Hotter than Georgia asphalt

With the caveat that a week's worth of results once had people thinking Chris Shelton was a halfway decent player, here are some highlights and lowlights from the first week of the season:

Ryan Theriot of the Chicago Cubs leads all of baseball with a .550 average, and Evan Longoria is just as hot.

Chris Davis, who tantalized every fantasy player in existence this spring due to his 17 homers in 295 at-bats last season and his eligibility at first and third, is 1 for 22 so far.

Josh Johnson of the Florida Marlins is 2-0 with 0.57 ERA and 15 Ks vs. 1 walk, though he was helped by a Mets lineup that looked positively indifferent yesterday afternoon.

Carl Pavano is 0-1 and has a cool 81.00 ERA in one start and the Indians as a team have given up 51 runs in six games.

The Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins are both 5-1 and are set to do battle starting on Tuesday in what thus looks like the first important series of the year in baseball. Well, quasi-important anyway.

The Washington Nationals are 0-6. It was a rough week off the field for all of baseball, so let's all thank the Nats for doing their best to restore a semblance of normalcy to the game's proceedings.

Injury-wise, Brandon Webb and Hiroki Kuroda landed on the DL. Given how neck and neck the Dodgers and Dbacks were for so much of last season, it's probably not surprising that they have injuries that kinda cancel each other out. The Cubs are getting Geovany Soto back, but now they're losing Milton Bradley. Jose Guillen got hurt too, though this development isn't going to exactly impact any pennant races. Well, unless he stays out a long time, in which case the Royals will have a slightly improved chance of taking the Central.