The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Rangers, Mets, Athletics, Brewers and Nationals

The Good
Texas Rangers. They have had a strong offense for a couple of years, now they are getting the pitching to go with it. A nice combination of youth and veterans have the Rangers leading the AL West coming into the All Star break. Ian Kinsler is a legitimate All Star at 2nd base, still leading Dustin Pedroia with less than 3 weeks of voting left. Kevin Millwood is pitching like a 25 year old again, and all this while comeback player of the year Josh Hamilton still sidelined with an abdominal tear. They will get Hamilton back shortly after the All Star break, but will they have enough to hold off a Dodger team that will be getting Manny Ramirez back?

Milwaukee Brewers. They lost CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets yet they are still leading the NL Central by a game over the savvy St. Louis Cardinals. Potential All Stars OF Ryan Braun, 1B Prince Fielder, 2B Richie Weeks and SS JJ Hardy are powering their way to another post season appearance. If the pitching staff, led by reliever Mitch Stetter, starters Yovani Gallaro and iron man Jeff Suppan hold up, the Brewers may roll right in to the World Series this year.

The Bad
Washington Nationals. A team with very little expected of them has managed to underacheive. Did I say manage? Well they havent been managed well all year, and manager Manny Acta may be unemployed before the All Star break. There has been some sweet talk about Bobby Valentine coming back to MLB to manage this team, but why would he want to work for a team owner that has made so many off season mistakes? 20 games out before the end of June? Pathetic.

Oakland Athletics. Promises of a more powerful line up with the addition of Jason Giambi have not been kept, mainly due to the disappearance of Matt Holliday. It wasnt that long ago that Holliday was everyones pick to have an All Star, MVP type season. Now he is wallowing in mediocrity and owner Billy Beane may make some changes shortly after the break. No one was expecting this to be a World Series team, but they are faring worse than their cousins across the bay, the San Francisco Giants. Oakland fans may self-implode if this continues.

The Ugly
New York Mets. Yes, I know they are only three games out of first, but this is a team that keeps finding ways to lose. After the debacle of two years of late season collapse, this team has a damaged psyche. They needed to make some major changes in the off season-why they have stayed with Jerry Manuel is questionable considering he was Willie Randolph's right hand man in one collapse, and the guiding hand in another.. Gary Sheffield has proven to be a good pick-up, but other than that, this is a top heavy team that needs to rid itself of remnants of failures past. Luis Castillo? Sheesh. Admit your mistake Omar Minaya and release him. Then Jose Reyes should be the sacrificial lamb to change this teams dynamics. Are you listening Billy Beane?