One week certainly doesn’t make a season, but you cannot ignore some of the results this week.

The A’s are outplaying the Angels just as they did the Mariners in their first series.

The Giants are using their bull pen every day and this is not a good sign. SF’s rotation needs to give the pen some rest especially considering the team is 5-0 against their cousins the Padres and the hapless Brewers.

The AL Central has two teams Detroit and Cleveland who will rival Baltimore and Tampa Bay for the worst in the league.

There’s more, click below.I was starting to worry about Jimmy Rollins, the Phillies leadoff hitter. I consider Rollins a key to the Philadelphia season. Yesterday, he finally broke through with five hits in six at bats and the Phillies pounded Pittsburgh 16-1.

Greg Maddux could only pitch six innings or so last year before Bobby Cox would pull his hall of famer to be. I speculated that there was a physical reason behind “the early for Maddux hooks”. Now Maddux has gotten rocked in his first two starts against Montreal and Florida, so what’s up with Maddux?

Josh Beckett has a shot at being the best pitcher in the league, his stuff is that good. He throws a high fastball which is almost impossible to catch up with. He may be the pitcher to lead the Marlins into contention this season.

The Cubs are scorching the ball. The top of the order is on fire. Mark Grudzilaniek .529, Alex Gonzalez .524, Sammy Sosa .357, and Moises Alou .429, give Dusty’s team a chance to gain some ground this week if they keep it up, because now his power rotation begins again today with Kerry Wood versus Paul Wilson in Cincinnati.

The rumors about Randy Johnson throwing too many split finger fastballs thus losing some of his real fastball may have taken a step back Saturday as the Big Unit struck out ten Rockies. Still if he is fiddling with the radar gun to show higher readings at home when he in reality is throwing 94 instead of 98 is unsettling if you picked Arizona to repeat in the West.

Arizona must have real offensive worries if Darren Oliver can hold them to two earned runs in five innings in Coors Field.

The Dodgers can’t beat the Padres, the Padres can’t beat the Giants, it happens like clock work. Fred McGriff hitting .136 in the four spot doesn’t help LA.

Houston couldn’t beat St. Louis very often the past two years. Maybe 2003 will be different as they rallied for two in the ninth to beat the Cards Saturday. Matt Morris threw eight great innings and left with a 1-0 lead. It took 21 pitches for Jeff Fassero and Dustin Hermanson to lose the game.

The Mets are tied for first in the NL East. Bet you never thought that would happen after they lost 15-2 on opening day to the Cubbies.

Chad Fox walked in the winning run as Boston’s bull pen let another game get away. Somehow, if I’m selecting the bull pen by committee, Fox is no longer chairman.

The Sox aren’t hitting very well just yet, but that won’t last much longer, they can hit.

Injuries knocked out CC Sabathia, Kevin Millwood, and Ken Griffey, Jr. The only team that needs to worry is the Phillies if Millwood’s groin strain becomes a chronic problem.

Gil Meche lasted five inniings, but his location was horrible. Batting practice for the Rangers Saturday night. Colby Lewis kept them in the game which is all they can ask.

Roy Halladay pitched quite well in the Metrodome, another righty who got the job done against the Twins at home, what happened to all the lefthanded hitting in Minnesota? Kenny Rogers 82 pitches in 5 innings, not good.

John Halama throws inside, he is one tough guy on the mound. He didn’t waste any curve balls, which is about all he threw in spring training, and he had the Angels tied up all day with his 82 MPH inside fastball. Halama is now 8-1 versus Anaheim and gets another shot at them next week.

Erubiel Durazo should hit fourth for the A’s, you heard it here first. He is more selective than Eric Chavez and will not miss in RBI opportunities. If he puts the bat on the ball good things happen.

Even though Jermaine Dye is hitting .368 it would be nice to see a home run instead of broken bat singles.

Mike Scoscia left Jarrod Washbvurn in one inning too long Saturday, if you saw the game Washburn struggled in his last inning and the last two runs he gave up eventually were the deciding runs in the game.

Ricardo Rincon isn’t on his game just yet. Micah Bowie should get the tough outs until Rincon shows he can blow some hitters away, it was a good thing the A’s caught Shawn Wooten off base after his eighth inning hit off Rincon, because three righties in a row were due up next and Ken Macha didn’t have a righty warmed up in the pen if Rincon got in more trouble.

The Rocket goes for 295 today.

Chan Ho Park versus Freddy Garcia get out the calculator.

If the 2003 book of baseball could be divided into weekley chapters, this was an excellent first chapter.