The Check Swing: Opening Week Full of Weirdness

The Opening Week of baseball has come and gone and has left us with weirdness on all sorts of weirdness. We had sluggers Adam Dunn and Matt Holliday both needing appendectomies, Hanley Ramirez(leg contusion, day-to-day) and Tsuyoshi Nishioka(broken leg, 15-Day DL) getting hurt on runners breaking up double plays and most notably Manny Ramirez retiring rather than serve his 100 game suspension for breaking MLB's rules on performance-enhancing drugs. Now that we got that out of the way, The Check Swing is going to breakdown every team's week.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 4-4, 2.5 GB 3rd NL West. The Diamondbacks had a rather bland week this week. They capped off their week with a big comeback on Sunday over the Reds and were snowed out earlier in Colorado.

Atlanta Braves: 4-6, 3.5 GB 5th NL East. The Braves made a trade for Dan Uggla in the offseason but it's like they've gotten bizarro Dan Uggla. His defense has superb so far this season but he's only hitting .158 with 2 HR and 2 RBI. Jason Heyward homered on his first AB of the season for the second straight year.

Baltimore Orioles: 6-3, 1st AL East. The Fighting Showalters have picked where they left off last season. This year they're doing it with their pitching, their team ERA is 3.33, team WHIP is 1.19 and opponents are hitting .219 off them. Staying healthy is important and they just lost J.J. Hardy for 2-3 weeks with a sore oblique.

Boston Red Sox: 2-7, 4 GB 4th AL East. The Red Sox are struggling to hit with runners in scoring position and Carl Crawford has been struggling period. He's hitting .132 with 1 RBI and has failed to register an extra base hit this season not to mention he's walked twice. He's hit leadoff, second, third and seventh in the lineup already.

Chicago Cubs: 4-5, 2 GB 4th NL Central. The Cubs lost their fourth and fifth starters to the DL this week. Their first three of Dempster, Zambrano and Garza all have ERAs over 5.00: 6.59, 5.25 and 5.68 respectively.

Chicago White Sox: 6-3, 1 GB 2nd AL Central. Adamn Dunn had an appendectomy and should return later this week. Jake Peavy is set to start his rehab assignment this week and could join the team by the end of the month if he has no set backs. But Ozzie is upset with his bullpen who blew 3 saves this week(Thornton 2, Sale 1).

Cincinnati Reds: 6-3, 1st NL Central. The Reds opened their season by hitting a walk off home run to win. Last year they were one of the top teams in comeback wins. Three of their five starters have an ERA of 5.25 or higher so far this season. They blew their first save of the season yesterday.

Cleveland Indians: 7-2, 1st AL Central. The Cabreras have led this team in their dominating run this week. They're doing it on both ends, offensively and defensively. Orlando is hitting .375 with 1 HR and 7 RBI while Asdrubal is hitting .316 3 HR and 9 RBI. The Indians are on a 7 game winning streak.

Colorado Rockies: 6-2, 1st NL West. After giving CarGo and Tulo big contract extensions this offseason the two are firing on all cylinders. Jhoulys Chacin and Jorge De La Rosa have been lights out so far this season. The only downside to the week is Ubaldo Jimenez with a cracked cuticle on his right thumb.

Detroit Tigers: 3-6, 4 GB 5th AL Central. The Tigers have struggled horribly this week hitting and pitching. They were dominated this weekend by Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar. But bigger concerns are their pitching. Starters Max Scherzer, Rick Porcello and Brad Penny have struggled. Brad Thomas continues to show he can't pitch in close games and could be on his way out if this continues.

Florida Marlins: 5-4, 2 GB 2nd NL East. The Marlins lost stud shortstop Hanley Ramirez Friday night after Bill Hall slid in hard to breakup a double play, HanRam is listed as day-to-day. However, the Marlins didn't forget about it as they plunked Hall in Sunday's 7-1 loss. The two teams won't meet again until July 7th-10th. I don't see the bad blood carrying over until then, unless Ramirez's injury proves to be worse than a contusion.

Houston Astros: 2-7, 4 GB 6th NL Central. Bill Hall injured Hanley Ramirez on a clean play as he slid hard to break up a double play Friday night. Hall was later hit in his last AB on Sunday's game. That led to the Astros hitting Gabby Sanchez in the ninth inning of Sunday's game. Everyone on both sides denies the beanball incidents. Will bad blood carry over in their next meeting July 7th-10th?

Kansas City Royals: 6-3, 1 GB 2nd AL Central. The Royals started their season off by winning their first 4 games of the season on their last at-bats. Then they took their act on the road and won 2 of 3 from Detroit getting good outings from Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar.

Los Angeles Angels: 5-4, 3 GB 2nd AL West. The Angels blew saves in 3 out of their first 4 games prompting skipper Mike Socia to make a change in his bullpen. Fernando Rodney is now a set-up man and rookie Jordan Walden who had 1 career save before this season is the new closer. No word on if the two will reverse roles.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 5-4, 1.5 GB 2nd NL West. The Dodgers took 3 out of 4 from rivals and defending champs the San Francisco Giants to start their season but had it overshadowed by 2 fans. After their Opening Day game, 2 fans savagely attacked a Giants fan leaving the 42-year old father in critical condition with possible brain damage. Hopefully the fans are found and get what's coming to them.

