Fun Factoid of the Day

Last year on the first of May Mike Cameron was hitting .192/.267/.240 in 116 PA, with 29 K's. From May 1 to the end of the season, Cameron hit .253/.341/.473 (with half his games at Petco). Sometimes good players have slow starts. Sometimes people on the wrong side of 30 have bad starts and bounce back. Sometimes, they don't bounce back.

Fun Factoid of the Day

From 1994 to 1995, Greg Maddux made 53 starts and threw 411 2/3 innings (7.77 IP/start). During this time period, he had a 1.60 ERA (265 ERA+), a 0.854 WHIP, and a 35-8 record.

Power Rankings - Week 4

Annnd we're back for Week 4 of the power rankings. The MLB season has settled down somewhat, Chase Utley on pace for 73 HR's and 154 RBI's aside, and we're starting to get a small feel for how things might be progressing for the rest of the first half. So without any further ado, here's Week 4 of the Major League Baseball Power Rankings. 

1. Arizona Diamondbacks: The D-backs are off to an MLB best 15-6 start, and if the hitters continue to perform this well, they might stick around at the top. 

2. Chicago Cubs: The Cubs have just kept on winning, also starting 15-6, and winning nine of their last ten. 

3. Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have won eight of their last ten, and seem to have realized Jacoby Ellsbury is a vastly superior player to Coco Crisp. 

4. Anaheim of Orange County Los Angeles Angels: The Halos are playing pretty good baseball of late, and Casey Kotchman, after having 11 HR's in 443 AB's has 6 HR's in 76 AB's this year. 

5. Milwaukee Brewers: The Brew Crew is looking pretty good so far, Eric Gagne has been pretty shaky so far, and Ben Sheets is already hurt. 

6. Florida Marlins: First place in the NL East is not the Mets, Phillies, or the Braves, it's the Florida Marlins. 

7. Oakland Athletics: They continue to surprise, and if Rich Harden comes back, they very well may compete. 

8. Baltimore Orioles: I'm putting them here based solely on the fact that they're still above .500 this late into the season. 

9. St. Louis Cardinals: The redbirds have been struggling a little bit, but they appear to not be as bad as I had expected. 

10. New York Yankees: Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have been flat out terrible. Which bodes well for the Yankees if they can turn it around. 

11. New York Mets: The Mets have been playing somewhat better recently, but I continue to worry about their pitching. 

12. Chicago White Sox: Still in first place!

13. Philadelphia Phillies: Chase Utley is an absolute beast. 

14. Seattle Mariners: Felix Hernandez looks like he finally is starting to fulfill some of his vast potential. Because I said this, his next start will be 3 innings with 7 ER's. 

15. Tampa Bay Rays: Evan Longoria has made a very solid entry into the majors, another in the line of uber-prospects for the Rays. 

16. Houston Astros: The 'Stros have won four in a row, although with Miguel Tejada certain to need geritol or some other old age product, you wonder how long it can last. 

17. Atlanta Braves: Yunel Escobar has been excellent so far, as everyone who owned him in 20 team keeper leagues could have predicted. 

18. Minnesota Twins: Francisco Liriano's start hasn't been particularly encouraging, but it's early. 

19. Detroit Tigers: The offense is finally starting to come around...they're not going to be under .500 for much longer. 

20. Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays have lost seven of their last ten, but with good pitching, losing streaks don't stay around very long. 

21. Los Angeles Dodgers: They've shown flashes of brilliance along with long periods of stupidity, but Andruw Jones has looked terrible. 

22. Kansas City Royals: The Royals have cooled off considerably, but I still like the direction of the team. 

23. Pittsburgh Pirates: Hey, at least they've won two in a row. 

24. Cleveland Indians: They can't be in last forever, can they? 

25. Colorado Rockies: They've lost four in a row and are still tied for second. 

26. San Diego Padres: The Fathers are not playing particularly good baseball. Jake Peavy and Chris Young both pitched in what were eventually double digit games, not a good thing. 

27. Cincinnati Reds: Edison Volquez has been excellent so far. 

28. San Francisco Giants: I have a man crush on Tim Lincecum. 

29. Texas Rangers: Wow. 

30. Washington Nationals: They suck. 

Floundering Friars, Surging Snakes, and Down in the Dumps Dodgers

I'd like to write something analyzing the events of the first part of the season that's occurred. Unfortunately, for almost every potential topic, I come back to the same refrain: small sample size. Padre bullpen getting torched: small sample size. Padre offense not being worth a darn: small sample size. The Diamondbacks being awesome and firing on all cylinders: small sample size. Andruw Jones looks like the worst kid on a little league team with his flailing attempts at sliders: small sample size. The Dodgers in general can't really hit: small sample size. You get the picture.

