by James Floto

Before we begin with a rundown of the past week, we doff our cap to the great Willie Stargell, who died Sunday at age 61 after a protracted fight with kidney disease. (See, "Goodbye, Willie").

On a happier note, this was quite a week. A no-hitter, some three-home run games, some great performances by ace hurlers, the opening of a couple of new parks, plus some surprising showing by lousy teams mixed with some lousy showings by some good teams.

It was quite a week for our Japanese imports. Hideo Nomo, who many thought was on the way out of the majors, showed that he may be the number two pitcher the Red Sox so desperately need to team up with Pedro Martinez. At week's end, the Bosox, with their questionable rotation and without batting champ Nomar Garciaparra, were tied for second with the Yanks with a 4-2 record, half a game behind Toronto. Pedro pitched well on opening day, yielding a run and four hits, fanning six in seven innings, in a game the Sox lost to Baltimore, 2-1 after he left. The Sox split the next two games in that series, Pedro's performance being followed by Nomo's no-hitter, the first by a Bosox hurler since Dave Morehead in 1965 and the second in Hideo's career. The Orioles Jason Johnson (1-10 in 2000) beat the Sox on Thursday, but by a 2-1 score, as starter Frank Castillo gave up only 4 hits and a run in 5 1/3. See a pattern here? The Orioles scored only 4 runs in three games. (Oriole newcomer Pat Hentgen's excellent peformance--one run in 8 1/3--should also be noted.)

The Sox busted out on Friday with 11 runs against Tampa Bay. Another Japanese, Tomo Ohka, started that game. He got roughed up for 3 runs in 4 innings, but Wakefield, Schourek and Arrojo combined to yield only one more run. That was the day Manny Ramirez hit a homer and drove in four runs. The following day, rookie Paxton Crawford gave up only two runs in 7 innings (the papers reported that young Crawford had a "career high" 9 strikeouts. How the hell can a rookie have a career high anything? ) The Sox got 6 runs on 14 hits in the 6-2 victory. Finally, on Sunday, Pedro struck out 16 in 9 shutout innings, as the Sox concluded their sweep of the Devil Rays, 3-0.

So...after six games, the pitching-weak Red Sox have a team ERA of 1.65 and are averaging better than a whiff an inning, 62 K's in 55 IP. And they have only allowed 17 walks. Meanwhile, the three low-scoring games against the O's have contributed to their puny .237 team batting average. But they picked it up in the series against the Devil Rays, scoring 20 runs. At week's end, Jose Offerman led the club with a .467 average, but Manny Ramirez, upon whom the team is depending to make a lot of noise with Nomar out, was hitting .381, with a couple of homers and 7 RBI. As for Nomar's replacements, Mike Lansing was 3-for-10, while Craig Grebeck was hitless in 12 trips.

Out West, two other Japanese nationals were drawing a fair amount of attention. Seattle has the first Japanese position player, seven time Japanese batting champ Ichiro Suzuki ( See Adam Ulrey's article "Ichiro.") The Mariners finished the week atop the rugged AL West with a 4-2 mark, a game ahead of Anaheim. A good deal of the credit goes to Suzuki, who hit his first US homer on Friday, a dramatic two RBI game-winner in the 10th inning vs. Texas. So far, that is the extent of his run production, but he has scored 6 runs.. Why people think an RBI is more valuable than a run scored has always been beyond me. Ichiro is also hitting .400, second best among Mariner regulars. Care to take a wild guess as to who is first? That would be the 38-year-old DH named Edgar. The guy who replaced Griffey, Mike Cameron is right up there at .381, while A-Rod's replacement, Carlos Guillen is hitting a less than stellar .083. As for A-Rod himself, the new Texas shortstop is hitting .296, has yet to launch one, has two RBI, but has scored five runs (did I mention that a run scored is of equal value to an RBI?) and he has swiped a couple bases. He and Oakland's Miguel Tejada, who make up half of Los Quatros, the four great young shortstops of the American League, are doing okay. Tejada is only hitting .217, but leads the A's with two homers, five runs scored and five RBI. The A's are only 2-4, last in the tough AL West, a half-game behind the Rangers. The other two excellent young AL shortstops, Nomar and Jeter, started the season on the DL, but Jeter came back this weekend. Jays' rookie Chris Michalak held the great Jeter to one-for-five in his debut on Sunday (and beat the Yanks, 3-2), but Derek was 3-for-5 with two runs and two ribbies on Sunday.