Milwaukee Brewers: 5-5, 1.5 GB 2nd NL Central. The Brewers have been led by their bash brother duo of Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. Braun is hitting .353 with 4 HR and 8 RBI while Fielder is hitting .400 with 2 HR and 11 RBI. Chris Narveson has been a surprise for them, in his 2 starts his ERA is 0.00 with 14 Ks.

Minnesota Twins: 3-6, 4 GB 5th AL Central. The Twins lost Tsuyoshi Nishioka when Nick Swisher broke his leg on a clean double play breakup. Outside of Nick Blackburn, the Twins starting pitching has been getting roughed up. Carl Pavano, Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano have ERAs of 6.00, 6.55 and 7.71.

New York Mets: 4-5, 3 GB 3rd NL East. The Mets slumping bullpen is seeking help from call-ups Jason Isringhausen and Ryota Igarashi. What has to be more alarming is Ace of the staff Mike Pelfrey and his 15.63 ERA in 2 starts but on the bright side Chris Young has a 1.46 ERA in his 2 starts.

New York Yankees: 5-4, 1 GB 2nd AL East. Yankee fans have to be happy with the performances they've gotten out Mark Teixeira and Russell Martin. But they can't be none too happy with Phil Hughes and his 16.50 ERA in 2 starts or that they dropped 2 of 3 to the slumping Boston Red Sox.

Oakland Athletics: 4-5, 4.5 GB 3rd AL West. Gio Gonzalez has been dominating this year to start, he's 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA. The A's gave Trevor Cahill a $30.5 million 5-year extension and they took 2 of 3 from the Twins at Minnesota to end their weekend.

Philadelphia Phillies: 7-2, 1st NL East. 7 of the Phillies 8 position players are hitting over .300 this season to start and Shane Victorino is hitting .417. But the bad news is Cliff Lee is struggling with a 7.84 ERA and Brad Lidge could miss the first half of the season. No updates on Chase Utley which is even worse.

Pittsburgh Pirates: 5-5, 1.5 GB 2nd NL Central. The Pirates are 5-5 to start but whol could resist putting this up.
You stay classy Pittsburgh.

San Diego Padres: 4-4, 2 GB 3rd NL West. Aaron Harang seems to have rebounded well in San Diego while Cameron Maybin and Orlando Hudson have too. Nick Hundley is hitting a remarkable .440 this season but the best news of all is Mat Latos makes his return off the DL for the Padres.

San Francisco Giants: 4-5, 2.5 GB 5th NL West. Pablo "Kung Fu Panda" Sandoval seems to be in the best shape of his life and he's playing like it. He's hitting .400 and moving well down on the hot corner. Good news for the Giants is they got closer Brian Wilson and his beard back this week.

Seattle Mariners: 2-7, 6.5 GB 4th AL West. Not much has gone right for Seattle so far this season. While Jack Wilson turned possibly the web gem of the year and Felix Hernandez has been King Felix nothing else has been positive. Wilson and manager Eric Wedge were caught in a he said he said as to who pulled Jack Wilson from Hernandez's 2nd loss. Also the Mariners have lost 7 in a row.

St. Louis Cardinals: 3-6, 3 GB 5th NL Central. Not much to be happy about in St. Louis. Adam Wainwright was lost before the season, Albert Pujols has stopped contract negotiations and now Chris Carpenter has said he would waive his no-trade clause. Oh by the way Pujols is hitting .143 with one extra base hit this season. Starting pitcher Kyle Lohse is also hitting .143 this season.

Tampa Bay Rays: 1-8, 5 GB 5th AL East. The Rays scored 1 run in 6 of their first 9 games this season. They also lost Evan Longoria to the 15-Day DL and Manny Ramirez to retirement. They'll miss Longoria greatly while he's gone but won't be so sad to see ManRam and his 1 for 17 leave. Ben Zobrist has 2nd best average of all players who qualify with a .147 this season.

Texas Rangers: 8-1, 1st AL West. Nelson Cruz became the third player in history to hit 4 home runs in his first 4 games, joining the likes of Willie Mays and Mark McGuire. Just about everything has gone right for Texas to start. Alex Ogando has made fans forget about losing out on Cliff Lee with his performances this season. And the Rangers as a team have a 2.48 team ERA with opponents hitting .199 this season.

Toronto Blue Jays: 5-4, 1 GB 2nd AL East. Ricky Romero and Kyle Drabek have made quite the 1-2 punch this season. Each have 1 win and respective ERAs of 1.32 and 1.38 while posting 12 Ks each. Jose Bautista is hiting for a much better average this early in the season, hitting .364 with 2 HR. The Jays did strand 18 runners in their 14 inning loss on Saturday.

Washington Nationals: 4-5, 3 GB 3rd NL East. Many critics didn't think Danny Espinosa would hit well this season, so far he's off to a .280 start with 1 HR and 5 RBI. Jayson Werth, the Nats big signing of the offseason is off to a slow start of .200 with 1 HR and 1 RBI. He should turn it around, they hope.

Check back next week for The Check Swing.