Actual MLB Overview

Every once in a while, we have to throw some actual analysis your way, just to make sure you're bored. Dig in, cranks!

> Slowly but surely, the Dodgers have risen to first in their division, and they're now playing .600 level baseball. Between LA, San Diego and Arizona, the West has three teams flirting with actual competency, though the Snakes are an incredibly streaky lot. The Dodgers' rise is directly correlated to when Raffy Fural actually started to hit.

> The NL Central is about a week away from a race. With the Brew Crew down to six games above .500, they are looking ripe for any team that can make a run. The most amazing part is that the Cubs are in third, 6.5 out... or roughly half of the gap for the Yankees in the AL East.

> Very quietly, because everything in the AL that isn't Boston or New York is very quiet, the Angels are up 5.5 games in the West and are starting to roll. I didn't like the Gary Matthews Jr. signing in the off-season, and I still don't like it -- but he's hitting now, and their bully is as good as always.

> Cleveland is the talk of the Central, with an offense that's turning the opposition into mulch. The bully is still a concern, but if Fausto Carmona continues to give them found money... well, that's not going to happen, but they can dream. (Me too, as I've got him on my roto team.)

> With the best record in the NL, the lowest runs against, and an awakening Carlos Delgado, the Mets are looking very good. But they're still only four games up despite getting great starts from Perez and Maine, and nobody is really taking the next step on offense. Part of this may just be Shea, but there's a surprising lack of power here, too.

Of course, the Mets could go on a ten-game winning streak and still not get much notice, since the media is all over the Nero Yankees Deathwatch. Good baseball teams come and go, but the most expensive roster in the game being 7 games under .500? That's special.

> Oh, and a big shout out (HEY!) to FTT Favorite Mark Ellis (we actually own an A's shirt with his name on the back, in the hopes that someone will think our last name is Ellis). While the world slept, he hit for the cycle in an 11-inning win over Boston that also included Eric Chavez's very first walk-off home run ever. Take that, people who bash Chavez for a spotty post-season hitting record! (You're still right, of course.)