The first football game of the season has been played, which means less and less people are paying attention to baseball. However, the playoff races are still tight. The Dodgers remain a complete enigma, always seeming to be somewhere in the middle of either a winning or losing streak. The A’s have gotten hot and they appear to be on the verge of playing .800 ball for the rest of the season. And the Red Sox have relinquished their lead in the AL East, and the Yankees don’t appear ready to give it back up.
For the news on the rest of the league, keep on reading.
Rank (Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1 (1) |  |
76-38 | With Liriano sidelined with elbow pain, and Papelbon’s recent stumbles, Justin Verlander looks like the frontrunner for both Rookie of the Year and Cy Young. He leads the AL in wins (14) and is second in ERA (2.79). |
| 2 (3) |  |
69-44 | Carlos Beltran is putting up MVP numbers, but he might lose a few votes to teammates like Wright (.930 OPS, 22 HR, 85 RBI), Delgado (.873 OPS, 26 HR), and Reyes (.350 OBP, 13 3B, 48 SB). |
| 3 (4) |  |
67-43 | Since becoming a Yankee, Abreu has hit over .400 with an OPS over 1.000, leading the Yankees to win six out of their last 8 games and pull into a three game lead over the Red Sox. |
| 4 (5) |  |
67-46 | Justin Morneau has exploded as of late, hitting .385 with 12 HR and 28 RBI since the All-Star break. Unfortunatly, he’s in an MVP shootout with bigger name stars like David Ortiz, Derek Jeter, Jim Thome, and Vernon Wells. Morneau ranks 9th in the AL in hitting (.322), 7th in HR (30), and 2nd in RBI (101). |
| 5 (6) |  |
66-46 | One reason for the continually rising Chicago ERAs could be tiring arms. Last year the White Sox had four pitchers with over 200 innings pitched, who also combined for another 97+ during the playoffs. It reminds me a bit of the 2001 Seattle Mariners who had all five starters throw 200+ innings. In 2002 and 2003, with nearly the same pitching staff, the Mariners failed to make the playoffs. |
| 6 (2) |  |
65-47 | Although Boston has looked solid for most of the season, they were never able to shake the Yankees, and now, after losing 9 out of their last 13 games (including games to KC, Tampa Bay, and Cleveland) they’re looking at an off-season that will begin about a month earlier than they’d like. After looking phenomenal for most of the season, Papelbon has now blown five saves since the beginning of June. |
| 7 (9) |  |
62-52 | In Moneyball Billy Beane made a comment that the A’s played like a different team after the All-Star Break because typically they were completely different teams, yet this year no deadline deals were made and the A’s are still playing like a whole new team. They’ve gone 17-9 since the All-Star break. |
| 8 (7) |  |
62-52 | Chris Carpenter had been the rock of a St. Louis staff full of problems. That is until July ended. In two August starts he has an ERA of almost 7 and he has given up four homeruns. |
| 9 (8) |  |
60-54 | Barring massive meltdowns by several teams, Toronto has fallen out of the playoff picture. The Jays are nine games back of the division leading Yankees and 7.5 games back in the Wild Card. |
| 10 (12) |  |
59-55 | Rookie phenom Jered Weaver is showing a talent that big brother Jeff never did. In eight major league seasons, the elder Weaver has only once finished a season with a record over .500 (14-11 in ’05). The younger Weaver is 7-0 with a 2.08 ERA. |
| 11 (11) |  |
59-56 | Ryan Freel has emerged as one of the exciting players in the game. The 30-year old utility man is hitting .294 with a .386 on-base percentage and 24 stolen bases. To top off his statistical numbers he’s also the proud owner of two of the most amzing catches of the entire season. |
| 12 (18) |  |
58-56 | Greg Maddux is looking to do something that no pitcher has done in the past 10 years. No deadline-trade pitcher has won a postseason start since 1995. He has the streaking Dodgers aimed toward the playoffs again. |
| 13 (10) |  |
58-56 | The San Diego Padres have one of the youngest infields in baseball with Adrian Gonzalez (1B, 24), Josh Barfield (2B, 23), and Khalil Greene (SS, 26). |
| 14 (13) |  |
57-58 | Adam Eaton has returned from the disabled list with hopes of aiding the ailing Rangers pitching staff, but in his third start of the season he lasted only 2/3 of an inning. He was ejected for throwing at batters after giving up a couple runs. Eaton maintains that he has only intentionally thrown at one batter in his career, and that was in A ball. |
| 15 (14) |  |
58-56 | The Diamondbacks acquired Livan Hernandez for their stretch run. Although he has been mostly unimpressive this season, his postseason numbers have been solid: 6-2 with a 3.99 ERA. |
| 16 (15) |  |
56-58 | It seems every time the Mariners pull within striking distance of the AL West lead they run into the Oakland Athletics. The M’s had won 8 out of their last 11 games and pulled to within 3.5 games of the A’s going into a weekend series with the division leader. They proceeded to get swept and stretch their losing streak against Oakland to 12 games. Seattle swept Tampa Bay in their next series, but the damage was done. |
| 17 (16) |  |
54-60 | Shea Hillenbrand has been ineffective since arriving in the Bay Area. The well-known free swinger is hitting .258 with an on-base percentage only 11 points higher. |
