The Check Swing: The Day of the DL.

Seems like Monday, May 23rd is the day of the DL for many big names throughout the MLB, either going on it or coming off. Some notable players returning to their teams from the DL include Chase Utley, Jim Thome, Josh Hamilton and Nelson Cruz. Meanwhile one big name, Jason Heyward hit the DL today while Aroldis Chapman, Josh Johnson, Marlon Byrd and David Wright all hit the DL earlier in the week.

In case you live under a rock, the legendary Twins player Harmon Killebrew passed away from esophageal cancer this past week. Killebrew was an all-star at three different positions in his career: third base, first base and left field. In his 22-year career Killebrew hit 573 home runs good for 11th all-time, was the 1969 AL MVP and has been rumored as the iconic figure for the MLB logo.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 23-23, 4 GB 3rd NL West. The Diamondbacks are at the .500 clip for the first time since April 20th but the bigger news is that earlier in the week the D'Backs designated Armando Galarraga for assignment and as of today no one has tried to claim his rights. Bad luck for Mr. Near Perfection.

Atlanta Braves: 26-23, 3.5 GB 3rd NL East. Brian McCann became the second player in history to hit a pinch-hit game tying home run in the 9th inning and later in the game hit the walk-off home run to win the game. That was the good news, the bad news is Jason Heyward's sore right shoulder landed him on the DL. Tim Hudson and Nate McLouth could soon be joining him too.

Baltimore Orioles: 21-24, 4 GB 5th AL East. The O's are the only team in the AL East under .500 and things might get worse before they get better. Brian Roberts is going to see a concussion specialists and if you remember Roberts missed the last couple of weeks of the 2010 season with a concussion.

Boston Red Sox: 25-21, 0.5 GB 3rd AL East. Remember when people said David Ortiz couldn't hit? Or when the Red Sox seemingly couldn't win a game this season? Yeah those days are long gone as the Sox are only a half game back for first in the East. And Ortiz became the fifth player to hit 300 home runs as a Red Sox.

Chicago Cubs: 20-25, 6.5 GB 5th NL Central. For the first time since 1918 the Chicago Cubs visited Fenway Park and after this weekend series they might not want to go back... ever. Jeff Baker suffered a mild groin strain, Matt Garza was scratched from his start Sunday and Marlon Byrd suffered facial fractures after being hit in the face Saturday night.

Chicago White Sox: 22-26, 9 GB 4th AL Central. The White Sox seem to be heating up along with the weather after going 11-4 in their last 15. Jake Peavy threw a complete game shutout earlier in the week showing all signs of being healthy. But Adam Dunn is an awful 0 for 30 vs left handed pitching this year.

Cincinnati Reds: 25-22, 2.5 GB 2nd NL Central. Aroldis Chapman and his arm have hit the DL with inflammation, that's never good. But what's worse is starter Edinson Volquez and his 6.35 ERA calling out his offense. Volquez had this to say, "Everybody has to step up, start to score some runs. In the last five games, how many runs have we scored? Like 13? That's not the way we were playing last year. We're better than that." Volquez may want to recount, they've scored 12 runs not 13.

Cleveland Indians: 29-15, 1st AL Central. Even without Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner the Indians continue to win, earning the nickname the WINdians. One reason why is shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera who is doing it at the plate and in the field. Sunday he became the fifth shortstop to record five hits with two home runs and five RBI since 1920. And on Thursday night he gave us the new defensive play of the year with this gem.

Colorado Rockies: 23-22, 3.5 GB 2nd NL West. Jason Giambi hit his first career 3-HR game this week in Philadelphia driving in all seven of the Rockies runs in a 7-5 victory. That was the Rockies only win on a five game road trip to Philly and Milwaukee. They lost three of those four games by one run and the other by two.

Detroit Tigers: 23-23, 7 GB 2nd AL Central. Rick Porcello had a chance to get his first career complete game shutout Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh, throwing 84 pitches through eight innings. Skipper Jim Leyland opted to go to closer Jose Valverde who converted his 11th save in 11 opportunities making his manager look good. On a side note, Porcello picked up his third career hit Sunday, the other two came in a start he made in 2009 also in Pittsburgh.

Florida Marlins: 26-19, 1.5 GB 2nd NL East. Josh Johnson leads the majors in ERA with a 1.64 but he's headed to the DL with shoulder inflammation. Johnson says he's been pitching with some discomfort since Spring Training. Reason not to be concerned is the Marlins say this isn't the same injury that forced him to be shut down for the last three weeks of the season.

Houston Astros: 17-30, 10.5 GB 6th NL Central. The Astros snapped their six series losing streak this weekend taking two of three from the Blue Jays in Toronto. It's also possible Bill Hall might be losing his job at second base with his slow start.

Kansas City Royals: 22-24, 8 GB 3rd AL Central. Jeff Francis picked up his first win of the season when the Royals beat the Cardinals 3-0 on Friday. In other news, the Royals snapped their 11-game streak of not committing an error by committing two on Sunday.

