When the baseball season began at the start of April, all thirty teams were on an even plateau.  They all had aspirations of playoff appearances, and potentially either repeating as World Series Champions, in the case of the Phillies, or supplanting them from the pedestal, in the case of the twenty nine other clubs hungering for a chance to bask in the glow of championship glory.  Certainly, teams like the Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles were being more realistic in their thought processes, as were the San Diego Padres. 

So what have we seen so far?

Well. we've had steroid allegations fly around some big names (Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, with the former undergoing hip surgery and the latter taking a 50 game suspension for violation of the league substance abuse policy), expected staff aces struggling (Jon Lester, Cole Hamels, Scott Kazmir for examples), unknowns making impacts on the rotation (look at Scott Richmond in Toronto, or even Randy Wells, whose 11.2 scoreless frames in two starts while Carlos Zambrano is on the disabled list deserves better than a pair of no decisions.)

There's been big comebacks (Tampa Bay's comeback last week from a 7-0 deficit against Cleveland to win 8-7 was the biggest in franchise history), walk off slams (Joe Crede of the Twins hammered one to beat Detroit), and of course, bizarre injuries and reasoning (Brian Bruney suffered a strained flexor muscle in his elbow because of an eight and a half minute video review of a home run by Jorge Posada back in late April.)  There have been big names benched (David Ortiz in Boston, Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle, among others) and injuries dot the landscape of almost every big league team at the moment, some more serious than others.

For example, on my fantasy team alone at the moment, not only am I suffering from the Ramirez suspension, but Josh Hamilton is missing with a slight groin strain, Jose Reyes has a calf issue, Carlos Delgado is undergoing surgery for the same sort of hip issue that A-Rod did back in March, Magglio Ordonez is on the bereavement list to be with his wife while she undergoes a surgery, and that is just on the current roster I field at the moment.  There are several other guys that have already been injured this season, including catcher Brian McCann.  When you have to scour the waiver wire looking for guys like Billy Butler and Nick Johnson because your big names are on the shelf, you know it can be a tough go.

The Brewers suffered a big loss when it was announced today that leadoff man and starting second baseman Rickie Weeks would be lost for the season with a tear in his right wrist.  He was starting to turn things around in the early part of this season for Milwaukee, and was on pace to score 100 runs and drive in 100 so far, which would far better his career high mark of 46.  Eric Chavez of the A's is facing a crossroads where his career could be in jeopardy with the repeated back issues that he has suffered over recent years.  He has a herniated disk in his back that would need spinal fusion surgery in order to fully repair it.  Noah Lowry continues to try and find a solution to his arm woes, which will entail surgery that involves removing a rib to make circulation easier, alleviating an issue called thoracic outlet syndrome. 

Then there are the big surprise teams and individual performances.  Who would have predicted that Zack Greinke would have a 7-1 record with an ERA of 0.60 at this point of the season?  He has four complete games, two shutouts, a .189 opponent batting average, a WHIP of 0.83 and his only loss was a 1-0 defeat to the Angels.  You can't pitch much better than that.  This for a guy with a 34-45 career record who was banished to the bullpen in 2007 and lost 17 games in 2005.    There's no telling how many hard drives of video were reviewed to try and turn Greinke around. He's the first pitcher since Juan Marichal to go through his first ten starts with an ERA under 1.

How about Aaron Hill?  He played just 55 games last season with 2 homers and 20 RBI, while hitting .263 on the season.  So far in 2009, in just 42 games, he's slammed 11 homers, driven in 34 runs, and is hitting a rather robust .345 to date.  He's on pace to obliterate his career high marks of 17 homers and 78 RBI that he put up back in 2007. 

Both Greinke's Royals and Hill's Blue Jays are major surprises as teams, as Toronto is the best team in the American League at 27-14, while the Royals are 20-18, which,  while not seeming to be impressive, is when you take into consideration the fact that the team has had losing seasons 14 of the past 15 years.  The Rangers are leading the American League West with a 23-14 mark, and are looking tough as well, while the Cincinnati Reds keep the NL Central, at least for now, a four team race with the Cubs, Brewers and Cardinals. 

That's the great thing about baseball:  the uncertainty.  No matter how bad you might be on any given day, or week or even a year, there is always a chance to turn it around.

While there may be no Roy Hobbs story here, there still may be joy in Mudville this night, for somewhere, their particular Casey may have struck a decisive blow instead of walking back to the dugout dragging their bat behind them with a disappointed crowd somberly filing out.