Two years ago, they were forced into dealing the game's best left-handed pitcher.

A year ago, they had to deal arguably the game's best outfielder.

Center stage

Johnny Damon has started slow before. He just hasn't started slow for a team with World Series aspirations, and that's only magnified his poor month of April. Obtained from the Kansas City Royals in a three-way winter blockbluster, Damon entered Wednesday's action hitting .211 with an on-base percentage of .265. That's not what was expected from Damon, who was supposed to be the final piece of the A's puzzle. He would give them a standout glove in left -- a huge upgrade over statue-like Ben Grieve, to be sure -- and a dimension they had lacked on the basepaths. But it's as if Damon has been running in quicksand -- and the A's are sinking with him. Last year, Damon was 0-for-17 with the Royals before coming to life in May and June and exploding with a terrific second half. Of course, the Royals begin slowly every year and since no one expected them to accomplish much, Damon wasn't highlighed as he tried to get out of first gear. It's different this year. Damon has been demoralized by his first month, to the point where speculation began last week that if he and his new team didn't turn it around soon, he could find himself being traded by the July 31 deadline. Damon's sluggish start was made even bigger over the weekend when he made a critical error in left, handing a game to the Yankees. "It's how things have been going," he said. "Something happens every night." And little of it seems to be good.

Last December, they couldn't retain perhaps the game's best overall position player.

But it hasn't mattered to the Seattle Mariners. After making their second playoff appearance since 1995 last October, the M's are off to the quickest start in franchise history, having enjoyed the finest April by any team, anywhere.

Is this some kind of weird addition by substraction going on in the Pacific Northwest?

"I'm not surprised at all," said former shortstop Alex Rodriguez, now with the Texas Rangers. "I've said before they have a great team, with good pitching and a great bullpen and some really good hitters."

A-Rod makes it sound simple. But in reality, the loss of three superstars over three seasons may have strengthened the Mariners' resolve and reinforced the concept of "team."

"We have a lot of guys with the same mentality about baseball and about life," said Mark McLemore. "No one feels he's any better than the next person. Some places, some guys think because they put up better numbers, they're a bigger man. We don't have that."

What they have is a tough five-man rotation which keeps them in most games, a defense that makes the necessary plays and a bullpen which shortens most games.

And what a bullpen. Anchored by second-year sensation Kazuhiro Sasaki, who set a record with 13 April saves, the M's have depth, balance and power. Manager Lou Piniella can go to Jeff Nelson and Jose Paniagua from the right side, or Norm Charlton and Arthur Rhodes from the left, with rookie Ryan Franklin in the long- and middle-relief role.

"The way the game is today," said Piniella, "you need a lot of power arms in relief, guys who can get you through the seventh and eighth innings. We have those guys."

This year has seen the Mariners continue the evolution that began when the team moved from the Kingdome to Safeco Field. After setting a major league home run mark in the Kingdome -- and missing out on the playoffs, not incidentally -- the M's went through a transformation as they moved into the more spacious Safeco.

Safeco emphasizes good pitching, quality defense and timely hitting, of which the Mariners have plenty. Entering their showdown series with Boston Tuesday, the Mariners had the second-lowest ERA in the league and had committed just 12 errors in the field, the lowest total in the league.

At the plate, they were hitting a clutch .324 with men on base and .300 with runners in scoring position. More than 41 percent of their runs came with two outs.

Ageless Edgar Martinez and John Olerud comprise the middle of the lineup, but the undeniable sparkplug has been Japanese sensation Ichiro Suzuki.

In some senses, Ichiro has come to represent the new-look Mariners in one package. He's Japanese, as is their ownership. His game is built around speed and defense, marking the departure from the era when the Mariners used to try to outslug their opponents into submission.

Already, some scouts have said Ichiro is the fastest player in the league from home to first and owner of the league's strongest arm.

He hasn't replaced A-Rod's power, but he's given the offense a different dimension and upgraded their outfield defense. Moreover, his speed at the top of the batting order puts pressure on the opponent, something A-Rod, for all his athleticism and base-stealing ability, never did.

"They're a very sound team," noted one AL scout. "They do a lot of the little things. They're fun to watch."

"We're simply playing the game the way it's supposed to be played," said lefty Jamie Moyer.

Without, it would seem, missing the departed superstars one bit.

From the scout's seat
The owners of the five best curveballs in the big leagues, according to one veteran advance scout:

1. Pedro Martinez. "It has a great, late break to it and because of the rest of his stuff, just locks hitters up."

2. Darryl Kile. "He's got a hard-power curve that's very tough."

3. David Wells. "He locates it to both sides of the plate and can throw it any time."

4. Mike Mussina. "He actually throws a knuckle-curve, and it's a nasty out-pitch for him when he's locating it well."

5. Kerry Wood. "It can be awesome when he's got command of it, but he's been inconsistent with it since the elbow injury."

