The Week That Was
Cubs On Rebound?
Cubs starter Kerry Wood pitched a shutout Tuesday night, and people still remember (naturally) when he struck out 20 vs. the Astros in 1998. But Wood has yet to pitch a full year in the major leagues. He either has been hurt or rehabilitating an injury. In his most recent starts before the shutout, he struggled with his mechanics and control. Wood is a magnificent talent, and he has one of the best pitching coaches in baseball, Larry Rothschild, to guide him.

	Wood

The Cubs have solid pitching, led by Wood and Jon Lieber, and the staff will be better when Kyle Farnsworth and Tom Gordon return from injury. The Cubs' problem so far has not been pitching but rather a dearth of offense. Hitting conditions in Chicago are the toughest in the first month-plus of the season because of the wind coming in off Lake Michigan. But as the weather gets warmer the wind shifts and favors hitters.

The Cubs need outfielder Moises Alou (.164) and first baseman Fred McGriff (.207) to start hitting. But perhaps a bigger concern has been the defense of McGriff. We know from watching good defensive first basemen -- such as John Olerud and J.T. Snow -- that a great first baseman can make a team appear better defensively than it really is. A first baseman struggling with the glove, though, can have the reverse effect. Errors don't tell the story with McGriff. He lacks range, and on throws in the dirt (even if they're playable) the first baseman doesn't get charged with an error.

After Sosa (.348-14-22), Corey Patterson (.325) has been Chicago's best offensive player. You'd expect that second-best slot to be filled by McGriff or Alou. Catcher Todd Hundley (.128) has also been slumping and is now on the disabled list.

Road Warriors
The four teams with the best road records are the Boston Red Sox (15-2), Seattle Mariners (14-2), Los Angeles Dodgers (12-5) and Arizona Diamondbacks (10-6). They are a combined 51-15 on the road (36 games over .500). The other 26 teams in MLB are 73 games under .500 on the road.

The Mariners are only 9-8 at home. Safeco Field continues to be one of the toughest places to hit. The M's are hitting .324 on the road and just .238 at home.

In the case of Mike Cameron, the home-road disparity is astounding. In 2001, here are Cameron's stats on the road: .310 average, 18 HRs, 74 RBI (281 at-bats). Compare that to Cameron's 2001 stats at home: .220 , seven HRs, 36 RBI (259 at-bats). So far this year the trend persists: Cameron on the road (.286, eight HRs, 15 RBI, 63 at-bats) vs. at home (.212, one HR, three RBI, 52 at-bats).

It's Early, But ...
Even though there has been lots of interdivision games in the first five-plus weeks, the aggregate record of NL West teams is 20 games above .500. The NL West has more teams above .500 (four) than any other division. In order of the standings, they are: the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

The NL Central has the worst collective record, at 22 games below. 500. Speaking of the NL Central, it's no surprise that the Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs are one game apart in the standings. But the big surprise is that the three clubs are a combined 13 games under .500 and still looking up at the Cincinnati Reds and Pittsburgh Pirates.

More Than A Pitching Coach

	Nomo

The Dodgers staff leads the majors in ERA (2.93), which is a testament to the fine work of pitching coach Jim Colborn. But Colborn's contributions go beyond the stat sheet. The former 20-game winner is fluent in Spanish and Japanese, and he had a huge influence in the Dodgers acquiring Japanese pitcher Kazuhisa Ishii (6-0, 2.95 ERA) and reacquiring Hideo Nomo (2-4, 3.09).

Colborn's Spanish-language skills help him relate to pitchers Giovanni Carrara (2-0, 1.88) and Omar Daal (3-0, 1.01).

Before becoming LA's pitching coach, Colborn was director of Pacific Rim operations for the Mariners. And it's no accident that the M's have two of the best Japanese players ever (closer Kazuhiro Sasaki and 2001 AL MVP Ichiro Suzuki) on their roster. Also, reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa is a good friend of Sasaki, which probably helped seal his decision to come to Seattle.

On The Horizon
AL: Red Sox-Mariners (three-game series in Seattle begins Friday)
One pitching development to watch in this battle of division leaders: Will Pedro Martinez start Sunday for the Sox? It would be his normal day in the rotation, but he has yet to pitch on four days' rest this season, which is the rest he'll have if he pitches in Sunday's series finale. He has had five days' rest in each of his starts this season.

Pedro threw 103 pitches in 4 1/3 innings Tuesday night vs. the A's, getting knocked out and then watching his teammates get him off the hook in the Sox comeback win. With the benefit of April's schedule, Boston manager Grady Little has been giving his ace as much of a respite as possible early on. Little is hoping Pedro can avoid the arm troubles that have plagued him the past two years.

