The Check Swing: Indians and Royals hot early, giving fans hope.

The Check Swing is coming to you a day due to some unforeseen circumstances but is here nonetheless. The Indians, Royals and Rockies are some of the hottest teams in baseball, 2 of the 3 come as a surprise to me (hint: it's not the Rockies). So now the question becomes can all if any of them keep it up? I think the Rockies can but come July I expect the Indians and Royals to fall back down to Earth. Let's take a look at the past week's events.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 6-8, 5 GB 5th NL West. The Diamondbacks host the All-Star Game this year and it seems like every game has been a good prelude to the Home Run Derby. A total of 25 HRs have been hit there this year (15 HR allowed and 10 hit) in 9 games played. Home Run Derby should be fun this year.

Atlanta Braves: 7-10, 4 GB 4th NL East. The Braves activated starting pitcher Jair Jurrjens off the 15-day DL and sent back down Mike Minor. Jurrjens went 7 innings while giving up 2 hits in his first start, good news for the Braves if he can stay healthy.

Baltimore Orioles: 6-9, 3.5 GB 4th AL East. The fighting Showalter's are in the midst of an 8 game losing streak and are averaging just under 2.5 runs a game during this streak. The offense has been struggling, Brian Roberts is the best hitter with a .266 and no other batter qualifies with an average over .250.

Boston Red Sox: 5-10, 4.5 GB 5th AL East. The Red Sox took 3 of 4 from the Blue Jays up'ing their win total to 5. While things appear to be on the up and up, tonight's starter John Lackey is yet to make it past the 5th inning. Meanwhile, Jacoby Ellsbury leads the team in HRs with 4.

Chicago Cubs: 8-8, 1 GB t-2nd NL Central. The Cubbies find themselves in a four-way tie for second in the Central this early in the season. Starlin Castro has been on fire so far this season, kid is hitting an outstanding .408, could he be the first since Ted Williams to hit over .400?

Chicago White Sox: 7-9, 5 GB 4th AL Central. It didn't take long for Ozzie Guillen to give us what we all wanted, the famous Ozzie blow-up. His team has blown 6 saves including closer Matt Thornton blowing 4 leading Ozzie to this. He has no bullpen!

Cincinnati Reds: 9-7, 1st NL Central. Bad news for the Reds is second year pitcher Mike Leake was arrested for stealing six shirts valued at $59.88. In case you were wondering, Leake makes $425,000 a year and received a $2.3 million signing bonus. In good news, Aroldis Chapman returned after 4 days off to hit 106 MPH last night.

Cleveland Indians: 12-4, 1st AL Central. Everything seems to be going well for the Indians, they're tied with the Rockies for the best record in baseball. Hopes are so high right now that the fan base has been calling talk shows proclaiming the Indians to be buyers at the deadline. Let's pump the brakes Tribe fans, July 31st is a long way away.

Colorado Rockies: 12-4, 1st NL West. The Rockies find themselves tied for the best record in all of baseball with the Cleveland Indians largely in part due to Troy Tulowitzki. Tulo is hitting .345 with 7 HR and 14 RBI this season. No doubt the Rockies will go as he goes.

Detroit Tigers: 8-9, 4.5 GB 3rd AL Central. Justin Verlander was involved in the goofiest balk play I've seen in all my years this past weekend in Oakland. But the bad news for the Tigers is Victor Martinez, who has struggled this year hitting .250 with 2 HR and 9 RBI tweaked his groin last night and could miss serious time.

Florida Marlins: 8-6, 1.5 GB 2nd NL East. Marlins fans have to feel well after going 5-3 on a road trip that saw them play Houston, Atlanta and Philadelphia. Concerns though have to be with the struggling middle part of the order, Omar Infante at .222, Hanley Ramirez hitting .244 and Mike Stanton struggling at .194.

Houston Astros: 5-11, 4 GB 6th NL Central. Hunter Pence fouled a pitch off his face this past week but sadly no video clip has been found. The foul ball hit the ground then bounced right back up into Pence's right cheek.

Kansas City Royals: 10-6, 2 GB 2nd AL Central. Designated hitter Billy Butler has expressed his desires to play first base, his manager Ned Yost responded to this by saying he'd like to be an astronaut. With starting first baseman Kila Ka'aihue slumping bad it's only a matter of time before Butler wins out or the Royals bring up prospect Eric Hosmer.

