MLB

ATLANTA—Looking to build on a strong performance out of Mike Pelfrey on Monday night, the Mets sent their ace Johan Santana to the mound against the Braves.

Santana had one bad inning the entire game, and it was the third. In that frame, he allowed four consecutive hits, including a two-run home run to Troy Glaus after getting the first two outs.

Thursday's matchup is definitely a good one featuring Andy Pettitte and James Shields .

Another hard winner to pick because Pettitte has been so good and Shields has greatly improved since the last time he faced this Yankees lineup.

The Mets got a great start from Johan Santana , as usual, going 7 IP and giving up 2 ER on a homer by Troy Glaus in the third inning. Santana seemed to get stronger as the game went on.

By now, most baseball fans have seen the highlights of Hanley Ramirez lollygagging after a ball he literally booted down the left field line in Monday night's game between the Florida Marlins and the Arizona Diamondbacks.

After Ramirez's snail-like retrieval of the baseball, during which he probably could have enjoyed a three-course meal, he was promptly benched by his manager, Fredi Gonzalez.

While last night's spectacle was as egregious as they come, it was only one glaring footnote in a growing trend around Major League Baseball.

The big story of the start of the baseball season would be the great starts by Tampa Bay, San Diego, Cincinnati and Washington.

The other big stories are off the field tales of Hall of Fame players napping and teens getting tasered.

The big debate is about parity. As of right now, there are fifteen teams that are .500 or better. That is great news for those who argue that parity does exist.

When GM Tony Reagins said his Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would look to solve their problems internally, he meant it. Sort of.

On April 29, the Angels picked up infielder Kevin Frandsen off waivers from the Boston Red Sox.

Frandsen, 28, spent six years bouncing back and forth between the minors and major leagues after he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2004. His longest stay in the bigs came with the Giants in 2007 when he batted .269 with five home runs and 31 RBI in 109 games.

1. (↔) New York Yankees (24-13)

The Yankees showed their offensive prowess again by scoring in the top six in each batting category this week on their way to 140 points. New York currently leads the AL Wild Card but needs to improve on its road record (12-10). Their top four starters (Phil Hughes, CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett) are a combined 18-4 on the year.

2. (↔) Tampa Bay Rays (26-11)

The Celtics eliminated the Cavaliers in six games last week. Now, everyone speculates where LeBron James is going to play.

Basketball junkies encourage James to leave Cleveland for a chance to win a championship. Clevelanders warn their hometown star not to leave or else be vilified the way Art Modell was for moving the Browns to Baltimore.

If James leaves, Modell will be elated to know he will have a company for the most despised sports figure in Cleveland.

This begs one question to be asked.

There are three things that any given ball club can do in order to give it a fighting chance at making the playoffs: score more runs than you allow, have a defense that is not inept, and beat the teams in your division.

Scoring more runs than you allow obviously gives you a game-winning formula night in and night out. It is a simple and obvious concept, but it is hard to execute.

As mentioned in Anthony Castrovince's blog, after Jason Donald was promoted to the Indians major league roster, Trevor Crowe texted him to let him know that he was part of the starting lineup against the Rays on the 18th.

And so the Jason Donald experiment begins.

Many were hoping that he'd get his time in the majors to show himself. After all, we need something good from that Cliff Lee trade; Marson and Carrasco have not done much. Three hours after his flight landed in Tampa Bay, he was ready to go against pitcher David Price.