As for the Mariner's other Japanese player, Kazuhiro Sasaki, he has three saves already. He got roughed up one outing, giving up two runs, so his ERA is at 6, but a closers' ERA can skyrocket pretty quickly since they usually only pitch an inning per outing. A couple of other Mariner notes: Starters Sele, Moyer, Tomko and Freddy Garcia have only one of the M's have victories (Sele was the pitcher of record in Thursday's 10-2 win over A's; Seattle won two of three in that series against their divisional rivals, who nudged them out of first by 1/2 game last year), but, with the exception of Garcia (6.25), they all have ERAs in the threes, very good these days....While the Boones and Bells became baseball's first three generation families several years ago, the M's opener, which saw David Bell at third and Brett Boone at second, marked the first time the two families appeared together in the same lineup.

Of the many fine pitching performances this past week, one of the best had to be Mike Hampton's opening day shutout against the Cardinals. It takes a pretty good moundsman to shut down the likes of McGwire and Edmonds, but to do so at probably the most hitter friendly ballpark in baseball history, is quite an accomplishment. The gutsy little lefty who left New York for the wilds of Coors Field went 8 1/3 before Buddy Bell yanked him. Jose Jimenez got the lost two batters. The Rockies swept the team that most think will win the NL Central and perhaps the NL pennant, yet crashed back to earth in their next series, losing all three games to the lowly Padres. Hampton got his first taste of a Coors shelling in that series, giving up 6 earned runs in 5 innings on Saturday.

While the Yanks wiped out the Jays Sunday, Toronto won the other two games in the series and took over the AL East lead by half a game. So far they are thriving without David Wells. Esteban Loaiza has assumed the role of staff ace and is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA. Joey Hamilton, who many thought was past his prime, is 1-1, 1.64, while Chris Carpenter and the rookie Michalak are both 1-0 with zero ERAs. That fine pitching has kind of gotten lost in the offensive fireworks provided by Shanon Stewart (.471, 3, 6) and Carlos Delgado (.320, 5, 12). After a 1-for-9 start, Delgado caught fire on Wednesday with the third three home run game of his stalwart career. Then on Friday, he got to the promising Yankee's rookie, Christian Parker, for two more homers and five more RBI. The perennial Triple Crown candidate (.344, 41, 137 in 2000), is on track for his first MVP award. As a team Toronto is hitting .303, with 60 runs scored in 7 games (rookie Ryan Freel, Alex Gonzales and Brad Fullmer are all well over .300, while Jose Cruz is at .290. Raul Mondesi is at .250, but has two homers and 4 RBI). So far, Toronto is looking like the team to beat in the AL, but the Yanks, Mariners and Red Sox were just a half-step behind them at the end of the first week.

Minnesota surprised a lot of people with a 3-0 start, but ended the week in a three-way tie with Cleveland and Detroit, all of whom have a 3-2 record. Kansas City is 2-4, and the defending champion White Sox are bringing up the rear with a 1-4 record. More on the AL Central next week, although we have to mention the great performance by 20-year-old C.C. Sabathia on Sunday. After giving up a three run homer in the first, he settled down, pitching well for the remaining 4 2/3 innings of his start, showing off his 99 mph heater. The Indians won, 4-3.

A little more on the National League. Remember the bit about surprises? If the season ended today, the Giants would represent the West and the Central would be represented by Houston. No surprises there. But in the East, while the Mets are sharing the basement with the Marlins, and the Braves are also below .500, the Expos would be the NLE's representative and the Phillies would be the wild card. Sure, it's only the first week, but it's nice to see some different arrangements in the standings.

What's with the Expos and Phils? Montreal is looking good, but then you never want to vote against Felipe Alou. They won their first series against the Cubs, two games to one, then shellacked the Mets, sweeping them this past weekend, out-scoring them 25-8. The Phils begin the season by sweeping the Marlins, then lost two of three to the Cubs, so you would have to say the Expos start, especially with their showing against the Mets, carries a little more weight.

The Expos are hitting .266 and have scored 41 runs, so there is not a powerful offensive machine driving them. They have Vlad Guerrero, sort of the poor man's Carlos Delgado, who is at .333, with 4 ribeyes and 9 runs scored; the surprising Jose Vidro, who became an all-star last year and leads the team at .344, and the hulking Lee Stevens, who may have the breakout year people have been waiting on for, oh, the past decade, and has two homers and 10 RBI.

Chris Peters? Tony Armas, Jr.? Javier Vazquez, Britt Reames? Not exactly the Atlanta Braves--but they are pitching better than Glavine, Maddux and Co. Peters (1-1) and Armas (0-1) both have 1.80 ERAs, while Reames is 1-0, 2.45 and Vazquez 1-0, 2.84. The bullpen is looking good, too, and the team has a nifty 2.57 ERA. Ugueth Urtain Urbina (all his brothers have triple U names as well!) is back as closer, with four saves already, without yielding a single run. Many contending clubs lust after him, but if the Expos keep this up, he won't be going anywhere. Sure, it's early, and Montreal will be lucky to post a .500 record, but it's fun seeing these unknown youngsters playing so well -- and sweeping the Mets, right after the Mets took two of three from their hated rivals in Atlanta.

