'It's a far superior league right now', is how Alex Rodriguez declared his honest opinion of the situation between the AL and NL in major league baseball.

The American League is 8-0-1 in the last nine All-Star games. AL teams also swept the past two World Series and won an overwhelming 61 percent of interleague games this season.

The NL fired off the first bullet last night when they completely overwhelmed their AL cohorts in the Home Run Derby. When the dust had settled, Phillies' Ryan Howard was the winner and Mets' David Wright a tired second.

The NL received some bad news late Monday when it was announced that Ozzie Guillen has scratched his undefeated pitcher Jose Contreras from the roster and replaced him with Minnesota Twins phenom Francisco Liriano.

The 22-year-old Liriano is blowing away American League batters in his first two months in a big-league rotation. He's 10-1, has allowed only 63 hits in 88 1/3 innings, and has 102 strikeouts against 23 walks. His 1.83 earned-run average leads the next best pitcher by over a full run.

Because the NL and AL have played several games against each other this year, many NL players have had the daunting task of facing the youngster from the Dominican Republic.

'Amazing", said wide-eyed Chicago Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano.

"Dominant", said breathless Milwaukee Brewers closer Derrick Turnbow.

'Silly", said awestruck Brewers pitcher Chris Capuano.

Not only does the AL come stacked with arms, but they also have the majors' best hitter in Liriano's teammate and catcher Joe Mauer who is batting .378 at the break.

The amazing part of this game is that you have several multi-millionaires like A. Rod, Jeter, Ichiro, Pujols, Beltran, Berkman, Rolen and Jones to name just a few. Then you have the low rent district in Ryan Howard, Freddy Sanchez, Brian Fuentes, Brian McCann, Alex Rios, Scott Kazmir and Jon Papelbom.

Bob Acton

Online Sports Betting