Baseball

The speculation is running hot that the Texas Rangers are kicking the tires on Roy Oswalt, who remains unsigned as a free agent. The beat writers are working it, and the Bleacher Report bloggers are jumping on the bandwagon.

It certainly sounds like Rangers manager Ron Washington would like to see it, especially now that Neftali Feliz is on the disabled list. Problem: The Rangers need a starter now, and Oswalt would at least need a minor-league rehab stint of a few weeks to be ready.

"Oswalt has to want to come to Texas and we have to get him ready. The guy is a quality pitcher," Washington said on an ESPN Dallas radio show.

Oswalt wanted to go to Texas in the offseason, so that shouldn't be a problem. But he'll probably want an assurance that he will be in the starting rotation for more than just the month or so before Feliz is ready to return. With a rotation of Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis and Derek Holland already in place, Washington doesn't much wiggle room. Feliz was a great relief pitcher the last two seasons, but would the Rangers want to move him back if Oswalt joins the team? That's the equation right now.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Guerrero is in the Blue Jays' extended spring training, and he could begin a minor-league stint soon. He's moving well in Florida, and is looking forward to playing in Canada again. He broke in with the Montreal Expos and played eight seasons there.

"Definitely going back to where it all started," Guerrero said to MLB.com. "I feel like this is where I started, it's not the same city, but it's Canada. I think going back [I feel] kind of like renewed. I feel like I'm going to be very, very comfortable.

The New York Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, giving them a new title: The only team in the top five in payroll in Major League Baseball with a winning record as of today. And they're 22-21.

Aaron Gleeman of HardballTalk.com pointed that out in a post today. The five teams who pay out the most in player salaries (opening day) are:

1. New York Yankees ($200.2 million): 22-21, 4th in AL East

2. Philadelphia Phillies ($174 million): 21-23, last in NL East

3. Boston Red Sox ($173.2 million): 21-22, last in AL East

4. Los Angeles Angels ($154.9 million): 18-25, last in AL West

5. Detroit Tigers ($132.2 million): 20-22, third in AL Central

And on the other side:

30. Oakland A's ($52.9 million): 22-21, 2nd in AL West

29. San Diego Padres ($55.9 million): 16-28, fourth in NL West

28: Houston Astros ($60.7 million): 20-23, third in NL Central

27. Kansas City Royals ($62.6 million): 17-25, fourth in AL Central

26. Pittsburgh Pirates ($63.4 million): 20-23, fourth in NL Central

Guess the answer is to be somewhere in the middle. But I like the chances of the first five down the stretch.

In Cleveland, baseball is most certainly a summer sport. The weather -- perpetually mostly cloudy (take it from somebody who spent more than 30 years living there) -- dictates that the fair-weather fans stay away until the temperatures creep into the 70s consistently and the sun comes out a bit. When the kids get out of school, ticket sales perk up. The Indians -- who at one point set a record for consecutive sellouts a little more than a decade ago -- are dead last in attendance so far in 2012.

Indians closer Chris Perez was a little fed up this weekend when he blasted the hometown fans in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram on Saturday night for not coming out to see a first-place team.

"Why doesn't Carlos Beltran want to come over here? Well, because of that. That's part of it. It doesn't go unnoticed -- trust us. That's definitely a huge reason. ... You had a choice of playing in St. Louis where you get 40,000 (fans) like Beltran chose to do, or you can come to Cleveland. ... That's just how it is."

He kept going on Sunday, too.

"It's just a slap in the face when you're in first place and last in attendance," he said to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Last. It's not like we're 25th, 26th -- we're last. Oakland is outdrawing us. That's embarrassing."

Ouch. You can't blame Perez for vocalizing some frustration, but this is a team that really faded down the stretch last year. They're kind of a first-place-by-default team in the AL Central as the world waits for the Tigers to shake out of their funk. You can't blame Indians fans for not leaping onto the bandwagon quite yet.

Whose bandwagon should we be jumping on? Presenting this week's Monday Morning Manager:

WHO'S HOT

Aroldis Chapman, Reds: The Cuban lefty has always had the stuff to be the closer. Now he has the stats, and likely the job. His line this season: 18 games, 22.1 IP, 7 hits, 0 earned runs, 39 strikeouts. Yeah, I think he's ready.

