Having just wrote up my pick for this week’s Shorebird of the Week (to come up at its usual Thursday night time slot), I’m in a baseball mood. So I’m taking a break from watching my Tigers play the Orioles (2-0 Orioles, get on it guys!) to update the standings as I do on a monthly or so basis.
I’ll start with our hometown Shorebirds. April was not a good month for them, nor was the first of May (since they’ve already completed today’s loss to Greensboro, their seventh straight.) Right now Delmarva is last in the SAL North with a sad 8-16 record. What makes it worse is that West Virginia has gotten off to a blazing 18-4 start so the Shorebirds are already 11 games in arrears at a point where this half is barely 1/3 completed. Possibly the only solace is that we trail cross-state rival Hagerstown by just 1/2 game (they’re 9-16) so we can put a little bit of daylight behind us by passing them this weekend as the Suns come to town. Current opponent Greensboro is second in the SAL North, trailing the WV Power by 4 1/2 games despite playing .600 ball so far (15-10). The rest of the North in standings order: Lake County, defending league champs Lakewood, Lexington, and Hickory in 6th, followed by the Suns and Shorebirds.
Their prospects in May might be a little better. When the preliminary schedule for this season came out at the tail end of 2006, the Shorebirds were slated to begin an almost half-season stretch of consecutive games this weekend with either Hagerstown, Lakewood, or Lake County. We got a slight reprieve in the revised schedule, as our next roadtrip which begins after Hagerstown departs this coming Sunday takes us to Hickory and a return series at Hagerstown. That series with the Suns begins what’s now 59 straight games against our three familiar division foes. For the rest of the month after being at Hagerstown, we host Lakewood and Lake County before a month-ending roadtrip to Hagerstown and Lakewood.
I’ll briefly mention the Shorebirds’ parent club, as the Orioles sit in 3rd in the AL East with a 12-14 mark. They got off to a pretty good start but have faded as their pitching has worsened, particularly in the walks department. They do have some opportunities to make up ground this month though. After tomorrow afternoon’s matinee at CoPa they head home to tangle with the AL Central leading Cleveland Indians before a midweek series next week against Tampa Bay. Then it’s off on a nine game roadtrip to Boston, Toronto, and Washington, followed by Camden Yards visits from Toronto and Oakland. For Memorial Day the Baltimore nine head out on a west coast swing – first stop Kansas City to face the Royals before going into June out in Anaheim against the LA Angels. That trip extends to Seattle before the Orioles head home June 7th.
It seems to me that my Toledo Mud Hens started out last season slowly as well. Right now they’re 11-13, third in the IL West behind Indianapolis (3 back) and Louisville (1/2 game behind the Bats.) But the two-time defending Governor’s Cup champions have several of the IL bottom-feeders on their docket this month, with the exception of IL East leader Rochester for a four game set. That series is the sandwich of a 10 game trip starting with 2 in Columbus and ending with 4 in Pawtucket. They’ll begin this roadtrip after wrapping up four with the Yankees’ new AAA affiliate, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Hens also close the month at Scranton, and have a home-and-home series with Columbus over Memorial Day weekend. Also featured in May will be a homestand with Louisville and Charlotte in mid-month after the swing east.
Well, no one said it would be easy. The AL Central is probably the most loaded division in baseball and this year it’s already a dogfight. My Tigers are 14-11 and 1 1/2 games back of Cleveland – but once again they’re leading the wild-card chase along with the 14-11 Twins. And this won’t be an easy month for the defending AL champions. They start out by finishing the Baltimore series, then a quick roadtrip to Kansas City. The Mariners provide a little better competition, but then the gauntlet begins as they travel to Minnesota and Boston before hosting a World Series rematch with St. Louis. After the Cardinals depart, the homestand continues with the LA Angels and Cleveland. At month’s end the Tigers start a grueling roadtrip to Tampa Bay, back north to Cleveland, then right back south to Texas.
And now the Tigers lead the O’s 3-2. Keep it up!! My next standings report will be at month’s end.
