SBL Notebook, Week 4

That most egalitarian of divisions, the National, welcomed yet another new face at the top of its leaderboard, making it four different NL No. 1s in four weeks. Week 1 was the Whiteskins’ moment in the sun, to be followed by DamianUnited (Week 2 numero uno), the Derelicts (Week 3 head honchos) and, this week, the Inmates, sharing the catbird seat with the Double-Ds, but listed first because they had a better week (5-1 to Derek’s 4-2). This actually is the Mental Defectives’ second appearance in first place; they shared it with DamU in Week 2, with Damian listed first because of his superior 6-1 performance that week. The ’Mates’ owner has lamented the slow starts by a couple of key early draft picks, Carlos Gonzalez and Shin-Soo Choo, but the team has hummed along anyway, yet to put up a losing week -- thanks in part to a spectacular start by Matt Kemp, solid work by a semi-anonymous rotation (Michael Pineda? Tim Stauffer?) and a productive bullpen, always an Inmates staple. The only NL teams that haven’t sniffed the heady air of first place are the Godfathers and the Cherry Valley Bombers -- and the G-Daddies have been close, within one game of the top a week ago and three back now. If their injury luck ever turns around, they just might earn their own turn at the top. This week, though, they lost another key player, 2B Aaron Hill, who joined first- and second-round picks Evan Longoria and Josh Hamilton on the DL. . . . Meanwhile, what happened to the Whiteskins? After a scorching 6-0 start, they’ve gone 1-18 to plummet into a last-place tie with the Bombers. . . . The top of the American division treaded water, with the Bammers (now 21-3) and the Badgers (18-7) each going 4-2 to remain the top two teams in ball. There was a rumbling among the AL also-rans, though, as Paulo’s Zero’s rose up to go 6-0 and get their noses above .500 (at 13-12) for the first time this season. Their end-of-first-round double picks, Jose Bautista and Ryan Braun, propelled the Z’s to league highs in runs (40), HRs (13) and OBP (.377), in what was otherwise another tepid hitting weak. Meanwhile, the bottom three in the stratified division have dropped almost out of sight, already 12, 16 and 17 games, respectively, behind the Bammers. Is it possible to be out of a baseball divisional race after only four weeks? Maybe not, technically, but hope is hard to come by just now for the AL’s poor and huddled masses.