Thus, my outlook on what has transpired to this point, specifically the D-Backs' dominating lead over the rest of the division, is significantly more optimistic than the average Padre, Rockie, or Dodgers' fan. Sure, the Diamondbacks are crushing the ball this year, but I still remember their terrible offense from last year, when they tied for the third worst team OPS+ in baseball with an 89.* ** So I remember that terrible offense from last year, and I realize they have almost the exact same players contributing this year, so I am optimistic the offense is in for some serious regression. Sure, young players, which they have a lot of, generally improve as they age, but they don't generally magically transform overnight from a .683 OPS to an .838 OPS like Stephen Drew is doing thus far this year.

* Trivia question: which three offenses last year were at or below the 89 OPS+ mark? Answer at the bottom of this post.
** Yes, I'm totally trying out the Pozterisk style of annotating my posts. Scroll down to the bottom of this post here to see this term used by its inventor. Also, just read all of Posnanski's blog because Joe Posnanski is the best sportswriter in the world today.


I also think the Diamondbacks' bullpen will struggle this year, given that their two most highly leveraged relievers have terrible peripherals (that would be Tony Pena and Brandon Lyon, and yes, those are terrible as in worse-than-Trevor-Hoffman bad peripherals).

Given this possibly optimistic view that the Snakes are in for a fall back to earth, and my general unwillingness to accept the Padres' and Dodgers' offensive struggles as anything more than a small sample size blip, it is no wonder I consider this division far from decided. That 6 game lead certainly helps the D-Backs, though. Last year's AL West race, generally considered a cakewalk for the Angels in the final month of the season after the M's collapsed, was decided by 6 games. 6 games is a large deficit to make up, and requires the Padres, Dodgers, or Rockies to significantly outplay the Snakes to overcome it. To sum up, I'm not worried about what this start says about the relevant talent levels of the Diamondbacks and the Padres, but I am worried about the practical result of it, which is a 5 game lead for Arizona.

Despite the small sample size, there are a couple of Padres I am very much worried about. Jim Edmonds and Scott Hairston have started very slowly, which just adds to the evidence existing before the season that the former is pretty much done and the latter just can't hit major league pitching. If these suspicions continue to be confirmed by their play, the Padres are without a viable centerfielder, which could be a problem. Maybe. Maybe Chris Young can just work on getting everything hit to either left or right field. Dodger fans, if I were a Dodger fan this means I would also be worried about Andruw Jones. I was expecting a bounceback close to pre-2007 form, but his performance to this point in the season suggests that last year was not a fluke, and this might be his true talent level now.

The main player I am concerned about based solely on his 2008 performance is Heath Bell. Yes, the Heath Bell with a 3.55 ERA, which was below 1 before today. Looking at the numbers, his strikeout rate has fallen apart, with 5 in 12 2/3 innings, and his groundball rate has collapsed from 59% to 36%. These are numbers from a very small sample size, but from observing him pitch it appears his stuff has slipped too. From fangraphs (scroll to the bottom of that link), his fastball velocity is down 3 mph from last year's, and he's throwing the fastball a lot more this year 80% this year versus 64% last year. These numbers aren't a reversion back to his old New York struggles; even while he was struggling there he was throwing hard, striking large bunches of guys out, and getting lots of ground balls, so this appears to be an entirely new development. I have no idea what the problem is, if there really is a problem; it could just be he needs a little time to find his command or get fully loosened up or whatever. I'm guessing the Padres know better than me what's going on here, so I hope they have a good solution in mind. Or maybe this is still a case of overreacting to a small sample size.

Trivia Answer: The Royals were the worst last year, with a team OPS+ of 85, thanks to one person on the team with over 100 PA compiling an OPS+ over 100 - Billy Butler, who eeked out a 105. The White Sox were the second worst despite a 150 from Jim Thome. And everyone's favorite horrific offensive team, the San Francisco Giants, tied with the Diamondbacks with an 89 OPS+.

College Sports

You know what separates collegiate sports from professional sports? Well besides the multi-million dollar contracts and endorsement deals...

It's recruiting. 

