Willis' two shutouts lead Marlins (Getty)
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After one full week of play, Luke Lapinski already has a new No. 1, and the Mariners have made a move. Did they move up? Or did they sink further into the depths of last year's nightmare?
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1. Atlanta (5-4) - The Marlins are probably the better team out in the
NL East, but the Braves just always seem to win the division. Every…
single… year…
2. NY Yankees (4-5) - I don't care how early in the season it is, if you
have a $200 million payroll, you SHOULD NEVER BE ANYWHERE NEAR THE
D'RAYS IN THE STANDINGS!
3. Boston (4-5) - Schilling's back as the number one starter. Kind of a
shame. David Wells and his inflatable ERA (8.44) were so entertaining
to watch. And, just on a side note, ever notice how the Sox fans seem
to realy not like the Yankees?
4. Florida (5-4) - Top flight pitching staff sporting a ridiculous 1.36
team ERA. Oh and by the way, Dontrelle and Beckett are just never
going to give up a run.
5. Minnesota (6-3) - Have yet to score the first run in a game all
season. Then again, they have Johan Santana. Don't need to score when
the other team has negative points, I guess.
6. LA Dodgers (6-2) - Looking into the possibility that Kobe ran
Adrian Beltre out of LA too.
7. LA Angels (5-4) - Looking into the possibility that Kobe ran Troy Glaus
out of LA (of Anaheim) too.
8. St. Louis (3-4)- Newly acquired Mark Mulder is winless so far.
Meanwhile, Kiko Calero is 1-0 for Oakland. Clearly, the Cardinals got
ripped off in that deal.
9. Chicago Sox (6-3) - Sure do seem to play the Indians a lot
(4-2 against Cleveland already in '05).
10. San Diego (5-4) - Xavier Nady (.412 avg., 3 HR's, 11 RBI's) has been key.
11. Chicago Cubs (4-5) - Good news: Prior and Wood are back. Bad News:
It's the Cubs - it won't last.
12. Houston (4-4) - At .500 despite putting up a meager 26 runs in 8 games.
13. Baltimore (5-4) - Brian Roberts leads the American League in
home runs. Brian Roberts. That's what cracking down on steroid abuse
has gotten us: a league where Brian Roberts is our home run king.
Thanks again, Congress.
14. Seattle (5-4) - Believe it or not, they lead the AL in team ERA.
And no, I don't see this column as my own personal space to lie to the
American public. You can look it up: 3.33 ERA.
15. Arizona (6-4) - More excitement in the first two weeks of '05 than
there was in all of '04 with the newly assembled G-Unit leading the
way (Gonzalez, Glaus, and Green a combined 8 HR's and 24 RBI).
16. San Francisco (4-4) - And now Alou's on the DL. Amazing that the
Giants' roster of 87-year-olds is slowly falling apart.
17. Toronto (7-3) - Lobbying to get the MLB schedule reduced to 10
games. Look out playoffs, here come the Blue Jays!
18. Washington (6-4) - Off to a very respectable start. Hey, even Tomo Ohka has a win! Tomo!
19. Philadelphia (4-5) - Jim Thome is the classiest man in baseball. Too bad his team stinks.
20. Milwaukee (5-3) - Pitcher Doug Davis has picked up where he left
off last year, opening at 2-0 with 12 K's. He keeps pitching this well
and he'll pitch his way right out of Milwaukee.
21. Texas (4-6) - Hank Blalock and David Delluci tied for the AL lead
in walks (9). Exciting, huh?
22. Cincinnati (4-4) - I don't want to alarm you, but Adam Dunn does
not lead Major League Baseball in strikeouts right now. I know, its
really weird, but everything will be back to normal soon, okay?
(series against the Marlins starting on the 22nd)
23. Cleveland (4-5) - A resurgent Kevin Millwood (13 innings, 1.38 ERA)
could be just what this team needs.
24. NY Mets (4-5) - Pedro shows his anger towards Boston by claiming he
doesn't want last year's World Series Ring. Apparently, he was showing
some sort of displeasure towards the baseball world in general when he
turned down any future rings by signing with the Mets.
25. Oakland (4-5) - Ugghh. Losing to the Devil Rays twice in the same
series is enough to make even your own mother stop watching the games.
26. Detroit (3-6) - But they looked so good against the Royals! That
means something, doesn't it? (note: the answer is no)
27. Pittsburgh (3-6) - Quick, who leads the Pirates in RBI? If you
said David Ross (4), you're right! And you have problems.
28. Tampa Bay (4-5) - Alex Sanchez is back from suspension and out to
prove that all those power numbers he was putting up were legit… Who
even thought to give Alex Sanchez a drug test anyway?
29. Kansas City (3-6) - They're going to have the first players ever to
defect to Cuba.
30. Colorado (1-7) - Know what? Just take a couple years off, ok?
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