I’m Miles Miller!

Say it ain’t so, Manny:  Biggest news of the week was the suspension of Dodgers’ slugger Manny Ramirez for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs.  It is interesting to find out just what he we took, or rather, what he had in his system.  The substances were gonadtropins LH and HCG, commonly used as either a fertility drug for women or as a testosterone producer to treat erectile dysfunction for men.  He was not suspended for steroids or HGH so I don’t consider him a dirty cheat, but this was pretty dumb.  He should have investigated a little closer.  Why would you risk getting suspended and labeled a “user” for testing positive for women’s fertility drugs or ED treatment? 

I’m no purist.  I still love Manny Ramirez.  It sucks that he will be gone for a couple months.  Frankly, I don’t think any less of him, I still cheer for him, and I look forward to seeing him on the field again in Dodger Blue. 

Coming back the other way: One man who never tested positive but admitted to using steroids is back at third base for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez.  He came back with a bang, hitting a 3-run home run on the first pitch he saw, helping the Yankees win 4-0 on Friday.  I’m cheering for him.  By the way, in his absence over the first 5+ weeks of the season, his replacements at third base hit a combined zero home runs.

Streaking: Washington Nationals’ third baseman is halfway to DiMaggio.  Ryan Zimmerman has a 28-game hitting streak.  Nick Johnson, Cristian Guzman, and Adam Dunn are all also hitting well above .300 (Dunn has 11 home runs to go along).  The pitching is showing signs of life too, Shairon Martis is 4-0, and the Nationals are 9-9 since starting the year 1-10. 

More streaking: Boston Red Sox tied a record in their game Thursday night against the Indians by scoring 12 runs in an inning before making an out!  So much for the misnomer “relief pitcher.”  Meanwhile, guess who’s in last place in the American League?  That would be the underachieving Cleveland Indians.

Can I get a little help?:  Zach Greinke received his first loss of the season, losing 1-0 to Joe Saunders and the Angels on Saturday.  That one earned run in 8 innings raised his ERA all the way to 0.51.  Mark Buehrle is still undefeated at 5-0, and Met Mike Pelfrey is 4-0.  Johan Santana also has a sub-1.00 ERA (0.91). 

Catch me if you can: Carl Crawford stole his 22nd base on Sunday.  That personal total is more than 20 other teams!!

Speaking of…: Crawford and Longoria went back to back against Mariano Rivera in the 9th inning Thursday to beat the Yankees 8-6.  That was the first time Rivera allowed back-to-back bombs in 863 games.

Tough breaks: Yankee All-Star catcher Jorge Posada went on the DL Tuesday.  Three days later, their other catcher Jose Molina went on the DL.  I wonder if they’ll throw Nick Swisher back behind the plate anytime soon.

Falling back to reality: The Mariners 6-game losing streak brings them back to .500 after their hot start.  San Diego Padres have lost 16 of their last 20 games.  Pittsburgh Pirates have lost 12 of their last 13. 

New faces, same result: Oakland Athletics made a lot of noise in the offseason by adding Matt Holliday, Orlando Cabrera and Jason Giambi.  Those three are hitting, respectively, .226, .223, and .208.  That helps the A’s hold down the basement of the West. 

First to get canned: Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin is the first manager of the year to get fired.  Diamondbacks are last in the league with a .234 team batting average.

Here’s how my picks went (against the actual results of the 1st round):
Lakers in 5 (Lakers in 5), check
Nuggets in 4 (Nuggets in 5), close enough
Mavs in 5 (Mavs in 5), check
Blazers in 7 (Rockets in 6), incorrect
Cavs in 4 (Cavs in 4), check
Celtics in 5 (Celtics in 7), Bulls put up a bigger fight than I expected, but close enough
Magic in 4 (Magic in 6), close enough
Hawks in 7 (Hawks in 7), check

So my first round picks went 7-1, which means my credibility has improved!

Baseball is heading into the second month of the season so things are taking shape.  Hot surprises are coming back to reality and expectations can be properly evaluated.

Dodgers are 10-0 at home.  Billingsley is 5-0.  Manny is hitting like Manny.  The rotation is rather shallow so I don’t expect to see them maintain this hot playing.

Cardinals looked like the best team in the league until they played the lowly Nationals.  Sunday’s rainout came at a pretty good time before they could blow another stinker.  Pujols is playing like an MVP.

Continuing last year’s rivalry dominance, TB Rays are 5-2 against the rival Red Sox.  Against everyone else they are 6-13.

Pirates’ pitching has the best ERA in baseball, but it doesn’t matter if they can’t score any runs.  They’ve been shutout 3 out of the last 4 games.

Speaking of the Pirates, they have lost 18 straight games at Milwaukee.  Yikes!

The Blue Jays have lots of problems in the rotation but this team is scoring a lot of runs.  And what’s most surprising is that it ain’t coming from Wells and Rios.

Phillies: Ibanez and Utley are killing the ball, but Rollins and Howard haven’t done much.  Have you seen Howard bat?  He swings at more bad pitches than any player I’ve ever seen.  You would think that improvement would be on its way after a 199 K season, but he is only getting worse.  But anyway, this team is in real trouble until it gets the starting rotation figured out.

No lead is safe against Boston; huge comebacks are a regular occurrence.

Yankees:  Everyone remembers every highlight against them but Cano, Swisher, Melky, Posada and Damon are lifting this team, and wait until ARod returns to the lineup.  Yankees have the #2 offense in baseball even without him.  Hughes looked great in a tough season debut in Detroit.  Let’s see what he does against the Red Sox.

Brewers.  After a dreadful 4-9 start, they are 9-3 in the last 12 games.

The Mariners’ rotation is looking very strong with King Felix, Bedard, Washburn, and Silva.

Royals: Everything is about Zach Greinke right now.  This team’s pitching is great, so why is Sidney Ponson still getting starts?

Mets lead the league with 12 triples.

The Diamondbacks played only one road series in April and finished the month 4 games under .500?  That along with no Webb means more trouble to come.

Athletics: New additions, same result: only Kurt Suzuki is hitting over .270. 

The last-place Nationals have some good hitting with Zimmerman (21 game hitting streak), Dunn, Johnson, Flores and Dukes hitting well.  More errors committed than games played.

Royals, Mariners, and Marlins are all still in first place.