Article:Baseball Notebook: Looking at the Standings

American League East

There is a  virtual three way tie in AL East with Tampa Bay and Baltimore 4 percentage points over the Boston.... Tampa Bay is the hottest team with 8-2 record in their last 10 games and their current 6 game winning streak is the longest in the majors....The winner of the Tampa Bay-Baltimore game will be in first place by themselves....Toronto is the only team in AL East with a losing record at home with a 5-7 home record.

American League Central

Chicago is the only team in AL Central with a winnng record...Cleveland has worked it's way back up to second place passing up Kansas City who has lost 8 of their last 10 games after getting off to a great start. Since April 14th Kansas City has not had a win from either Zack Greinke  or Brian Bannister  and Gil Meche  only has one win in that time span.

American League West

Oakland has won 8 of their last 10 games to take a one game lead over the second place Angels in the AL West. Seattle is 4 behind first place Oakland. Texas is already 7.5 games behind the front running Oakland club and already are 9-17. This is going to be a long season for Texas unless Nolan Ryan  can come up with a plan that will get this team moving again....As competitive as Ryan is I wouldn't bet against him.

National League East

Florida is the surprise team in the NL and lead Philadelphia and New York by a game and a half. No team in the NL East is making a move with all five teams being either 6-4 or 5-5 in their last ten games. Unless Atlanta can get some of their best players like Chipper Jones  and Yunel Escobar  back on the field really soon they should continue to slide further behind the three teams ahead of them.

National League Central

Chicago has won 7 of their last 10 games and holds a one game lead over St. Louis with Milwaukee 2 games back. Milwaukee faces Chicago tonight in Chicago and need a win with a St. Louis loss to tie St. Louis for second place in NL Central and move to within one game of Chicago. Houston and Cincinnatti are both 5 games behind Chicago. Pittsburgh is already 5 games under .500 and face New York tonight and are 6 games out of first place

National League West

Arizona is clearly the best team in the majors this year so far with a 19-7 record and they have won 7 of their last 10 games. Their 10-2 home record is the best in the majors. Second place Los Angeles is already 6.5 games behind Arizona. San Franicisco has been 6-4 in their last 10 games while San Diego and Colorado have lost 8 of their last 10 games. Now that Barry Zito  is in the bullpen the Giants should play even better as long as they don't call in Zito from the bullpen. If he blows a lead they may have to use him as a janitor in the bullpen to keep things neat and pick up trash with a pointed stick and forget about the pitching thing.