The Red Sox are off to a 23-7 start, but their schedule has been weak. They rallied to defeat Oakland 9-7 on Tuesday night in the first game of a West Coast swing. Before that, their toughest opponent was the Yankees (the Sox won three of four at home in mid-April). Boston now faces a difficult 19-game stretch after beating up on the soft underbelly of the AL East.

Tuesday's game began Boston's 19-game challenge, featuring six games each vs. Oakland and Seattle, three vs. the Chicago White Sox and four vs. the New York Yankees. Meanwhile, Seattle (23-10) appears to have an easier upcoming schedule: besides six vs. Boston, the M's face the Toronto Blue Jays six times, followed by five each vs. the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Baltimore Orioles to close out May.

I'm not sure we'll have a definitive read on the Red Sox after these 19 games, but it'll be a good measuring stick. The Yankees went 6-6 in their recent home-and-home series with Oakland and Seattle. As for Seattle, the M's seem to have the magical formula the past two years for winning on the road, but they're still perplexed about how to solve their hitting woes at Safeco.

NL: Reds-Cardinals (three-game series in Cincinnati begins Friday)
Cincinnati (20-13) is the surprise leader of the NL Central, while St. Louis (15-19) has struggled and is in fourth place, 5½ games back. The Cards still have serious pitching issues due to injuries. St. Louis has been a terrific second-half team the past few years under manager Tony La Russa, and it's likely the Reds and Pirates will come back to the pack sometime. So the Cards need to tread water until their pitching gets healthy.

St. Louis has five pitchers on the disabled list: starters Garrett Stephenson, Woody Williams, Rick Ankiel and Andy Benes (60-day, says he'll retire), plus set-up man Steve Kline. And starter Bud Smith just came off the DL on Tuesday night, going just two innings, giving up eight earned runs and walking five with no strikeouts. But the goods news for the Cards is that, despite their pitching woes, the teams that figure to challenge them for the NL Central crown (the Astros and Cubs) have had to deal with their own problems. It would surprise me if the Reds were still in first place at the All-Star break.

Cincinnati's outfielders have been tremendous in the absence of Ken Griffey Jr., as their stats attest: Adam Dunn (.290-8-27), Juan Encarnacion (.289-9-23) and Austin Kearns (.400). To see the Reds' outfielders lead the way on offense is no surprise, but for them to excel to that extent sans Griffey is surprising. Cincinnati's bullpen has also been terrific. But the injury to starter Joey Hamilton will hurt, since the Reds don't have much depth in their rotation.

If I Were The Skipper ...
The Situation: In last Sunday night's Cubs-Dodgers game in L.A., the Cubs led 3-0 in the eighth with two outs and a runner on first. The next batter to face left-handed reliever Jeff Fassero was right-handed hitter Brian Jordan. Historically, Cubs closer Antonio Alfonseca (a right-hander) goes only one inning. Would you bring in Alfonseca to attempt a four-out save?

	Alfonseca

Campbell's Call: When Cubs manager Don Baylor was the Atlanta Braves' batting coach, he told me of his respect for Brian Jordan -- that Jordan was the guy who would drive in the clutch runs. Alfonseca was well-rested and Fassero had already gotten two outs in the eighth. If right-hander Kyle Farnsworth were healthy, he'd be the reliever for this situation, but he's on the DL.

Plus, with a losing record, Baylor doesn't have the luxury of waiting for the next game. So, since starter Matt Clement went just four innings and Farnsworth and Flash Gordon are hurt, I'd bring in Alfonseca, no question.

What Happened: Alfonseca got the call. He retired Jordan on a ground ball and then shut the door in the ninth to preserve the shutout.

Ballpark Focus: Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia
The Vet opened in 1971, and I played there in the early 1970s. The Vet was built as one of those cookie-cutter ballparks (along with Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Stadium, Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium and St. Louis' Busch Stadium). The thought process was good, in that they were intended to be multipurpose stadiums for baseball and football. But for baseball, thousands of seats are in the outfield, far from the action.

In the newer ballparks (Camden Yards, Coors Field) most of the the seats are down the lines or behind the plate, which makes it more intimate and brings fans closer to the action.

The Astroturf was tough to play on -- I was an infielder -- especially when the basepaths were all dirt. The ball would change speeds, slowing down noticeably when it went from the turf to the dirt. Later, officials made the basepaths turf as well, leaving dirt just in the cutouts around the bases for sliding. The consistent surface made it easier on the infielders.

The new turf at the Vet has been received pretty well. But the new baseball stadium, which is slated to open in 2005 or thereabouts, should be a big improvement.

Editor's Note: All statistics are through Wednesday's games. Dave Campbell, who played for eight seasons in the major leagues (1967-74), works as an analyst for Baseball Tonight and ESPN Radio.