National League April Awards
Biggest Surprise: Washington Nationals
Biggest Demise: Atlanta Braves
NL Home Run Leader: Kelly Johnson (Arizona Diamondbacks) 9
NL Cy Young Front-runner: Ubaldo Jiminez (Colorado Rockies) is 5-0 with an MLB second-best 0.79 Earned Run Average. Jiminez also has 31 strikeouts and recorded baseball's lone no-hitter through April.
NL West- Padres' Power Surge Passes Falling Giants
With phenomenal pitching and timely hitting, San Francisco started the season by winning their first four games. The mania began with a season sweep of the Astros in Houston.
On opening day in San Francisco, the Giants won a seesaw affair over Atlanta. However, the next night, San Francisco was their own worst enemy stranding nine runners on base and throwing a franchise record-tying four wild pitches.
After starting the season 8-3, the Giants dropped their next four by a combined six runs as their offense went frigid only scoring five runs during the downfall.
Conversely, the San Diego Padres (15-8) began the season 2-4 on the road against NL West foes. After their next series the Padres were 3-6 before sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks (11-13) and the Giants (13-9) to overtake San Francisco for the division lead on April 21. San Diego's held on to lead the division through April by winning 12 of their last 14 games including their last eight at home.
Last year's NL West Champion Los Angeles Dodgers (9-14) have lost eight of their last 11 to fall into last place in the division while the Colorado Rockies (11-12) have endured the ultimate of highs and lowest of lows already this year.
The way his season's started, Ubaldo Jiminez, who recorded the first no-hitter in Colorado's 18-year history on April 17 at Atlanta, is a legitimate early-season contender to win the 2010 NL Cy Young. However, three days following the historic feat in franchise history, somber news broke concerning Colorado's Team President Keli McGregor passing away at the age of 48.
NL Central- St. Louis Plays Their Cards Right Through April
The majority of baseball writers' favorite to win the NL Central is the St. Louis Cardinals (15-8) who have lived up to the early hype. In what's been a muddled first month for the NL, the Cardinals won their first five series of the young season to start 10-5. After losing two in a row at San Francisco, St. Louis won five straight to retake command of the division.
Conversely, Houston was the last MLB team to win a game. Without Lance Berkman, the Astros lost all six of a six-game homestand to begin the season. Their next stop was in St. Louis (10-6) where they finally won in the third and final game of the series. In their 0-8 start, Houston only accounted for 14 runs.
After beating the Cardinals, the Astros (8-14) fell to the Chicago Cubs (12-13) in the first of three games before taking the series en route to winning four in a row. Midway through that small winning streak Berkman would return to the lineup on April 20 to help the Astros start 5-1 in his return before dropping four straight including three straight to the Cincinnati Reds (12-11) to end the month.
Elsewhere, the Pittsburgh Pirates (10-13) swept the Reds to start 5-1 at PNC Park, but were subsequently swept by the Milwaukee Brewers (9-14). A 10-game road trip ensued for the Pirates who lost seven straight before finally getting off the schnide against the Brewers on April 27.
NL East- Phillies Lose Rollins, Lead in Division to Mighty Mets
The NL East is home to the biggest laughingstock in baseball last season the Washington Nationals. Failing to win 60 games a year ago, the Nationals are already 13-10 in April and in the thick of things in the division.
Elsewhere, the Atlanta Braves (9-14) are flying under the radar again. Just when things started well with an 8-5 start to the season, Atlanta lost nine of 10 to end April on a sour note. Long-time Brave Chipper Jones is one many hitters for the Braves who have struggled in the early season. Jones batted .230 with only two home runs and six runs batted in during April.
Philadelphia also struggled after beginning an MLB-best 7-1. Philadelphia lost Jimmy Rollins to the disabled list on April 14, which prompted the Phillies (12-10) to lose their next two to the Florida Marlins (11-12) who moved within a half-game of the division lead on April 18.
For Florida, the season started well with Jorge Cantu recording a hit in 21-straight games including the Marlins first 17 this season before going hitless in the second game of a doubleheader with Colorado on April 24.
Meanwhile the Phillies NL East lead evaporated on April 27 when the New York Mets (14-9) took over the top spot via sweeping the Dodgers in a doubleheader.
Most people outside the Metropolitan area hadn't seen a highlight of the other this season until April 17 when the Mets beat the Cardinals in the longest MLB game so far this year. The game lasted 20-innings and was just seven minutes shy of seven hours.
Talk about exhaustion: No one even had a run in the marathon matchup until the 19th-inning when each team brought in a run as the Mets would add another in the next inning for a 2-1 win. Ironically, it was the longest MLB game since Colorado beat San Diego 2-1 two years ago to the day.
Since the 20-inning classic with St. Louis, the NL East leading Mets have gone 10-2 to finish the month which has their fans in a frenzy that this could be the year the other New York team wins the pennant.
Tyrone Bowman - I'm 25, a recent Journalism graduate of Sacramento State, love the outdoors and am ultra-competitive. I thrive for perfection even though ...
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