Baseball is a funny game it's oft been said; in that way it replicates life like no other sport (including tennis) or many other pursuits. And while a month of the season is no real barometer, some trends in the National Pastime can't be ignore this season.

The Minnesota Twins, who despite being one of the teams threatened with contraction some seasons back, rebounded with their new, beautiful downtown  Target Field, and have been one of the more dependable, consistent teams who do things right. But last season, due injuries, bad luck and bad play were fortunate not to lose 100 games, but just by the skin of their collective teeth. And while a couple fan favorites (Michael Cuddyer and Jason Kubel) went elsewhere along with their closer (Joe Nathan) hopes were higher for 2012 with the returns of hopefully healthy M&M Boys Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. The two of them looked great against the Yankees, helping them take two of four at Yankee Stadium, where the Twinkies traditionally can't buy a win. But that's about the highlight of their season. How bad are the Twins in 2012? Division rivals, the Kansas City Royals (who some thought could compete this season) have had a losing streak of 12 games (yes, you read that right) and STILL have yet to win a game at home (0-10) and STILL have a better record than Minnesota.

The Angels who spent a boatload of money bringing in both the #1 free agent player in Albert Pujols and the #1 free agent pitcher taking CJ Wilson from AL-West division rivals, the Texas Rangers. Anaheim spent all that  money not only to compete with the Rangers, but also in an attempt to curry Los Angeles fan favor from the disarrayed Dodgers. But Pujols didn't hit a single homerun in the month of April while in LA, Matt Kemp is making his plan of 50HR/50SB seem like something he could achieve by the All-Star break. The Angels are already 9 games behind the Rangers, who don't show any signs of coming back to the pack.

Less than ten-thousand people showed up for last night's Tampa Rays game. They're one of the more exciting teams in baseball and they're in first place in the mighty AL-East and yet the fans are staying away in droves, much like their state rivals the Miami Marlins and their new downtown park. You can't blame all of it on Ozzie Guillen, their manager, when they're in last in the NL-East a position the Mets thought was their birthright.

Derek Jeter is taking on all doubters and playing like it's still the 1990s, hitting nearly .400 for the month with nearly as many homeruns as he had all of 2011.

Yu Darvish, the $100M pitcher the Rangers imported from Japan may actually be the real deal. He's 4-0 despite a slow, wild start. His first pass through the league is one thing; as the league sees him more it will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Due an injury, the Nationals brought up Bryce Harper this week. The second coming of phenom should take some of the intense scrutiny off pitcher Stephen Strasburg. If the Phillies don't get Chase Utley back and healthy and some hitting, they could get buried in this tough division.

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May sets the sales tally back to zero. What do I need to do put you in a new book today? How about this:
https://www.createspace.com/3527985

Thanks for reading,B.