Recapping baseball's weird, wild and wet first month

Like several big hitters, Travis Hafner is still searching for his power stroke. AP

April was amazing.

The cool, cruel month produced a ton of surprising stars, and an equal number of shocking individual disappointments. The only thing that wasn't surprising was that many, if not most, of April's underachievers explained their failures by saying that they're traditionally a slow starter. In many cases, I'd have to respond: not this slow.

April was an especially cruel month for big sluggers and pull hitters, particularly left handed ones. Ryan Howard (.172), David Ortiz (.184), Carlos Delgado (.198), Jason Giambi (.164) and Travis Hafner (the big winner at .210) were often unable to hit through exaggerated shifts and wound up with understated batting averages.

April was a lot happier time for a bunch of young starting pitchers. Between them, Edinson Volquez, Zack Greinke, Tim Lincecum, Micah Owings, Cliff Lee, Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana won 30 games and lost one.

Indeed, April produced some very high highs and some extremely low lows. Overall, the pitchers stayed slightly ahead. The 9.06 runs per game average and 1.798 home runs per game were the lowest marks in at least five years.

While there was the usual rain in April, there was even more pain. The 132 players on the disabled list were as many as any year since 2002, when there were 133 players on the injured list.

Here are some more April highs and lows (when applicable, the numbers include very late March, as well):

Bang For the Buck: The Marlins, at an all-world low $18-million payroll, led the NL East as the month drew to a close (though fell a half game behind Philly on May 1).

More surprising views from the top: At one time, some other early division leaders included Baltimore, Washington, Oakland and Kansas City -- though, sanity returned quickly in most cases. By month's end, they were all out of first (though the A's were tied with the Angels through May 1). The Nationals and Royals plummeted all the way to last. The Gnats, as the name suggests, will prove no better than pesky.

Anonymous A's: Oakland GM Billy Beane challenged me to name their stating lineup in a recent phone conversation. (Hint it included two Jacks and, before Frank Thomas arrived, no kings). Still, nobody's playing harder and few are playing better than the A's, whose 18-12 record is tied for the best in the majors.

Best A-Rod Impersonation: Hanley Ramirez just keeps getting better. He followed a terrific 2007 (.332, 29 HR, 81 RBI, 51 SB) with eight homers and nine stolen bases in April. He's a reason to go to Dolphin Stadium if anyone's considering it.

Turnaround of the Month: Two days after whiffing five times in a game to make it eight straight whiffs over two days, the Cubs' Geovany Soto cracked two home runs and drove home six runs in a game and raised his average back to .333.

Renaissance Man: Owings. The young Diamondback was 4-0 with a 3.48 ERA as a starting pitcher, and also hit .421. And when he was employed as a pinch hitter in the sixth inning of a game on April 30, he cracked a two-run homer. This was no fluke. His .632 slugging percentage for the month is actually slightly below his career mark of .671.

Max Effort: Recent D-Backs callup Max Scherzer faced 13 batters in his Major League debut, retiring all 13 and striking out seven. The next day he was promoted to the rotation. But don't rule out the hard-throwing Scherzer becoming Arizona's closer if Brandon (Heart of a) Lyon, should falter.

Aging Quickly: There are whispers that Delgado could be nearing the end, and Mets fans, apparently still upet over last year's team collapse, aren't letting him enjoy his golden years. They boo whenever he makes an out.

Aging Even More Quickly: Miguel Tejada went from 31 to 33 in one day when his birth certificate revealed he's actually two years old than he claimed. No, not a good thing, not when the Justice Department is checking out whether he lied to Congress about taking steroids.

Switching Jobs, Part I: John Smoltz was superb as a starter (3-2, 2.00), but after having to go on the disabled list with shoulder trouble, he said he'd return as a reliever. Braves GM Frank Wren said by phone that "nothing's decided definitively,'' but that "it's a great option to have.''

Switching Jobs, Part II: Gabe Kapler (four homers, 13 RBIs) gave up a managerial career -- he was a Class-A manager in the Red Sox system last year -- to start a long-shot comeback, and he wound up doing a great job keeping center field warm for Mike Cameron.

Struggling Starters: Barry Zito went 0-6 and was sent to the bullpen, Roy Oswalt was 2-3 with a 5.75 ERA, Justin Verlander 1-4 with a 6.50 ERA and C.C. Sabathia 1-4 with a 7.88 ERA.

Surprising Power Suppliers: White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who appeared on the verge of demotion at the end of spring, was tied for the AL lead with seven home runs. Angels catcher Mike Napoli was only one behind (Napoli would tie for the top spot on May 1).

Rolling Without Rollins: The Phillies hung right there near the top of the NL East despite losing reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins for virtually the entire month. "Say what you want about Charlie Manuel, but he gets his guys to play for him,'' one scout said.

Player of the Month: Phillies second baseman Chase Utley had 11 home runs, 23 RBIs and hit .357.

Pitcher of the Month: Indians starter Cliff Lee, who was vying for the No. 5 job in spring, was 5-0 with 0.96 ERA. Which makes the deal that sent Bartolo Colon to Montreal for Lee, Brandon Philips and Grady Sizemore even better today. The last pitcher to win his first five starts with an ERA under 1.00 was Pedro Martinez in 1997.

Mania Man: Japanese import Kosuke Fukudome had a .436 on-base percentage and started a craze in Cub land.

Underrated Superstar: Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks went 6-0 with a 1.98 ERA. He's now 18-2 in April/March in his career, and he's not so bad in the other months, either.

Best Leading Man: How about Nate McLouth, who had seven homers and hit .342 for the Pirates. My colleague John Donovan may be the only one who noticed.

Money For Nothing Award: Word is that Rusty Hardin and his workers have racked up $3 million in legal fees to defend Roger Clemens, who would have been better off doing the opposite of what he's done so far.

Best Trade So Far: Josh Hamilton had an AL-leading 32 RBIs for Texas while Volquez, the pitcher the Reds got for Hamilton, was 4-0 with a 1.23 ERA.

Second Best Trade: The six-for-two swap that moved Dan Haren (4-1, 3.13) to Arizona for several talents is a move both teams would gladly make again. Dana Eveland and Greg Smith are already in Oakland's rotation, and center fielder Carlos Gonzalez looks ready in Triple-A.