Dayan Vicedo, White Sox: We'll keep the Cuban theme for the White Sox left fielder, who hit four homers this past week. He's just 23, too.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Red Sox: Perhaps he's turning into the big-league catcher everybody thought he'd be. He hit better than .500 last week and is on pace for 28 home runs.

WHO'S NOT

Tim Lincecum, Giants: The two-time Cy Young winner got plowed over on a play at the plate Sunday, and his fastball isn't nearly as fast as it was a few years ago. And when he gives up four or more runs, he's 0-28 in his career. That's a massive concern considering his ERA is 6.04 this season.

Matt Wieters, Orioles: In a big slump after a hot start, the catcher is 0 for his last 18, and was 0 for 7 in a 15-inning marathon last Wednesday.

Cliff Lee, Phillies: Still has no wins on the season, which is indicative of the run support he's getting from the Phillies. His ERA is 2.66. Had his worst outing of the season on Sunday against the Red Sox, giving up five runs in seven innings.

TOP 5

1.Texas Rangers (26-16, last week No. 1)

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (28-13, last week No. 2)

3. Atlanta Braves (26-16, last week No. 3)

4. Baltimore Orioles (27-15, last week No. 4)

5. Tampa Bay Rays (25-17, last week NR)

BOTTOM 5

26. Kansas City Royals (16-24, last week No. 27)

27. Chicago Cubs (15-26, last week No. 26)

28. San Diego Padres (16-26,  last week No. 29)

29. Colorado Rockies (15-25, last week No. 28)

30. Minnesota Twins (14-27, last week No. 30)

Kerry Wood came onto the scene in a unique way with the Chicago Cubs. He's going to leave in his own way as well.

Wood, according to reports, will pitch against the Chicago White Sox in his 446th game this weekend and then is expected to retire, ending a 13-year career that began with incredible promise, was derailed by injuries and was re-invented as a reliever.

At age 21 in 1998, Wood became the second pitcher to have 20 strikeouts in a game, joining Roger Clemens. Randy Johnson made it a trio in 2001.

Clemens and Johnson had won Cy Young Awards when they whiffed 20 in a game. Wood did it in his fifth big-league start.

Wood, who turns 35 next month, is 0-2 with n 8.64 ERA this season. He's pitched almost his entire career with the Cubs, aside from a season-and-a-half for the Cleveland Indians in 2009 and 2010 and a half-season with the Yankees in 2010.

Update: Wood pitched on Friday and, fittingly, struck out the last (and only) batter he faced before retiring. He said it became his favorite memory in baseball.

Saud Wood in an interview Saturday: "My favorite memory and probably the best memory in the 14 years was yesterday (Friday), walking off the field and having (son) Justin run out and meet me ... You can't beat that ... I knew maybe he might be in the dugout but I did not expect him to run out and hug me and he didn't want to let go. You can't put anything above that."

Major League Baseball rammed the playoffs change through this week, and because more games are going to be played in fewer days, the format of the Division Series round is changing this season.

What previously was a 2-2-1 format -- giving teams with the home-field advantage the first two games and the potential winner-take-all Game 5 at home -- is for this season a 2-3 format, with the lower-seeded team getting Games 1 and 2 at home.

It was done for travel purposes mainly, as the team that wins in the one-game playoff game between wild-card teams will now be at home for those first two games.

It shows that making this swift change in the format has a big drawback. It makes sense logistically, but competitively this is a big step back. The higher seed will still have a winner-take-all game at home, but the order of the games does matter. Having an ace start in Game 1 at home is something a team plays all season to gain. Roy Halladay threw a no-hitter in 2010 in such a game. In one swoop, that's gone.

It's only for one year, commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday.

"Next year we'll have another schedule so we'll work on it a little differently," Selig said to MLB.com.

We get our first interleague weekend coming up in a couple days, which is met with equal parts welcome and disdain. Next year we'll have interleague every weekend because of Houston's move to the American League (giving each league an odd number of 15 teams), which will make it even less "special."

