May 2, 2008...10:34 am
AL East April Wrapup and a Good Weekend Series
So April is gone and the AL East is in disarray with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays playing the Baltimore Orioles for first place at the end of the month. That’s as unexpected as it can be, and, indeed, I don’t think it will last much longer. Tampa Bay is now heading for Boston, the team without a doubt is the best one in the division. I wouldn’t be surprised if Tampa Bay gets swept in Boston, but even if they don’t, in the long run Boston should prevail. I don’t want to sound as if I hate Tampa Bay. In fact I think it would be nice if they can finally put together a winning season, and, why not, a run for the wildcard. I don’t see how that can happen.
As expected, the Yankees are showing their lack of experienced, reliable pitching. They basically have only two aces, Pettitte and Wang. Mussina is declining and the other guys are just too young. No way they can challenge Boston that way. Some people are now blaming the Yankees for not getting Johan Santana. I don’t think only Santana would have made a lot of a difference, although it might have given them an good one-two punch in the rotation now that Wang is as sharp as ever. In the end it’s probably better for the Yankees to bite the bullet, swallow another season without a World Series and rebuild their team. To their fan’s advantage, man-myth Joe Torre is not there anymore and now they can freely and wildly blame the manager for their pitching miscues.
Back home, the Toronto Blue Jays, my “official” team (I live 500km away from Toronto but I’m in the Blue Jays blackout zone, which is all of Canada, all the 9 million square kilometers of it), had yet again a disappointing April with a disastrous road trip to end the month. The two losses in Boston were crushing, but it seems to be always like that with Toronto, they’re always on the verge of winning, and then they drop the ball. Let’s hope May bring something different to Toronto.
As for the Orioles… well, I have nothing to say, that’s a mysterious team. Are they good, are they bad? I don’t know. I’m going to have to watch them at least once to be able to say something.
For the time being, however, I’m going to switch to the NL Central, where there’s an interesting match up over the weekend: the 17-11 Chicago Cubs are facing the 18-11 St. Louis Cardinals.
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