The NHL playoffs second round is heating up and it appears the goalies have been all but perfect, besides the triangle of goalies Philadelphia are trying to operate with.
Monday night, there was one playoff game on the tube and it had Boston winning in overtime. While I was flipping back and forth with the remote between the game and the election coverage I thought I would be okay to flip from the NHL playoffs for a week and talk about baseball, particularly the American League.
Canada's only Major League Baseball team was showing some promise, but still are tied in the bottom spot of the American League East Division. The Toronto Blue Jays' starters have held their own, but still haven't lived up to the expectations. The bullpen pitchers, as expected, have played well at times, but that group has also proven Jose Bautista isn't the only one who can hit homers at the Rogers Centre by blowing leads.
Bautista is not only bashing the ball out of the park more consistently than last season, he is leading the American League in batting average, runs and isn't afraid to take a walk. The battle, once again, is to get players on base in front of him and pray his neck tightness will not keep him out of the lineup long and he will have a healthy season. The Blue Jays are not afraid to steal a bag and it looks to be an interesting and exciting team to watch even if Aaron Hill is injured, again.
Unfortunately for the Jays, Bartolo Colon and A.J. Burnett are complimenting the Yankees' scary offence nicely to lead the division. Perhaps even more surprising than the Yankees having a good pitching rotation are the struggles the Red Sox are having this year.
There big off-season signings suggested picking anyone from Boston in your fantasy baseball pools was a sure thing. Not so much, I am far from winning my draft and ready to jump back off the Red Sox bandwagon. Like the New Jersey Devils, the Red Sox high profile players aren't getting it done and once they do turn it around it could be too late as the Yankees aren't looking back and the Rays are holding their own with a record over .500.
As surprising as it is to see the Red Sox struggling, perhaps the bigger story in the American League is Cleveland actually has a good professional sports team in the post LeBron James era. With a league best 19-8 record this group of nobodies is hoping to be the next Tampa Bay Rays of 2008. Major League I and Major League II might have been foreshadowing this season after stinking in Cleveland for so long they have looked good through the first two months. I bet there aren't too many people who could name more than three Cleveland players excluding Grady Sizemore. The Indians play in one of the worst division in baseball especially since the Twins, Tigers and White Sox, who fans would expect to be contenders, are the three worst teams in the American League.
In the West Division, the Angels and Rangers could be in a battle all season long. Both are doing using different formulas, but both started the week with 16-13 records. Forget about the Philadelphia Phillies, the Angels have a great pitching staff. Okay maybe it is a bit too far of a stretch to say they are comparable to what I remember as the best pitching staff I have known, but Dan Haren and Jered Weaver are statistically the best one-two punch in the league. Haren leads the American League in ERA with a 1.23 mark, has four wins and has the AL's best WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched). Weaver leads the majors in wins with six, is second to Haren in AL ERA with a 1.39 mark, leads the majors in strikeouts with 55 and has a WHIP of 0.83.
Texas is led offensively by Toronto Blue Jays 1997 fifth-round draft pick Michael Young. He is batting .342 with 23 RBI. In a state where everything is big, Adrian Beltre's play has been just that for the Rangers. Beltre is tied with Young in RBI and has popped seven home runs. This success is coming with their biggest threat, Josh Hamilton on the disabled list.
Both Texas and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, longest team name in MLB history, do have to keep an eye in the rear view mirror because Oakland has the potential to contend for the division title and has a underrated pitching staff.
It isn't exactly crunch time with 130 games remaining, but keeping pace early is key, just ask Blue Jays fans for the last decade and a half - late season spurts don't get the job done when only eight of 30 teams make the playoffs.
Before I sign off I have a question relating back to the NHL and NBA playoffs. When was the last time Tennessee has had NHL and NBA teams in the second round of the playoffs?
Never, until now - maybe they can do more than just sing. It might be time to move a MLB team in there too.
