Opinion

How far into the season is it fair to sit down, and really take a hard look at a players statistics? Depends who you ask. The New York media would like to put that somewhere around the fifth inning of opening day. Most fans really start to pay attention a month into the season. Statically speaking, a full season, perhaps two, is ideal. But we’re impatient. Baseball moves too fast. In my opinion, after about two months, it’s fair to at least start looking at where players stand.

Of course, we all know who’s leading the Majors in what.

The Mets surprised the critics by playing .500 baseball for most of April and early May. They highlighted their April run by taking three of four against the Cubs and sweeping the Braves and the Dodgers in their homestand.

Life was good for Jerry Manuel. He needed it to survive April. No one was talking about his managerial future after that.

The first round of National League All-Star votes have been counted, and as can be expected, it’s slim pickings for the Amazins.

David Wright is already 73,000 votes behind current third base leader Placido Polanco in one of the closest-fought All-Star battles, and Jose Reyes will need something resembling a miracle if he is to catch Jimmy Rollins or Hanley Ramirez for the starting shortstop gig.

It goes without saying that Carlos Beltran is a crucial part of the Mets lineup. Since his microfracture surgery in January, the question has been when he will return to the Mets. However, no one has been able to answer this.

The Mets moved Beltran to the 60 day disabled list today. This is more of a procedural move than a sign of anything else. The Mets needed to clear a space on their 40- man roster for the recently acquired Justin Turner. Beltran was put on the DL on March 26, so the move will not impact his return date.

Dusty Baker has always been criticized for overusing his starting pitching. Critics point to Kerry Wood and Mark Prior as exhibits A and B. Then there is the whole fiasco with Aaron Harang in May of '08.

I always thought he got a raw deal on that label. Wood's delivery made him destined to screw up his arm, and Prior was simply a one-and-a-half-year wonder. Harang seems fine mechanically; he just hasn't been able to avoid the home run ball.

Vladimir Guerrero is back after an injury-riddled 2009 season in which he played in only 100 games.

Last night he took over the RBI lead for the majors when he homered twice and drove in five runs in an 8-7 defeat of the Royals.

His .347 batting average is second in the AL behind Justin Morneau, who is hitting .383.

I wrote an article the other day hoping that the Tigers would have interest in Roy Oswalt, so you know I am glad to hear that the Tigers may in fact have an interest.

It has been reported that the Tigers have contacted the Houston Astros about his availability, and I want to take that as a sign that Mike Illitch has answered my question with at least a maybe.

Maybe is a very good answer right now if the question was, can Illitch find Dombroski a spare 10 million or so?

A five game skid will do wonders for local bars and corner stores. Just today, before the Giants got healthy on the Nationals 4-2, I wandered into the convenience store and they were clear out of alcohol, not a single drop… not even an O’Douls or Vanilla or Nyquil!

The bandaged and bruised grocer explained, “Giants fans have raided. It’s crazy, I haven’t seen this much chaos since prohibition!” Yes, he’s old enough to remember the 1920s.

Alliteration, as defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, is "the repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or syllables."

What does this have to do with Major League Baseball?

Honestly, nothing, but at least give me credit for finding a way to incorporate sports into my English homework.

Each slide will have the position player and an extremely cheesy sentence about said player with as much alliteration as possible.

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