MLB, BEST STARTS-2014; RULE-BREAKING // NBA, PLAYOFFS, 2013/14. . . NOTE: OUR NEXT POSTING WILL BE MAY 16, 2014

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner . . . (NOTE: Our next posting will be May 16, 2014) . . . // . . MLB, Best Starts, 2014; Rule-breaking // NBA, Playoffs-2013/14 . . . MLB---BEST STARTS, 2014---THAT the Oakland A’s and Texas Rangers would now be battling at the top of the American League West and tied at 14 wins, eight losses is no surprise. Nor is it a surprise that the Detroit Tigers would be atop the AL Central as the first month of the 2014 season begins to close. That the 13-9 N.Y. Yankees are leading the AL East and ahead of the 10-12 Tampa Bay Rays (fourth position) and 10-13 Boston Red Sox (fifth and last) is a surprise. Within the National League West, the L.A. Dodgers and S.F. Giants being in first and second positions respectively is a case of expectations being met, while the 16-6 Milwaukee Brewers being atop the NL Central is the biggest of MLB-2014 surprises (thus far), and from a larger Brewers accomplishment, that of being ahead of the remaining 29 MLB clubs. Yes, the Brewers are leading both leagues, having finished the previous season 74-88 and within the bottom 10, reinforced now by the return of last-season suspended RF Ryan Braun (PED’s) and IF’s Aramis Ramirez and Rickie Weeks from injuries, thus a commanding line-up, plus a starting rotation and bull pen reaching low ERA’s, the latter toward a high rate of saves. The team expected to be where the Brewers are today, that’s the St. Louis Cardinals; they are four games behind the Brewers (12-11), one up over a team thought to be better than now, the Washington Nationals. Less of a surprise is the NL East’s leading team, the 14-7 Atlanta Braves, two games ahead of second place team, the N.Y. Mets. As of today, 17 of the 30 MLB Clubs are at or above .500, eight from the AL, nine from the NL, overall a good start for MLB-entire. So, too, is the string of third place teams showing promise of ascension, of climbing upward in the rankings. The now 12-11/.522 Colorado Rockies are just one win behind the Dodgers and the Giants, and within the AL Central the 11-10 Minnesota Twins and 11-11 Cleveland Indians are one back of the Tigers, inside the AL East the 11-10 Baltimore Orioles two wins behind the Yankees. Most unexpected, that’s the 10-13 AL East’s Red Sox being second worst re. either league, and the NL West’s Arizona Diamondbacks worst at 7-18. . . // . . RULE-BREAKING---IT’s not the oldest of crimes but athletes cheating surely isn’t new, and it didn’t begin with cyclist Lance Armstrong doping to win bicycle races, or baseball player, Ty Cobb, sharpening his spikes, or ballplayers Barry Bonds, Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemons using PED’s, or Cleveland Indians hitter, Albert Belle, and Chicago Cubs slugger, Sammy Sosa, corking their bats. Since baseball, like all sports and other endeavors, is subject to human factors, its crime base probably started with the second baseball game ever played, wherever and whenever that was. A valid argument is that crimes large and small have been of the planet since Adam and Eve were sent east of Eden. BUT---let’s stick to baseball. N.Y. Yankee pitcher, Whitey Ford, he’d scratch a baseball using his wedding ring, and Seattle Mariners pitcher, Gaylord Perry, coated baseballs with Vaseline, and Tampa Rays pitcher, Joel Peralta, used pine tar in 2012, and now N.Y. Yankee hurler, Michael Pineda, is accused of using pine tar. We can include Cincinnati Reds player/manager Pete Rose gambling on baseball, and sports historians will say that cheating in baseball goes back to the early 1900’s, when eight Chicago ballplayers threw a game to receive money from big city gamblers. We can’t know if these rule-busting permutations will ever stop, for it happens in the shadows, there’s no accurate data showing how much of it is currently defying exposure. Even so, we can grab comfort from a proven fact, that many of the known perpetrators had better seasons before they had crossed the line and insulted and dissed their sport and their teams, suffering personal humiliation. Knowledge of this gets around, permeates clubhouses and maybe acts as a deterrent, so perhaps the cheating is at a minimum of minimums. . . NBA PLAYOFFS--- THAT in the first round of the NBA 2013/14 playoffs, the Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 98-95, and that the Atlanta Hawks punished the Indiana Pacers, 98-85, such highlights that NBA playoffs can be a clean slate and anything could happen. The Grizzlies are now ahead of the Thunder in the first round best of seven, 2-1, and the Hawks are above the Pacers, 2-1. The next Grizzlies versus Thunder game will be Saturday, April 26, and next for the Hawks vs. Pacers will also be April 26. Within the NBA East and round one, the Miami Heat now leads the Charlotte Bobcats, 2-0, next showing Saturday, April 26, and the East’s Toronto Raptors and the Brooklyn Nets are 1-1, up tonight (Fri., Apr 25); and, the East’s Chicago Bulls are ahead of the Washington Wizards, 2-0, next game tonight. Meanwhile, the NBA West’s San Antonio Spurs are tied with the Dallas Mavericks, 1-1, next game, April 26, and the Portland Trail Blazers are leading the Houston Rockets, 2-0, next game also April 26, while the L.A. Clippers are leading the Golden State Warriors, 2-1, next challenge, April 26. END/ml