I played competitive baseball most of the time from ages 8-13, and then off and on from 13-16. However, since I didn't really take it seriously from 13-16, and consequently never played for a high school team, I missed out on any possibility of being recruited. Now granted, I had vague ideas of what the recruiting process was like, i.e., coach comes to player's house, tells him/her about the wonders of State University, makes promises that have about a 35% chance of being fulfilled, and then proceeds to send text messages and e-mails until the recruit commits. I thought I had a relatively good grip on how recruiting goes. 

Until tonight. 

I discovered tonight that recruiting goes above and beyond just coaches you barely know, making promises they can't keep, and generally falling all over themselves for you. Nay, recruiting involves family members making subtle, (and not so subtle) remarks and/or doing subtle, (and not so subtle) things to convince you to attend said school. For your consideration, I submit to you the case of one Ian Miller. He is a strapping young lad, roguishly handsome, disarmingly charming, and yes, he always smells good. This man, ladies and gentlemen, applied to two major universities in the Los Angeles area, the University of Southern California, and the University of California at Los Angeles. These schools are more commonly known as USC, and UCLA. Here's where we introduce our supporting character, and inevitably, our recruiter, a respected chief of family practice medicine at six Kaiser Permanente Hospitals in the Orange County and Los Angeles County region, a graduate of the University of California at San Diego medical school and most importantly, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of UCLA. His name is John Karapetian, and he happens to be our hero's uncle. 

Now, lest ye be confused, this recruiting of our hero is not necessarily a bad, or even an unwelcome act, it is merely an interesting case study in the recruitment process. 

Example 1: Said Uncle takes recruitee (?) to a UCLA-Oregon football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena knowing full well that the history and tradition of the stadium and the massive UCLA crowds would instill in our hero a desire to take part in the majesty of UCLA athletics. On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a solid 9 in effectiveness.

Example 2: When discussing school possibilities for the fall, said Uncle does never acknowledge the presence of USC as a possible option, opting instead to recognize only UCLA when discussing acceptance, or rejection letter notifications. This rates a solid 5 on the scale, as it belittles the very existence of USC as a contender. 

Example 3: While the entire family is gathered together in front of a television, said Uncle, instead of allowing us to watch Sports Center, or something equally as neutral, puts on a DVD showcasing the UCLA Men's Basketball Dynasty during the John Wooden era. This hour long presentation showcases the University and the athletic program, and creates a feeling of nostalgia and pride in our potential recruitee. While not as emotionally investing as the Rose Bowl football game, the DVD still manages to echo our recruiter's message, that UCLA is clearly superior to any university that could possibly exist. Thus, it receives a 8 on our 1-10 scale. 

So you see, that while these acts taken separately seem to be innocuous and in the best of intentions, they are in fact, subconsciously, inserting UCLA propaganda into our hero's psyche. This indeed, is a most impressive recruitment tool, and something that should be utilized at every opportunity. 

While our hero's mind has not been made, whether by him, or by USC and UCLA, he has certainly been affected by the expertly maneuvered recruiting of a most talented UCLA graduate. I will take it upon myself to inform you all any further developments in this highly interesting case. 

Elimination Number

The San Francisco Giants are a mere 142 games from being eliminated from playoff contention! Brian Bocock, start making your October travel reservations...

Power Rankings - Week 3

Well, amazingly enough, we're already in Week 3 of the 2008 Major League Baseball season. And relatedly, isn't it convenient in baseball that we get to say it's just the "2008" season? In basketball you have the troubling "2005-06" deal, and football will say simply "2007" but in reality, the playoffs and Super Bowl are in 2008. So way to go MLB for simplifying our lives with your one year system. Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that baseball is a primarily outside game requiring good weather outside of temperature and precipitation extremes. But I like to think it's so us aspiring sportswriters can easily refer to a season and know exactly which one we mean. With that blisteringly brilliant introduction, let me continue to the 2008 Major League Baseball Season Week 3 Power Rankings. As always, these are simply one man's relatively humble opinion of how the baseball season has transpired to this point, not necessarily a predictor of how the season will finish. 

1. Arizona Diamondbacks:  The D-backs are 8-2 in their last 10, and are getting a ton of hitting from their young stars. The question for them will be if their bullpen can make it through the year. 

2. St. Louis Cardinals: The Cardinals have Braden Looper at 3-0, and apparently have someone in the rotation named Todd Wellemeyer, who may in fact set the record for most "e's" in one name. 

3. Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox have won four in a row with David Ortiz hitting .104. That's worrisome for when he inevitably starts hitting. Coco Crisp desperately needs to be traded to open up CF for Jacoby Ellsbury. 

4. Milwaukee Brewers: The Brewers are 8-5 without Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder playing well, and without the services of young phenom Yovani Gallardo. If Gagne proves consistent, they could be one of the best teams in the NL. 

5. Los Angeles Angels of Orange (not LA) County: The OC (don't call it that) Angels are continuing to play well without John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. Joe Saunders has had a great start, Casey Kotchman seems to have turned the corner offensively, and K-Rod is dominant as always. Times are good in Anaheim (which is in Orange County). 

6. Oakland Athletics: Even with Dana Eveland's first so-so start, and Rich Harden once again on the DL, the A's seem to be ok. They won't be for very long without Harden, but as I said before, they might not be as bad as I thought they would be. 

7. Toronto Blue Jays: With a few breaks in their favor, and a successful Adam Lind callup, they could very well challenge in the AL East. The Killer M's (Marcum, McGowan), are the true anchors of the rotation at this point. 

8. Chicago White Sox: I really like Carlos Quentin as a breakout candidate this year, and John Danks has been dominant to start the season. They do have some young players with upside, the two just mentioned, and Nick Swisher as well. However, Pablo Ozuna seems to be getting playing time, which is unacceptable.

9. Florida Marlins: Their highest paid player is Kevin Gregg. Someone 80% of non-fantasy playing baseball fans would never have heard of. The starting rotation ERA is 7.17. How are they winning? Raise your hand if you think Hanley Ramirez is actually superman. 

10. Chicago Cubs: Losing Soriano for any extended period of time would really hurt. Fukudome, Soto, and Lee have all had very solid starts, but I still remain firmly unimpressed with the starting rotation. 

11. San Diego Padres: Returned the favor in LA, taking 2 of 3, despite being outscored 16-9. Bullpen seems to have settled down, and the starting pitching continues to be dominant at home. There's no surer thing in baseball than Jake Peavy going 7+ innings with 2 or fewer runs and 7-10 strikeouts at Petco.

12. Kansas City Royals: Billy Butler and Alex Gordon have gotten off to great starts, and already are giving Royals fans a glimpse of that "organizational savior" talent. Brian Bannister and Zack Greinke have been excellent, and with a return to form by Gil Meche, the Royals should be a lot closer to .500 than they have been recently. 

13. Baltimore Orioles: How much money could you have made betting that George Sherrill would have 6 saves in the first two weeks? Still don't see the Orioles going anywhere soon, but Adam Jones and Nick Markakis form a solid core around which to build a team. 

14. New York Yankees: Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy have a combined ERA of over 17 to this point. Obviously, they'll need to improve on that. Believe it or not, I could see the Yankees finishing behind Toronto in the East if the pitching fails to hold up. 

15. New York Mets: Reyes finally had a good night, going 4-5, and Wright looks like he'll again put up MVP-quality numbers. The question for this year will once again be with the starting pitching.

16. Philadelphia Phillies: Scoring 4 in the 9th off Valverde has to feel good. The Fighting Phils will be best remembered this season for challenging the Royals for best uniforms. 

17. Seattle Mariners: Erik Bedard is already on the DL, which is not a good sign. They need him and J.J. Putz to be back quickly. Meanwhile, Adam Jones hits his first homer, and George Sherrill has 6 saves. 

18. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers have been struggling recently, losing 1-0 to San Diego, having the bases loaded in the 9th in their 7-5 loss, also to San Diego, and then having their star closer blow a save with 2 outs in the 9th inning and lose 6-4. Those three games go differently, and they're 9-5. However you spin it though, the Dodgers are 3-7 in their last ten. Andruw Jones showing some life is a good sign, and there are positive indications that the offense is beginning to wake up. Now it's time to make sure the bullpen is awake too. 

19. Pittsburgh Pirates: Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady are tearing the cover off the ball. If Zach Duke and Paul Maholm can step it up and slot in with Gorzelanny and Snell, the Pirates will only be bad, not terrible. 

20. Minneosta Twins: The Twins have blown leads against the Tigers two consecutive nights, contributing to a three game losing streak. But Nick Blackburn and Boof Bonser starting well has to be encouraging. 

21. Detroit Tigers: The Tigers have shown signs of life, coming from behind two nights in a row, running their record to, well, 4-10. 5 homers tonight shows the offense is close to getting untracked. They desperately need Francisco Rodney and Joel Zumaya back though. 

