Just Over 100 games left...

Now that the Phillies have caught fire thanks largely in part to an inspiring column on this very own website, its time to take a step back, look around baseball and outline the season to this point and see where things stand. Derek Lee is running away with the MVP in the NL and somehow managing to keep the Cubs in the playoff hunt with Mark Prior and Kerry Wood on the DL. Bobby Abreu is not too far behind Lee and he and the rest of the Phillies are finally showing the potential this team has. The Phillies are the hottest team in baseball right now and stand just 1 1/2 games out of first place in the tighest division in baseball -- only 2 1/2 games between first and last place. Surprising Washington sits at the top for now. The team formerly known as the Expos have gotten a big boost from another former Yankee Nick Johnson. Larry Bowa's nephew is hitting .343 with 35 RBI and Livan Hernandez has resurfaced winning 8 games in the first couple months. In the West, the Padres overcame a slow start and hold a 3 game lead in the NL West. They have lost 4 in a row but no one else in the division has gotten hot. The Barry-less Giants are playing like a team who used to have BarryBonds and are unable to replace the big void left by the slugger. Arizona might be the biggest surprise in the NL other than the Nationals. The D-backs are just 3 1/2 games off the pace after losing their ace - Randy Johnson. Javier Vasquez has been pitching like the pitcher the Yankees thought he might be before he inexplicably imploded in NY.

Which brings me to the Yankees and the rest of the American League. The Yanks are on a monster tilt and have won only 2 games in June. This after a slow start, and then a winning streak that had everyone saying the Yankees were back. But then who else but the Boston Red Sox took 2 of 3 from the Bombers in the Bronx to start the slide. Heading to lowly Kansas City you would think New York would just shake it off and beat up on the worst team in baseball; but instead new manager Buddy Bell had his Royals sweep the Yankees out of Kansas City. Since, New York has dropped their next two series in Minnesota and in Milwaukee. Sitting 6 games out of first, the pinstripers now head to St. Louis and face the 2nd best team in baseball. Despite all this, I still think the Yankees will win the AL East. The Orioles are a good team and have had a great start to the year but they don't have the pitching to last through the season. The starting staff is 25-17 but has 3 of them have an ERA close to 5.00. Erik Bedard is quietly their best starter at 2-1 with a 2.08 ERA but he's on the DL. Down the stretch the high ERA's are going to do the O's in. Boston as well is a case of pitching. Matt Clement and Bronson Arroyo have done a very good job with Curt Schilling on the DL. But Clement who started 6-0 is not going to last. His shelling the other day at the hands of St. Louis is a sign of things to come. He will probably win 15 games again this year, but he's not going to continue at the pace he's at. Bronson at 4-2 will drop off too. These two cannot carry the pitching staff throughout the season. They're doing a nice job without Schilling, but who knows when he is coming back if he even comes back this season. David Wells is a joke. He's 4-4 with an ERA over 5.00 and hasn't stepped up the way he needed too with Schilling down. It was a great World Series run last year, but the Red Sox won't get a chance to defend their title in the postseason.
The AL Central will likely provide the AL Wild Card along with the division winner in Chicago and Minnesota. Maybe slightly more surprising than Chicago's great start is that the Twins are only 3 1/2 games off the pace. The White Sox are for real and have as solid a 5 man rotation as anyone. The pale hoes have been winning the 1-run games - 19 to be exact and are no coincidence 21 games over .500. The offense for the White Sox shows up in spurts like last nights 15 run outburst at Colorado; but Frank Thomas coming back to the lineup could be the one piece this team might be missing. If the ChiSox add a consistent offensive production with their great pitching, they'll play deep into October.
The AL West looks like it could go down to the wire between Texas and Anaheim. Both teams have powerful offenses and the Angels will get a boost when Vlad Guerrero returns. The starting pitching in Texas has been something of a surprise with Kenny Rogers at 40 years young going 6-0 in May to bring him to 8-2 on the year and a 1.62 ERA. And the young nucleus of Alfonzo Soriano, Michael Young, Mark Texiera and Hank Blaylock has been a run producing machine helping the Rangers to lead the majors in home runs with 90. The Angels bullpen is as good as any in baseball with Brendan Donnelly and Scott Shields getting the ball toFrancisco "K-rod" Rodriguez in the 9th.

So I'm going to stick for the most part with my preseason picks....Yankees take the AL East. White Sox and Twins in the Central -- Sox take the division and Twins take the Wild Card and Angels out West. In the NL...Braves take the East with Phillies taking the Wild Card...Cardinals in the Central and I'm going to go with my sleeper the Padres in the West.