Not only is the weather warming up, but the race for the division titles in the American League is also getting hot. The season may only be two weeks old, but already a number of interesting stories have begun to emerge.
The Boston Red Sox are tied for first place, and they are coming off a series with the New York Yankees where they took three out of four games. The world champion Yankees, hanging by their teeth in the middle of the AL East, were not able to rebound against the Toronto Blue Jays this week either. Rookie Chris Michalak, 30, won his third straight start, and the Blue Jays handed the Yankees their fourth loss in a row, 7-2, on Wednesday night. Michalak (3-0) beat New York for the second time this season. Making his third career start, he allowed only two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings.
"It's beyond my wildest expectations," Michalak told the Associated Press. "To be in the big leagues is a privilege, and then to go out and to face the Yankees twice in my first three starts is unbelievable. And then on top of that, to beat them is icing on the cake." Could Michalak be on his way to a Rookie-of-the-Year bid, or will the fire go out just as quickly as it started?
While Toronto is moving up, New York is heading down in the standings. The Yanks have dropped their last four, sending their season record to a disappointing 8-7. One reason for the slump could be the absence of Bernie Williams, who missed nine games this season to visit his ailing father in Puerto Rico, who is in an intensive care unit battling a lung condition. How long will it be until Steinbrenner, who has been uncharacteristically quiet, roars at either his manager or his team?
Nobody is quite sure what the Minnesota Twins are doing in their current lofty perch. More than two weeks into the season, the worst team in the league last year is in first place with a 3.5-game lead in the AL Central and the second-best record in baseball.
"People are waiting for us to go into a spin, I know that. But this is neat to watch," general manager Terry Ryan told the Associated Press.
Closer LaTroy Hawkins notched his third save of the year on Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals, giving him 17 in a row without a blow save to start his career - a major league record
Three teams are currently tied for last place in the American League. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Kansas City Royals, and the Oakland Athletics are all fighting for the not-so-coveted title of worst in the league. Each team sports a dismal 4-11 record, and each is at least seven games out of first place. The A's have been making things much harder on themselves by grounding into a major-league worst 18 double plays through Monday.
On Monday, despite the double-play problem, A's pitcher Mark Mulder managed to at least temporarily stop the bleeding, as he held the Anaheim Angels hitless into the sixth inning in Oakland's 6-3 victory, which stopped the Athletics' seven-game losing streak.
In other news, Hal McRae, the Devil Rays' bench coach this season, replaced manager Larry Rothschild, who was fired on Wednesday. McRae managed Kansas City from May 1991 through 1994.
"I feel I'm better prepared to manage now," McRae said at a news conference on Wednesday. "I don't know today exactly what I'm going to do different. But there will be differences. I have to earn the players' respect. If I earn their respect, they'll respond to my desires." Based on how the D-Rays have played so far this year, a new manager will probably not be enough to raise them out of the AL East basement.
Although the season is young, the rivalries of summer are back, and the Red Sox and Yankees are already preparing for their second series of the season, which will take place in New York this weekend.
