If you've read my articles so far this season, you many have noticed that I'm a strong believer in the Oakland A's being a good, underestimated team. I'm thinking their good start will continue to go overlooked until they're still playing this well after 30 or 40 games.

A 7-4 start is good, but with such a small sample size, what critic will be deterred by an 11-game record?

The given coming into the season was that the A's had a good-to-formidable pitching staff, and a defense designed to give an extra cushion for the pitching.

Who does Austin Jackson think he is?

I tell you, these kids nowadays.

Someone should teach this rookie some manners. He’s played about a week and a half in the big leagues, and you’d think he owns the place.

It all started on Opening Day, in Kansas City.

The 23-year-old whippersnapper of a leadoff hitter and center fielder for the Tigers was in the box against Zack Greinke. Yes, THAT Zack Greinke—the one who’s stingier in giving up runs than Jack Benny was with his money.

You have to hand it to Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. His taste in women is as varied as his hot zone at the plate.

He's been linked to women old enough to be his mom (Madonna) and he just reportedly let a 25-year-old loose for being too clingy.

He's gone Hollywood with Kate Hudson and high society with girls like Key West socialite Elaine Spottswood.

He's gone from Kate's chest impairment to Elaine's ample endowment.

Now he's going back to Tinseltown and going a little older.

Arch Ward was the sports editor of the Chicago Tribune from 1930 until his death in 1955. He was a powerful, influential individual who could sell sand at Jones Beach.

In 1933, during the Great Depression, Ward argued that "baseball needed to show that it was not in a state of decadence."

Chicago was going to have the Century of Progress World's Fair that summer and Ward suggested that an all-star game between the two leagues would bring baseball to new heights.

A perfect example of Reds starting pitcher Homer Bailey came Wednesday night against the Florida Marlins. The frustration fans have felt about this guy is back.

We all thought he had turned the corner. We all thought the former phenom finally "got it." We all thought the Reds had found a solid starter for the next 10 years.

Looks like we were wrong.

Sure, the season is still in its infancy, and the marathon is still in the first mile, but so far Bailey has shown he is still not there yet.

I love going to Yankee games. Love, love, love it.

My feeling is probably similar to how Hank Steinbrenner reacts when the Phillip Morris Convention rolls into town. Pure titillation.

So when my buddy Mark offered me a ticket to the Yankees' home opener against the Angels on Tuesday, you can guess that my schedule was quickly cleared.

Being your dutiful Yankee blogger, I felt it was my responsibility to do a couple of laps around the House That George Built and report on what I saw.

Please excuse my shoddy camera work.

Hope springs eternal. Alas.

Chicago Cubs fans are resiliently optimistic. They’re also habitually disappointed. More than a century after the Cubs’ last World Series win, the locals are still praying for a miracle in the Windy City—which would be better news if earthly prayers weren’t so apt to blow away in a stiff breeze.

Faith means believing that anything can happen.

Fatalism, on the other hand, means knowing that it usually doesn’t.

"I can't think of a player who contributes in so many ways...David embodies what we want a Red Sox player to be.  It was just an easy decision for us that David as a player and David as a person is someone we want to commit to and commit to for a long time." - Theo Epstein, April 11, 2006.  

The Mets' pitching rotation is their biggest key to their season.  Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, and John Maine are all key players for the Mets this year.  If two of those three pitchers have solid years then that will deeply help the team. 

As of now, two of those guys performed while the other didn't.  Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez both had good first starts.  On the other hand, John Maine's first two starts have been a mess.

Besides the ring ceremony, nail-biting finish, and return of Godzilla, there was one other noteworthy occurrence at Yankee Stadium yesterday afternoon: the emergence of Nick Johnson.

When the Yankees embraced Hideki Matsui in a goosebump-inducing moment for Yankee fans, it finally set in—Matsui is no longer the Yankees DH.

No, instead of Matsui, the Yankees penciled the oft-injured Nick Johnson to fill Matsui's void of designated hitter this past offseason.