Scott Olsen appears to have mastered the mental aspect of his game and is posting great numbers in the early going.

As I'm sure most of you know, it is Passover, which means I am cranky. I am completely in favor celebrating the Jewish holidays, but frankly, for someone with a carb-heavy diet such as myself, the lack of bread puts me in quite the bad mood. On the plus side, it leads to the always entertaining Seder. The Frankel family for years has participated in what has become an admittedly sacrilegious quest into the fastest possible Seder so that we can move on to more important things, such as eating (never stand in the way of a Jew and a plate of brisket). This year, a new record was set, including these two gems: “And then there were some rabbis, and they said some things. Now time for the 10 plagues” and my niece asking “Where's daddy?” when asked to recite one of the four questions. Of course, for those of you who have never been to a Seder, you may not have any clue what I am talking about. Fortunately, talking to people who have no clue what I am saying is a familiar situation I find myself, so I am well prepared.

Moving on, I have had a rough two weeks of hockey, with my beloved Michigan Wolverines falling in overtime to the hated Notre Dame Fighting Irish two weeks ago, followed by the New Jersey Devils falling to the hated New York Rangers this past weekend. The final Devils game was brutal, making me physically ill at one point (okay, at multiple points), as one of my favorite players (of course, Michigan alum), John Madden had the chance to tie the game up with a penalty shot. Of course, it's more fun to simply toy with my emotions, the shot was stopped, and the Rangers went on to finish off the series. I know the NHL has had an awfully difficult time gaining popularity, especially following the strike, but I would highly recommend it to everyone, as especially during the playoffs, it is truly truly exciting.

Before looking at some baseball, I watched 15 minutes of ESPN2's coverage of Women's College Bowling. I don't mean to disrespect anyone who bowls competitively, or anyone who has a relative involved in competitive bowling, but my, that is not a sport (activity? hobby?) that translates well to television. I cannot believe I lasted 15 minutes.

And now, some baseball. As I write this, I'm watching Carlos Zambrano against the Mets. I know many people predicted his downfall this year (myself included), due to a pretty heavy workload over the last five years (over 1,000 innings), combined with steadily declining performance stats. But through about 30 innings this year, he looks as good as ever, and most importantly, he has cut down the walks through his first few starts. If that is a trend that he can continue, he can give the Jake Peavy's and Johan Santana's of the world a run for their money for the Cy Young Award.

If you have been following all of my columns (ha!), you would have observed my pre-season sleepers article, which pointed out that a guy to watch this year was Scott Olsen. Now I'm certainly not one to toot my own horn (okay, I am, every chance I get), but through four starts, Olsen has gone 3-0 with a 2.60 ERA and a 0.976 WHIP. His K/BB ratio still leaves something to be desired, and his starts have been against Pittsburgh, Washington (twice), and Atlanta, but one of Olsen's biggest problems is his own head. It is possible that this early run of success will push Olsen to the type of season we all envisioned after his 2006 campaign.

The corpse of Carlos Delgado just finished a monster series against Philadelphia, failing to collect a hit all weekend. Of course, he just singled to center as I wrote this sentence. I really was optimistic that this year Delgado would rebound, but unfortunately, it looks like age has finally caught up with Delgado, and it's time to stop expecting greater things from him. He'll still get some homers along the way, but he has basically become a .250-25-80 hitter, at best. Still, this is one Mets fan who is hoping he's wrong about that.

For whatever reason, Bobby Cox decided to give Gregor Blanco three starts in a row this weekend. I'm not entirely sure if this was meant as a motivational tool for Matt Diaz or if Cox is trying to set up some form of platoon, but it is certainly something to keep an eye on. If it was meant to be motivational, it worked, since as of this writing, Diaz is 2-3 with 2 runs and a stolen base against the Nationals tonight.

In other marginal outfielder news, Rajai Davis was designated for assignment from the Giants. Davis has talent, but struggled out of the gate, and since he is a similar player to Fred Lewis, there really was no room for him on the roster. Even more so considering that John Bowker has managed to continue his hot week, and the Giants need power more than anything. I tend to think that Davis will catch on somewhere else, and at the very least, can still give you double digit steals as a pinch runner. Still, unless you are in a deeper league, you can certainly cut Davis for now.

One thing I'm interested in is pretending I understand technology. This naturally leads me to find new products that I don't know how to use, but seem ultra cool. Then, I get two of my college friends who understand technology to explain them to me, and I try to use them, often resulting in my own distress and frustration. That being said, one new and cool product I've found (and have actually been using) is Evernote, which in the most simple terms, acts as a second brain for its users. Here is a YouTube video that explains how it works.  It is presently  "invite only", so if anyone would like to give it a whirl, contact me and I will send you an invite.

That is all for me this week. See you next time.