Except for the 7-1 finale, it was a close series, with the Mets winning 6-4 in the first game, the Braves 3-2 in the second tilt. And none of the four starters in those games ended up with a decision, even though Leiter, Glavine, Appier and Milwood all pitched well. In the last game, Rick Reed pitched a complete game, while Odalis Perez showed he may not be ready for prime time as #5 Braves starter. The Mets are hitting .250 as a team, the Braves .227. Piazza is doing his usual damage (.360, 4, 10), and the second Japanese position player, Mets right fielder Shinjo, is hitting .368. Hawaii's Benny Agbayani was leading the club at .385, but broke his wrist and will be out for 2-4 weeks. Ventura, Payton and Ordondez are over .300, but only Ventura, with two homers and 6 RBI is doing much damage. Rico Brogna leads the Braves at .435, but most of the regulars just aren't hitting. Chipper has 7 RBI but is hitting a paltry .185. No wonder these two clubs are looking up at Philly and Montreal.

While the Mets/Braves are the hot new rivalry, the traditional one between the Dodgers and Giants still is going strong. The Giants, perhaps recalling their terrible start at then new Pac Bell last year, swept the Padres to open the season, while the Dodgers started out 1-2 against Arizona. In a series played in L.A., The Dodgers chased Giants' ace Shawn Estes on Friday and went on to win 10-1. Chan Ho Park lifted his record to 2-0 by beating Livan Hernandez, 10-4, on Saturday, and LA fans were gloating. But Dusty Baker, who has a habit of guiding teams that don't develop long winning or losing streaks, sent Kirk Rueter out on three days rest Sunday and the Giants got a modicum of revenge, taking the last game 8-3.

Neither club is setting the world on fire offensively. The Dodgers are hitting .240, although Mark Grudzielanek has been a bright spot, leading the club with a .357 average, 5 homers, 8 runs scored and 7 RBI. Shawn Green (.333, 1, 2) and Gary Sheffield (.286, 1-2) are doing all right and definitely better than the Giants big two. Jeff Kent is hitting .200, Barry Bonds .125 (Hey, Barry, you are not supposed to do that until the playoffs), but the Giants are hitting .264, with JT Snow and Rich Aurilia over .400, and Russ Davis chipping in a couple homers and six RBI. In short, none of these four big teams, the Mets, Braves, Dodgers or Giants, are playing they way they are capable of.

Some closing NL notes: Can't ignore the three homer performance by Armais Ramirez of the Pirates on Sunday. Pittsburgh is 3-3, but considering their entire good-looking rotation--Kris Benson, Terry Mulholland, Jason Schmidt, and Francisco Cordova--are on the DL and Willie Stargell just died, they are doing pretty well...At least they open their new park on Monday, and Cam Bonifay is trying to sign Ramon Martinez, who the Dodgers cut loose after Eric Gagne made the staff.... Maybe we will still get a chance to see Ramon Martinez, the Giants utility player, face Ramon Martinez, the once great pitcher...Rick Ankiel, the butt of jokes from Letterman to spring training camps, pitched five innings Sunday, giving up two runs, three hits, fanning eight and walking three--with no wild pitches. Last year (11-7 before the disastrous playoffs) he was a rookie, and he still is only 21...the Brewers lost their first four on the road (including watching Olympic star Ben Sheets get roughed up in his first outing), then won three straight at Miller Park this weekend...Despite playing without McGwire and Edmonds, the Cardinals swept the Diamondbacks, evening their record at 3-3.

STATS: Batting Avg. NL: T. Clark, Det, .526; E. Martinez, Sea, .500; Stewart, Sea, .471; J. Jones, Min, .438. AL: N. Perez, Col, .550; Mike Darr, SD, .526; Polanco, St. L, .524; L. Walker, Col, .483; Biggio, Hou., .483.

Homers: (Majors) Luis Gonzales, Az; Grudzielanek, LA; Delgado, 5.

RBI (Majors) Posada, NYA, 14; L. Walker, Col., Delgado, Tor, 12; Hidalgo, Hou; Casey, Cinn,, 11.

Runs (Majors) Stewart, Tor., 12; Floyd, Fl, 10; V. Guerrero, Mo; Todd and Larry Walker, Helton, Col, 9

Pitchers: ERA--Among qualifiers, there are 9 with 0.0 ERA.

Wins: Rhodes (Sea), Lloyd (Mon), Loaiza (Tor), Radke (Minn), Clemens (NYA), Park (LA), all with two.

A final absurdity. The Rockies are hitting .328 as a team, with 53 runs, including 14 homers. But they have a 6.50 ERA.