Zack Greinke continues to shine. If you are waiting for him to slip up, you will have to keep waiting. On Tuesday, the Kansas City Royals emergering superstar pitcher pitched a complete game to improve to 8-1 and help the Royals beat the Detroit Tigers by a final count of 6-1.

Zack Greinke - Can Anyone Stop the Royal? (Image: Newscom)

Greinke gave up six hits and one earned run while walking none and striking out eight batters. To show how good he’s been this season, Greinke’s performance actually raised his ERA to 0.84.

The only run Greinke gave up was in the first inning. The Tigers were able to keep that lead until the sixth inning. In the sixth, Jose Guillen keyed a three-run inning with a two-run single. Guillen later added a homer in the eighth inning to give Greinke a comfortable cushion.

With the win, the Royals are now 23-23 on the season. The Tigers dropped to 25-19 with the loss.

After getting a feel for the 2009 baseball season, a few teams are starting to make a run up the standings. Here is a list of the hottest teams in baseball at the moment.

5) Los Angeles Dodgers
Even without Manny Ramirez, the Dodgers have the best record in baseball at 28-13. A big reason for their success is that Juan Pierre has been able to fill in for Ramirez and the Dodgers haven’t skipped a beat.

4) Detroit Tigers
The Tigers started slowly but they are now turning it around. They have won four straight games and are 12-5 at home on the season. Dontrelle Willis recently had a very good game and if he can return to form, Detroit would be dangerous.

3) Philadelphia Phillies
The reigning World Series champions are starting to get back into a groove. They’ve won five straight games and are now 21-16. Oddly enough, they are 8-12 at home and 13-4 on the road.

2) New York Yankees
The Yankees had three straight games with a walk-off and now with Alex Rodriguez hitting homers once again, New York is looking very good. They’ve won seven straight games and are sitting at 22-17.

1) Milwaukee Brewers
Winners of seven in a row and nine of their last ten, the Brewers are the surprise team in the NL at the moment. That said, it’ll be tough for the Brewers to hold on after they learned that Rickie Weeks is out for the season.

Can the Brewers Stay Hot without Rickie Weeks? (Image: Zuma Press)

Dontrelle Willis of the Detroit Tigers is ready to the big leagues. Due to an anxiety disorder, Willis began the season on the disabled list. But after a few successful starts at the minor league level, he’s ready to get his Major League Baseball career back on track.

Dontrelle Willis to return from anxiety disorder (Image: Newscom)

Willis’ return date is Wednesday, May 13th against the Minnesota Twins. In his last game in the minors, he pitched 7.2 innings and give up two runs and four walks while striking out four.

Once upon a time, Willis was regarded as one of the best pitchers in baseball. In 2005, he was 22-10 with a 2.63 ERA while with the Florida Marlins. However, since that point, he has gotten progressively worse.

In 2006, Willis was 12-12 with a 3.87 ERA. In 2007, he finished 10-15 with a 5.17 ERA. He bottomed out in 2008 while with the Tigers, posting a 9.38 ERA in seven starts.

If Willis doesn’t reverse his current trend, he could be running out of chances in baseball. The good news for Willis is that he’s still only 27 years old and his velocity in the minor leagues was said to be improved.

Detroit can definitely use his help. With a record of 14-13, the Tigers are three games behind the division-leading Kansas City Royals in the AL Central. If Willis can return and prove to be a capable starter once again, he could be a difference-maker within the division.

Mark Fidrych (also called “the Bird”) was a likeable former player with the Tigers. He was found dead last week under the his truck in an apparent accident. He was only 54. How sad that just as the baseball season has begun, his former player was struck down. And much, much too young.

Fidrych was the “American League Rookie of the Year in 1976 when he went 19-9 with a 2.34 ERA and 24 complete games.” While he spent only five seasons with the Detroit Tigers, he made an impact as a fan favorite.

Image: Newscom.

Gary Sheffield, the 40-year-old slugger who could one day find himself in the baseball Hall of Fame, was released by the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday. The Tigers stated that their motive was to add versatility and flexibility to their team.

