Josh Hamilton, Adam Dunn and What Else Is New

Here we are a couple of weeks into the 2012 Major League baseball season and so far Josh Hamilton can still hit and Adam Dunn still can’t.

Other than that there have been a lot of surprises. Like the Reds not hitting and the Cardinals playing as if their entire season is being devoted to Albert Who?

Hamilton had a blip on his personal radar screen of addiction in the off-season, but if there were skeptics and worriers who believed that he would go over a cliff and wreck his career and life beyond the bounds of retrieval they have been reassured in the early going as the Texas Ranger outfielder keeps swatting away at a better than .400 clip. This is not a prediction that Hamilton will sustain his average in Ted Williams territory for the season, but at least it seems he is OK for now.

Unlike Dunn, who does not seem OK yet, hasn’t seemed OK for more than a season, and may not ever be OK in the batter’s box again. He is in the second year of a monster contract with the White Sox, but almost as soon as he set foot on the South Side of Chicago he ceased being able to hit. Dunn, a previously reliable slugger until then, recorded one of the worst hitter seasons of all-time in 2011. He is off to a slow start again and needs to snap out of his funk right now. Dunn is potentially the Titanic, on the verge of sinking and taking down all of the passengers with him.

Speaking of people named Albert… Pujols was off to a worrisome start himself for a guy who wants to win over a new fan base with the Angels and justify a $240 million contract, but last night he did collect three hits and his BA is inching up. St. Louis is playing like a defending World Series champion and against all odds not missing him in the lineup at all.

The Cincinnati Reds’ questionmarks were supposed to be pitching. The Reds order was supposed to be the Big Boppers times nine. So Cincinnati is getting good pitching and the hitters are doing bupkis. The Reds keep losing close, low-scoring extra inning games. Manager Dusty Baker’s hair (the leftovers) are closely cropped, so he can’t really tear any of it out.

Meanwhile, the Phillies, the pre-season choice as the best team in the National League, is suffering from the same disease as the Reds–no-hit-itis. How badly do the Phils miss injured Ryan Howard? Oh, about as much as if cheesesteaks were banned from the city’s diet. Philadelphia tried to plug gaps in the off-season, too, even if the team thought they were stop-gaps, but it hasn’t worked so far.

The Dodgers seem so happy that the McCourts finally got their divorce that they are playing like the Dodgers of the Boys of Summer. After Thursday, Matt Kemp was hitting .450. He ain’t gonna keep that up (see Josh Hamilton), but being the same Matt as he was in 2011 makes him just about the best player in the league.

On the flip side, Ichiro is showing more signs of slippage. Hopefully, he can get his average back to .300 and keep it there, but if he doesn’t do so, that will be two bad years in a row. That’s not a slump, it’s the end of the line.

Everyone knew the Washington Nationals were going to be greatly improved, but this improved? Right away? Good for them. It’s too late to ask Walter Johnson to make an appearance throwing out a first pitch, but the way the youngsters are going they would only grudgingly move aside in the rotation if he came back.

The Mets got off to a good enough start that their fans may be saying, “Hey, they’re not going to be as lousy as we thought.”

Now we come to the Red Sox. Everything the Sox do is magnified under the intense scutiny of the Boston scene. But everything that was a questionmark coming into the year has become a negative certainty. The pitching has been worse than expected. The bullpen has been worse than expected. The injuries have been worse than expected. The Curse of Terry Francona is real (although he did announce Thursday he would descend from the ESPN press box to take part in Fenway Park 100th anniversary ceremonies today after all).

Long season, though. For the Mets, Red Sox, and everyone else.

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