Rankings/List

The Blue Jays won eight of their first 11 games this season. Toronto improved to 8-3 and has scored a whopping 77 runs in its surprising early move to the top of the American League standings.

The Toronto Blue Jays, whose $80.5 million ranks eighth in the AL, are the top team in the MLB so far this season.

Their high-powered offense is operating at full throttle. The Jays pounded out 17 homers in their first 10 games, scoring 68 runs on 115 hits.

Face of the Franchise: Tim "Rock" Raines

Manager: Felipe Alou

C—Gary Carter
1B—Andres Galarraga
2B—Jose Vidro
3B—Tim Wallach
SS—Orlando Cabrera
OF—Tim Raines
OF—Andre Dawson
OF—Vladimir Guerrero
DH—Warren Cromartie
Bench: Util. Bob Bailey, Util" Hubie Brooks, 3B Larry Parrish, OF Rondell "Ron-DL" White

If there is one thing all sports fans can truly agree on, it’s that the ‘This is Sportscenter’ commercials produced by ESPN are possibly the best commercials on television. I am not ashamed to admit that I spend large amounts of time just sitting on my computer, watching old Sportscenter commercials from time to time. So I decided to take on the daunting task of coming up with the best of the best, of the Sportscenter commercials.

Tommy Landry's work is brought to you courtesy of RotoExperts.com, the premier location on the web to find fantasy sports analysis with an attitude. Mr. Landry was a finalist for the 2008 Fantasy Sports Writers' Association Fantasy Baseball Series of the year.

The 1980's was a decade when speed, pitching, and defense trumped power. You won't see arcade-like power stats, which became common in the following two decades, as only ten HR leaders out of twenty (both leagues) finished with forty or more round trippers. In contrast, the nineties saw eighteen finished with forty or more and no player hit fifty home runs.

This was the decade when speed was king.

We’ll see if the talk of parity is based on reality, or if it’s just an excuse for the National Media to gloss over the division quickly so they can move on to something sexier. We’ve had a week to review, so let’s rank ‘em up by their more important parts.

You’re only as good as your best player

Nothing’s more important than an impact player out there every day getting it done.

Face of the Franchise:  Ken Griffey, Jr.
 
Manager: Lou Piniella

I’m not sure if anyone else feels this way, but as I have gotten older, my love of sports has diminished.

Not enough to make me not obsessed or anything, but it’s easy for some interest to wane due to those things called “responsibilities." I am also now older than many of the players and it’s kind of strange to worship those so much younger than you.

Baseball is a different story, though.

Welcome back to the Shakedown!

Last week we introduced our latest “Monthly Mustache Shakedown” with a look at the “Best Hair & Mustache Combo.”

For week one we chose “The Big Mullet” Randy Johnson, just five wins away from 300, and a man who has consistently sported a fine Mississippi Waterfall-style mullet to compliment his fine looking labia sebucula (Latin for “lip sweater”).