While it's way too soon to seriously start talking about Major League Baseball's 2005 postseason team candidates, who would have thought that the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox would have had the best winning percentages in all of baseball, right behind that of the 2004 National League champion St. Louis Cardinals?
But perhaps even more surprising is the first losing record in April for the New York Yankees in 13 years and the first for manager Joe Torre in his tenure with the team. With the Yankees hanging on for dear life not to wind up in the cellar of the American League East, what a difference an offseason can make.
There was much speculation for most of the second half of 2004 that Baltimore manager Lee Mazzilli was in jeopardy of losing his job. But he obviously did not take that seriously when his team swept the Yankees in April at Yankee Stadium for the first time in many years and with the O's first series sweep of the Yankees since 2000. Enjoying the offensive plights of the seemingly overnight transformation of second baseman Brian Roberts with a batting average of .385, Mazzilli also finally has a pitching staff that is at least getting the ball over the plate this season. Having played 11 of their first 22 games against both the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, Mazzilli will take it going into May.
And with one of the best pitching staffs in all of baseball, the Chicago White Sox are also enjoying success and in part owed to the efforts of ex-Yankees Jose Contreras, traded by the Yankees midseason in 2004, and Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez, who the Yankees chose not to re-sign for 2005.
It was a no-brainer giving up on Contreras after the abysmal numbers he put up in the post-season in 2003 and with his awful first half in 2004. But diehard Yankee fans had a hard time dealing with the banishment of El Duque, who was so impressive in August and September of last year and now with the fourth-best ERA in the American League at 2.35. And Contreras with a 3.05 ERA is enjoying his first successful season in the Major Leagues.
Both ex-Yankees join a formidable pitching rotation with an ERA averaging 3.00 that includes Mark Buehrle, Freddy Garcia, and Jon Garland. The bullpen has been the weak link for the Sox, but with the type of power pitching they have displayed, far more expected such success to come from the cross-town Cubs. Chicago's wins have taken the pressure off of the bullpen, as well as the defense. And they have been impressive without the services of DH Frank Thomas, still on the DL from the beginning of the season. However, with the recent loss of shortstop Juan Uribe, out with a groin injury, they will now have to regroup.
Let's not get carried away, however, with the successes of the Orioles or White Sox. Each will clearly need to remain healthy and get back those who are injured in order to remain in contention throughout the season. And their achievements are all the more underscored by the Yankees' equally uncharacteristic losing record. But, of course, most non-Yankee fans are more than thrilled to see the team of all-stars now struggling.
And speaking of expectations, fans have been spoiled by the terrific numbers Roger Clemens has been putting up for the past 22 years in MLB. Yet each year he pitches over the age of 40 is hardly a guarantee. But this season, at the age of 42, Clemens has pitched lights out. Unfortunately, the Houston Astros have not been capable of scoring runs for him. Clemens has pitched outstandingly in his first five games. He had 23 scoreless innings in his first four games, yet with only one win to show for it. Through five games, Clemens owns a miniscule 1.03 ERA, amongst the very lowest in all of MLB, while allowing only eight walks thus far for the whole season.
But while Clemens can only stifle the opposition, the Astros have let him down as he only has the one win. As it was, Clemens batted in the only run scored in that winning effort. But while we wait for the Astros to restore some kind of offense to their lineup and await the return of outfielder Lance Berkman, who has been on the DL all season, we can only continue to admire the Rocket's command and watch his impressive stats continue to stack up. We should not take any of his performances for granted, for as long as he remains one of the best pitchers in baseball, his efforts are but a bonus for all baseball fans alike.
Given the many other individual achievements, as well as successful team efforts so far this season, we will just have to be patient to see which are the real deal now that April has passed. As the weather warms up and both pitchers and batters get into a seasonal rhythm, we are tempted to discount the games of April, which is less than a month of the total season. Yet pennant races and wildcard berths may be won down the stretch as in 2004, so wins in April continue to play an important role in deciding postseason play.
What makes the baseball season so special is that no individual player's achievement or any team's success is greater than the entirety of the game. Because baseball is a delicate balance of talent, execution, timing, good health, leadership, team chemistry, and confidence, any and/or all of these components can determine the rise or fall of any given team. And the total combination of such paints the entire season's canvas.
So now that May is here, we can finally get down to business. Let's play ball!
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