Los Angeles Angels: 24-24, 0.5 GB 2nd AL West. The Angels have lost 11 games this season by one run, that leads the majors. In other news, Jered Weaver attempts to right his disastrous May, losing all four of his May starts and allowing 14 of his 19 earned runs in May.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 21-27, 7 GB 4th NL West. To say that the Dodgers have had a long and rough season would be an understatement. This weekend they've lost Juan Uribe, Andre Ethier and Rod Barajas. Although they did get Rafael Furcal back on Sunday and he went 0 for 5 while committing a throwing error.

Milwaukee Brewers: 24-23, 3.5 GB 3rd NL Central. Zack Greinke has struggled since returning to the Brewers from the DL but one reason why the Brewers remain within an earshot of St. Louis is Shawn Marcum. Marcum is 6-1 with a 2.37 ERA over 10 starts this season.

Minnesota Twins: 15-30, 14.5 GB 5th AL Central. Times are tough in Minnesota, so tough that it appears Kevin Slowey might have made his last start for the Twins. The Twins want to demote him to Class AAA Rochester while Slowey wants to remain a starter in the big leagues. Something has got to give, most likely it'll be the Twins giving Slowey his pink slip.

New York Mets: 22-24, 6 GB 4th NL East. Owner Fred Wilpon had some harsh words about his superstar trio of Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and David Wright. On Reyes he said,"He wants Carl Crawford money, he won't get it. He's had everything wrong with him." Said this about Beltran, "We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series. He's sixty-five to seventy percent of what he was." And about Wright, "Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar."

New York Yankees: 25-20, 1st AL East. If it wasn't for Jose Bautista everyone would be talking about Curtis Granderson. Granderson is hitting .263 with 16 home runs and 34 RBI and those 16 homers are good for second in the majors.

Oakland Athletics: 22-25, 2 GB 4th AL West. Josh Outman is making his first start of the season for the A's this year. Outman missed all of the 2010 season after recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2009. Outman was obtained from the Phillies in the Joe Blanton deal.

Philadelphia Phillies: 28-18, 1st NL East. The first place Phillies just got the boost they need when getting Chase Utley off the DL for tonight's game. The Phillies are expected to take it easy with Utley likely going on three days on one day off type routine.

Pittsburgh Pirates: 22-24, 5 GB 4th NL Central. Paul Maholm suffered another tough luck loss this season pushing his record to 1-7 on the season. What's surprising is his ERA is at 3.65, in his 10 starts the Pirates have only scored 14 runs for him.

San Diego Padres: 19-28, 8.5 GB 5th NL West. The Padres have struggled in their home park to say the least. At home the Padres are hitting .203 while scoring 2.27 runs per game and are hitting .134 (26 for 194) with runners in scoring position. On the road the Padres are hitting .265 while scoring just over five runs a game and are hitting .315 (57 for 181) with RISP. The Padres are 8-18 at home while 11-10 on the road.

San Francisco Giants: 27-19, 1st NL West. Winning close games at home are becoming a trend for the Giants. They're 11-0 in one run games at home while winning seven of those games in walk-off fashion. The latest victims are the Oakland A's who lost Saturday and Sunday in walk-off wins to the Giants.

Seattle Mariners: 22-24, 1.5 GB 3rd AL West. Starting pitching has been the reason why Seattle has made a surge in the standings. Not only has King Felix regained his form but lately Michael Pineda, Erik Bedard and Jason Vargas have been nearly unhittable.

St. Louis Cardinals: 28-20, 1st NL Central. What's wrong with Albert Pujols? That's the question most Cardinal fans are asking themselves and everyone. Pujols has gone a career high 103 at-bats without hitting a home run and has grounded into more double plays than extra base hits. If you told me Pujols would be struggling like this and Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter would have combined for one win at this point in the season only to see the Cards atop the Central I would have said you were crazy.

Tampa Bay Rays: 26-21, 2nd AL East (on percentage points, no games back). James Shields is in the last year of his contract and is in need of a good season after last year's rough 13-15, 5.18 ERA. This year Shields is 5-2 with a 2.00 ERA and is coming off a complete game shutout of the Marlins in which he struck out 13 hitters and gave up three hits.

Texas Rangers: 24-23, 1st AL West. The Rangers missed Josh Hamilton and Nelson for a good chunk of the season, not to mention Neftali Feliz. Many thought that the Angels or A's would pass by the Rangers for first and distance themselves. Turns out they didn't as they're still in first and today they're getting Hamilton and Cruz back from the DL.

Toronto Blue Jays: 23-23, 2.5 GB 4th AL East. A touching story coming out of Toronto on their 3-2 win over Tampa on Thursday. In early April Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia and pitcher Ricky Romero met and played with Ryley Martin, a 2 1/2 year old diagnosed with leukemia. Martin died on Wednesday, a day before Romero started in the Thursday win which also saw Arencibia hit the game-winning two run homer in the seventh. Romero carved the initials of Martin on the mound and drew on that for inspiration while Arencibia held up a picture of he and Martin he keeps in his locker.

Washington Nationals: 21-25, 7 GB 5th NL East. Umpire Phil Cuzzi has blown numerous calls in his career and Thursday was just another one for him. He called Jayson Werth out on a play at first which saw Werth beat the throw and the throw bring first baseman Daniel Murphy off the bag. Nats GM Mike Rizzo was so mad that after the game he confronted the umpire about the call, causing MLB to launch a probe into the situation.