MLB

Originally published at TwinsMVB.com .

Starting the season with low expectations and a very young team, the Oakland Athletics find themselves at the top of their division through the first third of the season.

In the Oakland Colosseum, the Athletics boast an impressive 19-8 record. As the Twins attempt to shake off a disappointing series with Seattle, the Athletics appear to be an intimidating foe.

Game One

The New York Mets have DFA'ed Gary Mathews Jr. This is a move that many Mets fans will be excited about. In a related move, the Mets called up Omir Santos.

That decision does not make sense.

There is no need for a third catcher on the roster. Rod Barajas has been playing great this year. I do not see much playing time in Santos's future. My thoughts are that the Mets may be trying to showcase him for a trade.

The Mets should have brought up Jesus Feliciano, who is currently tearing up Triple-A with a .388 batting average through 170 at bats.

To most people's surprise, Kevin Gregg opened 2010 with quite possibly his best month of work in his career.

While the Big Red Machine of the 1970s might have been extremely good, it has nothing on the 2010 Yankees.

The Bronx Bombers have put together the best hitting infield of all time, and have done so in an un-Yankees manner. Although the Yankees have earned a reputation for buying their talent, the majority of this currently assembled infield is home grown talent.

With the first two months of the season in the books, we'll take a look at how Rays prospects have performed at the two highest levels.

Each team is loaded with talent, as the Rays feature one of the top farm systems in the game.

We'll have a look at who's off to a hot start and who's struggling, with special attention to some of the Rays' most noteworthy prospects.

AAA: Durham Bulls (31-23, First Place, IL South)

Who's Hot

The St. Louis Cardinals have acquired some of baseball's best players over the years; not every star can come out of the 13th round in the MLB draft like Albert Pujols.

Here is a list of some of the smartest and luckiest Cardinal trades.

Begin Slideshow

After going a dismal 8-19 in May that dropped them into the cellar of the mediocre AL West, the Mariners have played inspiring baseball in June, going 3-0 to begin the month.

I understand that three games isn't exactly the 1995 comeback all over again, but if you look at the numbers going back into later May, this team is showing signs of life.

Coming off a tough 4-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox that finished up a eight-game road trip, the Texas Rangers will come home this weekend to face the best team in all of baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays.

Can the Rangers steal a series at home against the Rays and prove to the rest of the AL West that they should be taken seriously?

The wait is over: Stephen Strasburg will make his MLB debut on Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Said to be made from the rib of Nolan Ryan, the 21-year-old Washington Nationals right-hander is already the stuff of legend (or at least 2010 hype), even though his 100 mph fastball has yet to cross a major league plate.

So what should we expect?

In a fairly unsurprising move, Bud Selig has announced that he will not in fact reverse the blown call by umpire Jim Joyce that cost Armando Galarraga the 21st perfect game in the history of Major League Baseball. 

Selig did say "that Major League Baseball will look at expanded replay and umpiring". This is an improvement over the current system in place, but it doesn't change the fact that a young pitcher has been robbed of baseball immortality.