About the Author
Baseball fan following baseball since 1955. Have been fortunate enough to have seen Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Johnny Bench, Roberto Clemente and Dale Murphy play baseball in Kansas City and Houston. Served in Army in Hawaii and Vietnam with 25th Infantry Division.More By Niteowl049
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Baseball Notebook: Looking at the Standings
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American League East
There is a virtual three way tie in AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles 4 percentage points over the Boston Red Sox. Tampa Bay is the hottest team with an 8-2 record in their last 10 games, and their current 6 game winning streak is the longest in the Majors. The winner of the Tampa Bay-Baltimore game today will be in first place by themselves. The Toronto Blue Jays is the only team in AL East with a losing record at home with a 5-7 home record.
American League Central
The Chicago White Sox are the only team in the AL Central with a winning record. The Cleveland Indians has worked it's way back up to second place, passing up the Kansas City Royals who has lost 8 of their last 10 games after getting off to a great start. Since April 14th Kansas City has not had a win from either Zack Greinke or Brian Bannister and Gil Meche only has one win in that time span.
American League West
The Oakland Athletics has won 8 of their last 10 games to take a one game lead over the second place Los Angeles Angels in the AL West. TheSeattle Mariners is currently in third place, 4 games behind Oakland. The Texas Rangers is already 7.5 games behind the front running Oakland club with a disappointing 9-17 record. This is going to be a long season for Texas unless Nolan Ryan can come up with a plan that will get this team moving again. As competitive as Ryan is, I wouldn't bet against him.
National League East
The Florida Marlins is the surprise team in the NL and is in front ofPhiladelphia Phillies and the New York Mets by a game and a half. No team in the NL East is making a move with all five teams being either 6-4 or 5-5 in their last ten games. Unless the Atlanta Braves can get some of their best players like Chipper Jones and Yunel Escobar back on the field really soon, they should continue to slide further behind the three teams ahead of them.
National League Central
The Chicago Cubs has won 7 of their last 10 games and holds a one game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals, with the Milwaukee Brewers not far behind (2 games back). Milwaukee faces Chicago tonight in Chicago and need a win with a St. Louis loss to tie St. Louis for second place in NL Central and move to within one game of Chicago. The Houston Astros and the Cincinnati Reds are both 5 games behind Chicago. The Pittsburgh Pirates are already 5 games under .500 and face New York tonight and are 6 games out of first place
National League West
The Arizona Diamondbacks is clearly the best team in the majors this year so far with a 19-7 record and they have won 7 of their last 10 games. Their 10-2 home record is the best in the majors. The second place Los Angeles Dodgers is already 6.5 games behind Arizona. The San Francisco Giants has been 6-4 in their last 10 games while the San Diego Padres and Colorado Rockies have lost 8 of their last 10 games. Now that Barry Zito is in the bullpen, the Giants should play even better as long as they don't call in Zito from the bullpen. If he blows a lead they may have to use him as a janitor in the bullpen to keep things neat and pick up trash with a pointed stick and forget about the pitching thing.