22. Cincinnati Reds: After starting 6-4, they've lost 4 in a row. Johnny Cueto was dominant through 2 starts, then gave up 5 runs in 6 innings. Still, him, Harang, and Arroyo form a solid rotation to go with the offense. 

23. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays are 3-7 in their last 10, namely due to losing 2 close games against the Yankees. That'll likely be the story for the season, close, but not quite there. Evan Longoria already contributing is a great sign for the future of the franchise, however. 

24. Cleveland Indians: Joe Borowski is on the DL, a massive blessing for the Indians, and a chance to try out Rafael Betancourt as the closer. However, he never even had a chance tonight as the bullpen allowed Boston to break a tie. 

25. Atlanta Braves: Chipper Jones, Yunel Escobar, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson, and John Smoltz have all had great starts to the season, which is why it's surprising they're only 5-8. If they can weather the bullpen injuries, they should be fine. 

26. Colorado Rockies: The Rockies sweep Atlanta, then get absolutely dismantled by Arizona for 2 games before winning 13-5, then almost get no-hit by Randy Wolf. Huh? I guess we're in for a year of ups and downs in Denver. 

27. Houston Astros: Another week goes by in Houston and I still don't care about the Astros.

28. San Francisco Giants: After I ranked them last, last week, the Giants went out to prove me wrong. Way to go guys! 28th this week! Somebody named John Bowker has provided a spark, and Lincecum and Cain are awesome. There's a small glimmer of hope in the mine shaft of the Giants organization.

29. Texas Rangers: They've lost 5 in a row. How long is Salty going to be in the minor leagues? They have some good young players, Ian Kinsler, Hank Blalock, Josh Hamilton, even David Murphy has some potential. Why not let Salty develop with them? Help is on the way though, with a stacked farm system. 

30. Washington Nationals: After winning 3 straight to open the year, they lost 9 in a row to start 4-10. The rotation is awful, but at least Christian Guzman and Lastings Milledge are playing well. 

Well that does it for Week 3's power rankings. Thanks for reading. Also, in sports related movie news, check out "Leatherheads" starring George Clooney and John Krasinski, very good overall movie, and definitely a fun football flick as well. 

The Padres' Bullpen

Last night against the Giants the Padres' bullpen again allowed the opposition to score the winning runs. Ok, so that was after holding them scoreless for the previous four innings, so last night's game is probably the wrong one to use to demonstrate the pen's struggles. Still, the Padre relievers as a group have the second worst ERA in baseball this season. What does this tell us about the Padres' pen and their prospects for the rest of the season? Should they be seeking reinforcements, and should we be re-evaluating the team's true strengths?

In a word, no. In three words, small sample size. In many more words that reiterate those four words, the combined twenty innings the relievers have thrown adds almost no information for us about their individual abilities. Cla Meredith is still a great groundball pitcher with excellent control who dominates righties. Joe Thatcher is still a groundballing sidearmer better against lefties but who can get righties out. Heath Bell is still overall awesome. Trevor Hoffman still has a great changeup and the same stuff he's used to get by with a sub 3 ERA for six years in a row. Enrique Gonzalez, Glendon Rusch, and Wil Ledezma probably aren't going to be very good, but Kevin Cameron and Carlos "Che" Guevara both look solid and available to be called up/activated from the DL.

More on Trevor Hoffman: according to Gameday, Hoffman's velocity is right where it was last year, his changeup still looks as nasty as ever, and he's used his slider effectively at times (he struck out Matt Kemp on three straight sliders). He had a terrible outing against Houston where he struggled with his control, but still almost escaped without allowing a run. Against the Dodgers, he gave up one run on a walk and a single. It's been four innings, two of them excellent. He's given up one extra base hit, so it's not like every ball put in play has been a rocket. It is extremely premature to conclude he's done.

Power Rankings

The extended first week of the Major League Baseball season is now over, and we've already had some surprises. Nate McLouth of the Pirates turning into Babe Ruth Jr., the Baltimore Orioles defying the experts (myself included) by starting in first place with a 5-1 record, and the Detroit Tigers are winless in their first six games. So while I would like to make these power rankings reflective of how I think things will actually turn out, at this point I will temper my expectations in deference as to how the season is currently playing out. A word of caution however, as is often said this is a marathon, not a trip to the kitchen for some midnight snacks. Ok that's not exactly the saying, but you get the idea. 

