MLB notes

Carlos Gonzalez is making a name for himself at a young age.

• If the season ended today, we'd have the Twins vs. the Yankees, the Rays against the Rangers, the Reds would battle the Padres, and the Giants would face the Braves. Wow. By the way, not one of those NL teams made the postseason last year.
• The Orioles roster includes four former Cubs: Jake Fox, Felix Pie, Corey Patterson and Cesar Izturis. Until they traded him recently, they also had Will Ohman. Looking at those names, it's obvious the Cubs have damning photographs of Orioles President and former Cubs President Andy MacPhail.
• Have you seen what Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez is doing? You may recall that he hit for the cycle, including a game-winning home run, against the Cubs recently. But that certainly wasn't his only great game this year: he's second in the NL in batting, sixth in home runs and fifth in RBI. And he's only 24 years old.
• On that note, what's with the triple crown candidates this year? Joey Votto and Albert Pujols are both in the top five in all three categories, as is Miguel Cabrera in the AL. Josh Hamilton is just six RBI short of doing the same.
• The Cubs have fallen behind in the strikeout race: they're fourth with 62 fewer than the Giants.
• The Rays lead the majors with 140 stolen bases. No other team has more than 109. The Cubs have 42.