The 2010 season may still be very young, but we’ve already had our fair share of excitement over the past fortnight: Ubaldo Jimenez of the Rockies pitched a no-hitter, the Mets and Cards battled for 20 innings and almost seven hours, and the Washington Nationals are a game above .500… and that was just yesterday!
Both the Yankees and Rays have made good 8-3 starts to the season in the AL East. The Yankees, despite losing their opening game to the Red Sox went on to win the series, before taking two of three from the Rays and Angels, and are currently getting the better of the Rangers this weekend. Tampa Bay meanwhile have won five straight, and swept Baltimore both home and away in the first fortnight of the season. Toronto got off to a swift start too, but have settled down now, while Boston have made a fairly languid start to 2010, with only one series win so far over the Royals. Baltimore’s woes have continued. Possessing the worst record in baseball, the Orioles are 1-11 so far, have seen Brian Roberts and Miguel Tejada suffer injuries, and are generally having a fairly miserable start to the year.
It’s a familiar looking story in the NL East. The Phillies got off to a flying start, dropping just one of their first eight games, and showing plenty of power along the way. Now at 8-3, the Phillies have a 1.5 game lead over the Florida Marlins who themselves have seen Jorge Cantu slug his way into the history books by becoming the first player to collect both nine hits and nine RBIs in nine straight games. The Braves and the Nationals both find themselves at 6-5, which may be more of a surprise to Washington fans, but the perennial NL East underachievers have made a promising start, including veteran Livian Hernandez pitching a complete game shutout over the Brewers yesterday. The Mets may have topped the Cardinals in 20 innings last night, but their 4-7 start has been fairly undistinguished, but of course, there’s still a long, long season ahead.
Over in the AL Central, The Minnesota Twins opened their brand new ballpark, Target Field, to much fanfare and hoopla, and outdoor baseball has been good to them so far. The Twins currently possess the best record in the MLB, having won all four of their opening series, something the team has never achieved before. The Tigers currently sit 6-5, and had also got off to a good start before losing three straight over the past few days. Meanwhile, Cleveland have started to pick things up with three straight wins, and the Kansas City Royals would probably have a far better record if it wasn’t for their magically imploding bullpen. The White Sox are a disappointing 4-8 so far, but with their strong pitching line-up, don’t expect that to continue for too long.
St. Louis top the NL Central right now, but this six-team division is likely to remain competitive all year. Mark McGwire is back at Busch Stadium as hitting coach for the Cards, and of course that man Albert Pujols has had another scorching start to the season. The Pittsburgh Pirates have started brightly too, with Garret Jones delivering offensively, and the Bucs are even going for their first series sweep since August last year, if they can hold off the Reds again today. The Cubs, Brewers, and Reds haven’t been firing on all cylinders so far, and it took the Houston Astros eight games before recording their first victory for new manager Brad Mills.
Out in the AL West, Oakland, who ended 2009 strongly, have started 2010 brightly too. With a 9-4 record, the A’s have only dropped one series so far and have seen great pitching from their young stars (just a 2.77 team ERA) backed up by some efficient offense. Seattle currently find themselves at .500. After some big-name acquisitions in the off-season, it’s been a slow start for the Mariners, but four consecutive wins and a chance to sweep the Tigers today, could see them back in contention. Meanwhile, Texas are currently suffering at the hands of the New York Yankees and have a 5-6 record, while the Angels have also made a fairly quiet start to the year, despite getting the better of the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend.
San Francisco are the early front runners in the NL West. It’s been a promising start for the Giants who have only dropped three games so far and haven’t lost a single series. Once again, their starting pitching has been dominant, and even Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum performed with the bat yesterday in a 9-0 drubbing of the Dodgers: Lincecum currently has more RBIs (three) than allowed runs (two). The Rox welcomed Ubaldo Jimenez to the elite club of pitchers who have thrown no-hitters, the first Rocky to do so, as Colorado dropped the Braves 4-0 on Saturday evening. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks, Dodgers, and Padres, all find themselves with fairly average 5-6 records for the season, but with no cause for concern just yet, what with there being just a fortnight’s baseball behind us so far.
Well, that wraps up another eventful couple of weeks in the MLB. Back in a fortnight with more news from the Majors.