One month doesn't mean a lot - a single very hot or very cold week can skew everything - but there are some interesting developments.
When did the AL East turn into the NL Central? Both divisions feature the team with the best record in the league, towering above a bunch of competitors looking up at .500, never mind actually challenging the leaders. Quite a lot of people liked the Brewers going into the season, but it was more on the basis that 86 wins would probably be enough to win a compressed division. (83 wins was enough last year.) Milwaukee has been scoring runs (133, fourth best in the league) with a nicely balanced offense - while nobody is en fuego, everybody is contributing. The only real black hole has been the Counsell-Graffanino tandem at third base. Jeff Suppan has been very good at the top of the rotation and Francisco Cordero has been lights out at the end of the game.
The frightening thing about the Red Sox is this - the offense hasn't really made it out of the station. Manny Ramirez is hitting .227 with just 3 homers. It's unlikely that he'll continue at this pace. Lugo, Crisp, and Varitek are all scuffling. The mighty Big Papi has been carrying the load all by his lonesome, for the most part. Mike Lowell has chipped in as well, although he's given away almost as many runs with his glove (which is also unlikely to continue.) The pitching, of course, has been sensational. Daisuke Matsuzaka is a pretty impressive fourth starter (which is what he's been so far, on this team). Papelbon has picked up exactly where he left off last summer, and this year he's getting some excellent support from a couple of new faces, Brendan Donnelly and Hideki Okajima. They look pretty good - the concern has to be the age and durability of some of the key players: Schilling, Wakefield, Varitek for sure, but Ramirez, Lowell, and Papelbon as well.
The biggest surprises, for me anymore, are coming from the National League. I thought the NL East would be a lively two team struggle. But I thought the Braves would be duking it out with Phillies, not the Mets. New York's starting rotation frightened me to my bones, while the Phillies went into the season with more starting pitchers than they could actually use. But in baseball, you don't know nothing. The Mets have received very little so far from David Wright and Carlos Delgado, two of the cornerstones of their offense. But they've given up fewer runs than any team in baseball. The safest bet going into the season was the man with the Worst Stuff in the Major Leagues, and Tom Glavine is rolling on the way he always does (3-1, 2.80). The happy developments were Orlando Hernandez pitching well through the first month (2-1, 2.53), Oliver Perez recovering the form that two years made him look like the NL's next great left-hander (3-2, 3.41 with 36 Ks in 29 IP) and John Maine unexpectedly being the league's pitcher of the month for April (well, it should have been Matt Cain, but Maine went 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA, which is nothing to sneer at.) The bullpen - Wagner, Smith, Feliciano, Schoeneweis, Burgos - has been superb. El Duque has hit the DL (that's not a surprise), and it seems unlikely (make that impossible) that Maine will continue pitching this well. On the other hand, Wright and Delgado will heat up. And Pedro is looming down the road...
In Philadelphia, meanwhile... Freddy Garcia was hurt in spring training and hasn't pitched well since coming back. Brett Myers lost two of his first three starts and was banished to the bullpen. Adam Eaton is still in the rotation, with his 7.71 ERA. The best news has been the two lefties, the ancient Jamie Moyer and the youthful Cole Hamels. And I would think they're pretty happy they held onto John Lieber.
And somewhat to my surprise, it looks like the Giants will be heard from this year. Matt Cain has allowed 12 hits in 35 innings, which is not bad although he apparently doesn't know how to win. After a couple of shaky starts to begin the year, Barry Zito has settled in to pitch like Barry Zito always does. And the left-fielder has been able to appear in all but two of the team's games, and is on pace to hit 54 home runs, which is a nice complement to his .343/.511/.791 line. The man can certifiably still hit.
When did the AL East turn into the NL Central? Both divisions feature the team with the best record in the league, towering above a bunch of competitors looking up at .500, never mind actually challenging the leaders. Quite a lot of people liked the Brewers going into the season, but it was more on the basis that 86 wins would probably be enough to win a compressed division. (83 wins was enough last year.) Milwaukee has been scoring runs (133, fourth best in the league) with a nicely balanced offense - while nobody is en fuego, everybody is contributing. The only real black hole has been the Counsell-Graffanino tandem at third base. Jeff Suppan has been very good at the top of the rotation and Francisco Cordero has been lights out at the end of the game.
The frightening thing about the Red Sox is this - the offense hasn't really made it out of the station. Manny Ramirez is hitting .227 with just 3 homers. It's unlikely that he'll continue at this pace. Lugo, Crisp, and Varitek are all scuffling. The mighty Big Papi has been carrying the load all by his lonesome, for the most part. Mike Lowell has chipped in as well, although he's given away almost as many runs with his glove (which is also unlikely to continue.) The pitching, of course, has been sensational. Daisuke Matsuzaka is a pretty impressive fourth starter (which is what he's been so far, on this team). Papelbon has picked up exactly where he left off last summer, and this year he's getting some excellent support from a couple of new faces, Brendan Donnelly and Hideki Okajima. They look pretty good - the concern has to be the age and durability of some of the key players: Schilling, Wakefield, Varitek for sure, but Ramirez, Lowell, and Papelbon as well.
The biggest surprises, for me anymore, are coming from the National League. I thought the NL East would be a lively two team struggle. But I thought the Braves would be duking it out with Phillies, not the Mets. New York's starting rotation frightened me to my bones, while the Phillies went into the season with more starting pitchers than they could actually use. But in baseball, you don't know nothing. The Mets have received very little so far from David Wright and Carlos Delgado, two of the cornerstones of their offense. But they've given up fewer runs than any team in baseball. The safest bet going into the season was the man with the Worst Stuff in the Major Leagues, and Tom Glavine is rolling on the way he always does (3-1, 2.80). The happy developments were Orlando Hernandez pitching well through the first month (2-1, 2.53), Oliver Perez recovering the form that two years made him look like the NL's next great left-hander (3-2, 3.41 with 36 Ks in 29 IP) and John Maine unexpectedly being the league's pitcher of the month for April (well, it should have been Matt Cain, but Maine went 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA, which is nothing to sneer at.) The bullpen - Wagner, Smith, Feliciano, Schoeneweis, Burgos - has been superb. El Duque has hit the DL (that's not a surprise), and it seems unlikely (make that impossible) that Maine will continue pitching this well. On the other hand, Wright and Delgado will heat up. And Pedro is looming down the road...
In Philadelphia, meanwhile... Freddy Garcia was hurt in spring training and hasn't pitched well since coming back. Brett Myers lost two of his first three starts and was banished to the bullpen. Adam Eaton is still in the rotation, with his 7.71 ERA. The best news has been the two lefties, the ancient Jamie Moyer and the youthful Cole Hamels. And I would think they're pretty happy they held onto John Lieber.
And somewhat to my surprise, it looks like the Giants will be heard from this year. Matt Cain has allowed 12 hits in 35 innings, which is not bad although he apparently doesn't know how to win. After a couple of shaky starts to begin the year, Barry Zito has settled in to pitch like Barry Zito always does. And the left-fielder has been able to appear in all but two of the team's games, and is on pace to hit 54 home runs, which is a nice complement to his .343/.511/.791 line. The man can certifiably still hit.
