Week three of the MLB Power Rankings and neither the Reds or the Tigers have fallen out of the sky. And, to think, Sparky Anderson is nowhere to be seen.
Rank (Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1 (1) |  |
20-8 | Without a lot of fanfare Jose Contreras has become a reliable ace. He’s won his last 13 decisions and has a 1.41 ERA this season. |
| 2 (2) |  |
19-9 | No team has as much right to complain about a high-salary player contributing less than the Houston Astros. Jeff Bagwell is making $19 million (about 20% of the entire team) and has only hit 3 homeruns since the end of the 2004 season in less than 40 games. Yet, the `Stros are 10 games over .500. |
| 3 (4) |  |
19-9 | Despite an ERA of 1.80, Billy Wagner has already blown 2 saves. He only blew 3 all last season. |
| 4 (5) |  |
17-12 | The Cardinals have lost 4 in a row. Not coincidentally Albert Pujols was only 1 of 11 with 1 RBI during the stretch. Albert- this is what the rest of the hitters in baseball refer to as a slump. We understand this concept is new to you, but many hitters actually go through this all season long. Like Adrian Beltre. |
| 5 (3) |  |
16-12 | The Red Sox have given up more runs than they have scored, the only one of the top 11 teams (based on winning percentage) to have done so. If this stat continues they will continue to watch their ranking slide. |
| 6 (6) |  |
20-9 | Cincy continues to impress, but I continue to remain skeptical. What would it be like to see the Reds in the playoffs without Marge Schott at the helm? |
| 7 (7) |  |
15-11 | The Yankees are starting to pick up steam, winning 8 out of their last 11 games. The first game of the best rivalry in sports was just a teaser for things to come. The Red Sox arms will have a hell of a time holding down the Yankee bats. This means bad news for Beantown. |
| 8 (11) |  |
19-10 | I’m ready to cast my vote for AL Manager of the Year: The man who said at the beginning of the season that he didn’t know all that much about the AL and knew even less about the Tigers, Jim Leyland. |
| 9 (18) |  |
17-12 | Four years ago Texas was 27th in the league in ERA. Since then they have been 30th, 18th, and last year 26th. This year they have the 11th best ERA in baseball. |
| 10 (8) |  |
14-12 | I want the Cubs to win a World Series just so the name Bartman will be thought of as a Simpson’s episode and not a Wrigley Field episode. |
| 11 (12) |  |
15-14 | The Indians remind me a lot of the Texas Rangers from the last few years. They’ve scored 27 more runs than anybody in baseball, but only two teams have given up more runs (Orioles and Devil Rays). |
| 12 (10) |  |
14-16 | Omar Vizquel has 128 hits and 22 RBI less than Ozzie Smith for his career, with a batting average 13 points higher and a fielding percentage 6 points higher. |
| 13 (13) |  |
14-13 | At least one arm the Jays acquired in the off-season is performing. Some people say BJ wasn’t worth the money he got, but so far he’s converted all 6 save opportunities without allowing an earned run. |
| 14 (15) |  |
16-13 | 16-13 would be first or second place in most divisions in baseball. In the tough NL Central it is only good enough for 4th, 4 games behind Cincinnati. |
| 15 (9) |  |
13-16 | Despite Colon’s difficulties and injuries the Angles have the fifth best pitching staff in baseball, but the fifth worst offense. |
| 16 (17) |  |
15-13 | The A’s have a dismal team batting average of .230, and unless you look at past season’s statistics their pitching staff looks mediocre (both aces Zito and Harden have ERAs over 4 and Huston Street learning what it means to be in a sophomore slump), yet they’ve always been a team that explodes out of the box after the all-star break. |
| 17 (14) |  |
14-16 | The O’s don’t seem to miss BJ in their bullpen. Chris Ray has stepped into the closer’s role nicely, converting all 7 save opportunities, and his salary of $335,000 is a bargain compared to BJ. |
| 18 (16) |  |
12-16 | I try to be an impartial journalist, but seeing the Braves at 4 games below .500 makes me happy. |
