I know it’s early in the season, but now that I’ve seen the three teams chasing the Athletics in the West, I am having a hard time envisioning any of these three teams beating the A’s over 162 games.

Seattle is treading water, hoping that the injuries don’t pile up. The Angels have the most potential because they will get healthy and have some excellent starting pitching.

Texas is about where I thought they would be, some offense, but not much pitching.

There is a lot more going on in the majors let’s look.Minnesota is struggling right now. They face a tough lefty in David Wells in NY. Wells not only is 16-6 against the Twins in his career, but is 39-13 in Yankee Stadium. Rick Reed doesn’t throw well enough to dominate the Yankees, but he can keep the ball down and try to get the ball to the bull pen.

Which team is the worst, the 62 Mets or the 2003 Tigers. Both teams had long losing streaks to start consecutive seasons, the Tigers lost 11 straight last year and may snap their seven game streak this year with lefty Mike Maroth on the mound. Miguel Ascencio can bring it, the Royals ain’t that good, so the Tigers get it done today.

Ryan Franklin made his mark early in the 2002 season against Anaheim and rode that performance right into the Seattle rotation. Jarrod Washburn lasted into the 7th inning against the A’s in his first start, but clearly lost it in the 7th, he may need a couple of starts to hit his stride.

Injuries are taking its toll on the Halos. Tim Salmon, Troy Glaus, and Adam Kennedy are out, lucky the season is 162 games.

Shawn Estes goes for the Cubs today. Until I see a decent game from Estes I have to believe that his effectiveness may be a thing of the past.

Hideo Nomo is one of the toughest pitchers around. He gets to show how tough he is once again in San Francisco tonight. Nomo has beaten the Giants nine of his last ten starts. Kurt Ainsworth has to get the ball into the seventh inning or else it could be a long night for SF.

Edgardo Alfonzo is moving up to the number two spot in the order, good move, I think he is more suited to be a second hitter than a five hitter because of his back injuries. He reminds me of Don Mattingly after he got hurt and lost most of his power. Alfonzo can hit but not with any serious power, so the two spot is a good move.

Boston leads the majors in runs scored, but still is struggling winning games. Either it’s the starters or the bull pen, but it is too early to panic because this is a solid offensive team. John Burkett has pitched well in SkyDome and will have his hands full with Roy Halladay. Toronto benched Eric Hinske against the lefty Casey Fossum yesterday and Mike Bordick came through. Can the Blue Jays do this more often, I don’t think so, Hinske signed a big contract and you don’t platoon 10 million dollars.

I’ll say it again, Greg Maddux hasn’t looked like himself for almost a year now. Maddux got rocked again and the Phillies are getting a big boost of confidence against the Braves.

Mark Mulder hasn’t pitched well, yet the team still wins, that is a good sign for the A’s.

Jeremy Fikac had three terrific innings last night in relief of Mulder with the Rangers threatening to get back into the game, my player of the game.

Mark Texeira got his first big league hit last night, the first of many to come in his big league career with the Rangers.

Weekend is next as we see some repeat match ups from last week.