So here are my power rankings for Week 2...

1. Toronto Blue Jays: I know what you're thinking. The Toronto Blue Jays? But, I say to you, do not judge lest ye be judged. The Blue Jays just swept the Red Sox, granted at home, but that's still impressive. Their rotation has four very, very good pitchers in Halladay, Burnett, McGowan, and Marcum, and Jesse Litsch also has some potential. While the Red Sox saw Josh Beckett and Clay Buchholz struggle, Marcum and McGowan looked dominant. With a Vernon Wells return to form, the Blue Jays very well could contend in the Al East. 

2. Anaheim Angels: Even without Lackey and Escobar, their pitching seems to be ok. So with them, they should be even better. 

3. New York Yankees: How long can they keep Joba Chamberlain out of the rotation? Relatedly, how long can Mike Mussina stay in the rotation? 

4. Milwaukee Brewers: They started hot last year too, but as it is always is, with a healthy Ben Sheets they should be good. Now they also need a healthy Gallardo as well.

5. Baltimore Orioles: Well. They swept the Mariners. That's a good sign. They're also still the Baltimore Orioles. That's a bad sign.

6. Chicago White Sox: They've won five in a row, including a sweep of Detroit. Still don't see them winning this year.

7. Arizona Diamondbacks: If Justin Upton continues to hit this well, they will be very dangerous. Mark Reynolds, Upton, and Chris Young are all at the top of the HR leaderboard.

8. Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers were 3-6 against the Pads in Petco last year, so taking 2 of 3 is a step forward. They're battling through facing Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavy, Chris Young, and Dan Haren, they're 2-2 so far. 

9. San Diego Padres: The starting rotation has been excellent, but the bullpen has really struggled, Hoffman has not looked good so far this year. The hitting has also been solid so far.

10. St. Louis Cardinals: Pujols still hasn't hit a homer, and yet the team is 5-2. We'll see how long that lasts, though. 

11. Kansas City Royals: The Royals certainly have some talent, so with some lucky breaks they could stay up towards the top of the Central for a few more weeks probably. 

12. Atlanta Braves: They won the two games they played against the Mets, but they lost Mike Hampton again. Did they really expect to have him around?

13. Cleveland Indians: C.C. Sabathia was rocked at Oakland, but Cliff Lee pitched well. Go figure. 

14. Boston Red Sox: They were 3-1 until they ran into a buzzsaw in Toronto, but Beckett and Buchholz struggling is worrisome. 

15. Chicago Cubs: Perhaps a little low, but I am unexcited by their rotation at this point. Fukudome has been great so far. 

16. Tampa Bay Rays: When David Price, Reid Brignac, Wade Davis, and Jake McGee are ready, this team will be dangerous. 

17. Cincinnati Reds: Johnny Cueto's debut was dazzling, and so was Edison Volquez. 

18. Florida Marlins: Would you trade the entire team for A-Rod and $7 million? These are the tough questions.

19. Texas Rangers: Josh Hamilton has started well, but Volquez was excellent. Only time will tell on that one. 

20. Philadelphia Phillies: The bats were silenced by Tim Redding, but I don't see that being a long term problem here. 

21. Oakland Athletics: I actually don't know that they will be as bad as I previously thought. Assuming of course the obvious, Rich Harden's arm bones not exploding into shards of shattered hopes. 

22. Pittsburgh Pirates: Nate McLouth and Xavier Nady are the best players in baseball. Let's just get it out now. You heard it here first. 

23. Minnesota Twins: Really not much going on here until Francisco Liriano comes back. Can't wait for that.

24. New York Mets: I really don't like Oliver Perez, and Pedro's already hurt, so we'll have to see if Santana and John Maine are enough to get by. 

25. Houston Astros: It's hard to care less about a team than I do about the Astros.

26. Colorado Rockies: They certainly are struggling. But they're not THIS bad. 

27. Seattle Mariners: With Putz out, we'll see how the bullpen fares. They already blew one win for Felix Hernandez. 

28. Washington Nationals: I'm not sure which is their number one starter, Odalis Perez or Matt Chico. 

29. Detroit Tigers: My preseason pick to win the World Series, the Tigers have really not done anything well so far. Obviously not time to panic, but definitely puzzling. 

30. San Francisco Giants: Possibly the worst lineup in baseball history. This team is Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum and a black hole. 

Well there ya have it. Stay tuned to baseball, and if I'm not too lazy, I'll do this again for Week 3.