I think the biggest surprise so far in the American League would have to be the Seattle Mariners. Seattle is currently 9-5 and are sitting in first place in the American League West. The Mariners have the 2nd best record in the entire American League at this time. Seattle is doing this with their best catcher Johjima on the disabled list right now. Also, Ichiro has played only 6 games this season as he too started off on the DL but still Seattle has managed to win.

Endy Chavez leads the team in hitting with a .370 average. Yuniesky Betancourt is second on the team hitting .326, while Mike Sweeney is batting .313 and Wladimir Balentien is at .308 on the year. Ken Griffey Jr. and Russell Branyan are tied for the home run lead on the team with 2 each. Ichiro is only hitting .240 so far in the early going.

Starting pitcher Jarrod Washburn is 3-0 with a 1.71 ERA so far this season and Erik Bedard has a nice 1.86 ERA on the year. Seattle has four pitchers still with 0.00 ERA’s including Sean White (3 innings pitched), Shawn Kelley (5 IP), David Aardsma (6.2 IP) and Ryan Rowland-Smith (3.1 IP). Erik Bedard leads the team in strikeouts (23) with Felix Hernandez right behind with 20 strikeouts on the year.

Seattle has been a big surprise so far in the early going. They are playing in a tough division though with the Angels, the Rangers and the A’s. The Angels are surprisingly at the bottom of the standings in the West at this time but should climb out soon. One can only imagine how the tragic death of Pitcher Nick Adenhart affected that team. The Rangers can really put up some runs and the A’s should be able to finish ahead of the Mariners as well. I’m looking for Seattle to climb down from the top of the totem pole and fall back into the cellar where they belong, so keep an eye out for that.

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