What's Goin' On Here??

Okay. What’s this? Check out the leaders of each of the 6 MLB divisions this Sunday after about a week of play:

NL East – Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins – 5-1
NL Central – St. Louis Cardinals – 5-2
NL West – San Diego Padres - 5-2

AL East – Toronto Blue Jays – 5-2
AL Central – Detroit Tigers – 4-3
AL West – Seattle Mariners – 5-2

Gimme a break…the Braves?

I can understand the Marlins leading the NL East. They’ve got all those stud-ly guys, Uggla, Hermida, and how about Hanley Ramirez? Then there’re some nice pitchers too, such as the young Josh Johnson and Anibal Sanchez.

But the Braves don’t have that much, do they? I mean…..Chipper Jones is great when he plays and Brian McCann is a nice catcher, Yunil Escobar ain’t too shabby either, and oh yeah, Jeff Francoeur can drive them in. But Kelly Johnson and ol’ Garrett Anderson? Not exactly Murderers Row.

And yeah, they picked up Derek Lowe for big bucks, but then there’s Jari Jurrjens as the number two. Do I really have to learn how to spell Jurrjens? And Vasquez and Campillo….c’mon, this can’t be happening. Of course, they did just finish with the Nats.

The Mets and Phils, they’re both starting a little slow. Mr. Santana lost a tough one today. And Daniel Murphy, so impressive in so many ways, today we learn he needs a new pair of sunglasses. The Phils have to live with that pitching.

In the AL East, the lowly Blue Jays are knockin’ em dead. The mighty Yankees, upstart Rays and Red Sox Nation are all looking up at those fellas from Canada. Of course, after watching the Yanks today, they deserve whatever they get. Has a pitching staff ever been handled more stupidly?

Has an organization ever in the history of the major leagues been more infatuated with pitch counts? Joba was doing great. Woops! Let’s take him out ! His pitch count, his pitch count! Let’s get those second-tier relief guys in there. I mean, really. Bruney’s okay but if you’re going to get relievers on the cheap, you should forget about pitch counts. Do things really go better with Coke? I don’t think so.

The Red Sox are 2-4 and I don’t know what their story is. I do know Ortiz and Ellsbury and Pedroia really aren’t tearing it up yet. I hope it’s not Papi’s wrist, and, if not, you have to think all those guys will start hitting soon. And they did just finish with the Angels, not exactly a piece of cake.

I could analyze each and every division, of course, but that would be boring. This kind of thing seems to happen every year. The favorites take a hike. They’re not really paying attention, not as are the underdogs. Those teams come in with a built-in chip on their shoulders and are hard to beat.

But some of these teams are for real. Take the Mariners….please? No. really. They’ve got some terrific pitchers, some players who can make you pay, Chavez, Beltre, Griffey, and he hasn’t really gotten started yet.

Then there’re just some inexplicable things. Why did Tim Lincecum get bombed today? What did Peavy do yesterday that he missed in his first start? The same goes for the Yankees CC. Except in his case, we know the reason.. He shortened his stride and everything else just fell right into line, his fastball got faster, his control returned and all was right with the world.

Baseball is such a great game if only because it can turn on so many different variables. In a given week, or even as long as a month, a team can get some breaks and then just ride that momentum to achieving some remarkable feats. Anybody who watched Reed Johnson, now with the Cubs, rob Prince Fielder of a grand slam last night by perfectly timing his jump to snag Fielder’s drive from the fans side of the rightfield wall can attest to that.

Things can work the other way around too. The Indians had really high hopes for this season but starting out 0 and 5 surely didn’t do anything to brighten their outlook. But you can bet that opening up against that powerful Rangers lineup and then having to face all those Blue Jay arms was a big factor in their season-opening demise.

They avoided 0-6 yesterday and it was nice to see Travis Hafner hit one out after his troubles from last year. Equally nifty was Kerry Wood’s first save for the Tribe. Before you can say “Rocky Colavito”, the Indians will be back. Facing the perennially downtrodden Royals for a 3-game set next week should do a lot to bring them back to respectability.

Yes, you have to play the games. It’s great that the paper says you’re a better team, but you still have to go out there and prove it. Over the course of 162 games, eventually probability rears its ugly head. The Royals of the world come back to the pack and the cream eventually rises. Only sometimes it does not.

So, despite the wonders of brand new expensive stadiums and a very fancy MLB network, the attraction is still just the game. It’s really a good one, baseball is. You never really know what awaits your favorite team on the field that day.

For me, it was nice to see Boston’s Josh Beckett get banged around by the Angels after he threw at Abreu’s head and nice to see him take the loss. But it was just as good to see Big Papi finally get a 2-4 day and an RBI too.

You do get some insights though after that first week or two. A Mets fan can feel that Pelfrey and Maine and Livan Hernandez could all come through this season even if Oliver Perez might still be in and out at best.

Yanks fans, they can feel that CC and AJ are the real deal, that third baseman maybe not.