Carlos Zambrano has been suspended for 6 games following a temper tantrum against the Pittburgh Pirates this week. This is what happened: he threw a wild pitch. When the catcher went to fetch it, the runner on third charged forward and Zambrano came up to cover the base. The throw was almost on time but they called him safe. Zambrano got upset, started arguing. Then he was thrown out. He did a “throw out” gesture back at the ump and threw the baseball all the way into the outfield. He slammed his glove into the fence and began to hit the gatorade machine with a bat. It makes sense that he was tossed and fined, but it seems like a small fine of $3000 for making such a scene.

Now that we are as far as 25% of the way into the season, it’s time to take stock of what’s going on in the Major Leagues. The first thing that you notice when you look at the standings today is that the west coast divisions are an absolute disaster. Almost all of the teams are dropping games all over the place and they’re lucky if more than the top team is above .500. The AL Central which looked to be a big battle is just kind of a mess. Not that any of the teams are outstanding, but for some reason Detroit is on top. Milwaukee and St. Louis are pushing the NL Central. The Eastern Divisions are doing pretty well, with the AL East especially impressive this time around.

There was a chance that the Chicago White Sox would have gotten a lot of extra help in their pitching squad with the arrival of Jake Peavy from the San Diego Padres. But there were a lot of different reasons for him to veto the idea yesterday. For one thing, the White Sox lost a game 20-1, mostly due to awful pitching. He had also suggested that he would want to join a team in the National League if he had to be traded. So it was a little bit strange that they were shopping him to the AL, but maybe there’s some sort of tricky work going on here. Anyway, he decided he didn’t want to go to Chicago, which has a worse record and certainly a worse rotation than San Diego.

The LA Dodgers and the New York Mets had a rather strange end to their game last night. There were a lot of points for both teams, and the Dodgers should have, logically, lost the game, being outhit 12-5 in the game and making mistakes all over. And in the top of the 11th, the Mets got the go-ahead run, taking the lead 3-2. But then there was a mistake in the play calling, and so they took the run away and called the 3rd out. Then the Dodgers had the chance to take the lead and then they started their push to win the end of the game, 3-2. It’s hard to say that you were down 3-2 and then you won the game 3-2. It doesn’t happen very often.

In the middle of the baseball season, there is always a little break, when all the best players in the league jump up and move their way to another city to play a game against all the other best players. AL vs NL. It’s always a lot of fun for people and the winner of the game has his part of the league get home field advantage in the World Series. These teams are usually very evenly matched, because players move back and forth from one league to another much more readily than they used to. This year, this amazing game will be held in St. Louis on July 14, with special events all weekend. Get some MLB All Star Game tickets so that you too can be there for what’s always a fantastic game!

The Blue Jays are in a strong battle for first in the AL East. It’s an exciting time for this team right now, with the team sitting at the top of the standings. They are, in fact, statistically the best team in the AL, with a 22-12 record and a lot of possibilities for continuing forward. But there are still some kinds of challenges that they will have to withstand. In many of the last seasons, they have landed behind the Yankees and Red Sox. Meanwhile, the Rays also ended up ahead of them last year. So this year, the fact that they are ahead of all of these teams is pretty impressive, though they have yet to play against any of them in a game. So they have to prove their strength over the long haul if they really want to jump in and get it done!

Well, this isn’t about A-Rod anyway. We’ve been talking about the different kinds of drug busts in the MLB for a long time especially leading up to this season. With Clemens, Bonds, A-Rod, and a lot of other players coming forward and being brought forward, it gets hard to understand how wide ranging this is. But if further proof was needed, one of the MLB’s most beloved players, Manny Ramirez, was suspended yesterday for 50 games following a failed drug test. He will probably be back playing in July, but it’s possible that his reputation will now be quite tarnished. Lots of people have lost confidence in him and it’s going to be a rough season for this team without him. He’ll have to work hard to rebuild the trust, even if this violation isn’t as bad as some of the other players’.

Kansas City is a very different team this year. They have revamped their lineup in large part and it is one of the better teams so far this year. One of the reasons is that Zach Greinke is pitching like a madman: he has a 0.40 ERA right now after having shut out the White Sox last night 3-0. He didn’t walk a single batter and had no difficulty dispatching Chicago. He’s quickly becoming one of the elite players in the AL. If KC can take advantage of it, they will be in a good position for a possible wild card spot, even if they aren’t able to keep up with the rest of the division. It will be interesting to see what ultimately happens, but for now, Greinke is putting on a great show!

A Rod is back in the news. This time, there are some important allegations that he used steroids when he was in high school. It’s kind of a frightening thing to think of, if he’s really been in that scene for such a long time. It seems like he’s actually been using these medications for a long time and is now in a lot of trouble about it. This is an immensely talented player who is getting into trouble faster and faster. The only reason to watch out for this story is because it’s going to be interesting to see how he will be once he actually comes back to the game with the Yankees. Otherwise, it’s not that interesting for regular baseball fans, and indeed it can be a bit irritating.