What we do get are some matchups we don't normally see. Ranking them this weekend:

1. Baltimore Orioles at Washington Nationals: The Braves and/or Rays could spoil it as the first-ever first-place matchup between the Beltway rivals. But both are still among the best stories in baseball right now.
2. Miami Marlins at Cleveland Indians: A rematch of one of the best World Series that nobody remembers (1997). And both teams are in contention after slow starts.
3. Cincinnati Reds at New York Yankees: Rematch of the 1976 World Series, which wasn't a great one. It was the pinnacle of the Big Red Machine, however, and it's one of the few matchups of the weekend that could actually be the 2012 World Series with a couple of breaks.
4. Atlanta Braves at Tampa Bay Rays: There should be a lot of Braves fans in Tampa, as many grew up with the Braves as the top (and only) team in the South. Could be a first-place matchup as well.
5. Texas Rangers at Houston Astros: Battle of Texas looks pretty one-sided this season. But anytime Josh Hamilton is hitting recently, it's must-see.
6. Los Angeles Angels at San Diego Padres: Maybe seeing National League pitching will jog Albert Pujols' memory of his power swing. But Petco Park just might negate that, too.
7. Oakland A's at San Francisco Giants: Rematch of the 1989 World Series, the one with the earthquake. In Friday's series opener, Barry Zito (pitching well again) faces the team for which he was at his best.
8. Chicago White Sox at Chicago Cubs: Won't get much respect beyond Chicago with two losing teams.
9. Pittsburgh Pirates at Detroit Tigers: A rematch of the 1909 World Series, won by the Pirates in seven. Bet you didn't remember that one.

Filling out the slate

• New York Mets at Toronto Blue Jays
• Arizona Diamondbacks at Kansas City Royals
• Minnesota Twins at Milwaukee Brewers
• Seattle Mariners at Colorado Rockies
• NL: St. Louis Cardinals at Los Angeles Dodgers

Few have fallen faster in fans' eyes than Josh Beckett has in Boston.

A big reason why the Red Sox won the title in 2007, Beckett was booed off the mound last Thursday in a loss to Cleveland in which he gave up seven runs in 2 1/3 innings at home to an offense that nobody will mistake with the 1927 Yankees.

The pitching performance wasn't the real reason fans were fuming. They were mad because Beckett went golfing the day after being scratched from a start because of a strained latissimus muscle (the largest in his back). And that came after last year's sideshow, when Beckett and his pitching buddies would reportedly spend games in the locker room drinking beer, eating fried chicken and playing video games.

Fans weren't the only ones who took their gloves off. Yahoo! Sports' Jeff Passan was vicious in his criticism:

"They took the beer out of the clubhouse, but nothing changed. They switched the man in the manager's office, but he's no better. The rot in the Boston Red Sox organization runs too deep for cosmetic upgrades, and nobody better personifies it than Josh Beckett, the clueless, defiant egomaniac who's poisoning another Red Sox season."

Beckett was back on the mound Tuesday against the Seattle Mariners, and performed like he got the message. He threw seven shutout innings on his 32nd birthday as the hot-and-cold Red Sox won their fifth in a row.

Bobby Valentine called him the "king of the hill." Skeptics might call him king of the day. It was against the Mariners, the worst hitting team in baseball last season. It's a step forward, but the Red Sox have made a habit of following those up with two steps backward.

The Boston Red Sox might have given themselves some karma on Saturday night.

Without fanfare, Boston executives John Henry, Larry Lucchino and Tom Werner went to the visiting Cleveland Indians clubhouse before Saturday night's game at Fenway Park. They presented Derek Lowe with a 2004 World Series ring, one to replace the ring that was stolen from his home in Fort Myers over the winter.

"I just thought it was one of the classiest things I've seen," Lowe said Sunday to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "The traveling secretary called over to our clubhouse and said, "Hey, someone is going to stop by and wants to give you something.'"

Lowe added: "It's something I'll never forget. It almost means more this time because it was a selfless act on their part. I just want people to know they did this."

Lowe went 3-0 during the postseason for the 2004 Red Sox, and started and won Game 7 of the ALCS against the Yankees. And after the gesture Saturday, the Red Sox went out and beat the Indians in two games in a row, 4-1 and 12-1.

The Red Sox are not in the Top 5 this week, but this move was worthy of No. 1. Presenting this week's Monday Morning Manager:

WHO'S HOT

Josh Hamilton, Rangers: He hasn't stopped hitting since his monster game last Tuesday, one of the greatest in baseball history. He's hit nine homers in the last seven days and is leading all three Triple Crown categories not just in the AL, but in the majors.

