AL Central

Ten months ago, Brennan Boesch burst onto the scene for the Detroit Tigers and was the story for the team in the first half of 2010.

A middling minor league prospect, Boesch slugged his way into the middle of the Tigers lineup and helped provide protection to Miguel Cabrera, making him an early Triple Crown candidate.

Quick! Time's running out to jump on the Matt LaPorta bandwagon. It was pretty empty here for a while, but a trickle of people are finally starting to find their way aboard.

What the heck was that? 

It appears Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers just did a one-two step and threw directly at David DeJesus. 

The umpires discussed it and called a balk on Verlander. DeJesus had to head back to the plate and Daric Barton was awarded second base. 

After losing to Johnny Damon and the Tampa Bay Rays twice in three days via walk offs, the 5-10 Minnesota Twins have stripped the closing title from Joe Nation and replaced him with Matt Capps.

But don't think it's the last time you'll see Joe Nathan in a Twins uniform in the ninth inning.

I suppose just four words come to mind: Welcome back, Grady Sizemore.

Injured for the better part of the last two seasons, Sizemore went two-for-four at the plate, including a solo home run in only his second at-bat and a double in his third, in a better-than-expected debut for the stalwart center fielder.

The Indians rode solo home runs by Sizemore, Carlos Santana and Travis Hafner, as well as another quality start from Fausto Carmona to beat the Orioles 4-2.

One of the many questions entering the 2011 season for the Twins was "Will Joe Nathan be ready?"

Twins faithful got their answer and that answer is apparently no.

Grady Sizemore will return to Cleveland today, starting in centerfield, as well as leading off.  To make room on the roster, starter Mitch Talbot will be placed on the 15-day DL, in a bit of a surprising move. 

It was believed that Travis Buck would be sent down since he has an option left, but he gets a temporary reprieve.  Talbot is officially out with a strained right elbow, and likely won't be back until the middle of May.

If there was one thing that I was fairly sure about heading into the 2011 season, it's that Travis Hafner would never be the same player that he was before he signed his large contract, became injury prone and seemingly lost all his power and worth to a rebuilding club like the Cleveland Indians.

I know it's early, but boy does it seem like I was wrong.

Winning. Did anyone who remotely follows baseball predict that the Cleveland Indians would be in first place in the AL Central for even one day?  Through 14 games, the Tribe is tied with the Kansas City Royals atop the AL Central standings. Did they get an injection of tiger blood?

Who would have thought a rain delay would be so dangerous?

The Kansas City Royals grounds crew is among the best, but one groundskeeper needs to have a little safety training.

As the Royals crew was bringing out the tarp for a rain delay one of their men jumped over the front only to fall and be steamrolled by the tarp. That’s a good 1,500 pound reminder of just how not to do your job.