I was looking at the standings in the NL West the other day and saw something that caught my attention.

Anyone feel that the dodgers are out of the race in that division? Didn’t think so.

So, if LA can catch the Giants take a look at Arizona, a team that trails LA by only 2 1/2 games. Puts the Diamondbacks in a better light even though they are 8 1/2 behind SF.

Point is this, figure out which teams wouldn’t surprise you if they won a particular division and then look at the teams closest to that team.

Can the Phillies win in the NL East? Absolutely, well, don’t overlook the Mets, they trail the Phillies by 5. Hardly, overwhelming in May.

Can Anaheim win the AL West? It’s not out of the realm of possibility, well, the Rangers are only three starters and 1 1/2 games behind the Halos.

Key is to get to .500 and then see what can happen. Summer trades, hot players, injuries to leaders, they all will be a part of the story of the 2003 season.

Today’s games tell a new story, click below!

Funny how stubborn some managers can be.

Frank Robinson is from the old school, he isn’t going to be intimidated by any of todays’ players. Especially not Barry Bonds.

How many times have I seen the scenario played out that came up in last night’s game. Expos have a two run lead, bottom of the ninth, one out, runner on second, Bonds coming up.

Do the Expos and Rocky Biddle challenge Bonds or do they work around him and take their chances with Jose Cruz and Benito Santiago?

Why not try to throw the ball past Bonds in the strike zone? OK, let’s do it. Bonds rocketed a shot that went 421 feet to the deepest part of the park for a double, missing a homer by two feet.

Roicky Biddle almost died when the ball was hit, it was smoked.

Now with the score 4-3 Expos, Biddle settled down and cameback to strike out Cruz and Santiago with the tying run on third, placed there via a wild pitch from the nervous Biddle.

I’ll say it again. You don’t pitch to Bonds with the game on the line especially if there is an open base. Tony La Russa learned it the hard way, Bobby Cox too, they don’t do it anymore.

Frank Robinson is as rockheaded as they come, he ‘ll do it again, just watch. He got away with the goof last night, next time he won’t be so fortunate.

The A’s throw lefty Ted Lilly at the Tigers and 0-7 Mike Maroth. The Tigers can’t hit lefties. Their two best hitters Dimitri Young and Bobby Higginson drop about .200 points against southpaws. The A’s play Detroit three times, Cleveland three, and then six each with Minnesota and Kansas City. Oakland’s record is 23-14 when this stretch is done I’ll say they will be 36-19 at worst.

The A’s are 19-3 when its starting pitchers go at least 6 1/3 innings, believe it or not 4-11 when they are gone before one out in the seventh.

With Mulder, Hudson and Zito on the hill you can see why the team is a threat to win every time they go out. These three go deep in the game and that is why Rick Peterson is trying to get Lilly into the seventh inning as well. Lilly throws too many pitches and seems to depart in the sixth, allowing the opposition to hit against the A’s ordinary middle relief. Hence, the team’s record is 4-11 in games that play out in that fashion.

Tom Glavine has figured out how to pitch in Coors Field. Now, if he only had the Braves with him, I’d feel better about tonight’s game with the Rockies and Shawn Chacon.

Javy Lopez knocked the Giants around last weekend with big hits, last night he finished the Dodgers with a big ninth inning homer.

This year Atalnta can hit, what a difference it makes, because you know they can pitch.

Russ Ortiz is very familiar with the Dodgers and will be sky high in LA tonight in his start in Chavez Ravine.

Houston is clicking right now. Typical game sees their starter gone by the sixth inning and then a group of three or four relievers closing the game for Jimy Williams. While in Boston, Williams managed the same way and burnt out the Sox bull pen every year, his quick hook makes me wonder how Houston will fare in August, but until then they are winning without any consistency from their starting pitching.

Is Joe Nathan wearing down? In his first year back in the majors after a lengthy minor league rehab following arm surgery, Nathan is showing some signs of fatigue the last few outings.

Mike Mussina has absolutely mesmerized AL hitters this season. He told me he can control his breaking stuff this year and has the same velocity on his fastball that he had ten years ago.

John Lackey needs to get the ball to the Angel bull pen earlier than the fifth inning for Anaheim to have a chance tonight. After facing the A’s big three, watch the Yankee hitters go nuts tonight especially with Derk Jeter back as expected.

Detroit was one hit by Joe Kennedy and Jim Parque, two lefties who don’t dominate very often, what can you expect from the Tigers against Lilly tonight? How about three hits tops.

The White Sox face Omar Daal, a lefty tonight at home. The Sox have thunder from the right side and throw Esteban Loaiza who already pitched eight solid innings against the O’s last time he faced them.

Kyle Lohse has another chance to establish himself tonight against KC. Jeremy Affeldt came back with a big game for the Royals last night and settled down the bull pen with six strong innings. Don’t expect the same result tonight.

Shawn Estes can beat Milwaukee.

Hank Blalock leads the AL in hitting while Edgar Renteria leads the senior circuit. Trust me this will look different in June. A Rod, Manny, Sheff, and Pujols are my long range choices for the batting titles.

By the way here’s a final thought.

Baseball is full of good stories and subjective emotions, with all the sabremeticians in the front offices these days, the good moments are being diluted by these folks trying to explain every result based on predictable formulas instead of the individual matchups on the field.

Humans play the game, not computers, and how they perform on a case by case basis is what baseball is all about. Sure, over the long run a pattern will develop for some players, but the game plays out in individual confrontations each day which must be judged one its own merits in that particular situation.

For a general manager or his assistant to flip out and create a scene because the sabermetric formula didn’t give the expected result during that game is absurd and is not what baseball is all about.

Who knows, maybe those lefties in Detroit will jump up and bite the A’s tonight?

You have to play the game to find out.