Lots of offensive production makes for close race in AL East

Break out the bats, it’s the AL East! Except for the NL Central where the Cardinals have begun to move from the pack, the rest of the divisions in MLB are up for grabs with no reason to believe that is going to change for much of this season.

That’s good for fans who want meaningful games to follow, but bad for fans more concerned with their own teams, including those fans of the Red Sox.

The top five teams in the AL in both batting average and runs so far are the five teams in the East. Yes, even Tampa Bay makes that cut.

In order of runs scored, it’s the Yankees, Boston, Baltimore Tampa and Toronto. Who would have thought that at the start of the season?

Baltimore is the only one of those teams to convert those runs into an impressive win number, so that means we go to pitching.

That’s where Baltimore and Toronto have found some balance. The Orioles are sixth in the AL and the Jays seventh in team ERA. While it is not surprising that Tampa is 13th in that department in the league, the surprises are the Sox and Yankees.

New York has a load of problems with its starters, including Randy Johnson who is struggling to get to .500, but how about the Sox.

Boston took the chance on letting Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez go; they hoped they had enough to overcome those innings and wins that were lost. As of this moment, they do not.

Boston is 12th in ERA, having surrendered the 11th most hits of any staff in the league. That is more than troublesome, except for a couple of beliefs.

One is that Baltimore will not hold on. They are a good team, but have they learned how to win the big games? We are going to find out.

The Orioles have lived on the extra base hits. There is nothing wrong with that.

They are first in homers, second in doubles and fourth in triples. Brian Roberts is the biggest surprise in baseball with a league leading average, fourth in runs, and in the top 10 in homers.

MVP candidate Miguel Tejada is in the top 10 in the triple crown categories and he will be steady. Melvin Mora is playing over his head, but maybe this is that kind of year.

Yet, until Baltimore puts a couple more months of this kind of baseball together, they have many doubters. You have to sustain in this game. You have to finish.

That’s where both the Yankees and Sox have the advantage. You do have to learn how to win, and both those teams have done that.

There is a very good chance Roger Clemens will be back in a Yankee uniform before the year is out. The Sox may have to make just such a move of their own to keep pace.

What this all means is some pretty exciting baseball for the rest of the year in the AL East.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.