| 19 (19) |  |
16-13 | The Rockies salary without Helton is a mere $24 million. It will be interesting to see if Rockies management will be willing to go after a big player around the trade deadline if they’re holding the division lead or within striking distance. |
| 20 (20) |  |
14-14 | They’re still a long way from catching the Mets, but two of the off-season questions marks look somewhat positive for Philadelphia. If you can ignore what Thome is doing in Chicago, Rowand has been a sold pickup for them, hitting .305 with 4 HR and 14 RBI, and Flash Gordon has made the switch from setup man to closer without a hitch (9/9 in save opportunities while allowing only 1 ER in over 14 innings). |
| 21 (22) |  |
15-13 | Arizona- the land of the hottest summers, the hottest women, and… the hottest team in baseball? That’s right, the D-Backs have won 8 out of their last 10, which (if we ignore the Reds’ 9 out of 11), makes them one of the hottest teams in the majors. |
| 22 (26) |  |
13-15 | I suggest a name change might make the Padres more formidable. Most teams aim for a mascot that is fierce, or noble, or iconic. I just don’t see Spanish friars or monks devoted to a life of religion and poverty as a figure that inspires any degree of trepidation. Just a thought. |
| 23 (21) |  |
12-16 | The Dodgers need to make a serious playoff run, while the Angels fall flat on their face in order to take back their city. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is just ridiculous. This city’s not big enough for both of them (not even big enough for one NFL team) and the Dodgers have already been bounced from one city. |
| 24 (23) |  |
11-17 | The Twins got outscored 33-1 in a three game series a couple days ago. Now, guess who’s coming to town for another go around. The Tigers, and this time they have their three best pitchers going. This could get ugly fast. |
| 25 (24) |  |
11-18 | Tampa Bay defense has given up more runs than any team in baseball. Tampa Bay offense is missing several key bats. A bad combination. |
| 26 (25) |  |
12-18 | The M’s have finally yanked Everyday Eddie from the closer’s role, after he gave up Mark Loretta’s first career walk-off homerun, Pablo Ozuna’s first career homerun, lost another game by walking 4 consecutive hitters, had an ERA over 8, and had a WHIP of 2.17. My question is, What took so long? In the city where Starbucks is king, somebody must have been sleeping. |
| 27 (27) |  |
9-20 | The Washington Nationals are 1-9 at home this season, second worst only to KC. Somewhere, Peter Angelos is chuckling. |
| 28 (28) |  |
8-18 | Will the Marlins change their name when they move to Las Vegas, or will they keep it the same like one of those NBA anomalies- LA Lakers, Utah Jazz, Mamphis Grizzlies… Las Vegas Marlins? |
| 29 (30) |  |
8-22 | At least Pittsburgh has the Steelers. |
| 30 (29) |  |
6-20 | Kansas City is on pace to win 37 games. 37 games all season! At that pace they might be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention by June, with the way the White Sox are playing. |
2 replies on “MLB Power Rankings for May 5- 2006”
Why Why is Huston Street in a sohomore slump? One or two blown saves and then an injury? Not really a slump.
Huston Street Maybe it’s not so much a sophomore slump, or maybe its too early to really call it one, but he definitely hasn’t looked as sharp as he did last year. Last year he gave up only 15 ER for the entire season (a 1.72 ERA), while this year he has a third that in only 8 appearances.
Also, last year he held opponents to a pitiful .194 batting average and .267 slugging percentage. This year hitters are hitting .300 and opponent slugging percentage has almost doubled.
Closers who have an opponent slugging percentage of .500 don’t stay closers very long.
I think, barring injury, Street has a incredibly high up-side, particularly looking at what he did last year and keeping in mind he’s only 22, but this year he’s been less than spectacular.