Tony DeMarco

Among the many pleasant surprise developments 10 days into a new season — and you can throw Vernon Wells' resurgence, Jon Rauch's save opportunity dominance and offensive explosions by Martin Prado and the Kansas City Royals into that mix — is the fact that there are not one, but two, first-place teams in the Bay Area.

'The first-place San Francisco Giants' or 'the first-place Oakland A's' could raise an eyebrow or two on their own. But both? And at the risk of sparking excitable flashbacks to 1989 — the year of an earth-shaking, drawn-out Bay Bridge World Series — there are a combination of factors at work that could lend some sustainability in both cases.

All of which are led by this numerical nugget — the supposedly offensive-challenged Giants have found a way to score runs, averaging 5.75 per game, third to only the Phillies and Dodgers in the NL.

"We have a more solid lineup than last year, 1-through-8,'' center fielder and newly-minted leadoff hitter Aaron Rowand said last week. "No easy outs for the pitcher.''

There has been more than enough support for a staff that has been every bit as good as expected. Granted, it helps to start on the road against the Astros without Lance Berkman, and play a home-opening series against the pitching-needy Pirates. But the Giants also took two of three from a Braves team that impressed everybody in spring training as a leading wild-card possibility.

And, the other two NL West contenders aren't without flaws.

Jim Tracy has urged his Rockies to take ownership of the favorites' role and expect to win — something they didn't do in trying to follow up their highly unexpected 2007 pennant. Their 13-man position-player grouping is as good as any, no team has a more-powerful catching tandem, and four-fifths of the rotation is very solid. But Huston Street and Jeff Francis are on the disabled list — putting pressure on both ends of the staff in general and on Franklin Morales and Greg Smith in particular — and their usually stellar defense hasn't been.

The Dodgers? Opening Day starter Vicente Padilla has a double-figures ERA, setup man George Sherrill and much of the bullpen are struggling, Jonathan Broxton still is waiting for his first save opportunity, and you wonder how much mid-season help they can afford to go out and get.

There is a similar scenario unfolding in the East Bay — though probably less-likely to continue — unless, of course, you're buying the Baseball Prospectus prediction of the A's winning the division.

The A's came through a Mariners-Angels-Mariners three-series gauntlet in first place, and have since held it. They got there with No. 9 hitter Cliff Pennington slugging the ball and walk/OBP machine Daric Barton also shining bright — part of an offense that has shown improvement.

Slideshow   Top 25 hitters 25 and under Young studs like Eric Hosmer, Justin Upton and more wasted no time in adjusting to the big leagues. Take a look at the top 25 sluggers that are 25 years old and younger. NBCSports.com

But mostly, they got there with starting pitching — the stingiest in the league to date. In fact, the last time any AL starting rotation allowed fewer runs through nine games was in 2003, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. And the last time an A's rotation allowed so few runs through nine games, their names were Dave Stewart, Bob Welch, Mike Moore and Scott Sanderson in a pennant-winning 1990 season.

It's Justin Duchscherer — and not Ben Sheets — who's leading in the comeback-from-surgery department, and young lefty Brett Anderson — the best pitcher you may not know in the AL — didn't give up a run in his first two starts.

And, just as in the NL West, the rest of the AL West has enough issues to make you think that an 88-win season could be enough to win it.

Angels' detractors weren't that hard to find this spring, and so far, the reasons for concern are playing out in the regular season. The Angels were an alarming -20 in run differential in their 3-6 start — ranking ahead of only the Orioles.

The blame lies on both sides of the equation. Brandon Wood isn't seizing the opportunity as Chone Figgins' replacement. In fact, it's just the opposite, as he's striking out too much and had no extra-base hits in his first nine games. Joel Pineiro has been solid as John Lackey's replacement in the rotation, but closer Brian Fuentes went on the disabled list after throwing only one inning, and the rest of the bullpen has a 6.00-plus ERA.

A spring in the Arizona sun exposed the Mariners' middle-of-the-lineup and questionable back three-fifths of the rotation. Now, they are having to make due without Cliff Lee likely for all of April, and Milton Bradley has had as many one-finger salutes to fans as game-deciding home runs — one.

The Rangers already have changed closers — they say temporarily — and lost starting catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to the disabled list. And there is the underlying issue of a slow start possibly costing on-thin-ice skipper Ron Washington his job — never a comfortable feeling in any clubhouse.