You pick up the sports section of the newspaper. Sure enough, on the top of the page is an article about the continuing saga of Barry Bonds. You go your favorite Internet sports site, and again you see a picture of Barry Bonds.

Is there any other story in MLB? Does no one care about the early season surprises of the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds?

In case you haven’t heard yet, Barry Bonds hit his 713th home run on Sunday night, leaving him only one home run short of the late great George Herman Ruth, who is still one of the most recognizable faces in sports. I, for one, don’t want to see the steroid-using, hot-headed Bonds passing the Babe, but it will happen and that’s life.

Enough about what I wasn’t going to talk about and on to what’s really happening in baseball.

* The Yankees and Red Sox are playing again this week. The good thing about the Barry Bonds saga is that it takes some of the focus off of this overly marketed and hyped series. The two teams play 19 times! No need to analyze every flippin’ pitch between the two teams in early May. We all know that it will be the Yankees and Red Sox battling for the AL East crown come late September.

* Tampa Bay Devil Rays wonder boy, Delvin Young, has been suspended 50 games by International League President Randy Mobley. Young threw a bat at a replacement umpire in a game on April 27th. The 50-game suspension is the longest in International League history. It is inexcusable to throw a bat at someone, let alone an umpire. In Young’s behalf though, the pitch was mile outside.

* The Cleveland Indians are on a slide. The Indians dropped to 17-18 on Wednesday, under .500 for the first time since Opening Day. They were just swept by the Royals -- the Kansas City Freakin’ Royals. The Royals stand at 10-22, good for last in the American League, but are 5-1 against the Indians this season. Come October, when the Indians miss out on the playoffs again, they’ll look back to these past two weeks in May.

Yeah, yeah, you’ll say that the Indians started poor last year and that they're experienced this year. They’ll find a way to make the playoffs. Last year was different. The team couldn’t hit a beach ball in the first two months, while having stellar pitching led by a great bullpen and the arm of Kevin Millwood. Management didn’t see the need to resign the cornerstones of last year’s team.

Fast forward to this year and the Indians have the best offense in baseball, but pitching has been horrid, both the starters and the bullpen. Bad pitching is a lot harder to correct than slumps at the plate. This season may not be as magical as many were hoping for the Indians.

* Where will the Rocket land? Roger Clemens is considering his return to professional baseball. There are four teams interested in signing Clemens for the remainder of the season. The Red Sox have shown interest, as have the Yankees, of course. The Houston Astros and Texas Rangers are also interested in signing the seven time Cy Young award winner. All four teams know that it will take a lot of money to have Roger wearing their colors.

The Astros are the obvious favorites to land the Rocket. Besides having a great start to the season, the Astros can also offer Clemens the same incentives he has received in previous seasons -- no road travel and close proximity to home.

It will take a huge offer by George Steinbrenner to lure Clemens back to the Big Apple, so look for Roger to be pitching in June for Houston.

Season Awards
AL MVP: Jim Thome. Leads the AL in HRs and RBIs, as well as leading the White Sox to the AL’s best record.
AL Cy Young: Jose Contreras. Four wins and a sub-2.00 ERA

NL MVP: Albert Pujols. Why would things change?
NL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez. No longer has the power fastball, but the finesse is working this season.

Top 5/Bottom 5
1. Chicago White Sox (23-9): Still relying on great timely hitting and starting pitching. Some things never change.
2. New York Mets (22-11): Pedro is back to Cy Young form.
3. St. Louis Cardinals (22-13): Albert Pujols leads the team in nearly every offensive category.
4. Cincinnati Reds (22-11): Coming back to Earth a little bit, but still solid.
5. New York Yankees (19-12): The Yanks are back on top in the AL East.

26. Washington Nationals (12-22): Times like these Frank wishes he was still in the office.
27. Los Angeles Angels (14-20): They won a World Series when they were Anaheim, maybe they should change back.
28. Kansas City Royals (10-22): Swept the Tribe, move on up.
29. Pittsburgh Pirates (10-25): A good draft by the Steelers is giving fans something to get excited about.
30. Florida Marlins (9-22): Still young, still bad.

Thoughts? Comments? Send them directly to andrew@culturestew.com.