The MLB season has not even hit July yet and I'm frankly peeved about all of the New York Yankees talk and Sweet Lou meltdowns. A-Rod this- A-Rod that- Giambi questioned- Yankees slumping- Steinbrenner mad- Torres in jeopardy- the bullpen sucks- more injuries- A-Rods stripper friend- blah blah blah-I can't stand it. Is ESPN in love with the Yankees or what? And the Lou Pinella meltdown every other day sequence the media has been shoving down everyone's throat is so infuriating. But I don't really blame Pinella too much; this Cubs team should be better than six games below .500. At least Chicago fans can count on the White Sox this season...but enough talk about less than mediocre teams, I'm here to delve into the forgotten stories and the nitty-gritty baseball fans love.

Coming into the season, all but a few Washington National and removed Montreal Expos fans thought the Nationals would make it past 45-50 victories. Their projected starting rotation was 2-13 the previous season and only amassed 120 1/3 innings pitched. The bullpen had a little better resume but when you have starters that will be hard pressed to make it into the 5th and 6th innings, a quality closer like Chad Cordero will be of little value. The everyday lineup looked brutal but possibly promising with young guys like Zimmerman, Kearns and Lopez to build off of. I, being a life long Michigander and Detroit sports junky, knew it was trouble when I saw that Tiger retreads Nook Logan and Dmitri Young were in the Washington everyday lineup.

But it's now June 13th and the Nationals have 27 wins and are 10 games under .500 while playing very competitive baseball, owning a better record than three teams. Even more surprising is the success of Dmitri Young. He is hitting for average the way he did back in a Reds uniform and might find himself in San Francisco for the All-Star game. Christian Guzman has revitalized his career and the rotation has been better than expected, but now finds the top three guys on the DL.

After all of this fantastic news of the Nationals and their overachieving club, they still have the kahunas to have an interest in Devil Rays troubled outfielder Elijah Dukes, according to FOXSports.com. What is wrong with them? Dukes has so much baggage that Albert Belle thinks he's a punk. What is even more disheartening is the Devil Rays utter intent on letting Dukes play day after day. This guy threatened to kill his ex-wife and her children and even attacked

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