Los Angeles Angels: 10-6, 1 GB 2nd AL West. Jered Weaver became the first pitcher in the majors to win 4 games this season. Meanwhile, the Halos are trying to resurrect Scott Kazmir's career. They placed him on the DL with back stiffness to allow him to clear his head and work his mechanical issues out in Triple-A.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 8-9, 4.5 GB 3rd NL West. The Dodgers promoted top hitting prospect Jerry Sands to try and help the struggling offense. Andre Ethier has extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Rafael Furcal broke his thumb and will be out 4-6 weeks. P.S. Matt Kemp is off the map right now hitting .459.

Milwaukee Brewers: 8-8, 1 GB t-2nd NL Central. Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks continue to lead the Brewers in batting average, home runs and runs batted in. In other news, Corey Hart is to begin his rehab stint in Triple-A Nashville.

Minnesota Twins: 6-10, 6 GB 5th AL Central. Bad news for the Minnesota Joes. Joe Mauer goes on the 15-day DL with weakness in his legs then Joe Nathan blows 2 saves and loses his job to Matt Capps.

New York Mets: 5-11, 5.5 GB 5th NL East. The Mets dropped both games of double headers this week, losing twice at home Thursday to Colorado and twice on the road Saturday to Atlanta. In those 4 games, the Mets scored 11 runs total.

New York Yankees: 9-5, 1st AL East. The Yankees lost Phil Hughes to the 15-day DL with a dead arm. In 3 starts Hughes was 0-1 with 10.1 IP and an ERA of 13.94. With Hughes gone, the Yanks hope that A.J. Burnett keeps his hot starts going. They also hope to get A-Rod back in their lineup soom but Eric Chavez has filled in nicely for him.

Oakland Athletics: 8-8, 3 GB 3rd AL West. The A's placed Dallas Braden on the 15-day DL with left shoulder stiffness and is seeking a second opinion on the prognosis, not good. In other news, Coco Crisp loves the A's throwback jerseys so much he's going throwback himself.

Philadelphia Phillies: 10-5, 1st NL East. The Phillies can't seem to avoid the injury bug in 2011. Roy Oswalt left his last start due to back spasms but shouldn't miss his next start. Now J.C. Romero left last night's game with a right calf injury and might land on the 15-day DL.

Pittsburgh Pirates: 8-8, 1 GB t-2nd NL Central. Pedro Alvarez has started the season slow, hitting .193 while leading the majors with 20 strikeouts in 57 at-bats. So the Pirates gave him Monday off in hopes of clearing his head, Alvarez is a key piece to the Pirates success or lack of it depending on how he hits.

San Diego Padres: 7-9, 5 GB 4th NL West. The Padres are off to a slow start this season, unlike last year when they started hot and fell off late. One reason for the Padres slow start is the fact that they've only won back to back games once this season, which was their first two games of the year.

San Francisco Giants: 9-7, 3 GB 2nd NL West. If you don't have the TV channel Showtime, you might want to get it. Especially if you loved HBO's Hard Knocks because Showtime is giving you the MLB equivalent in The Franchise following the Giants. Brian Wilson is quite the character, if you don't like him you will after watching this show.

Seattle Mariners: 5-12, 6.5 GB 4th AL West. I can't believe I missed this last week but the Mariners are rocking the teal throwbacks from the mid-90s when Junior and Co. reigned over the AL West. Sadly they haven't reversed the club's fortune as they own the worst record in baseball.

St. Louis Cardinals: 8-8, 1 GB t-2nd NL Central. Just as the ship seems to righting for Albert Pujols and the Cards a new leak shows up. This time it's in the form of 38-year old closer Ryan Franklin who has blown 4 saves in 5 chances. No word on if Franklin has lost the job yet.

Tampa Bay Rays: 7-9, 3 GB t-2nd AL East. The Rays are 7-3 over their last 10 thanks in large part to Johnny Damon who had some clutch hits off Joe Nathan this past week. One of those hits also gave us this near shaving cream pie gone wrong courtesy of BJ Upton.

Texas Rangers: 11-5, 1st AL West. Josh Hamilton broke his arm this past week trying to tag up on a foul ball in front of the Tigers dugout. The injury is expected to keep the reigning MVP out 6-8 weeks.

Toronto Blue Jays: 7-9, 3 GB t-2nd AL East. The Jays struggled in Boston this past weekend losing the last 3 games of the 4 game series. In the final 3 games, the Jays scored a total of 3 runs... yikes!

Washington Nationals: 8-7, 2 GB 3rd NL East. Of hitters who qualify for the stat, Danny Espinosa leads the team in batting average with a .256 average. He also leads the team with 14 RBI. But with such poor hitting it's a wonder the Nats have 8 wins. Well they have them thanks largely due to strong performances from the pitching. A team ERA of 3.44 ranks 10th in the Majors.