Well, no, although Miguel Cabrera seems to think so. Actually, if you look at the standings, the man may have a point. Florida is 20-14 and leading the NL East by a game. Cabrera's new team, the Tigers, are 15-21 and pulling up the rear of the AL Central.

What does all of this prove? Mostly that anything can happen in 35ish games. Still, it is a bit amusing to see that the Marlins, who were 16-18 at this point in 2007, have improved in Cabrera's absence, while the Tigers, who were 23-13, are headed in the opposite direction.

If the playoffs started on May 9, Jeffrey Loria and his co-conspirators would look like geniuses for gutting the team of identifiable talent unloading Cabrera for shiny prospects. Unfortunately, they've still got 4 1/2 months left on the schedule and three really good teams on their tail. Something tells me that a rotation of Mark Hendrickson, Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco, and… Burke Badenhop (?) isn't going to hold up over the long haul.

All the Cabreras in the world wouldn't be enough to overcome that kind of pitching. Then again, right now the same could be said of Detroit's pitching staff, which boasts guys with much better track records. As per usual, baseball is a funny game…

Omar Infante singled in his first game as a member of the
Atlanta Braves  (emmelyn/flickr)

Arizona    

Conor Jackson - Eye injury, day-to-day.
    
Atlanta    

Brayan Pena - Back injury, 15-day DL.
Omar Infante - Missed 32 games (left hand injury).
    
Baltimore    

Freddie Bynum - Missed 35 games (right knee surgery).
Eider Torres - Optioned to Norfolk (AAA).
    
Cleveland    

Victor Martinez - Neck injury, day-to-day.
    
Florida    

Matt Lindstrom - Missed 5 games (back injury).
Mike Jacobs - Quadricep injury, day-to-day.
    
Kansas City    

Jose Guillen - Shoulder injury, day-to-day.
    
Los Angeles    

Yhency Brazoban - Recalled from Las Vegas (AAA).
    
Minnesota    

Nick Punto - Left hamstring injury, day-to-day.
    
Oakland   

Chris Denorfia - Back injury, day-to-day.
Dallas Braden - Optioned to Sacramento (AAA).
    
Philadelphia    

Stephen Randolph - Acquired from the Houston Astros.
    
Pittsburgh    

Nyjer Morgan - Optioned to Indianapolis (AAA).
Jason Michaels - Acquired from the Cleveland Indians.
    
San Diego    

Shawn Estes - Contract purchased from Portland (AAA).
Kevin Cameron - Elbow injury, 15-day DL.
    
Seattle    

Richie Sexson - Missed 1 game (personal reasons).
    
Texas    

Ben Broussard - Designated for assignment by the Texas Rangers.
A.J. Murray - Optioned to Oklahoma (AAA).
Travis Metcalf - Missed 35 games (torn left hamstring).
Kason Gabbard - Missed 15 games (back injury).
    
Toronto    

Joe Inglett - Recalled from Syracuse (AAA).
John McDonald - Right ankle injury, 15-day DL.
David Eckstein - Hip flexor, 15-day DL.
    
Washington    

Johnny Estrada - Right elbow injury, 15-day DL.
Paul Lo Duca - Broken right hand, 15-day DL.

There's a power outage in Major League Baseball, at least through the first month and a week. Draw whatever conclusions you want from that (the strict anti-drug policy is deflating power numbers, the weather hasn't warmed up yet, etc.) but it seems almost every team is suffering from a supermassive black hole in the middle of their batting orders. Maybe the pitching just got better.

Before we get to the specifics, let's go over the general downward trend in scoring:



In both leagues, scoring is down — more drastically so in the American League. 2008 projects to see about 300 less HR in the AL and 250 less in the NL; overall scoring is down a half-run in the AL and a tenth of a run in the NL. Surprisingly, walks are being drawn at a higher rate, but OBP is still down in the AL and has stayed the same in the NL.

Now, let's look over the American League designated hitters:



The average OBP/SLG/OPS for an AL DH so far is .329/.390/.719 with 4 HR and 18 RBI. Not exactly slugger material. You should notice a lot of familiar names on the right-hand side: David Ortiz, Jim Thome, Travis Hafner — they're all struggling to produce. The Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees are the only teams with a DH putting up an OPS over .800. Five AL teams have a DH putting up an OPS under .700.

