April was what it always is, marvelously unpredictable, which is the ultimate beauty of baseball. It was a month in which Rey Ordonez had five times as many RBI as Lance Berkman. There was Alfonso Soriano with 16 multi-hit games and all the Tiger players only 25 combined. This April was especially mercurial.

April gave us the Royals, 100-game losers in 2002, but the leaders of the American League Central by 4½ games this year. Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks, a favorite to win the National League West, were eight games out. It's too early to count Kansas City in, or Arizona out, but this April supports the point that continues to be made in today's game: It is more common than ever to get good in a hurry, and to get bad in a hurry. There is no time to rebuild today, and, in this era of free agency, there is no time to sit pat.

	Rocco Baldelli's numbers simply don't equal Hideki Matsui's.

April gave us the Yankees, who went 21-6 despite getting one at-bat from Derek Jeter and one inning from Mariano Rivera, their two most indispensable players. They dominated with starting pitching and with an offense that out-homered its opponents, 49-14. The Yankees have shown that they can play through any injury or distraction, that Hideki Matsui is a very good all-around hitter and that Mike Mussina might be better than ever.

April gave us a bunch of bad bullpens, which can be justified in part by the number of injured closers. Of all aspects of a team, it takes a bullpen the longest to bond given the need to establish roles, etc., usually making April a rough month for bullpens. Still, there were 16 games in which a team has lost a game that it led entering the bottom of the ninth.

Included were four games in which a team allowed five runs in the last of the ninth. One such game was lost by the Red Sox, whose closer-by-committee plan has not worked.

April gave us marvelous rookies. Tampa Bay center fielder Rocco Baldelli hit .364; he beat out two ground balls to second base in one game. April gave us Royals closer Mike MacDougal, who saved 10 games, and threw 100 mph routinely. April gave us Matsui, Astros reliever Brad Lidge (95 mph), Cubs first baseman Hee Seop Choi (his swing looks like John Olerud's), Giants pitcher Kurt Ainsworth (3-1) and several others with bright futures.

April gave us many injuries, proving again that there are three leagues today: AL, NL and the DL. Jeter, Rivera, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Larkin, A.J. Burnett, Robb Nen, Trevor Hoffman, Phil Nevin, Jason Isringhausen, Kaz Sasaki, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Eric Milton, Jermaine Dye and Brian Giles are some of the big-time players who were injured for some or all of April. Before anyone suggests that baseball players are soft and won't play hurt, consider that this is the ultimate skill sport; it's golf with athleticism and serious danger involved. If you can't run, you can't play. If you can't throw, you can't play. If you can't swing a bat, you can't play. Major League Baseball plays seven days a week.

April gave us the poor Tigers, who were so bad (3-21) in April, there should be a rule about no piling on the rest of the year. In an 11-3 loss April 29 to the Orioles, eight of the 13 players used by the Tigers had less than 1½ years of experience. It showed. The Tigers bumbled their way through nine innings, prompting a former player with 15 years major-league experience to say, "That's the worst game I have ever seen a major-league team play.''

April gave us great milestones, and laid the path for several more to come. Sammy Sosa became the 18th member of the 500 home-run club. Alex Rodriguez became the youngest player to hit his 300th; later this season, he will have hit more home runs than any shortstop in history by age 28. Kevin Millwood pitched the first no-hitter of the season.

So, as we wonder if Esteban Loaiza will make it 6-0 in his next start, and whether Shawn Chacon and Damian Moss will go to 5-0, whether Rey Ordonez will continue to have more RBI than Barry Bonds, we thank April for being so unpredictable and entertaining. We can only hope that May will be just as good.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine and a regular contributor to Baseball Tonight. E-mail tim.kurkjian@espnmag.com.