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The Boston Red Sox finally got a win after losing five straight games. And just like that they are back to the top of their division as they are now tied with the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox won a great pitching battle one to nothing on a single in the bottom of the ninth by Kevin Youkilis. While the win was big for the Red Sox big in a bad way for the Toronton Blue Jays and their ace pitcher, Roy Halladay.

Halladay pitched his fourth straight complete game. That is great . But what isn’t so great is the fact that poor Halladay has one only one of those four games. That is unbelievable. Four complete games and only one win. That’s enough to make even the most mentally strong pitchers become weak in the head.

Halladay looked like a broken man after the game too. As the winning run crossed the plate for the Red Sox, Halladay screamed obscenities. How could he not? He has pitched his heart the last few weeks and yet he has gotten no run support from his teammates.

The Toronto Blue Jays have the pitching to certainly be one of the better teams in the American league. However, they don’t yet have the hitting and if they don’t get the hitting, they will most likely finish at or near the bottom of the AL East.

Meanwhile, don’t look now but the Los Angeles Dodgers have won four straight games and they are now back to playing .500 ball. They’ve also gotten within six games (five and half) of the D-Backs. I doubt the Dodgers will be able stick with the Diamondbacks but at least they are showing some sign of life right now. At least the D-Backs aren’t all alone at or above .500 in the National league West. And maybe, just maybe the Dodgers will be able to push the D-Backs just a little bit.

On Monday the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever… sigh) began an early season battle for early season supremacy in the American league East. From where I sit on the East Coast of the United States, this seems very interesting because everyone knows Anaheim has started out well this season but no one really hears much about Oakland. In fact, if someone didn’t take the time to look at the standings then they’d probably think the Angels were in control of the AL West.

However, if you look at the standing right now, you’ll see that it’s the A’s that stand atop the division. That’s because Oakland absolutely pummelled the Angels on Monday by a score of 14-2.

Not only did that win move the A’s into first place in the division but it also gave te A’s the best record in the American league. And the next best team in the league is the Angels.

And that’s yet another interesting point. It seems that ESPN and other sports outlets want to spend their time focusing on the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and maybe the Chicago White Sox. But it’s the A’s and the Angels who are the class of the entire league so far.

So what has happened to the Red Sox? Weren’t they just owners of the best record in the American league?

Well, yes they were. But thanks to a current losing skid (five games), they’ve now fallen down to the middle of their division. And suddenly they are only 3 games over .500. They better watchout because they have the Toronto Blue Jays coming to Fenway and if they keep losing they’ll find themselves in the basement of the American league East when the Blue Jays leave Boston.

On Monday the Oakland A’s and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (or whatever… sigh) began an early season battle for early season supremacy in the American league East. From where I sit on the East Coast of the United States, this seems very interesting because everyone knows Anaheim has started out well this season but no one really hears much about Oakland. In fact, if someone didn’t take the time to look at the standings then they’d probably think the Angels were in control of the AL West.

However, if you look at the standing right now, you’ll see that it’s the A’s that stand atop the division. That’s because Oakland absolutely pummelled the Angels on Monday by a score of 14-2.

Not only did that win move the A’s into first place in the division but it also gave te A’s the best record in the American league. And the next best team in the league is the Angels.

And that’s yet another interesting point. It seems that ESPN and other sports outlets want to spend their time focusing on the Boston Red Sox, the New York Yankees, and maybe the Chicago White Sox. But it’s the A’s and the Angels who are the class of the entire league so far.

So what has happened to the Red Sox? Weren’t they just owners of the best record in the American league?

Well, yes they were. But thanks to a current losing skid (five games), they’ve now fallen down to the middle of their division. And suddenly they are only 3 games over .500. They better watchout because they have the Toronto Blue Jays coming to Fenway and if they keep losing they’ll find themselves in the basement of the American league East when the Blue Jays leave Boston.

And the hits just keep on coming for Barcelona. This season has been pretty much a disaster for the Catalan giants, and president Juan Laporta will have to seriously consider creating a new team from scratch for the next season.
They go into this game with very little to play for. Knocked out of the Champions league semi final by Manchester United (even if they did put on a good show at Old Trafford), third in the domestic league without any possibility of winning the title (and worse, having to play Real Madrid next week at the Bernabeu stadium with Madrid almost certain to be league champions), without a win in the last five matches, and most alarmingly of all without scoring a goal in the last four games. For a team like Barcelona to fail to score in four consecutive games is practically unheard of, and I don’t know how many years you would have to go back to find a similar occurrence. Ronaldinho won’t play for Barca again, that much is certain, and it looks like French striker Thierry Henry will be sold off on the cheap, too. With four league games still to play Barca are four points behind second placed Villarreal, and it is looking more and more likely that they will have to play the preliminary elimination round of the Champions league too. Not a good prospect when Euro 08 is just around the corner.
As for Valencia, things have made a dramatic turnaround in a very short space of time. Ronald Koeman has at last been given the boot after that humiliating five goal to one defeat to Athletic Bilbao, and even winning the King’s cup couldn’t save his job. New coach Salvador González ‘Voro’, is well known in the club and now has a chance to make a name for himself. Last weekend was his first game in charge and he made some drastic changes, most notably playing Cañizares in goal from the start, bringing on Angulo in the second half, and having Albelda on the bench. All three players had previously (and mysteriously) been removed from the squad by Koeman in November for no apparent reason, and the Valencia crowd took the chance to give all three a standing ovation during the three nil win over Ossasuna.
I’m going for a Valencia win here. Barcelona are a broken team, lacking in spirit and just about everything else. Valencia meanwhile have made a complete turnaround after the appointment of the good coach and I can see them having a great time at the Nou Camp, where they haven’t lost since 2001.
Prediction: Away win (1-2)

And the hits just keep on coming for Barcelona. This season has been pretty much a disaster for the Catalan giants, and president Juan Laporta will have to seriously consider creating a new team from scratch for the next season.
They go into this game with very little to play for. Knocked out of the Champions league semi final by Manchester United (even if they did put on a good show at Old Trafford), third in the domestic league without any possibility of winning the title (and worse, having to play Real Madrid next week at the Bernabeu stadium with Madrid almost certain to be league champions), without a win in the last five matches, and most alarmingly of all without scoring a goal in the last four games. For a team like Barcelona to fail to score in four consecutive games is practically unheard of, and I don’t know how many years you would have to go back to find a similar occurrence. Ronaldinho won’t play for Barca again, that much is certain, and it looks like French striker Thierry Henry will be sold off on the cheap, too. With four league games still to play Barca are four points behind second placed Villarreal, and it is looking more and more likely that they will have to play the preliminary elimination round of the Champions league too. Not a good prospect when Euro 08 is just around the corner.
As for Valencia, things have made a dramatic turnaround in a very short space of time. Ronald Koeman has at last been given the boot after that humiliating five goal to one defeat to Athletic Bilbao, and even winning the King’s cup couldn’t save his job. New coach Salvador González ‘Voro’, is well known in the club and now has a chance to make a name for himself. Last weekend was his first game in charge and he made some drastic changes, most notably playing Cañizares in goal from the start, bringing on Angulo in the second half, and having Albelda on the bench. All three players had previously (and mysteriously) been removed from the squad by Koeman in November for no apparent reason, and the Valencia crowd took the chance to give all three a standing ovation during the three nil win over Ossasuna.
I’m going for a Valencia win here. Barcelona are a broken team, lacking in spirit and just about everything else. Valencia meanwhile have made a complete turnaround after the appointment of the good coach and I can see them having a great time at the Nou Camp, where they haven’t lost since 2001.
Prediction: Away win (1-2)