"Weak" NL Central

[Migrant Redbird]

MLB Standings as of May 26th

   MLB          W   L   PCT   GB  HOME   ROAD    RS   RA  DIFF  STRK   L10[b]St. Louis[/b]      32  17  .653   -   14-8   18-9   233  167  +66  Won 1   6-4Texas          32  18  .640   .5  15-7   17-11  234  180  +54  Lost 1  6-4[b]Pittsburgh[/b]     31  19  .620  1.5  18-9   13-10  197  171  +26  Won 2   8-2[b]Cincinnati[/b]     31  19  .620  1.5  18-7   13-12  241  179  +62  Lost 1  7-3Atlanta        30  19  .612  2    15-5   15-14  219  169  +50  Lost 1  8-2NY Yankees     30  19  .612  2    15-9   15-10  211  187  +24  Lost 1  5-5Boston         31  20  .608  2    16-11  15-9   252  212  +40  Won 3   7-3Detroit        28  20  .583  3.5  16-8   12-12  259  193  +66  Won 1   6-4San Francisco  28  22  .560  4.5  19-9    9-13  228  224   +4  Won 2   5-5Arizona        28  22  .560  4.5  14-12  14-10  205  182  +23  Won 1   6-4Cleveland      27  22  .551  5    15-10  12-12  248  221  +27  Lost 3  5-5Oakland        28  23  .549  5    13-10  15-13  241  221  +20  Won 3   8-2Baltimore      27  23  .540  5.5  11-12  16-11  253  235  +18  Lost 1  4-6Colorado       27  23  .540  5.5  16-9   11-14  244  212  +32  Lost 2  6-4

3 of the top 4 records in baseball today -- nearly 1/3 of the way through the season --are teams from that "weak" NL Central.

I have a feeling the Pirates will vault up in the ESPN power rankings when those come out later today. Last Monday, ESPN ranked the Pirates 12th, despite a W-L record better than 6 of the teams above them.

Although the Cardinals are a half game better than the Rangers, I suspect ESPN will leave the Rangers on top due to all the injuries the Cards pitching staff has experienced. Sooner or later, all those rookie pitchers filling in so ably will come down to earth.

Speculation right now among Cardinals fans is that uber-prospect Michael Wacha may be brought up to make a start on Thursday. There was a report he was scratched from his start today, but a later report claimed that was false. MLB article

Carlos "Pedro" Martinez (age 21) was demoted to AAA despite positive outings in 6 of his 7 appearances so far. (0-0, 4.50, 8 IP, 9 H, 3BB, 9 K, 3 ER) Carlos missed spring training because of visa issues and he had only worked up to an average of 4 innings per start when he was promoted from AA. Maybe he's going down to fill a hole in the Memphis rotation and to build up his innings as a starter in case he's needed later this season?