Major League Monday

Can some explain the Oakland A's to me? Year after year we see the same thing. Mediocre or worse baseball through May and then a June explosion. The term "June Swoon" has often been heard for teams for the Chicago Cubs, but a new phrase has to be coined for the A's. The A's had compiled a very mediocre 24-29 mark through May 31st of this season. Since then they have gone 14-2 and are in the midst of a 10 game winning streak. They are now 38-31 overall and in first place, 1/2 game ahead of the Texas Rangers.

So much for the young pitching studs in baseball. 41-year old Kenny Rogers and 40-year old Tommy Glavine have become the first 10 game winners in the American and National Leagues. Rogers is 10-3 overall with a 3.17 ERA. That's practically miniscule in the hitter heavy AL. The league is hitting just .236 against him as he leads the resurgent Detroit Tigers. Rogers last victory was also the 200th of his career.

Glavine has struggled a bit of late, but has been the most consistent Mets pitcher all year. Glavine's 10-2, 3.48 mark will have him headed towards the All-Star game. The NL is hitting just .247 against him. With 285 career wins he has a good shot at winning his 300th next season.

Several rookies are enjoying outstanding seasons including two hard throwing AL'ers. Francisco Liriano was supposed to spend the season in the bullpen for the Minnesota Twins. The plan was to bring him along slowly as they had done with Johann Santana. But outside of Santana the entire rotation was struggling and the Twins weren't winning. Time to go to Plan 'B'. Liriano joined the rotation on May 19 and has produced staggering numbers as his innings pitched have increased. He's 6-1 in his 7 starts, allowing just 20 hits in 36 innings pitched. He's walked 13, struck out 35, and has allowed just 1 home run while compiling a 1.50 ERA. For the season Liriano 6-1, 2.16 and one save. If the Twins can get some more bats and a solid #3 next season (or Brad Radke turns it around), the AL Central better look out.

Justin Verlander came to the Detroit Tigers this season with high expectations and he has exceeded most expectations. His fastball has read triple digits on the radar gun and he's struck out 53 in 89-plus innings. Verlander has gone at least 5 innings in all but one of his 14 starts and has compiled an 8-4 mark with a 3.21 ERA. Over a three start stretch in May he put 20 consecutive scoreless innings, walked just 2 and struck out 12. He'll have to continue to dominate if Detroit is to be in the Central Division and wild card races in September.

Roger Clemens will make his 2006 Major League debut on Thursday as the Astros host the Minnesota Twins. He'll be opposed by the aforementioned Liriano.

Former Yankee closer John Wetteland was fired last week as bullpen coach of the Washington Nationals. Manager Frank Robinson had warned Wetteland to cut down the hijinx and concentrate more on pitching. When Wetteland didn't comply he was shown the door.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer hit .386 in May and is hitting a scorching .441 for June. He raised his average from April 30 from .319 to .380. Mauer has also treated pitchers equally, hitting .373 against left-handers and .383 against righties. The Reds Ernie Lombardi ('42) was the last catcher to win a batting title. No AL catcher has ever won it.

Update 5:00

Veterans J.T. Snow and Tony Batista have been designated for assignment by the Red Sox and Twins respectively.