From Sunday:

Well, here we are. April is just about over already and we have nearly finished the first month of Baseball. Time flies when you're having fun and life is fun when you're team is in first place! Who knew at the beginning that the Cubs would not only be in first place, but be among baseball's leaders in Batting Average, Runs scored, Walks and patience. These are the Cubs for pete's sake! They used to bring new meaning to the term Hack a Shaq. It was Home Run or nothing! Is it a coincidence that since Alfonso Soriano went on the DL, the Cubs are a different team? Could $130 million gone down the toilet? I think in his abscence, Manager Lou Pinella has made really good use of what he has: solid, unspectacular, but get the job done players backing up superstars Derrick Lee and Aramis Rameriez. The pitching hasn't been great, but with the Cubs actually scoring runs, the can afford to wait for the pitching to catch up. We'll see what happens as we get into May.

This week will be a tad different. Not only will I do my usual weekly recap with the Hunter Flops, I will look back at my preseason predictions and evaluate where they are for the month of April.


Weekly Musings:


-No Barry Bonds sightings as of yet. Could this be end, finally? I think Baseball is much better now without him.

-Ken Griffey is about to hit his 600th Home run and no hype leading in. I think more of deal was made with Sammy Sosa's run to 600 and he's a schmuck. So why not the hype for Griffey? Sure, he's injury prone, but he's been great for Baseball since Day One. The only tarnish in my mind is when he crybabied his trade from Seattle. Other than that, I think he's been great.


-If you're going to see links, you must check this out. This is from Friday's Cubs-Nats game, probably going to be one of the best catches of the year. http://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2008/4/25/460784/reed-johnson-s-brilliant-c


Now for our weekly feature, The Hunter Flops. The following is the list of players and teams that are flops so far in the baseball season:

Teams: NY Yankees (closer to last than first)- welcolme to the Flops!, Detroit (9-4 since starting 2-10; as I have said before- until you get to .500, you will remain a Flop!), Seattle (based on everyone predicting a first place finish), Colorado (NL Pennant hangover, though expected to contend) and San Diego (ugh! last place!)

Players:

Hitters: Adam LaRoche: DFL in the majors among qualifers with a .147 BA; Frank Thomas: 3HR, .157 BA; is this Moneyball??; Andruw Jones; big bucks for .167, 1 HR, 4 RBI; dishonorable mention: Ryan Howard, Jason Giambi and David Ortiz

Pitchers: Bronson (Pinchot) Arroyo: 0-3; 7.56 ERA; Ted Lilly- yes, even after a win, you're still on here: 1-3, 7.30 ERA; Matt Chico: 0-5; 6.68 ERA; Barry Zito: 0-5; 5.68 ERA; CC Sabathia: 1-3; 10.13 ERA; dishonorable mention: Roy Oswalt, Nate Robertson, Gil Meche, Francisco Liriano, Eric Gagne

And how are those preseason predictions working out? Just ducky, but the good thing thing is we're one month into the season. There's five more to go and plenty of time for things to pan out. But let's look at, in my monthly recap, how those predictions are working out so far:

Division Leaders (as of 4/27):

Predicted: NY Mets, Chicago Cubs, Arizona, Boston, Detroit, Angels

Actual: Florida, Chicago Cubs, Arizona, Baltimore-by .006 over Boston, Chicago Sox, Angels/Oakland in the AL West

3 out of 6...not great. Eventually I think Florida will wilt. The way the AL Central is shaping up, the ChiSox could be in this one for a while. They're playing much better than expected.

World Series:

Well, this one is stinking up the joint. I predicted Detroit to beat San Diego and both are playing pretty poorly. Detroit is bouncing back, but San Diego is a major concern right away.

Surprises (team): Florida, Chi Sox, Oakland, Baltimore, St. Louis. As of today, even Tampa Bay with their 13-11 record and 5 game winning streak. As I said last week, April is truly a strange month. Kansas City is even hanging there and SanFrancisco, as most predicted doom, are in second place.

Disappointments (team,but not flops): Cleveland, NY Mets

Players:

Predicted MVP Candidates: A-Rod, Miguel Cabrera in the AL; Ryan Howard and Abert Pujols in the NL; Cy Young: Josh Beckett in the AL; Brandon Webb in the NL

April reality:

A-Rod has been hurt and is hitting only .302, 4HR, 10RBI. I would think he will get hot and lock into what's normal for him. Cabrerra: Not doing well at .264, 5HR, 19 RBI. Like A-Rod, I would expect to see better from Cabrerra.

Pujols has been playing great as shown by his .373 BA, 4HR 19 RBI line. Howard is in flop territory with his .179 BA, 5 HR, 11 RBI.

Webb has been outstanding with his 5-0 record and 2.31 ERA; Beckett not so much, but he's been hurt and is only 2-1, with a 5.12 ERA.

Based on April numbers only, the true MVP's at this point:

AL: Manny Rameriez; his numbers and Boston's position stand out the most.

NL: Derrick Lee-very dominant for a normal slow starter; Pujols; Chase Utley; on the outside-Chipper Jones

Cy Young:

AL: Cliff Lee: in 31 innings, a 0.28 ERA; 2 runs given up so far; 2 walks and 29 k's.; others out there may be 4-0, but Lee's numbers are just crazy.

NL: Webb, Carlos Zambrano, Tim Lincecum, Jake Peavey. Should be an interesting race this year

Based on this month's performance only, the teams that look good to meet in the World Series: Arizona and Los Angeles/Anaheim/SoCal. Pitching wins out here, although Boston and the Chicago Cubs have also looked real good this month.

I will be in DC today for the Cubs and Nats; expect a report tonight.