As early as it is, you’d expect to find some aberrations in the statistics, but through nearly a quarter of the season, it is truly amazing that the teams with the top three payrolls in baseball; the Yankees, Tigers and Mets, are a combined four games under .500 (50-54), while the bottom three payrolls; the A’s, Rays and Marlins, come into the weekend at 16 games over (60-44).

      The top trio had opening day payrolls totaling $485 million. The bottom three pay out just $111 mil.

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      As Jimmy Rollins returns to the field, his teammates deserve some credit. Without their heart and soul out of the lineup, the Phillies played .571 baseball going 16-12. Of course the monster season being turned in by Chase Utley has a lot to do with the success … but then again, the misery that has been Ryan Howard balances that out. 

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      Looking for the most under-appreciated player in baseball? Gotta throw Cleveland catcher Victor Martinez into the discussion.  Now in his seventh season, Martinez is third in the AL in batting average at .337.  In each of the past four seasons, he’s played in at least 140 games, hitting .283, .305, .316 and .301 with 84 homeruns and 395 RBI. 

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      The keys to the Red Sox success in simple terms: Money, Mini & Manny.   

      Money: OK, they have a lot to spend, but they do spend it wisely. This is not a “Let’s buy a bunch of high-priced guys – some of ‘em have to pay off!” type of organization. They fill in the field around their big money men with good value players.  They’re also willing to take a gamble on a guy like Bartolo Colon who hit 93 on the radar gun earlier this week.

     Yes, the former Cy Young winner could suck, but if he does, he costs them almost nothing. If Bart does gets back to the bigs, he’s on the books for a mere $1.2 mil; a bargain.

      Mini: Ever notice the plethora of “little guys” making big contributions? Cora, Lugo, Pedroia, Crisp, Ellsbury … where do they get all these guys!?!

      Manny: And by Manny, I of course mean Manny … and Papi … and Lowell… and Varitek … and Beckett… and Dice-K… and Papelbon.  Productive stars all over the diamond.

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      Speaking of Ellsbury, he has an amazing streak going that has gotten little or no pub. His 22-straight successful stolen base attempts are the most by any player at the start of a career since Tim Raines swiped 27-straight from 1979-1982.

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      Baseball, many people insist, is all about pitching. How then, have the Padres racked up the worst record in the game with the quality foursome they have at the top of the rotation?

      Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux, Randy Wolf and Chris Young have a combined career record of 546-362, yet San Diego, yet there San Diego sits at 12-24.

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      Suspend disbelief and imagine this scenario... Last month of the season, Dodgers and Giants battling for the NL West title, 23rd inning, bases loaded, two outs, Giants lead by one.     Having used all his other pitchers, Bruce Bochy brings Barry Zito out of the bullpen. Countering with the last right-handed batter on his bench, Joe Torre calls on Andruw Jones to pinch-hit. Barry Zito vs. Andruw Jones to decide the division.

       At that point, does Bud Selig make an executive decision to immediately cancel the season?  

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       Updating what will be Randy Johnson’s ultimately futile quest for the 16 more wins he needs to reach 300…

      2008 Wins: 2.  ERA 5.06. 

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      When Alfonso Soriano was putting up good numbers, his insistence on batting first in the batting order was tolerable. Almost cute, in fact.  Now though, given his shockingly bad .239 on-base percentage and .188 batting average, it’s just plain silly.  At what point will Lou Pinella make the move he simply has to make? It’s not like he doesn’t have options. Fukudome, Theriot, Pie, Cedeno, DeRosa … they’d all suffice as lead-off hitters. Pick a guy … any guy … other than Soriano.  At least until he starts hitting.

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      Speaking of Fukudome… Not that he is a control freak or anything, but he keeps a scale in his locker and weighs his all of his bats before every game. Any one that doesn’t weigh exactly 920 grams becomes firewood. 

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      Most interesting pitching match-up of the weekend comes in Sunday’s Phillies/Giants game when 23-year-old fireballing right-hander Tim Lincecum faces off with 45-year-old left-handed junk-baller Jamie Moyer.

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      No doubt the complete game is a lost art, but someone forgot to tell Roy Halladay.  The Blue Jays ace has four this season (all in succession) and has twice as many complete games by himself than any team in baseball. Also notable is that Halladay was charged with the loss in three consecutive games in which he went the distance as the Jays scored 1, 3 and 0 runs. Good job, boys.

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      Anybody see any parallels between Frank Thomas’ refusal to play a backup role with the Blue Jays and Hillary Clinton’s insistence on staying in the Democratic race?

     Either way, The Big Hurt’s departure from Toronto has had a major impact on the Jays’ offense. In the 18 games before he was released, Toronto scored 88 runs. In the 17 games since, they have scored just 55.

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      Stat that will make your head explode: Rusty Staub had more career intentional walks than Willie Mays.