A-Rod allegations damming, but he'll just deny, deny, deny (cont.)

Hunter: Our Angel is looking down on us Angels

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The classy Angels privately decided they are going to do what they can to honor the memory of Nick Adenhart, the promising rookie pitcher whose life was tragically ended at 22 when he was killed by a drunken driver. "Nick was looking down on us, saying, 'What are you doing?' '' Angels star Torii Hunter said during the Angels difficult start following Adenhart's death.

The Angels players and staff quietly held a memorial for Adenhart last week in an effort to honor the well-liked pitcher. They also have been reminding themselves they have a job to do, which is to fulfill nearly everyone's expectation to win the AL West, a job made more difficult by injuries to starting pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar, a setback for Vladimir Guerrero (who's showing his age -- remember, he's 34, not 33) and uncharacteristic struggles by a bullpen that has a league-worst 6.82 ERA. "He's in a better place,'' Hunter said of Adenhart. "He's a competitor. He wants us to go out and play the game right. We're starting to believe that, too.''

To Tweet or not to tweet

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Around the Majors

• Emerging star Matt Kemp is used to being compared to Dave Winfield, but Dodgers manager Joe Torre had a new comp when he invoked A-Rod's name (in a good way). Torre likened Kemp's center-field power to Rodriguez's, and along those lines, hitting coach Don Mattingly is working with him on hitting the ball straight up the middle. And other folks are now starting to see the greatness that has been predicted for him. Kemp is taking better routes to balls, and is even looking better on the basepaths now.

• Anyone who thought Jonathan Broxton wouldn't adapt to the closer's role can shut up now. He has about two strikeouts per nine so far.

• This one might annoy the Dodgers, but Andruw Jones, who last year had an .086 slugging percentage with runners in scoring position, has a 1.500 slugging percentage this year. That's right, in six at-bats, he has five hits (plus five walks). He also has a 2.423 OPS in such situations (compared to .336 last year.) If this works out, Rudy Jaramillo just might be the best hitting coach of all time.

• Speculation of a trade-deadline deal involving Cliff Lee, first mentioned by CBSsports.com's Danny Knobler, is not crazy at all. The CC Sabathia trade worked nicely for them (and especially the Brewers) last year, so if they don't turn things around ...

• Trevor Hoffman is already worth it for the Brewers, two saves in. His name alone brings a little gravitas to their roster.

• Nobody can be making fun of Brewers catcher Jason Kendall's pick of Yovani Gallardo for Cy Young winner, either.

• Rockies rookie Dexter Fowler became the first player since 1954 to steal five bases within the first four innings of a game when he did it against the Padres.

• Matt Holliday finally hit his first homer as an Oakland A. And he needed the Texas Ranger wind tunnel to do it.

• The Marlins' bullpen may be questionable, but not too many teams have a combo like Leo Nunez and Matt Lindstrom, at least when it comes to velocity. Nunez hit 99 in a game this week at Citi Field (the wind was blowing a gale in), Lindstrom touched 100.

• Anyone notice that Shairon Martis and Jordan Zimmermann, the Nats' No. 4 and 5 starters, are both 2-0. They aren't bad (Zimmermann especially). If the Nats can somehow sign all-time amateur prospect Stephen Strasburg, the San Diego State phenom who throws 100 and combines it with a "legit hammer'' (the words of a Nats person regarding his breaking ball), they might actually have something there.

• And, by the way, Strasburg adviser Scott Boras will be seeking a Daisuke Matsuzaka deal ($52 million for six years) for his client.

• In the meantime, the Nats are surely going to set a record for dropped flies (if records were kept for such things).

• One more thing on the Nats. I love Pedro Martinez. But doesn't he make more sense for a team ready to win now? Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal first mentioned the Nats as a possibility for Pedro, and there is indeed evidence of contact there.

• First bit of bad news for the awesome Red Sox. John Smoltz suffered a slight setback.

• Scott Schoeneweis' most common play: the bases-loaded walk.

• Best April turnaround: the Yankees' Robinson Cano hit .366 this April compared to .151 last April. His buddy Melky Cabrera didn't have a bad April either, wresting the center field job from Brett Gardner. Gardner didn't last long as the Yankees' starting center fielder, did he?

• Nick Swisher, who was beaten out for the right field job, was the Yankees' second best player in April and is already a fan favorite (.312 this April, .223 last April). Good thing, too, because the White Sox felt he got down quickly last year when he hit on bad luck in April.

• Good to see the Yankees do something to try to rectify their overpriced ticket situation. Though, it also would have been nice for players to chip in to buy some of the unsold seats. OK, I'll stop dreaming now.

• The Mets seem much more depressed than your average 9-12 team. But that might have something to do with their two straight terrible season finishes.

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• Jerry Manuel never talks about it, and says he never thinks about it, but Manuel must be wondering about now why he only got a two-year deal.

• Manuel's own feeling about Ramon Castro became obvious when he called upon the team's other backup catcher, Omir Santos, to pinch hit with the game on the line two days after Santos' first career RBIs. A lot of Mets people lost faith in Castro (not just Manuel) when he turned down a chance to become the starting catcher two winters ago (they came to believe he didn't want to give up his nights out).

• I love the Zack Greinke story, just love it.

• The Street.com got rid of Lenny Dykstra's stock advice column, but not before losing just about all credibility as a financial Web site. Are they kidding? They charged a thousand bucks for this buffoon's stock picks? Dykstra recently claimed in an ESPN.com article he was 92-0 with his picks last year, a year in which a true genius, Warren Buffett, lost $25 billion. But, of course, it was explained that the reason he can go 92-0 is because he never sells the losers, so therefore they go unrecorded. No matter what anyone thinks of A-Rod's credibility, he never told a whopper that big.