This New Yorker is by no means a Boston Red Sox fan. But if I were, I'd now be thinking in terms of "wait till next year," Yogi Berra fashion.

Many might say, 'but it's just early in the season, there are almost 150 games to go.' But that's just the point: The Red Sox are already five games behind both the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Which is like giving "rook odds" in chess to such talented players.

You could feel the charge of the Marlins' in the ninth inning of an 8-6 Phillies win on Friday night.

Phillies ace Roy Halladay left the rain-plagued game in the eighth inning with an 8-2 lead.

Reliever David Herndon gave up four runs to make 8-6 before Ryan Madson closed the door, allowing one inherited runner to score.

The Marlins' Ricky Nolasco almost shut out the Phillies the following night, save Jayson Werth's two-out ninth inning solo home run. The Marlins won the second game, 5-1.

For those of you who drafted Martin Prado, or at the very least picked him up off the waiver wire, you’ve got to be happy with his current hot streak—and 14 game hitting streak—despite the streak coming to an end Saturday night thanks largely in part to Ubaldo Jimenez’s no hitter.

But as with any hot player in fantasy baseball, the trendy question is always whether or not the player is the real deal, or just another popular flare up.

Going into Sunday's game against Kansas City, the Twins have an awful lot to boast about:

• The very successful opening of Target Field. 

• The long-term signing of the reigning American League MVP, batting champion, and hometown hero Joe Mauer.

• The most wins and highest winning percentage in Major League Baseball.

• Four straight season-opening series wins, with the first two on the road.

• Third in the American League in home runs, with six players having hit at least two homers.

Caption: CF Mike Cameron lets Carlos Pena’s line drive get away from him in the first inning of tonight’s second game against Tampa Bay. The error led to four unearned runs in the Red Sox 6-5 loss to the Rays.

Saturday April 17th, 2010 turned out to be a great day of baseball.

After coaching my son's team in their final scrimmage before our season starts on the 19th, (Anthony Cappetta: 2-for-3, with two steals) my son and I sat down at 4pm eastern time, to watch the Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals.

Despite the fact that the Mets have been a disappointment so far in this young season, even after their own manager proclaimed that the team needed to get off to a fast start, something about yesterday seemed different.

Where do I begin? How do you talk about ending a love-hate relationship?

That is where I am with Francisco "Coco" Cordero.

If you watched Saturday night's loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, you should already be in league with me.

Johnny Cueto left after five complete innings pitched and a one run lead. He was in line for the first win for a Reds starter in the young season.

Three pitchers (Daniel Harrera, Logan Ondrusek and Arthur Rhodes) were awarded a hold to set things up perfectly for our local stud, Cordero.

This kind of scenario happens all the time.

Go back to 1997 for a minute. The Minnesota Twins dealt All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for Christian Guzman, Eric Milton, Danny Mota, and Brian Buchanan.

Eric Milton, who was an All-Star and pitched a no-hitter for the Twins, was traded to Philadelphia for Carlos Gomez and Nick Punto.

Brian Buchanan was traded to the San Diego Padres for Jason Bartlett, who was then sent to Tampa Bay for Delmon Young and Brendan Harris.

Alex Rodriguez hit his first home run of the season and moved into eighth on the all-time home run list as New York defeated Texas, 7-3, Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. By winning the first two games against Texas and taking two of three from Boston, Tampa Bay, and the Los Angeles Angels, New York has won four straight series to start a season for the first time since 1926.

The new baseball season has not been kind to Scott Kazmir.

After beginning the season on the DL, his first start of the season came against the defending champion, New York Yankees.

Previously, I wrote that there was a possibility that Kazmir, once so hyped, full of potential, had reached his athletic peak.