Gary Sheffield Released - Detroit Tigers (Image: Newscom)

Sheffield, who has 499 career homers, indicated that he will quickly sign with another team. In fact, he said that his career is far from over. One time that has supposedly shown early interest in Sheffield is the Philadelphia Phillies.

Last season, Sheffield was slowed by a number of injuries and had arguably his worst season of the last decade. He finished the year with a batting average of .225 with 19 homers and 57 RBI.

In his career, Sheffield has played with seven teams: the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Diego Padres, the Florida Marlins, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Atlanta Braves, the New York Yankees and the Tigers. The best season of his career was in 1996 when he played for the Marlins and hit .314 with 42 home runs, 120 RBI, 16 stolen bases and had an on-base percentage of .465.

Expect Sheffield and his always lively personality to end up somewhere within the next two weeks.

Dontrelle Willis, who once upon a time was one of the best pitchers in baseball, has been placed on the disabled list by the Detroit Tigers with an anxiety disorder. Team president Dave Dombrowski said that the team is optimistic that Willis will be able to pitch again at some point this season, however no further information was given about the condition.

Dontrelle Willis Anxiety Disorder (Image: Newscom)

In 2005, Willis had a 22-10 record with a 2.63 ERA. However, since that point, he’s gotten progressively worse. In 2006, he had an ERA of 3.87. His ERA ballooned to 5.17 in 2007. Last year, he had a 9.38 ERA in eight appearances.

Although an anxiety disorder is a psychiatric condition, Willis stated that his condition was found following a blood test. He denies being depressed but didn’t give exact information on how his condition will be treated.

This is yet another turn in the dramatic fall for the 27-year-old left-hander. For Willis’ sake, let’s hope that this anxiety disorder can be treated and he can once again return to his dominating ways.

George Kell, a Major League Baseball legend who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983, passed away on Tuesday at the age of 86. The third baseman from the state of Arkansas if perhaps most well-known for beating out Ted Williams for the 1949 batting championship of the American League.

George Kell, Baseball Hall of Famer (Image: Newscom)

Kell broke into the Major Leagues in 1943 with the Philadelphia Athletics. He later went on to play for the Detroit Tigers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and the Baltimore Orioles. In his 15 seasons in the bigs, Kell had a .306 batting average to go along with 78 homers, 870 RBI and 2054 hits. Although he was mostly a third baseman, he also played a little bit of first base near the end of his career.

Following his retirement, Kell became a broadcaster for the Tigers. He kept that job from 1959 until 1996.

When he edged Williams for the batting title, he did it by the narrowest of margins. At the end of the year, Williams had a batting average of .3428. However, that wasn’t good enough to top Kell’s batting average of .3429.

Firstly, thank you to the fan who brought the “Big Papi? More like Big Poopie!” sign. You, sir, are a hero. While I am immensely disappointed in myself for not coming up with that scatological nickname — indeed, I’m disappointed that I haven’t even heard it before — I am pleased that you, fan with Big Poopie sign, brought it to my attention. It is so delightfully immature that no one could take legitimate offense to it. Even though Ortiz hit a towering home-run, I could still chuckle at the Big Poopie sign, and it made another ugly Tigers loss a bit more tolerable.

Speaking of that Ortiz home-run, I also have to thank the stereotype fulfilling Massholes in our section. Thank you for turning around and drawing attention to yourself after every Red Sox run. Thank you for standing and trying to get the attention of the Tiger dugout girls who were throwing out free t-shirts, even though we were a full section away and those girls couldn’t throw farther than 20 feet. Thanks for making it that much easier to keep up my irrational hatred for you and your brethren.

On that note, thank you fan who threw peanuts at the aforementioned Red Sox fans, which, in a convoluted turn of events, led to their eventual dismissal from their seats. And thanks to you, overzealous seating attendant. You may have prevented my group from upgrading to the Tiger Den, but you taking your job so seriously was the catalyst in expelling the Sox fans. Great work.

Big Poopie, ha ha, great stuff.