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We’re now two weeks into the 2011 Major League Baseball season. Here are your my top 5 story lines.

1. The Royals don’t suck. At least not yet. Before Thursday’s games Kansas City is 7-4 and just a half game out of first behind the also surprising Cleveland Indians. The rookie relievers have been nothing short of excellent, and the offense has far exceeded expectations. The Royals tied their own record early this season recording 4 straight walk-off victories. I already reserved my playoff tickets for Kauffman Stadium.

2. Albert Pujols has been abducted by aliens.  Through Wednesday night he is hitting .229 with just 1 home run, 6 RBIs and an OPS of .609. To put into perspective how un-Pujols-like that is, his career OPS is 1.047. Keep this up Albert and you’re going to wish you’d signed that offer from the Cardinals. Or better yet, his stock will fall so far even the Royals could afford him.

Read more early 2011 MLB season thoughts >>

California, for all intents and purposes, is the marijuana capitol of the United States. With Prop 19 and the relaxed attitude towards medicinal pot, among other qualifications, the title’s clearly earned. There’s also a pretty heavy weed/drug connection to the World Series as well, and not just because the San Francisco Giants, featuring everybody’s favorite pot-smoking athlete, Tim Lincecum, are involved, either.

There are connections to be made on both sides, whether it’s Ron Washington’s travails or Josh Hamilton’s journey, but thanks to the first two games being played in San Francisco — a city with a very relaxed approach to marijuana — you get the feeling the game is being played under a cloud of pot smoke.

Whether it’s Josh Hamilton getting a contact high from fans in Pac Bell Park’s center field section, a local dispensary rewarding their “patients” for Giants’ home runs, or the discoveries of Dallas/Fort Worth reporter, California’s pot revolution has a strong presence at the 2010 World Series. Granted, this will change when Games 3, 4, and 5 move to Arlington, but there’s always a chance it could be revisited in Games 6 or 7 (if necessary).

As indicated, an on-location reporter from DFW was on-hand, and he also discovered things are a little different in California, especially when marijuana is involved:

So yeah, grab your munchies because the World Series is (or was, anyway) in California and the Prop19 supporters clearly love their Giants. Of course, with the Giants winning Games 1 and 2, they have plenty of reason to cheer.

Oh, and party, evidently.

There’s a serious undercurrent of drug and alcohol-related comments, stories, etc surrounding the 2010 World Series, something the lead image indicates very, very well. Whether it’s Josh Hamilton or San Francisco medicinal marijuana shops offering free weed when the Giants his a home run, or jokes about crack in relation to Ron Washington, it’s clearly a series Hunter S. Thompson would love.

And then, you add Cliff Lee (and to a lesser extent, Lincecum) getting shelled in what everyone thought would be a pitching duel, and it’s also clear this particular Series isn’t sticking to the traditional routes of past championships.

Oh, and there’s this gem, courtesy of Boston’s Bar Stool Sports:

Yes, that is indeed a Ron Washington costume on the youngster, and it is incredible. Hell, it might just challenge Baby Mangino for best Halloween costume ever.

So yeah, come for the championship baseball and stay for the drug-related shenanigans and bad-ass Ron Washington costumes.

No, the Texas slugger isn’t participating in tonight’s Home Run Derby, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy his incredible 28-homer round from last year. The funny thing is, because totals don’t carry over to the final round, and because Hamilton couldn’t reproduce his first round magic, he wound up losing to Justin Morneau.

Continue reading after the jump >>

Even eventual winner Justin Morneau knew he was witnessing something special. So much so, he even admitted he was “kind of cheering” for Hamilton following his first round explosion of 28 home run bombs. Because the Home Run Derby doesn’t accumulate these bombs after the second round, both Morneau and Hamilton started the final round with a clean slate where Morneau out homered Hamilton, five to three, to win the event.

But, even Morneau knows he couldn’t overshadow Hamilton’s first round magic. Hamilton’s round of 28 was so enthralling, the attendees at Yankees Stadium adopted him as their own. This is a great way to let management know who you’d like to root for when the player becomes a free agent, something the Yankees are great at doing — free agent signings, that is.

Although this probably won’t make it through the day, on205th did find a video of Hamilton’s first round performance:

At one point, Hamilton hit 13 bombs in a row and the massively approving crowd wasn’t shy about sharing their feelings, chanting his last name in that ever-so familiar clap-during-the-syllables cheer. Hamilton’s first round performance broke the previous single-round record of 24 held by Bobby Abreu.

One last thing, does the presence of Edinson Volquez reduce the sting of trading Hamilton for Cincinnati Reds fans? It should, but it’s probably tough to see a former Red up there blasting all those shots last night.