Up and down
Up: Geoff Jenkins
The Milwaukee outfielder made some adjustments at the plate and saw some immediate results. For the last week, Jenkins has hit a blistering .609 (14-for-23) with five homers and 14 RBI. Those five homers came in a two-day span and tied a NL record.

"I don't know how to explain it," said Jenkins of his binge at the plate. "You just stay aggressive, you work hard in the cage and you keep getting better."

Teammate Richie Sexson, no stranger himself to home run spurts, said Jenkins was "as hot right now as anybody I ever played with. It's unbelievable."

The List

Five biggest surprise teams -- good and bad -- in baseball's first month. 1. Minnesota Twins. Sure, they look improved in spring training. But this good? No way. 2. Oakland A's. If someone had said they would be 12 games up in May, that would have been a little surprising. Twelve games out? No one saw that coming. 3. Chicago White Sox. The additions of David Wells, Royce Clayton and Sandy Alomar were supposed to lift the team to the next postseason level. Now, they'd settle for a sniff of .500. 4. Toronto Blue Jays. We knew they'd hit. But they've pitched far better than anyone anticipated. 5. Chicago Cubs. No one is sure how long it will last. But it's been fun on the North Side so far.

"I'm just getting good pitches and putting good swings on them," Jenkins said. "I don't know how to explain it."

About the only thing that could cool Jenkins off is an injury. He suffered a mild shoulder sprain after an outfield collision Tuesday night and will be sidelined for a few days.

Down: Pittsburgh Pirates
Everyone knew the Pirates were in for a rough start when they lost 60 percent of their starting rotation to injuries in spring training. Without Kris Benson, Jason Schmidt and Francisco Cordova, surely the Pirates would have a tough April.

And they did. But not because of their pitching.

"The pitchers have kept us in the game, for the most part," observed catcher Jason Kendall.

But the offense has been another story. The Bucs are last in batting average and second-to-last in runs scored. Free acquisition Derek Bell needed 20 games to record his first extra-base hit, and others, including lineup mainstays Brian Giles and Kevin Young have struggled.

"It's been a frustrating month," admitted John Vander Wal, "because our pitching has been very good and our hitting has been very bad."

The only blessing for the Pirates is that no one has caught fire in the NL Central, where the division-leading Cubs and Reds are just five games over .500.

Question of the week
The Cleveland Indians didn't re-sign Manny Ramirez, instead they inked Juan Gonzalez to a one-year deal. Which player has been more valuable a month into the season?

That's too close to call.

Ramirez had a monster April, setting a Red Sox club record with nine homers and 31 RBI, while hitting .410. Though he's been limited by a sore hamstring to DH duty, he's been every bit the run producer the Red Sox expected and, with the prolonged absence of shortstop Nomar Garciaparra from the lineup, needed.

But Gonzalez has been nearly his statistical equal in Cleveland. So far, Gonzalez has knocked in 29 runs, hit nine homers and is hitting .385.

His slugging percentage is .771, better than Ramirez's .735.

The Red Sox have the security of knowing that they've locked Ramirez in for eight years -- with options for two more -- while the Indians got the former two-time MVP for just this season.

That's OK with the Indians, who are in a win-now mode. Through the first month, their tradeoff, seen in the short-term, looks like a pretty even swap.

Now, a decade later, everyone, MLB included, is wondering if it was such a good idea.

In Tampa Bay, the Devil Rays are a mess. Limited partners successfully ousted managing partner Vince Naimoli, moving him out of the spotlight, with whispers that the team is for sale. On the field, the D-Rays continue to stumble. They became the first team to fire their manager, Larry Rothschild, after starting the season 4-10.

Under new manager Hal McRae, they've since gone 4-9 in their last 13 games. Some difference.

GM Chuck LaMar has been given the clearance to start the sell-off, but who will take aging and overpriced former stars like Vinny Castilla and Fred McGriff off their hands. And there's no market for damaged goods like Wilson Alvarez or Juan Guzman, either.

Attendance and interest is down in just the fourth year of the franchise.

The future looks a little brighter in south Florida, where the Marlins have at least re-stocked their system with good young players -- many of them pitchers -- after dismantling the 1997 championship team.

But a bid to build a new ballpark in downtown Miami has stalled in the Florida legislature, leading commissioner Bud Selig to use his bully pulpit to try to jawbone politicians into giving owner John Henry more aid -- or else.

Or else what? Selig hinted that the Marlins may have to move if a new home can't be built.

Maybe that wouldn't be the worst thing. In fact, the state that has made the 2-for-1 early-bird special famous, may want to auction off both the Marlins and Rays -- and once again limit baseball in Florida to the months of February and March.

Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal writes a major-league notebook each week during the baseball season for ESPN.com.