What a difference a month makes.

1. Angels getting better.

At the beginning of May, people were wringing hands and getting frantic when talking about the Angels. And then Jered Weaver threw a no-hitter on the 2nd, and Pujols started hitting, and they're finishing out the month with beatdowns on Oakland and Seattle and the Yankees. Not a bad turnaround for a team that was a basket case 30 days ago. Weaver just went on the DL for a back injury, but hopefully that won't be too severe. He's one of the better pitchers in the league.

2. AL East is crazy competitive.

The last place team is Boston, and they have a 25-24 record. That's not very good, but when Baltimore and Tampa Bay have been killing it (tied, 29-21 records), and your last place team has a record above .500, well, damn. Too bad the bottom two teams didn't play their games in the Central or West. Personally, I don't think Baltimore's run will last. With what pitching? They can definitely thank Adam Jones for his hot start. 16 HRs already, he's a caged rage at the plate this year. Here's to the 12 O's fans left, hoping that they can keep up the assault. Seriously, congrats so far to the Orioles. Nobody predicted this.

3. Detroit Tigers, a 135 million dollar disappointment.

Their fielding stinks the worst. For a team with the least amount of fielding chances (thanks to a very high team pitching strikeout total), they sure shouldn't be wallowing at .980. It's to be expected that your hot corners aren't so hot when you got Cabrera at 3rd and Fielder at 1st, but because you have those guys, you absolutely need dynamite gloves in the middle of the infield. Peralta, Santiago, and Raburn blow. They're not even average fielders at SS and 2B, their range isn't great, and they can't even turn a double play when they need to do it. Raburn just got demoted (.146, doing his best Brandon Inge impersonation). You really need to buy some complete infielders, and good luck with that.

But that's not nearly as bad as their pitching, in my opinion. 4.01 ERA in a pitcher's park, and a 4.17 ERA overall. Teams are hitting a good .263 against them. And this team employs Justin Verlander. Culprits? Max Scherzer and Rick Porcello flat out cannot pitch. There's no point in putting them out there every 5th game. Of both these guys, I've seen enough. And Jose Valverde has been awful. 2 blown saves isn't the problem. His fastball isn't fooling very many batters. And his physique is awful. He's having back troubles. I can see why. Fat and predictable is no way to close games, Jose.

4. Three predictions.

I'm terrible at these, and even more so, baseball is very unpredictable, but here goes.

* Nationals will keep it up. Their hitting is pretty bad, but they're in the NL. Barring the injury bug, the Nats have 5 solid starting pitchers, which is 3 more than most teams have. DC would do well to trade for an extra bat and better relief come the trade deadline. I really shouldn't have doubted Bryce Harper, but that kid sucked more than I have ever seen a phenom suck, in person, back when I saw him play on a cold April day for Syracuse, DC's AAA team. So, mea culpa baseball gods, but is it too much to ask that a guy is consistent, even when they force him to duff it for a week or two in AAA?

* Dodgers are for real. Sorry, Giants haters. Rub on Brian Wilson's elbow and empty the cusses and slurs. It's not like you aren't doing so bad yourself, it's just, LA is better. Kershaw and Capuano are having solid seasons, Kemp's back, and the Dodgers are 32-17. They've got a semi-tough June ahead of them, facing off against San Fran, the uncommonly good Mets, desperate Philly, streaking White Sox, and the Angels. At least they can beat up on Seattle and Oakland in the process. If LA is still on top by the 4th of July, then I think it's safe to say that they'll be a 2nd season contender. Who would have predicted such rosy skies for this team? Maybe all it took was getting out from under Frank McCourt's awful grip.

* Yankees are in trouble. No, losing Mariano isn't really the problem. Ivan Nova isn't so hot. Neither is Phil HugeHughes. They went out and bought Kuroda, but will he last the year? He's 37. Ditto Pettitte, who is 39. Pineda was a total wash. The Yankees pitching won't be enough to last, unless they're the ones power broking at the deadline. It's a shame too, because their fielding is great, and their hitting is pretty solid, too. Jeter is killing it. 338 average won't last, but still. The biggest problem is the previously-mentioned solid East ... they added a playoff spot, but all 5 teams in the East aren't making the post season.

June's just about here. Time for fighting in the streets, baseball teams. It's hot, that ball's going to travel, and you're inching toward the halfway mark. Flukes are going to end. Shit is about to get real.

My dad just asked me an interesting question. Why aren't 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base level with the ground like home plate? Any ideas, or known reasons?

i found this song and felt it absolutely had to be shared. dan bern is a musician who has written a handful of songs about his love for baseball, and this is my favorite. i hope this is okay to post!

( They Don't Got Baseball by Dan Bern )

you can listen to this song and others here: http://homepage.mac.com/bcourter/danbernbaseball/

I caught this on satellite radio on a car trip to NY for the holidaze. Later, I caught the highlights on the sports networks. People I know attended the game, and everyone had a good time, from what I gather on their interwebs.

