the NL East things remain tight between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. Despite not having Carlos Delgado in the line-up for 8-10 weeks (hip surgery), The Mets lost a series to the Dodgers but beat Boston in their first interleague match-up of the season and swept the Nationals this week. The Phillies form has been mixed of late, but they remain seven games over the .500 mark. The Atlanta Braves continue to flirt with the .500 mark too, but the Marlins have started to look decidedly average after their promising start in April. With an injury to star short-stop Hanley Ramirez, Florida may struggle to regain their early form.

Turning to the AL Central, things remain as tight as ever in this closely-contested division. The Kansas City Royals have lost their hold on first place, slipping to 23-26 after a fairly torrid May, but pitcher Zack Greinke continues to amaze with an 8-1 record and tiny 0.84 ERA. Detroit have looked the most improved team in this division, completing a seven game winning streak which included a series sweep which stopped the AL West-leading Texas Rangers in their tracks. Charismatic pitcher Dontrelle Willis won his first game since returning this season, and much will be expected of the popular Tigers starter. Meanwhile, Minnesota lost six games straight away from home to the Yankees and White Sox, then proceeded to slaughter the aforementioned White Sox 20-1. A better home-stand followed as they swept the Milwaukee Brewers in their first interleague series, and Joe Mauer continues his batting heroics with a .414 average in 99 at-bats, and 11 home runs, despite missing the whole of April. The Cleveland Indians continue to improve, despite propping up the division, and the AL Central still remains too close to call.

The lead in the NL Central also remains close, with St. Louis and Milwaukee sharing the lead at the time of writing. The Brewers were going great guns in May and taking advantage of an under-performing St. Louis team, but three straight losses to the Twins and a couple of losses to the aforementioned Cardinals, have seen things remain very competitive. Meanwhile, though little is often reported about the Reds, Cincinnati are now 26-22, and most of the headlines continue to centre around their divisional rivals, the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs’ form of late has been much cause for concern, and the six-game suspension of Carlos Zambrano for his hissy-fit on Wednesday won’t help their cause much. Pittsburgh and Houston continue to fade however, so the Cubs don’t need to panic just yet.

In the AL West, Texas remains atop the division, despite a few stumbles lately. Though they were swept by Detroit and suffered at the hands of a resurgent Yankees team, the Rangers are still a few games up on the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Halos themselves saw ace pitcher John Lackey return from injury, then disappear just as quickly as he was ejected after a mere two pitches on Saturday May 16th against Texas. The Seattle Mariners are not demonstrating the improvements expected of them after a bright start to the season, and the Oakland Athletics woes continue, now at a league-worst 18-29, having only won 10 of 28 games in May so far.

Finally, we move to the NL West where the Los Angeles Dodgers, despite not having Manny Ramirez in the line-up, continue to play great baseball. They’re now a staggering 34-17, streets ahead of their closest rivals in their league, and the best record in all of Major League Baseball. But not to be forgotten are the surging San Diego Padres. They started the season winning nine of their first 12, then lost 19 of their next 23, before a 10-game winning streak saw them shoot back to second place. Are Padres fans finally beginning to believe?. First baseman Adrian Gonzalez certainly does, now leading the Majors with 19 home runs. After divisional rivals Arizona ditched their manager at the start of May, the Colorado Rockies followed suit on Friday, dismissing manager Clint Hurdle and replacing him with bench coach Jim Tracy. Meanwhile, despite good starts by their pitchers, the San Francisco Giants offense continues to struggle, and the Giants find themselves around the .500 mark once more, but have put together a little winning streak their past few games.

Well, that wraps up another eventful week fortnight in the MLB. Back next week with more news from the Majors.

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1 comment

Matt Smith May 31, 2009 - 7:30 pm

Hi Marty. I’m sure no one will begrudge you taking a writing break while in Hawaii. The weather’s been good in Britain this week, but I think you’ve still got the bragging rights!

I’m very disappointed to see the A’s struggling so badly. I didn’t expect us to be fighting for a play-off spot, but this is just demoralizing.

I wasn’t surprised to see Clint Hurdle get the sack, but putting Jim Tracy in his place did shock me a bit. Apart from that one postseason appearance with the Dodgers, his managerial career hasn’t given any reason to believe he can turn things around in Colorado.

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