Observations from Around the NL

-Jimmy Rollins is in a funk. Bad. He went 0-5 on Friday night in LA to drop his average to .219 and wasn't in the lineup on Saturday afternoon in favor of Eric Bruntlett.

-If J.J. Putz is out for an extended period, the Mets have some serious issues moving forward.

-It sure looks like Tom Glavine got done dirty by the Braves.

-Memories of a torrid April are nothing more than that for the Marlins

-The Nationals might be the worst defensive team I've ever seen. An outfield of Josh Willingham, Austin Kearns and Adam Dunn? All at the same time? Yikes.

-Dave Duncan is unbelievable. Look at the reclamation projects on that Cardinals roster right now. Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, Ryan Franklin. Are you kidding me?

-Ryan Franklin's goatee is headed toward Jeff Bagwell land

-The Astros stink. Sell, Ed Wade, you're not in it. No need to acquire Randy Wolf this year.

-What in the world is going on with the Pirates? Trading away Nate McLouth for minor leaguers, still several years away from free agency. How can the management of that team tell its fans they're trying to win with a straight face. Terrible.

-Imagine Milwaukee if they had Ben Sheets or C.C. Sabathia.

-Aaron Harang apparently threw 15 pitches every 15 minutes during a recent rain delay so that he could go back into the game (which was in the fifth with the Reds winning) and get a win. Either a move to be applauded because of his desire to win, or condemmed for being so selfish.

-The Cubs have too many hitters that can't field.

-Orlando Hudson is a great player. Always been great in the field, he's getting it done with the stick now too.

-Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, Cory Wade. All starting (or continuing) to grow into stellar Major Leaguers. All 27 or younger.

-The Diamondbacks are a disaster. A.J. Hinch appears to be in over his head. Must be especially tough on a gamer like bench coach Kirk Gibson. Sell Jon Garland and any other tradable assett you have while you can.

-By all accounts, Clint Hurdle is a good man, but as a manager, he really only had a few good weeks. Granted, those weeks saw the Rockies go 22-1 on their way to the World Series, but four great weeks do not outweigh seven and a half mediocre years.

-The more I see, the more I think the 2007 Rockies were just one big, colossal fluke. Garrett Atkins and Troy Tulowitzki are struggling mightily, and the pitching staff is putting up pre-humidor like numbers.

-Congrats to Randy Johnson on reaching 300 wins. Probably the last for awhile, but not the last ever. Johnson is the most menacing, most dominating lefthanded pitcher that I've seen, and it's not really that close.