MLB Power Rankings for June 16th- 2006

Lot of movement this week. White Sox get dethroned by the streaking Mets. Athletics and Astros take jumps forward. On the other hand, all of a sudden, the Braves and Diamondbacks look like double-A teams.

The All-Star Game is just around the corner, and after that, the trade deadline, which means teams have to start making important personnel decisions.

Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	Comments
1 (3)		42-23	The Amazin’ Mets have leapfrogged the ChiSox, thanks to an 8-game winning streak. Also, they haven’t lost more than 2 games in a row all season.
2 (1)		41-25	The Sox really haven’t faltered, they just haven’t been as dominant as the Mets. The key difference between this year’s team and last is the starting pitching. Last year Garland looked like a Cy Young candidate. This year he’s 4-3 with a 6.03 ERA. Last Year Garcia struck out 146 batters and had an ERA of 3.87. This year he’s only punched out 49 with an ERA over 5.
3 (2)		43-24	Detroit hitters strike out a ton. The Tigers have racked up 488 k’s, 44 more than any other team in the American League.
4 (4)		36-28	Boston is the last remaining team in baseball that has not shut out an opponent this season.
5 (5)		37-27	The Yankees haven’t missed a beat, yet, but this is a team that is getting old. Average age in the lineup and the starting rotation is over 32.
6 (6)		39-26	Scott Rolen has picked up the slack in Pujols’ absence. Over the past week the five-time gold-glover’s slugging percentage is an even 1.000, and he leads the NL in hitting (.355-8-44).
7 (7)		37-29	Lead by Vernon Wells (.328-17-54), the Blue Jays have the highest team OPS in baseball. The next closest team doesn’t come within 40 points of their .860 mark.
8 (9)		37-29	Adam Dunn is the player the Mariners wanted Richie Sexson to be. Yes, he strikes out a lot. Yes, his average is under .240. But, he does what he’s paid to do, jacking 23 longballs, knocking in 42 ribbies, and scoring 51 runs.
9 (8)		36-30	Matt Kemp is taking full advantage of his opportunities at the plate. It seems his name ends up on the sports ticker every day, yet he’s only played in 16 games. In just 48 career at-bats the 21-year-old’s knocked in 17 runs with 7 HR, while hitting .375. In the past week alone he’s hit 3 dingers.
10 (19)		35-31	The A’s are just doing what they do every June, playing about .900 ball from the beginning of summer until the end of the season. They’ve won 7 straight and 12 out of their last 14.
11 (15)		35-32	Over the past couple years the Astros have been a lot like the A’s in that they both start slow, but finish strong. Houston has won 8 out of its last 9, and Oswalt’s back didn’t keep him out long.
12 (11)		35-32	With Buck Showalter at the helm, the Rangers are almost guaranteed to win a World Series. However, it will be the year after he gets fired, whenever that may be. Showalter managed the ’95 Yankees and the 2000 D-Backs. The Yankees won the ’96 series under Torre and the D-Backs won the ’01 series under Brenley.
13 (13)		34-32	What’s happened to Jake Peavy? He has the highest ERA of any starting pitcher on the Padres at 4.96, and worse, that at his home park, pitcher-friendly Petco, he’s allowed 8 HR and an ERA over 5.
14 (10)		35-31	Arizona has only won 1 game since the whole Jason Grimsley thing came down.
15 (16)		34-32	The Yankees might be older, as a team, but when Randy Winn’s not in the lineup the Giants outfield will be getting senior citizen discounts before the year ends: Bonds (41), Finley (41), Alou (39). And manager Philipe Alou doesn’t exude any youth himself. He celebrated his 204th birthday earlier this year.
16 (12)		33-33	The Phillies are extremely streaky. They’ve had four losing streaks of 3 games or more (the longest being 5), and five winning streaks of 3 games or more (the longest being 9).
17 (17)		34-32	Like Bay in Pittsburgh, Matt Holliday is another outfielder who is not getting enough all-star votes. He is hitting .345 with 13 HR, 48 RBI, and an OPS just under 1.000.
18 (18)		32-35	Milwaukee needs to pony up for The Horse in the off-season and get a starting pitcher or two. If they do, this team could be a playoff competitor in ’07 or ’08. They have so much young talent (Hall, Hardy, Fielder, Turnbow, Sheets, Capuano, Weeks), it would be a shame to get cheap and lose their best player.
19 (20)		31-34	After hitting .292 with 24 HR last year, Peralta, thus far, has been a disappointment. His average is down to .231, and he’s only hit 5 HR.
20 (14)		30-37	The Braves are in the midst of a two week skid, losing 14 out of their last 17 games, five of which were against the mighty Marlins and Nationals.
21 (25)		31-34	Joe Mauer is looking to be the first catcher in 64 years to win a batting title (.376-5-31), and at 23 he’s yet to reach his prime.
22 (24)		31-37	Only three teams are getting less production from their cleanup hitter than the Seattle Mariners. The Mariners’ cleanup spot has only scored 32 runs, with a combined on-base percentage of .313. Mostly to blame is Richie Sexson, who is hitting .207 and has already struck out 76 times.
23 (21)		30-38	Running birds: The O’s lead the AL in stolen bases (62) and percentage (85%).
24 (22)		30-38	The Nationals need Jose Guillen to regain his stroke. The RF is hitting just .225 with only 23 RBI. His on-base percentage is a miserable .278.
25 (23)		29-36	The Angels are finally getting some offense from the catcher spot. Mike Napoli (.299-6-14) has earned the full-time starting job over Molina (.204-1-9) and Mathis (.103-1-2).
26 (28)		26-37	Not much fuss has been made of it because the Marlins are so far back in the standings, but they’ve actually played very well as of late, winning 15 of their last 21 games. Before that, however, they had lost 7 in a row.
27 (26)		27-40	Aubrey Huff is struggling mightily (.194-3-12, with a slugging percentage of .292). You hear of people putting up huge numbers in contract seasons. This is the exact opposite.
28 (27)		26-39	Even a healthy Derek Lee might not have been enough to keep the Cubs in the realm of respectability. Their team slugging percentage is the lowest in the majors at .385.
29 (29)		26-41	Freddy Sanchez is second in the league in hitting (.344-4-34), yet nobody seems to have noticed.
30 (30)		17-47	KC has a team batting average of .257. Their winning percentage is only 9 points higher.