Greetings From Across The Pond Articles / David Lengel Date: Apr 22, 2006 - 11:57 PM Hello British baseball fans—I hope you’re all enjoying the start of the 2006 season. Let me pose a question if I may. If we’re honest with each other, and I think we have that sort of relationship, would we admit that we haven’t been totally blown away by anything yet? That’s not necessarily a bad thing—there’s lot’s of interesting storylines around baseball, it's just that no one has walked on the moon yet. However I think we know by now that there’s always a few of those moments a season, and that it’s just a matter of time before something happens which makes our collective jaws hit the floor. So let’s review some of what we’ve seen thus far. Can you believe that as of 21 April, we have yet to see Barry Bonds go deep? All winter and spring the talk was of how fans would respond as he passed Babe Ruth after Bazza dinger 715. Now we wonder if a: he will even be in the lineup, and b: if he will ever hit home run number 709 (just my luck, he gets it hours after I write). And speaking of those who have struggled in the homer department, Manny Ramirez waited until last night to hit his first two round trippers. Perhaps even more amazing is that he didn’t even have an extra base hit until April 18th—his 14th game of the season! Now that ISN’T Manny being Manny. While we’re not surprised by Albert Pujols offensive explosion, I think more than a few eyebrows were raised when Detroit’s Chris Shelton started hitting like Hank Greenberg. Sure, he showed power potential as a part-timer last season hitting 18 homers, but nine and counting before the end of April? His slugging percentage has come down to earth a bit, so now it’s only 1.000. And how we weep for the Royals—already 11 games deep into a losing streak. Over 20 seasons have passed since KC downed their intrastate rivals, St. Louis, in the World Series. Even their surprising start to the 2003 season when Tony Pena’s team raced out to an early AL Central lead seems like a lifetime ago. I think the 1969 Mets should watch their back. Let’s see, what else. A.J. Burnett is on the DL, again, proving that money can’t buy you love or health. It’s a good thing Toronto brought in some big bats, the New Jays sure can hit! And while we’re talking bumps and bruises, spare a thought for the Dodgers. Eric Gagne is on the shelf for at least another month, Yhency Brazoban had “Tommy John” surgery, Nomar Garciaparra was out—again, and Kenny Lofton’s already missed time. Yikes! It looks as if Curt Schilling’s ankle is a-OK. A 4-0 start to 2006 combined with Josh Beckett’s successful move to the AL East means Boston is on autopilot en-route to the post-season. The same can’t be said about our friends the Yankees. Has anyone seen Randy Johnson’s slider? They may have enough offense to sneak back in to the playoffs, but with such a fragile rotation, the Bombers road will not be easy. That’s it for now, until next time, keep on enjoying the season. This article comes from UK MLB Supporters Club http://www.baseballfan.co.uk/ The URL for this story is: http://www.baseballfan.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=224