Impressions of the First Few Weeks of the Season

Biggest Surprise Of a Team
Florida Marlins-
At 11-1 and way out ahead of their division, the Marlins have dominated so far this season. Their hitting has been very balanced so far, with 3 hitters already at 10+ RBI. The biggest surprise has so far been their young pitching staff, which has been mowing down opponents. The biggest surprise among their pitchers has been Chris Volstad, who has a 2.76 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 16 1/3 innings pitched. The 22 year old is beginning to show why he was picked as the 16th overall pick in the 2005 draft out of high school, and should continue to impress throughout the season.

Runner Up for Biggest Surprise- Seattle Mariners, who, with 8 wins through April 19th, have equaled their win total through July for last season.

Biggest Disappointment Of a Team
It would be easy to pick the 1-11 Nationals, but nothing was expected of them anyway, so the biggest disappointment is the Angels, at 4-8. They're last in their division, and Vlad hasn't really been producing at all, and is now apparently injured. As a whole, the team has not played that badly, and have really only lost a lot of close games, but nonetheless, they're last place in a pretty bad division. Once John Lackey comes back and gives their rotation gives them some stability, and if their bullpen can stabilize, they should still win the division. The fact that they've lost a lot of close games doesn't really mean all that much, as close games tend to balance out over a whole season.

Runner Up- Nationals. 1-11 is just sad.

Most Surprising Start for a Player who is likely to keep the stats up for a whole season
Ian Kinsler- While I don't think that Ian Kinsler will bat .460 for a whole season, like he's doing now, he's been absolutley on fire so far, and while he's had some media attention and fantasy hype the last few years, this year he's looking ready to absolutely dominate. He was tearing it up in a similar fashion all year last year, until he got injured in August and missed the rest of the season, but he may well bat about .325 with 30 HR and 110 RBI this season, making him just a beast.

Runner Up-Aaron Hill- look for the little Canadian to make some noise this season, coming back from some surgery and is finally healthy.

Worst Start Ever
It is rare that I will ever pass up a chance to bash the Brew Crew, and now is no exception. With a current batting average of .222, a whopping 1 HR, and 5 whole RBIs through 45 AB, Ryan Braun takes this award with ease. He has looked so pathetic, inadequate, and lost at the plate that his fielding is now starting to look good by comparision. For those of you who drafted him 5th overall or something in your fantasy leagues, be patient, but be warned, he's probably not very good. (not really though, he's a beast, and will probably come around, I can't be that biased)

Runner Up-my old pal Jimmy Rollins, who is currently batting .152 with 1 HR and 4 RBI. He also has as many stolen bases this season as I do. Which is 0.

Most Unbelievable Moment of the Season Thus Far
Sportscenter doing a "If the Season Ended Today" playoff matchup last night. On April 19th. 2 weeks into the season. Simply an unbelievable turn of events that no one saw coming. Very disappointing on ESPN's part.

More later this week probably