Consider this.
NL Central Standings, May 29, 2004With all the injuries, all the Hawkins pitches, all the hacking, all the baserunning blunders -- the Cubs are exactly one game worse than they were after 48 games a year ago. Yes, they are farther out of first place, and I am not suggesting the Cardinals are going to tank like the Reds did a year ago. But looking at the 2004 standings above, do you see any indication that the Cardinals were going to win 105 games?
W L PCT GB Cincinnati 29 20 .592 - Houston 26 22 .542 2.5 St. Louis 26 22 .542 2.5 Milwaukee 25 22 .532 3.0 Chicago 25 23 .521 3.5 Pittsburgh 23 22 .511 4.0 NL Central Standings, May 30, 2005
W L PCT GB St. Louis 32 17 .653 - Chicago 24 24 .500 7.5 Milwaukee 24 25 .490 8.0 Pittsburgh 21 27 .438 10.5 Cincinnati 20 30 .400 12.5 Houston 18 31 .367 14.0
We have not even reached the one-third mark of the season yet.
Just for a little perspective.
Also, here are current stats for the leading contenders for the NL All-Star team at SS:
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS
Neifi! 166 21 51 8 1 5 20 6 15 .307 .337 .458 .795
Eckstein 183 25 55 8 1 2 15 19 10 .301 .373 .388 .761
Barmes 193 34 63 12 1 7 27 9 21 .326 .372 .508 .880
Izturis 212 33 72 10 2 1 19 13 23 .340 .383 .420 .803
While from these numbers you'd think Clint Barmes deserves election, he's hitting .407/.455/.681 at altitude, and .255/.296/.353 everywhere else -- only one homer away from Coors Field.
Cesar Izturis may be hitting .340, but with only one homer.
And you can vote for someone named David, Clint or Cesar -- or you can vote for the UNIQUE name -- Neifi!