AL West First Quarter

I'll do this in smaller bunches, that NL quartlerly review was a bit of a bear.

AL West
Prediction: Oakland, Anaheim, Seattle, Texas
Actual: Anaheim, Oakland (T2), Texas (T2), Seattle.

The Amazin' Angels are chugging right along, despite some key injuries. I don't expect it to continue, but with Garrett Anderson, Tim Salmon, Troy Glaus and Darin Erstad going down, who would have expected to keep winning? (Well, the Erstad injury may have actually helped the team - a first baseman with a .627 OPS? - but that's another post). Vlad has been Vlad, and Jose Guillen returned the 2003 version, which is good for the team. The pitching hasn't been very good, with Aaron Sele the only guy with an ERA under 4.00 in the rotation. Escobar has been about what I expected, but Colon has tanked (5.17 ERA) and Jarrod Washburn's 7-1 record is heavily influenced by run support. The bullpen has been good, despite the injury to Brendan Donnelly and Ben Weber's poor performance, because K-Rod is the real deal. Oakland's offense hasn't really missed a beat - Hernandez has been ably replaced by Miller and Melhuse thus far, Jermaine Dye has had a resurrection, and Scutaro and Crosby have done OK in the middle infield. It's all about the pitching, though, and despite Barry Zito's troubles, everyone else in the rotation has an ERA under 4.00. I think they will overtake the Angels in the near future. Texas has been a big surprise, with a team ERA of 4.51. Chan Ho Park continues to be a waste of money, and RA Dickey has returned to earth, but Kenny Rogers and Ryan Drese (Ryan Drese?) have both pitched very well, and the bullpen has been solid. The offense was expected to be good, but it seems a bit of an illusion at this point. Soriano hasn't hit as well as expected, but Michael Young, Laynce Nix and David Dellucci won't all sport OPS' in excess of .950 for much longer. It'll be back to reality for this team before too long. And back to reality it is for the Mariners, who have hit the wall just as I expected they would. Freddy Garcia has been better than I thought (looking for a trade, I guess), but his resurrection is directly offset by Joel Pinero's suckage. The offense has been BRUTAL. Raul Ibanez leads the team with a .815 OPS. There's really no reason to read on, but how about the following OPS: Ichiro! .761, Edgar .715, Boone .714, Winn .574(!), Aurilia .590(!!), Olerud .687. Ichiro has a nice .325 BA, but no power to speak of (only 4 doubles). Other than Ibanez, Scott Spezio and Dan Wilson, everybody has tanked. I think there is some improvement to be expected, and they still will likely catch the Rangers, but I don't think they'll get above .500 for the season.