In the NL, I took a look at each roster and looked at a struggling slugger who was expected to be the backbone of the team's offense. The only team I had trouble finding a struggling slugger was the Florida Marlins: everybody's hitting well despite scoring a league-average 4.65 runs per game (yet they have a NL-second-best 112 OPS+).



Those are just atrocious numbers. As above, you should notice some familiar names: Ryan Howard, Carlos Delgado, Alfonso Soriano, Ken Griffey, Jr.

The average OBP/SLG/OPS line for these sluggers is .292/.340/.632 with 3 HR and 13 RBI. Most of these guys were expected to be in the #3-5 slots in the lineup and some have since been dropped down.

If you thought Andruw Jones was having an awful season for the Los Angeles Dodgers, check out Ryan Zimmerman, Troy Tulowitzki (now on the D.L.), and Jim Edmonds — each has a .511 OPS or worse.

It will be interesting to see if this trend continues or to see if it's simply aberrant, perhaps due to the thus far cool temperatures.

The title of this article, by the way, is an homage to the song by the band Muse off of their album “Black Holes and Revelations.”

• Jason Bay had 3 hits, and Freddy Sanchez singled, doubled twice and scored twice as the Pirates nipped the Giants, 5-4. Aaron Rowand was on base 3 times for San Francisco.
• Johnny Damon doubled, homered, and drove in 2, and Robinson Cano had 2 hits, a home run, and scored twice as the Yankees doubled up the Indians, 6-3.
• Matt Holliday went 4-for-5 and scored 3 times, Omar Quintanilla picked up 3 hits and scored twice, and Garrett Atkins doubled, tripled, scored 2 runs and drove in 2 runs as the Rockies jumped all over the Cardinals, 9-3. Ryan Ludwick hit 2 solo home runs for St. Louis, his 7th and 8th of the season.
• Josh Beckett allowed just one run while striking out 8 over 7 strong innings, and Kevin Youkilis hit a 2-run homer to lead the Red Sox to a 5-1 win over the Tigers and Justin Verlander. Coco Crisp also had 3 hits for Boston.
• Luis Gonzalez went 3-for-3 with a walk, Jorge Cantu had 2 hits, a home run, and 2 RBI, and Matt Treanor hit a 3-run homer as the Marlins cruised to a 7-2 win over the Brewers.
• Daniel Cabrera tossed a complete game 3-hitter, and Nick Markakis hit a 3-run homer, walked, and scored twice as the Orioles silenced the Royals, 4-1.
• Yunel Escobar collected 2 hits and scored 3 runs, Greg Norton drove in 2, and Matt Diaz capped the Atlanta comeback with an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th to give the Braves a 5-4 walk-off win over the Padres. Adrian Gonzalez had 3 hits for San Diego.
• Jermaine Dye reached base 3 times, homered, and scored twice, and Juan Uribe blasted a 2-run shot as the White Sox downed the Twins, 6-2.
• Brandon Webb pitched a complete game 6-hitter, Mark Reynolds had 3 hits, and Justin Upton and Chris Young hit home runs as the Diamondbacks beat the Phillies, 8-3.
• Edwin Jackson threw 8 brilliant scoreless innings, and Dioner Navarro singled, doubled, and hit a grand slam in the 13th inning to lead the Rays to an 8-3 win over the Blue Jays. Scott Rolen had 3 hits and a walk, and Vernon Wells hit a 2-run homer for Toronto.
• Rob Mackowiak had 2 hits, homered, and knocked in 2, Ryan Zimmerman went 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored, and John Lannan gave up just one run over 6 innings as the Nationals defeated the Astros, 8-3. Cristian Guzman had 2 hits and scored 3 runs as well for Washington.
• Ramon Vazquez had 4 hits, and Ian Kinsler doubled, homered, and drove in 2 runs as the Rangers blanked the Mariners, 5-0, in a game that saw Richie Sexson ejected in a bench clearing brawl.

Thursday's Scoreboard