Tampa Bay turnaround highlights 'crazy' first half

Especially for a club that's never won more than 70 games in its 10-season history.

"When we were losing, everybody wanted to knock us. Now they want to beat us," reliever J.P. Howell said. "I always thought we were going to be in the mix, but I was shocked that we're doing this."

Tampa Bay isn't the only surprise, though. The Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Florida Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals are all playing far better than predicted.

"This game, the satisfaction comes after the six-month test," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "It won't be satisfying to have three good months and then stumble. I want to make sure we're concentrating on what we've got to do, not what we've done."

Meanwhile, the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and New York Mets - with the three highest opening-day payrolls in baseball - have sputtered around .500. Colorado, last year's NL champ, isn't even close.

"Crazy year," Giants general manager Brian Sabean said, referring to the wide-open NL West.

The Mets, after weeks of speculation, finally fired manager Willie Randolph in the early morning of June 17 and replaced him with Jerry Manuel.

Two other teams followed suit within three days. The disappointing Seattle Mariners dumped John McLaren for Jim Riggleman, and Toronto supplanted John Gibbons with old favorite Cito Gaston.

On the field, the AL dominated interleague play again, while scoring dropped to its lowest level in 16 years.

Just a few months after the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball implicated dozens of former All-Stars, teams averaged 4.54 runs per game through July 7. That's the lowest mark on that date since it was 4.16 in 1992, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

In May, players and owners approved tougher drug-testing rules.

"We're still trying to get through this cloud of performance-enhancing drugs," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "Hopefully, we'll get that cleaned up and get back to playing baseball. But I think baseball is alive and well and moving forward."

Scioscia's team accomplished a rare feat on June 28. Starting pitcher Jered Weaver (six innings) and reliever Jose Arredondo (two innings) combined to hold the Los Angeles Dodgers hitless in a 1-0 defeat.

It didn't count as a no-hitter - just a frustrating loss.

All season long, players and managers around the big leagues have been exasperated by a rash of missed home run calls. So baseball wants to adopt instant replay by August for home run disputes in hopes of fine-tuning the system in time for the playoffs.

The umpires' union and MLB must reach an agreement before replay can be tried. The sides have started discussions.

"We talked about it for like a month and then bam - implement it," Hunter said. "That's unbelievable how quick they came around. I was very shocked that that was going to happen. I'm thinking it was going to happen 5-10 years from now. So that's how much the game has changed."

Another pressing issue is the danger of maple bats. Some say they splinter with greater force than ash models, and a management-union safety committee is investigating.

Maple bats can't be banned without the union's agreement.

---

AP Sports Writers R.B. Fallstrom in St. Louis, Fred Goodall in St. Petersburg, Fla., and Janie McCauley in San Francisco, and AP freelance writer Mark Didtler in St. Petersburg contributed to this report.