By Richard Schortemeyer III

What I love about MLB is the great new stories that occur each week. There’s the Indians SP Cliff Lee, after an extremely rough 2007 that included a stint in the minors, who outdueled the Yankees top pitcher Chien-Ming Wang to go 6-0 and lower his ridiculous ERA to 0.81.

How about Cincinnati’s second-year 1B Joey Votto, who had never hit more than one HR in a game, cracking three of them over the fence against the Cubs. Now, he is tied for the team lead in that category.

But I think the LA Dodgers’ Blake DeWitt takes the cake this week. A player who wasn’t even invited to Major League spring training and wasn’t even on the 40-man roster until early on Opening Day, he hit two HRs and drove in five runs in the team’s three-game series against the Mets. Big props go out to Blake, who has worked his way past countless people to become LA’s new everyday 3B.

In this week’s episode of “On the Record,” we’ll talk about yet another former reliever developing into a quality starter, an outfield trio who has helped their squad become the most surprising of division leaders, and why a team is not really missing a member of the 50-HR club … one of the best centerfielders in league history.

Question #1

Have the Oakland A’s found their version of Adam Wainwright?

After years of being a quality setup man for Oakland, Justin Duchscherer is back to his grassroots as a starting pitcher, and he’s fully taking advantage of the second coming. After struggling in five starts in his first two seasons, Oakland decided he was better suited for the bullpen. Duchscherer accepted the role and became one of the best setup pitchers in the game, which showed more validity after being named to the 2005 AL All-Star team.

Manager Bob Geren, after Duchscherer has suffered some injuries over his career — including missing most of the last season due to hip surgery, asked him if he felt like his body would hold up better as a starter, and Duchscherer very happily said yes.

The experiment has been, so far, so good, as he’s posted an ERA under 2.50 and held batters to a BA under .250, helping Oakland statistically become the best pitching staff in baseball. What’s really impressive is that they are in a dogfight with the Angels and doing it without their ace Rich Harden.

Oakland wasn’t predicted to be in this position, but with a solid collaborative effort from many quality young guys, including, basically, their whole pitching staff, this team has the potential to be this year’s version of the Arizona Diamondbacks. At the same time, don’t be surprised to see Mr. Duchscherer post double-digit wins this season.

Question #2

How impressive has the new outfield trio in St. Louis been in 2008?

I guess they haven’t been impressive enough because most of them are still Free Agents in each of my four leagues. Taking a look at the St. Louis Cardinals’ 2008 Opening Day lineup, without solid veterans like David Eckstein, Jim Edmonds, and Scott Rolen, many thought that they had the makings of a fourth place team. However, along with solid pitching performances from a trio of former relievers, there’s a trio in the outfield that has surprisingly led the Cardinals to the top of the NL Central.

The most publicized out of this trio is Rick Ankiel. Wow! What a story! It started out promising with a second place finish in the 2000 NL Rookie of the Year voting, after going 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA. Then, a mixture of an elbow injury and sudden plate inaccuracy seemed to have ended a career before it truly began. However, the determination to stay in baseball showed, and Ankiel reinvented himself as an outfielder. Ankiel emerged in 2007’s second half, hitting 11 HRs and batting .285 in 47 games. So far, he has proven that last year wasn’t a fluke, batting close to .280.

Even more impressive has been Ryan Ludwick, who, after years of riding the bench, now spends a majority of his time in the starting lineup in St. Louis. In the cleanup role, he has been solid so far, with double digit doubles, RBIs, and BBs, while batting over .350. This past week has seen his average go up nearly 60 points! When you have one of the best hitters on the planet batting ahead of you (Albert Pujols), you find yourself in one of the better spots a hitter can be, so I would advise you to somehow find a spot in your lineup.

Then, there’s Skip Schumaker, the team’s new leadoff hitter. He may not be Eckstein, but Schumaker looks like he’ll be good enough to be a factor in St. Louis’ lineup. He has shown the most necessary qualities of being a leadoff hitter: getting on base (over .300 BA, has more BBs than Ks) and making a difference when he is on base (a few SBs and he leads the team with nearly 30 runs).

What a job manager Tony LaRussa has done with this young core! Lack of experience could catch up with them, but like I said, with what Arizona did last season and the experience of their manager, it’s possible that you could see St. Louis amongst the division leaders long after the All-Star Break.

Question #3

How much are the Atlanta Braves missing Andruw Jones?

Looking at it so far, not that much, as Mr. Jones has arguably been the league’s biggest disappointment in 2008. It really started in his contract year last season. Usually, this is the year where players step up their game in order to get some ‘major green’ in the offseason.

However, for some odd reason, this multiple time All-Star became an exception to the theory. Yeah, when you look at the HR (26) and RBI (94) numbers, you go “O.K.”, not bad. Then, you go further and see his Ks (138) and BA (.222, worst since 1997) and go YUCK!

He still got some of that ‘major green’ to become the Dodgers’ new CF (two years, $36 million), but he has continued to struggle - and it’s even worse than last season. Below double digits in RBIs and close to 40 Ks while batting under .200 has quickly landed him on LA’s “Most Wanted” list. And, if he stays like this, with the solid play of Juan Pierre and Matt Kemp, don’t be surprised if manager Joe Torre makes a major shakeup in the outfield.

Check back next week to see who’s “On the Record.”

Until next time, Adios all.