Anyway, here's 3 points from what I gathered.

1. Stop with the "Lester pitched well" crap.

He gave a decent performance, but it wasn't great. He only allowed one earned run, sure, but he also allowed 6 hits and 3 walks in 7 innings. Some clutch double plays kept the Tigers mostly scoreless. Credit the fielding more, Lester less. Maybe it's the Boston media grasping at the few positives they can manufacture, but if there's nothing good to say, then maybe they shouldn't say anything at all. Which leads to the next point ...

2. Stop with the Red Sox turmoil stories.

This team is in transition, and we've heard about the Red Sox turmoil from pretty much every news outfit. If the Red Sox do well this year, then it will be in defiance of many people's opinion, especially the press. The trend is to take any little Red Sox failure and blow it out of proportion. Yes, the Red Sox bullpen is shaky. No, let's not aggrandize the outcome of the 1st game of the season as a symbol of everything going wrong with Boston. Christ, it was so much better dealing with Boston bullshit before the city started winning everything. The woe-is-me bullshit prior to all the championships was way more tolerable. This stupid city has won championships in everything starting with the new century. And the fans take any little failure as an opportunity to cry and wring the hands. You stopped being loveable losers a long time ago. I don't give a shit that the Boston Red Sox may be on the downswing, and the rest of the country doesn't care, either.

3. Austin Jackson had a hell of a day.

I was kind of pissed when the Tigers and Yankees swung the deal that sent Curtis Granderson to NY. Prior to his departure, he was a Detroit fan favorite. Austin Jackson essentially replaced him, and last year, Austin left fans largely wanting for Curtis. He had a pretty mediocre season, and instead of being a leadoff hitter, I saw his numbers and figured him for the bottom of the order.

Well, if he keeps up his heroics, color me corrected. This is what we need to see from Austin. More hits, more game winners, more ice water in the veins during clutch moments. Keep up the good work, Austin.

Even though the first was day officially in Japan and the first US game was yesterday, today feels like the real Opening Day (at least for fan bases who teams start today).

Is there a reason that MLB doesn't have all their teams play today? I understand the game yesterday (preview/event) and I can even see the reason for the Japan game (grow markets), but I don't understand why they make so many fan bases wait until tomorrow to start things off? If tomorrow the "real" opening day, then why have so many games today?

Anyway, go Braves!

Here's a blog link about Braun's successful appeal from CBS Sports Dot Com.

( For the link-phobic, this is the blog text in full, behind the cut: )

If the MLB's proof isn't 'truthy' enough, then Bud Selig has a maaaaajor shitstorm on his hands. I personally believe the guys seen as likely users in the "'Roid Era" are still very guilty of PEDs, but how many future players will try to claim innocence? Does the MLB need to reorganize its testing procedures?

Gary Carter died on Thursday.

I'll never forget Gary for being part of the 1986 Mets. Of all the wild characters on that team, he remains one of my favorites. I can clearly remember watching the '86 series on my TV, expecting the Red Sox to end the series, any play now ... and then boom, Buckner, and shock and awe. I was young at the time, but I knew how close the Mets came to defeat. It blew my mind, and rightfully so.

He's also one of the most memorable Expos. When I was a kid, I collected those cheap plastic replica batting helmets. I remember wearing an Expos version for a while because I liked the red white and blue colors to it. The Expos were cool back in the 80s and early 90s ... Gary Carter, Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, and toward the end, Vlad Guererro were all guys I first remember for their time with the Expos.

He was a good defensive catcher, one of the best players of the 1980s, and while I don't know him, I'll remember him. Thanks for the good times, Gary.

Hi,
I've been a Double-A spectator and had a good time, and lately I've looked into a trip to a collegiate summer league game. That's the sort of level where college-eligible players join teams as amateurs once the college season is over. They use wooden bats (sometimes the short-hand for such a league is 'college wooden bat'), and the season is usually about the same as short-season A ball.

What I wonder is whether attending a summer league game really has an atmosphere similar to an affiliated minor league ballpark. Does anyone have any experience attending any such league games?

As a Spanish-language ESPN ad said last year, baseball doesn't hibernate, it migrates south for the winter. We're coming up on some opening days for various leagues. Including:

Australian Baseball League
Opening Day 11/03/2011

Dominican Winter League
Opening Day 10/14/2011

Mexican Pacific League
Opening Day 10/11/2011

Puerto Rican League
Opening Day 11/04/2011

Venezuelan Winter League
Opening Day 10/12/2011

And the Arizona Fall League began play over the weekend. Bryce Harper and Mike Trout appear to be the most highly-regarded prospects playing in the Arizona League this year. I don't know how good Trout is, but I regret that the Arkansas Travelers weren't among the AA Texas League teams I saw this year.