BASEBALL THURSDAY by Tannen

This time of year, Thursday should be devoted to major league baseball. I know we still have some issues to settle in the NBA & NHL, but it's almost June & we're American sports fans. I still say the Red Sox are the best top to bottom 25 man roster in baseball, but their so-called Big 3 in the rotation has to become the best of it's kind I thought they were heading into the season. Dice K Matzuzaka just returned from the disabled list has looked better in his 2 starts, but far from top notch. He's still struggling with his control and throws way, way too many pitches. After a disastrous first couple of outings, Jon Lester appeared to have righted the ship with back to back dominating performances, but has really slipped and been completely inconsistent with an era at 6! 3 of his last 4 starts have been complete disasters. The ace, Josh Beckett, is still packing an era just north of 5, but over his last 4 starts it's been under 3. Then you have the David Ortiz mystery. He has 1 homer over his 161 at bats on the season. The odd thing is he's only 33 and he is coming off an injury plagued year where he missed 50 games and only hit 23 bombs. He's been dropped to 6th in the order and if this mess continues, he's gotta be benched and checked out.
In the AL West, the Angels have healed up and are now just 3 behind Texas for the division lead. The Rangers have some decent bats, but a rotation with Kevin Millwood at the top with a 3-4 & 5 of Matt Harrison, Scott Feldman and Derek Holland is going to melt over the summer. #2 Brandon McCarthy was once a hot prospect with the White Sox but injuries derailed his career in Chicago. He's still a talent and at the age of 25, turning 26 in July, he can still become a legit front end of the rotation guy.
In the NL, Juan Pierre has been tremendous taking over in left for the Dodgers when Manny got caught cheating. He's hitting over .400 with an on base percentage near .500 setting the table for Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney and the host of middle of the order producers they have in LA. Even when Ramirez the Juicer returns, they must find a way to keep his bat and spark in this lineup. They may win this division by 20 games.
Hope you are having a great week. SportsTalk returns on Monday!