Dykstra: Take Aim Again on Amgen

Los Angeles should be proud, as it boasts the NL West leader, in the Dodgers, as well as the AL West leader, via Anaheim, in the Angels.

The NL East continues to be a battle between the Braves and the Mets for the top spot, with each of them playing extremely well. The Red Sox, who are an impressive 14-6 on the road, have a comfortable eight-game lead in the AL East, after putting together an unlikely six-run ninth inning yesterday to claim victory over the Orioles.

There is no other team above .500 in the AL East. The red-hot Detroit Tigers have surged to the head of the pack in the AL Central, but the Indians, despite a mediocre last 10 games, remain right on their heels.

Meanwhile, the story of the young baseball season, from a team standpoint, is the perennial losers, the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers have not tasted the postseason since 1982, when they lost to the Cardinals in the World Series (the Brewers were members of the AL at that point). The only franchise with a longer history of postseason futility is the Montreal Expos-Washington Nationals.

Nonetheless, the young Brewers are clicking on all cylinders thus far. Four of their starting position players were drafted by Milwaukee. Moreover, their roster includes two youngsters with major league pedigrees, Prince Fielder, son of Cecil Fielder, and Tony Gwynn Jr., son of the Hall of Famer. Another youngster, Francisco Cordero, has emerged as a lights-out closer, accumulating 15 saves already this season.