The Fives: April 13, 2010

Five observations from Monday in sports…

1. Ben Roethlisberger not being charged with any crime in Georgia is very lucky for him.

Watching the press conference yesterday, the District Attorney really wanted to pursue this case because I think he could have really nailed Ben to the wall. But there were too many gray areas to have anything concrete to go on.

I don’t think Roethlisberger will be so lucky when he meets with Roger Goodell later today, however. Over/under on the suspension: four games.

2. Someone in the NL East better get hot, or the division race could be over real quickly. The Braves have stumbled out of the gate (17-2 loss to the Padres?), the Marlins haven’t been stellar, and the Nationals and Mets are starting to look like repeats of 2009. This could be the least interesting of all of the division races by the All-Star break.

3. But one thing I can say is at least so far, no team has been as bad as the Astros: winless on the year, 13 runs in seven games (five of those in one game), no starting pitching outside of Roy Oswalt. This could be a very long season for Houston and maybe give Pittsburgh its best chance to escape the bottom of the NL Central.

4. I’ll be interested to see if the NFL owners approve Stan Kroenke as the Rams' owner. There have been concerns that he also owns the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche, but there is a precedent that has already been set here. Paul Allen owns both the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers, so we’ll see how much that factors into the decision.

5. I’m starting to get the feeling that were going to see a lot more trades leading up to and during the NFL draft. The league having an uncapped year is affecting clubs’ business plans, and I think some are unsure whether to play it conservative or actually spend some cash to improve their teams for this year.

Five top performances from Monday...

1. Bengie Molina, Giants C: 4-for-4 with a HR and four RBI in SF’s 9-3 win over PIT.

2. Marcus Camby, Trail Blazers PF: 30 pts and 13 reb in POR’s 103-95 win over OKC.

3. Andruw Jones, White Sox CF: 3-for-4 with two HRs and four RBI in CHI’s 8-7 win over TOR.

4. Andrea Bargnani, Raptors C: 33 pts and seven reb in TOR’s 111-97 over DET.

5. Adam Wainwright, Cardinals SP: No runs on six hits with seven K’s in eight IP in STL’s 5-0 win over HOU.

Five events to watch on Tuesday...

1. MLB: Angels at Yankees, 1:00 PM (Home opener for the defending champs)

2. MLB: Diamondbacks at Dodgers, 4:00 PM (Opening Day at Chavez Ravine)

3. NBA: Celtics at Bulls, 8:00 PM TNT (Chicago looks to stay in eighth in the East)

4. MLB: Athletics at Mariners, 10:00 PM (Two of the early surprises in MLB)

5. NBA: Nuggets at Suns, 10:30 PM TNT (Final push for seeding in the West continues)

Have a good day.