Baseball Weekend Review 4/19/10

Let's do the Baseball Weekend Review 4/19/10.

Team that impressed me the most: Tampa Bay Rays (10-3). After I predicted they would lose three out of four at Fenway Park this weekend, the Rays proceeded to take all four games. The last two games in particular the Rays were quite impressive, winning by wide margins. They clearly looked like the better team this weekend. I know it's early, but I think the Rays made a statement over these last four games and I think they're going to be in the race all summer long.

Another impressive performance: Florida Marlins (8-5) taking two of three over the Phillies (8-4) at Citizens Bank Park. I think the Marlins are a solid team but I don't put too much stock in this one series in April. I still think the Phils are the frontrunner in the National League and will also win the World Series. I think they'll be okay for now but will also be helped out when my favorite player short stop Jimmy Rollins comes off the disabled list in a week or two. But the Marlins should take some confidence from this and I think they'll be around as well.

Least impressive performance: Boston Red Sox (4-9). See above. Just bad news for the BoSox. It's still early and I think they'll stay in the race, but they've got to start turning it around soon.

San Francisco Giants update: The Giants lost two out of three at Dodger Stadium this weekend: 10-8, 0-9, 2-1. Tim Lincecum on Saturday and Barry Zito on Sunday were simply dealing and Lincecum even added three hits and RBIs to complement his strong pitching performance. I thought the Giants had the game yesterday, but Manny Ramirez hit a two-run pinch-hit home run in the eighth inning off of reliever Sergio Romo who had just entered the game in place of Zito (who I'm happy to see pitching so well this year as he seems like a quality guy). It was a tough game to swallow for me. But taking the positives away from this weekend, it seemed like the Giants (8-4) got smoked pretty much every time they played the Dodgers (6-6) last year and they were competitive in every game this weekend. So I think that alone shows the Giants are improved over last year. We'll see how things go the next time they meet their hated rivals June 28-30 in San Francisco.