Outside the Bronx: June 1, 2012

Outside the Bronx is a weekly bullet-point style notebook covering each MLB team outside of Yankee Stadium. Each team’s record is in parenthesis and all stats are prior to today’s games.

AL East

Baltimore Orioles (29-22) – Losers of five straight go to battle for first place with Rays.

Boston Red Sox (26-25) – Kevin Youkilis on the block?

Tampa Bay Rays (29-22-) – Tough stretch ahead, welcome Orioles to town, then on to face Yankees.

Toronto Blue Jays (27-24) – Adam Lind out-righted from 40-man roster.

AL Central

Chicago White Sox (29-22) – Hottest team in baseball takes over 1st place.

Cleveland Indians (27-23) – Once again, Travis Hafner heads to DL, sixth time in five seasons.

Detroit Tigers (24-27) – The Duncan Yo-Yo of the AL Central.

Kansas City Royals (21-28) – Finished May, 15-13, playing more like expected since disastrous losing streak.

Minnesota Twins (18-32) – Have 5 of top 72 picks, including #2 pick, in First-Year Player Draft.

AL West

Los Angeles Angels (26-26) – Winners in 8 out of last 10, two games out of wild card spot.

Oakland A’s (22-29) – Have lost 8 straight since being one game over .500 mark.

Seattle Mariners (23-30) – Put up 21 runs on Rangers Thursday night.

Texas Rangers (31-20) – Sign Roy Oswalt to one-year/$5 million deal with $1 million in possible incentives.

NL East

Atlanta Braves (28-24) – Andrelton Simmons takes over at shortstop.

Miami Marlins (29-22) – Giancarlo Stanton‘s monster May (.343, 12 HR & 30 RBI) carries Marlins to 21-8 month.

New York Mets (28-23) – Welcome back Carlos Beltran as World Champions visit Citi Field.

Philadelphia Phillies (27-25) – Ryan Howard may not be back until after All-Star break.

Washington Nationals (29-21) – Sweep at hands of Marlins sours NL East road trip that started with 5 wins in 6 games.

NL Central

Chicago Cubs (18-32) – Everyone but Starlin Castro and Jeff Samardzija reportedly on the block.

Cincinnati Reds (28-22) – Take 1.5 game lead over Cardinals; Mat Latos and Homer Bailey combined 6-1 in May.

Houston Astros (22-29) – Chatter ensues about where Wandy Rodriguez is most wanted.

Milwaukee Brewers (23-28) – John Axford records saves three straight nights, now sports 3.26 ERA.

Pittsburgh Pirates (25-25) – Won 5 of last 6 and now only three back of Reds. Give the Bucs some love!

St. Louis Cardinals (27-24) – Injuries continue to mount; Jaime Garcia to miss start, Skip Schumaker to DL, but Allen Craig activated.

NL West

Arizona Diamondbacks (23-28) – Jason Kubel looking for power stroke, only one homer in May.

Colorado Rockies (21-29) – Carlos Gonzalez homers in four straight at-bats (over two games).

Los Angeles Dodgers (32-19) – Losers of four straight games and worse, Matt Kemp heads back to DL one game into return.

San Diego Padres (17-35) – Own 6 of the top 70 picks in First-Year Player Draft, including #7.

San Francisco Giants (27-24) – Will try to gain ground with next seven games against the Cubs (4) and Padres (3).

Follow the team links to visit the associated FanSided team site.