Otherwise Known as May Day, not to be confused with May Day Malone...
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Although there was plenty of baseball and basketball excitement yesterday, the biggest news has to be The End of Chelsea's 50 year draught.
Although he is "only" the manager, perhaps the best in the Premier League, Jose Mourinho is true to his word.
And life will still have to go on after the coronation. Next up, Chelsea travel to Anfield to face Liverpool and decide which of them advances to the finals of the Champions League.
The rest can be found at Chelsea FC Blog.
The Upside of April
The Baltimore Oriole's to nearly everyone's surprise, are still on top of the AL East and won their 7th straight game.
The Orioles are nine games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 22, 1998.
They finished April with 16 wins. That matched the club record set in 1969, when the Orioles went to the World Series, and equaled in 1997, when they went wire-to-wire to win the American League East.
Crazy talk of course this early in the season but weirder things have happened. Wouldn't it be funny if Sammy Sosa ends up winning a World Series with the Orioles rather than the Cubs?
Sosa's first month with the Orioles is comparable to his past Aprils. Sosa is a notoriously slow starter, compiling just 65 homers and 188 RBIs in more than 1,200 at-bats in March and April. The 65 homers in March and April are by far the lowest of any month in his career. Sosa has 79 homers in September and October.
But the real story behind this unexpected success is their tall order led by Brian Roberts' hot streak.
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Rolling along with the best record in the Major Leagues, the 17-7 Chicago White Sox gave Ozzie Guillen career win 100. The record is the Sox best-ever tied with the 2000 version of 17 April victories, the last year the Southsiders made it to the postseason.
The White Sox have led in every one of their 24 games this season, the second-longest streak in baseball history since 1900.
The 1955 Dodgers own the only longer streak at 25, and they went on to to win Brooklyn's only World Series.
But it's perhaps ominous that despite this red hot beginning, they still have been unable to shake the Minnesota Twins who ended April on a five game winning streak that keeps them only 1 1/2 games behind the White Sox.
The
50 games for the first offense, 100 games for the second and a lifetime ban with the third strike. He wants testing for amphetamines. He wants an independent agency to monitor the testing.
Is this why there's no set date for Barry Bonds' return?
Bad April
You have to figure it's a dead heat for disappointing Aprils between the 10-14 New York Yankees who, instead of dominating the AL East are just struggling to stay above water, and the Chicago Cubs, who outside of Derrek Lee, are struggling to maintain the minimum standard at 12-11.
Nomah is out indefinately, perhaps for the season with a bad groin.
Kerry Wood, who left his start last Sunday after 76 pitches because of discomfort in his right, throwing shoulder, left Saturday's game after 54 pitches in three innings with what the Cubs said was tendinitis in the shoulder.
It's a pity he can't just skip the early innings altogether, not just to preserve himself, but also because of his pitiable numbers early on in games. Saturday was Wood's fifth start. According to Stats, Inc., hitters are 14-for-35 (.400) against Wood during his first 30 pitches of a game. He settles down after the 30-pitch mark and becomes nearly unhittable.
Between pitches 31-75 coming into Saturday, hitters were just 5-for-38 (.132). That pattern followed Saturday as well. Wood threw 28 pitches in the first inning, striking out the final two hitters.
At least the Cubs still have Phil Rogers to read, who thinks the Cardinals' fast start is more ominous than their own crap start and battles with injury.
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The Yankees have just plain stunk, much to the delight of most of us. You know that if they're getting this excited about a Chinaman's Chance, things are really looking grim in the Bronx these days. Especially when it takes a rookie on a team of over-the-hill-looking veterans to lift the team.
Is A-Rod the Lemony Snicket of baseball?
Good or bad news: I didn't even know who the hell Lemony Snicket was until I looked it up.
Meanwhile, the Unit has been a big disappointment so far - according to Rogers' column, "Johnson has been fairly effective for them but hardly looks like the guy who has four Cy Young Awards and one second-place finish in the last six years.
Following Friday's 2-0 loss to Toronto, Johnson was 2-2 with a 3.74 ERA in his first six starts. His ratio of strikeouts per nine innings has slid to 8.9 from 13.4 in '01 and 10.6 in '04.
While Johnson held Texas to three hits in eight innings for a win last Sunday, Rangers infielder Mark DeRosa and catcher Rod Barajas said he did not look like the guy who threw a perfect game against the Braves last season. He relied on breaking pitches and worked the outside half of the plate because his fastball wasn't as fierce as in days gone by."
