MLB Power Rankings for June 9th 2006

This week’s focus is on the injuries across the league. Pujols injury proves he’s human. In New York, Sheffield joins his buddy Godzilla on the DL, while out in California both Gagne and Harden return, only to get cold feet and jump right back to being injured. And finally, after months and months of suspense and waiting… Rocco Baldelli has finally returned, just in time for the Devil Rays’ playoff push.

Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	Comments
1 (1)		36-23	The Chicago White Sox are one of the few top competing teams that don’t have a significant injury, a big reason they’re still on top.
2 (2)		38-22	The loss of Maroth could be massively detrimental to the Tigers, who have been winning games with their pitching staff. Best case scenario: he’s back in late-July. Worst case scenario: he’s thrown his last pitch for the season.
3 (4)		35-23	Tom Glavine leads the league with 9 wins, but the Mets starting staff is so depleted he had to start on 3 days rest for the first time since 2003. Did anybody remind Willie Randolph that it’s only June and Glavine’s pushing 40? He might want to keep things like that in mind. Of course, he’s probably become accustomed to the Mets season ending sometime toward the end of August.
4 (5)		34-23	Mark your calendar. The Yankees-Red Sox game that was rained out will most likely be made up as a doubleheader between September 15th and 17th, during the Sox’ last visit to the House that Ruth Built until either 2007 or the postseason.
5 (6)		35-23	Matsui and Sheffield accounted for 28%of the Yankees RBI last season, and there is a chance that they’ve lost both for the remainder of the season. To top it off, Jeter, Posada, Rivera, and Damon have all missed games recently from a variety of bumps and bruises type injuries.
6 (3)		35-25	Losing Pujols to an injury is a worst-case scenario for the Cards, but more important than getting him back quickly is getting him back healthy. As difficult as it may be, the Cards need to resist the urge to rush him back into the lineup.
7 (7)		33-26	The Blue Jays only major hole is starting pitching, which might need more than AJ Burnett’s return. If you take Roy Halladay out of the equation the Jays starters have an ERA of 6.50.
8 (9)		33-27	It’s official. I’m back on the Dodger’s bandwagon after a year-plus hiatus. Good seeing Gagne back on the hill, bad seeing him listed once again as day-to-day. Also, a thought for the Dodger’s GM–Javy Lopez is in a contract season, he’s back healthy, and catching second fiddle for the struggling O’s. He won’t come cheap, but his return to the NL could be good for everybody involved–except the rest of the NL West.
9 (10)		36-24	The Reds refuse to go away. At the end of April, a poll showed only 11% of people thought the Reds were playoff contenders. We’re now into June and they have the best record in the Central.
10 (8)		34-25	Although he no longer has anything to do with the D-Backs, Jason Grimsley brings up an excellent point about baseball’s drug testing policy. If the only way to detect HGH is through a blood test, why does MLB still rely on the old-fashioned whiz-quiz?
11 (11)		32-26	Before moving Otsuka into the closer’s role the Rangers were a game under .500. Since then, they’ve gone 21-14.
12 (14)		32-28	I can finally post something positive about Philly’s pitching staff. Cole Hamels looked good in his return from brief injury, to notch his first career victory, and Randy Wolf is expected to be back soon.
13 (12)		31-29	Trevor Hoffman might be getting up there in age, but he’s still shutting the door on opponents in the 9th. He’s saved all 13 opportunities this season with an ERA of 1.29.
14 (13)		29-32	The Braves have lost 8 out of their last 10 and the Nationals have won 7 out of their last 10. Could the Braves slip all the way into second to last in the NL East? They haven’t been that far down in the standings since 1990, when there were only two divisions in the NL.
15 (15)		30-31	Clemens might help the pitching staff, but he won’t be able to do much for their offense. The Astros have scored less runs than every team in the NL Central, except the lowly Cubs.
16 (17)		31-28	Matt Morris started out the season looking like the 20-game winner of old, winning his first 2 starts. Since then, the Giants have lost 9 of his 11 starts.
17 (16)		29-30	The Rockies bullpen looks dominant. They have four pitchers with ERAs of 3.00 or under (Ramirez, 1.04; Fuentes, 1.52; King 2.76; and Mesa, 3.00).
18 (18)		29-32	Carlos Lee fits in great with Milwaukee but he will be a free agent after this season. If Milwaukee has plans of signing him after the season then he won’t be going anywhere, but if they’re willing to let him go in exchange for prospects there should be at least a half-dozen teams interested.
19 (19)		29-31	Harden came off the DL, made one start, and now missing another couple starts because of elbow stiffness. If the A’s are going to make a run at Texas they need their young ace at full strength.
20 (20)		29-30	Casey Blake was hitting in the .370s not too long ago, but he’s only hit .238 over the past week and dropped his average back into the stratosphere (.310).
21 (21)		28-32	The O’s made a coaching change, but somehow I don’t think their struggles were (former 1B coach) Dave Cash’s fault. Seems like a pretty weak attempt at scapegoating.
22 (27)		28-33	Upon the shoulders of Alfonso Soriano the Nationals have won 19 out of their last 24.
23 (23)		27-32	The Angels had the lowest ERA in the AL over the past week (2.94). Interestingly, they were followed by the Mariners (3.21), Rangers (3.48), and A’s (3.57). The 4 teams in the AL’s worst division had the 4 best team ERAs over the past week.
24 (24)		28-34	Ichiro has regained his form (.363, 18 SB). He’s on pace for more hits than ratemyrack.com.
25 (22)		26-33	The Twins are struggling, but two of their young guns are on the verge of making the leap into superstardom. Joe Mauer leads all of baseball in hitting (.379-5-30), and Liriano has shown he’s more than hype (4-1, 2.44).
26 (26)		24-36	The Rays are one of only two teams in the AL without any players on the DL (the other being the Mariners), which means… Rocco Baldelli is finally back. He went 0-3 in his return to centerfield, but this is big news for Tampa Bay
27 (25)		23-36	Juan Pierre has had a hard time adjusting to life as a Cub. His batting average is 64 points below his career (.234), his on-base percentage is down 68 points (.282), and his slugging is a miserable .301.
28 (28)		21-36	The D-Train is in his last year under contract and we all know the Marlins like trading proven talent for cheap prospects. What team doesn’t need more starting pitching?
29 (29)		22-38	Sean Casey has not been productive since his return from the DL. He hit only .083 over the past week.
30 (30)		14-43	The Wednesday, April 10th game against Cleveland drew over 24,000 fans, the most at Kaufman besides opening day. Since ending their 13 game losing streak, which began on April 12, they haven’t been able to draw more than 11,000.