The Cleveland Indians are in first place in the AL Central. Don't adjust your screen or rub your eyes, you read that right. It's almost the middle of May, and THE CLEVELAND INDIANS ARE IN FIRST PLACE IN THE AL CENTRAL. You can thank Grady Sizemore (.288/5/10 in 17 games back after knee surgery last year), Shin-Soo Choo (4 homers, 17 RBIs, and 6 stolen bases), and a rotation that is 1st in quality starts in the entire league, despite being 7th in ERA. Will they have what it takes to keep this hold on the divisional lead until October? All indications point to "Are you kidding me? No bleeping way!", but that's why they play the game. Stranger things have happened (the 2005 World Series between the Chicago "What?" White Sox and the Houston "Who?" Astros springs to mind).
Angels manager Mike Scioscia tallied his 1,000th career managerial win last Sunday against the aforementioned first-place Cleveland Indians. Scioscia has long been known as one of the "badass" managers, and players have seemingly enjoyed his hardball style of managing. Even though he's only won 1 championship with the Angels, it's a big one: the only one the franchise has to date. As great as this milestone is, it'd probably mean more to the 2-time Manager of the Year if his club honored him by getting championship number 2 this season. And with the Rangers not performing as well as predicted, and the A's and Mariners being the A's and Mariners, it's not entirely implausible.
The Yankees have 3 players poised to make history this season: shortstop Derek Jeter is 44 hits away from 3,000 (he'd be the first Yank to do so), third baseman Alex Rodriguez is continuing his climb up the all-time home run leaders list and could feasibly pass Ken Griffey Jr. AND Willie Mays this season (he needs 13 more long shots to pass Griffey, 43 more to pass Mays), and Mariano Rivera needs 31 more saves to pass Trevor Hoffman as the all-time saves leader. Even though a return to the World Series seems pretty unlikely for the Bronx Bombers this season, there will be some major moments in Yankee Stadium nonetheless.
Monday, May 9th, 2011, is the latest into a season that the Pittsburgh Pirates have been over .500 since May 29th, 2004. Pittsburghians are celebrating. The rest of the country is laughing.
The Mariners designated troubled outfielder Milton Bradley for assignment today, meaning he needs to either be sent to the minor leagues, traded, or released within the next few weeks. Bradley has now sullied his good reputation in 8 cities, including 5 separate teams in the last 5 seasons. Even anger management training seemed to have no effect on how he carries himself on the field. Everyone loves a bad boy, especially in baseball, but when you're more vilified than Roger Clemens in certain areas, it's time to start singing a different tune.
I love Curtis Granderson. It's not a stretch to say he's one of the best center fielders in the game right now. I liked him when he was on the Tigers, so when he signed with the Yanks during the 2010 offseason, I was understandably ecstatic. Even though his injury shortened season last year was subpar, he's really blowing up this year, with a .283 average and 12 homers (second in the AL) to this point. I think we all expect big things from him. Can he do it? The Grandyman can, my friends...the Grandyman can.
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