Some more Observations on what Ails the Yankees:
"They should have picked up Jon Lieber's one-year, $8-million option rather than try to save pennies by offering $12 million over two years. "Everyone wanted Jon Lieber, but no one felt eight for one was justified," Cashman said. "But I'm the [GM], so I'll take responsibility for that misread of the pitching market."
The rotation has been underwhelming (batting averages against heading into the weekend: Wright .400, Mike Mussina .361, Brown .346, Carl Pavano .288, Randy Johnson .211), and the radar-gun readings are down. Torre didn't like readings being posted on the scoreboard because they can be "distracting." Embarrassing, too.
Perhaps it's time to question Mel Stottlemyre. Javier Vazquez, Jeff Weaver and Jose Contreras never pitched to expectations. Cashman countered those examples, pointing out that David Wells did his best work in pinstripes, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera developed under Stottlemyre and Tanyon Sturtze emerged. Cashman looked at the data, which he called "a hodgepodge" that doesn't point one way or the other."
And if you were on the lookout for a dose of clueless optimism, look no further.
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Chasing the Yankees for the mark of Most Disappointing April in the AL East are the miserably defending World Champion Boston Red Sox who have thus far lost their two top starters to the DL. All the pity, two annoying personalities I can't stand; Curt Schilling and Fat Man David Wells. They narrowly escaped their first sub-.500 April since 1996. Tough luck when your ace is Bronson Arroyo.
And speaking of the Red Sox, Call of the Green Monster is not to be missed.
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The cellar-dwelling Phillies keep rolling along in the mire. They entered last night having scored just 92 runs in April, which ranked 14th in the National League. They had hit just .233 with runners in scoring position, which ranked 12th. They had hit just 17 home runs, which tied for 12th. They had left 185 runners on base, which ranked second.
That's a big reason why the Phils finished the month 10-14 and last in the NL East. They managed just three hits and one unearned run in five innings against Willis, who threw a shutout against them April 13 in Miami.
In nine career starts against the Phillies, Willis is 4-1 with a 2.24 ERA.
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And what about the Mets? They began April on a 5 game losing streak and ended it on a four game losing streak. Archie Bunker's Army has all the morbid details.
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Worst of the worst:
Not that anyone didn't expect it but the KC Royals are the worst team in baseball despite last night's victory.
Perhaps that's only by default however. The Royals are 6-18 but the Colorado Rockies, 1-7 outside of Coors Field, are still only 6-15 with every chance to overtake the Royals eventually.
Not far behind are the Pittsburgh Pirates as fans struggle to count the money.
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If the playoffs started today:
In the National League, the Braves and Diamondbacks are tied for the best wildcard record at 14-10 but for the sake of making this all less confusing, let's remember the Braves are alot less likely to fold before the end of the season than the D'backs so the playoffs would look like this:
Atlanta Braves @ St Louis Cardinals
Florida Marlins @ LA Dodgers
The American League would be even messier:
Minnesota Twins @ Baltimore Orioles
Los Angeles Anaheim Southern California Angels @ Chicago White Sox.
Ouch.
Today's Menu
Mark Prior, RHP (3-0, 0.95) Cubs (12-11) @ Roy Oswalt, RHP (3-2, 3.25) Astros (9-13)
Prior fanned a season-high 10 in his last start against Cincinnati, and was finally charged with two earned runs. The right-hander has looked sharp despite missing most of Spring Training with an elbow problem. He's now struck out 22 over 19 innings.
Oswalt took his second loss in his last outing on April 25 at Pittsburgh as the Astros fell 2-0. Oswalt gave up two runs on six hits and recorded six strikeouts. The right-hander has not allowed more than two runs in any of his last four outings, after yielding six on Opening Day. Oswalt was 2-3 with a 4.11 ERA over five starts versus the Cubs last year.
Bartolo Colon, RHP (3-2, 3.73) Angels (13-11) @ Johan Santana, LHP (4-0, 3.55)
Twins (15-8)
Colon had allowed just one run over his previous 15 innings, but allowed three runs in the first on a homer by Alex Rodriguez in his last start. Colon allowed three homers, all to A-Rod, in that game. Colon has struggled in the Metrodome, posting a 2-5 record and a 4.64 ERA.
Santana continues his run at history as he shoots for an 18th consecutive victory. Roger Clemens holds the American League record with 20 consecutive wins and Carl Hubbell set the Major League mark with 24 consecutive wins. Santana is undefeated in his last 20 starts. Although he hasn't been quite as sharp as last year, when he won the Cy Young Award, Santana showed signs of rounding into top form Tuesday when he worked eight innings and allowed just five hits and one run against Kansas City. Santana had eight strikeouts in that game and walked just one. He has fanned 45 and walked just three in 33 innings.
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