Joey Votto, Reds: He's not quite among the league leaders yet, but he had a Hamilton-esque game on Sunday, hitting three homers, including a walk-off grand slam, against Washington.

Carlos Beltran, Cardinals: He's been a nice pickup for St. Louis, and hit five homers and drove in 12 in the last seven days.

WHO'S NOT

Scott Rolen, Reds: He's quietly had a career at third base that statistically puts him in Cooperstown conversation. But his chronic left shoulder is bugging him again, and has a .174 average in 29 games.

Johnny Damon, Indians: Another borderline Hall of Fame hopeful is barely good enough to play in the outfield these days, and he is just 7 for 44 with 2 RBI so far in his Cleveland stint, with an anemic OPS of .423.

Ubaldo Jimenez and Justin Masterson, Indians: Throw strikes, guys. The Cleveland teammates rank 1-2 in the majors in walks.

TOP 5

1.Texas Rangers (23-12, last week No. 1)

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (23-11, last week No. 2)

3. Atlanta Braves (22-13, last week No. 3)

4. Baltimore Orioles (22-13, last week No. 5)

5. Washington Nationals (21-13, last week NR)

BOTTOM 5

26. Chicago Cubs (14-20, last week No. 26)

27. Kansas City Royals (13-20, last week No. 28)

28. Colorado Rockies (13-20, last week No. 27)

29. San Diego Padres (12-23,  last week No. 29)

30. Minnesota Twins (10-24, last week No. 30)

It's Mother's Day, a day for pink bats and an unofficial quarter pole to what's been an eventful regular season.

And if the season ended today, the Baltimore Orioles, Cleveland Indians and Washington Nationals would be in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Phillies and Boston Red Sox are in last place.

So is it time to panic in Philly and Beantown? Ehh... maybe.

Buster Olney, in his Saturday ESPN Insider notes column, wrote that the Phillies have begun having talks to lay the groundwork in case they'd want to be sellers in a trade instead of buyers. They're just 6.5 back of the Nationals entering Sunday's games, but their lineup -- still without Ryan Howard and Chase Utley -- is one of the worst in the league. If they don't come back in a strong way, the Phillies will want to try to get something out of the season. That would mean trading Cole Hamels and/or Shane Victorino, who are both free agents in the offseason.

Still a little early, though, and the Nationals just lost their promising catcher Wilson Ramos for the season with a knee injury. The Braves are probably the favorite at this point, the Marlins are lingering, and the Mets probably aren't a serious threat. The Phillies have won the NL East for five years in a row. They get at least another month to show if they have a real intent in making it six.

The Red Sox don't have such a streak, and they're still a mess right now, although they have won two in a row over the Indians entering Sunday. Josh Beckett is being (deservedly) booed, they've got plenty of holes, and they're in a division that's stronger top to bottom. They don't have as much to shop, either, with all of their core players locked up for at least another season.

Adam Dunn was a punching bag and a punch line last season, his first with the Chicago White Sox and his first in the American League.

It wasn't pretty at all. He hit .159 and struck out 177 times, perhaps the worst performance by an established hitter in a full-time role ever. His batting average was the lowest in MLB since 1900 among hitters with at least 450 plate appearances. After hitting 38 homers or more in seven consecutive seasons in the National League, he hit 11 in 2011, and none in his final 28 games. His OPS was more than 300 points below his career average.

But Chicago stuck with him this season - they had little choice because they still owed him $44 million - and the old Dunn has returned. Dunn belted his 10th homer of the season on Wednesday night in Cleveland in the White Sox's 8-2 victory.

Fangraphs has an interesting look at Dunn's resurgence, and the stats suggest that the familiarity with the American League has finally kicked in. He's been more aggressive, which has helped his power numbers.

But then there's this staggering stat: Dunn has stuck out at least once in his last 36 games. The White Sox are off Thursday. With a strikeout at home against the Royals on Friday, he'll tie a modern major league record set by Bill Stoneman in 1972. Stoneman -- a pitcher -- struck out at least once for the Montreal Expos in 37 consecutive games he played in.

So there's some bad with the good. But you know what? The White Sox will take it.