Other than a handful of pitchers around major league baseball, the rest of the moundsmen are off to the typical slow starts that plague pitchers every season.

Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux have struggled well beyond anything expected in early season starts.

The A’s starters are inconsistent and their offense isn’t picking up the slack. Hence, a five game losing streak.

Same trouble applies to Arizona, Toronto, Atlanta, Minnesota, Boston, and Seattle. You never know what you will get when they take the field.

Everyday is a new day in baseball so let’s take a look.Mark Mulder pitched superbly until he got lazy in the sixth inning and lost that killer instinct that seasoned pitchers have with the game on the line.

Rediscovering his curve ball after the first inning, Mulder reached two outs in the sixth inning in complete command of a tight 3-2 game. With Carlos Guillen coming up and having thrown only 81 pitches Mulder couldn’t put away the shortstop and on a 3-2 meatball gave up a sharp single to Guillen. This brought Jeff Cirillo up sporting .150 batting average. Mulder made a fateful mistake when he forgot his curve/splitter had been his bread and butter pitch all evening and instead threw Cirillo a cutter that didn’t cut. The result gave the hitter a shot at a homer when he never should have been able to lift the ball off the big lefty.

Cirillo didn’t miss the pitch and did hit a two run homer to win the game. In all fairness to Mulder, this game was the closest to being the dominant pitcher of the last two years that he has been. One can only wait until Mulder has ten starts in the bank because he is so good that he will dominate for the most important part of the season, to wit: the summer.

The A’s are not hitting this week, expect all that to change once they get home on Friday to face Texas and then next week against Detroit and Cleveland.

Funny but now the fans and others are complaining that the A’s bench can’t produce because the young players Adam Piatt and Eric Byrnes don’t get enough at bats to stay sharp. That is exactly what I reasoned when I wrote that the A’s should sign Rickey Henderson and send one of the young outfielders packing. Veterans can come off the bench once a week to contribute, it is very hard for an unestablished kid to get 4 at bats per week and make an impact.

Where is Rickey these days?

Tonight Ryan Franklin goes against Ted Lilly. This game is interesting for two reasons. One Seattle doesn’t hit lefties very well at all. Edgar Martinez can barely push off in the batters box because of a strained hamstring. Two, Ted Lilly is making his third start in the rotation and he is throwing close to 100 pitches or more each time out on the hill. Lilly has never been able to last for very long in a major league rotation without breaking down, I’m watching to see if the A’s limit his pitch count or continue their plan to treat him like the big three and hope he holds up.

Shane Reynolds throws for Atlanta today without the benefit of pitching recently after being let go by Houston towards the end of spring training. Atlanta will be the latest victims of the San Juan Expos as the home team should hit Reynolds pretty well in their cozy home away from home.

Josh Beckett against Joe Roa. When Beckett gets locked in he will be one of the best in the NL. Facing Roa gives the Marlins a chance to score some runs for their young pitcher.

Shawn Estes gets another chance today for Chicago. A lot of folks disagreed with me when I said Estes will never be a winner again. Reliever turned starter Danny Graves is the opposition in Wrigley.

Two good young pitchers in Pac Bell tonight. Kurt Ainsworth didn’t throw many pitches above the knees last week against LA. Can he do it again and be a consistent innings eater for the Giants who are starting to make Arizona and LA nervous with their 12-1 start?

Jeriome Robertson throws hard, but can be hit as he leaves the ball up when he makes a mistake. A veteran line up like the Giants have, can give a young pitcher like Robertson trouble while he learns his trade.

Jake Peavy reminds me of Tim Hudson, a good old country hard ball pitcher. I didn’t see a happy team in SF this weekend when LA was in town, these LA players didn’t take team chemistry in high school.

Colby Lewis was all over the place in his last start against the A’s. It’s a dangerous formula to follow against the Angels and Jarrod Washburn. Anaheim should rest their ailing players because it is a long season and why push Glaus and Salmon right now.

How about the game Ismael Valdes threw last night. Eight shut out innings against the World Champs. Saturday should be Valdes and Mulder in Oakland.

Kyle Lohse gets to show the AL his stuff again today against Detroit. Lohse is one of the best kept secrets on the mound in baseball and should dominate the Tigers in Minnesota. His opponent Mike Maroth is a lefty who can keep things close against the Twins.

Showdown in Chicago, the red hot Royals against the White Sox. Chicago ace Mark Buerhle tries to slow down KC (10-1) against hard throwing Miguel Ascencio. This game is one of the best of the day. It’s early and not much stock is put in the Royals start, but in this divsion you never know what can happen when you have promising pitching and so far KC has shown some flash.

The Yankees are hitting, getting on base, and Hideki Matsui (14 RBI) is getting them in. Matsui’s greatest asset, he is a vet who likes to be in the box with the game on the line. He is a clutch player that winning teams covet and even though he is listed as a rookie, you know he isn’t.

By the way, is Derek Jeter still out? The New Yorkers are 10-2.

Roy Halladay hasn’t hit his groove yet, one of the victims of early season inconsistency, but it is a great match up against Mike Mussina in NY. The problem with Toronto is in the bull pen where all time club house whiner Jeff Tam may be needed in the 8th if Cliff Politte doesn’t find his range.

Casey Fossum needs innings and can get them todayagainst those pesky Devil Rays in Boston. By the way, what is the make up of the Closer by Committee crowd these days?

Nick Beirbrodt is pitching for Tampa Bay and that isn’t good news for the Devil Rays fans. Nick hasn’t hit his stride as of yet and may need more minor league starts before he is ready.

To me every division race is up for grabs and looking at the standings this morning suggests that no teams other than the Giants and Yankees and, all right, the Royals really have it going right now.

Baseball in April, like the weather, you never know what you are going to get.