| 18 (17) |  |
55-58 | Just out of curiousity I took a look at Koby Clemens’ stats. Rocket’s son is only hitting .238 with 5 HR in 69 games at A League Lexington. |
| 19 (20) |  |
55-58 | We’re going streaking! Chase Utley counter: 2. I had high hopes of being able to say that the Phillies 2B had surpassed the 40 consecutive games streak, but instead all I can say is that he’s is back to square one and still 54 games away from Joltin’ Joe. If nothing else, Utley’s streak should give tangible evidence of how hard it would be for anybody to ever hit .400 again. During Utley’s 35 game hitting streak he hit .405. |
| 20 (19) |  |
52-61 | Although Leo Mazzone hasn’t brought instant success to the Orioles pitching staff, his absence in Atlanta has left their staff in tatters. Last year the Braves team ERA was 3.98. This year it is 4.77. |
| 21 (21) |  |
55-58 | Jeff Cirillo complains about soggy balls, but Matt Holiday doesn’t seem to have noticed. The All-Star outfielder has an OPS of 1.021 at Coors Field. |
| 22 (22) |  |
54-60 | Bill Hall leads all shortstops with 25 homeruns and 4th in OPS at .890. Former MVP Miguel Tejada is 2nd in HR amongst shortstops with 20. |
| 23 (23) |  |
52-61 | Joe Girardi should win the NL Manager of the Year with the work he’s done with Florida. The Marlins are only 6 games back in the wild card race, and, as if it hasn’t been mentioned enough already, the Marlins have the lowest payroll in baseball at $15 million. |
| 24 (24) |  |
48-64 | Aaron Boone is one of only four trade-deadline players to have hit a playoff homerun over the past five years. With all the trades the Indians have made with older veterans leading up to the deadline this season, it wouldn’t surprise me if he might clear waivers and get traded. |
| 25 (25) |  |
51-64 | Before this season, pitchers who had worked under Leo Mazzone’s tutelage have lowered their ERAs by .60 points. However, this year, the Orioles team ERA has gone the other direction, up about .75 from last years 4.56. |
| 26 (26) |  |
50-63 | Last year Ryan Church showed a ton of potential as a 26-year old centerfielder, but this year he hasn’t developed that way. Church is hitting .250 with 21 RBI. He only hit .246 at Triple-A New Orleans. |
| 27 (27) |  |
47-68 | Aside from his on-field qualites Rocco Baldelli also carves styrofoam cups into the liknesses of his teammates. Which is more important than you could possibly imagine. |
| 28 (28) |  |
48-66 | Aramis Ramirez is one of the few bright spots on the Cubs, offensively. The third-basemen is hitting .279 with 27 HR and 79 RBI. |
| 29 (29) |  |
42-72 | Despite having All-Stars Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez, the Pirates have scored the 2nd fewest runs in baseball. Only the Cubs have scored less. |
| 30 (30) |  |
40-73 | The Royals are playing the role of spoilers for the Boston Red Sox, sweeping the three game series. |
10 replies on “MLB Power Rankings for August 10th- 2006”
the royals should be #1! sox are goin through a rough stretch… but did I not say many times earlier in the season that Papelbon WOULD be a bust and burn out after the all star break??
Paps Ok, if you call having 30 saves and an ERA of 0.94 busting that is crazy, even though he has blown a couple with his team sucking. It is not all Pap’s fault and he is still one of the top 3 closers in the bigs
no, see you are misreading… i didn’t say the SEASON will be a bust for papelbon… i said he will be a bust AFTER the all star break. it is now august 11th, after the all star break, and he is nothing like his early form and i personally don’t think he has pitched much better then that indians pitcher who sucked so much last week.
rumor girardi got fired on sunday? and they marlins owner had a press conference set up but he re-considered and re-hired girardi before the conference was able to be held. i guess joe and the owner don’t along well from what i read… but you are correct, he should still win manager of the year.
Papelbon Papelbon is just dealing with the fatigue that happens with most rookies- most rookies have never pitched as many games before and they seem to develop a little bit of dead arm. Verlander is getting it a little, obviously Liriano has suffered the effects, and if you remember a few years ago, Dontrelle Willis had the same issue.
Girardi I hadn’t heard that rumor. If its accurate, I would bet it was nothing more than a petty personal grudge on the part of the owner. Real stupid because Girardi could have thrown in the towel a long time ago.
yea ill have to see if i can find anything on it for you.
Girardi I finally heard the details of the argument you mentioned, cernig. Apparently the owner, (whose name eludes me right now), was yelling at the umpire during a game regarding balls and strikes. Girardi told him to stop, a swearing match ensued. The owner then scheduled a press conference to announce that Girardi had been fired. The two had a closed doors meeting and made up.
In light of this situation you’ve brought to my attention I will definitely use next week’s power rankings to berate (Marlins Owner) Jeffrey Loria… that’s his name… I just remembered… on a completely unrelated subject. Stay tuned.
haha ok looking foward to it.
oh okay