MLB Power Rankings for May 1- 2007

There’s been a lot of moving and shaking this week in the Power Rankings. The Yankees continue to slide, while the Brewers, Indians, and Diamondbacks have gained a lot of ground.

It seemed everybody was jumping on the Giants bandwagon, after they won eight games in a row, but now they’ve lost three out of their last four and finish the month two games over .500.

Another team that’s showing impressive improvement is the Pirates, who are currently at .500. Last year at this point they were 7-20.

Rank (Pv)	Team	Record	Comments
1 (2)		16-8	After last year’s back-breaking five-game sweep by the Yankees at Fenway, the Red Sox are looking for revenge. So far, they’ve won five of six from the hated rivals.
2 (1)		15-9	One of the impressive things about the Mets success is that they’re doing it, despite David Wright’s non-existent production. After the All-Star break last year Wright’s numbers fell dramatically (only six HR in 242 at-bats), and the slide has continued into this year. He has just six RBI and is yet to hit a homerun.
3 (4)		16-9	Tim Hudson has been a maniac on the mound. Coming off his first season ever with double-digit losses, he’s been near unhittable. He is 3-0, with a league-best 1.22 ERA, while holding opponents to a feeble .192 average.
4 (3)		15-11	Last year the Dodgers were a playoff team, despite hitting fewer homeruns than all but one National League team (Pittsburgh). So far this season they’ve hit 14 roundtrippers, good for third worst in the league (behind Washington and Colorado).
5 (11)		16-9	Finally some love for the Crew! Owners of the top spot in the NL Central and more importantly, taking the five spot in the Power Rankings.
6 (13)		14-8	One of the biggest stories for the Indians in the off-season was Jhonny Peralta’s vision. It seemed part of the reason for his hitting woes last year was bad vision, which was corrected by Lasik eye surgery. The Tribe was hoping he’d return to his 2005 form, when he hit 24 homeruns, but so far, the results have been mixed. He’s shown good power, hitting four homeruns and knocking in 14 runs, but his average is just .227, and his on-base percentage .330.
7 (6)		14-11	The Tigers young pitching staff doesn’t seem to have been affected by the extra innings of the playoff run last year. Bonderman (24) has an ERA of 3.18, although amazingly has yet to record a decision; Robertson (29) has the best ERA on the starting staff, 2.43; and last year’s Rookie of the Year Verlander (24) looks every bit as good as he did last year with a 2.79 ERA.
8 (8)		14-11	Ramon Ortiz and Carlos Silva are both making a solid push for the position of Santana’s wingman. Ortiz has the best ERA on the starting staff (2.97) and Silva, who gave up a league-high 38 homeruns last year, is checking in at a solid 3.10.
9 (10)		15-11	The Angels are an odd team. They have the best home record in baseball (11-3), but the worst road record (3-8).
10 (18)		16-11	With Randy Johnson’s return to the active roster, the Diamondbacks are the only team in baseball with two Cy Young winners (Johnson and Brandon Webb). The Mets will join that club when Pedro Martinez comes off the DL (Martinez and Tom Glavine).
11 (5)		9-14	George Steinbrenner has famously said that winning comes second only to breathing. This current stretch has got to have all Yankees fans gasping for air. They find themselves 6.5 games out of first place, and all by themselves in the AL East cellar. The last time the Yankees finished the season in last place was 1990, and the franchise has only done it four times in its existence (1990 and 1966 as the Yankees; 1912 and 1908 as the Highlanders).
12 (7)		13-13	The move to acquire Chris Young and Adrian Gonzalez has to be one of the best in a long time, unless you happen to be a Texas Ranger fan. The Padres received Young, Gonzalez, and Termel Sledge in exchange for Adam Eaton, Aki Otsuka, and Billy Killian, who is out of baseball.
13 (12)		13-12	The 2007 Blue Jays are very similar to last year’s team. They have a great offense (1st in the league in hitting, 1st in slugging, 1st in OPS), but their pitching is middle of the road (6th in ERA, 8th in quality starts), and they have to play a large portion of their games against tough AL East opponents like Boston and New York.
14 (9)		12-13	Esteban Loaiza, the Athletics’ highest paid pitcher, is still about a month away from playing.
15 (16)		12-11	The Chicago White Sox are one of just four MLB teams that have played as their current name since at least 1901. The others are the Tigers, Pirates, and Cardinals.
16 (15)		11-14	The Philadelphia bullpen is a confused mess right now. Brett Myers, Tom Gordon, and Antonio Alfonseca have all been jumbled around as closers and setup-men. Unlike most successful bullpens, such as the famed Nasty Boys of the early `90s, the Phillies’ relievers don’t seem to have defined roles.
17 (14)		10-14	Wrigley Field is currently the most neutral park in the league, with a park factor of 1.002.
18 (20)		10-10	Jeff Weaver’s number hadn’t been very good for his first three starts, but his fourth start was monumentally bad. In one-third of an inning he allowed seven hits, a walk, and six runs, all earned, en route to his fourth consecutive loss. His ERA ballooned to 18.26. The “Fire Bill Bavasi” campaign rolls on.
19 (23)		13-11	Top to bottom, the Giants starting rotation might be the most solid in baseball. Matt Cain has been filthy, notching an ERA of 1.54 and holding opponents to an average barely over .100. Matt Morris and Noah Lowry have ERAs in the 3.30 range, and the $126 million man is 2-3 with a 3.73 ERA.
20 (17)		10-14	Sports Illustrated ranked Brad Ausmus as the least valuable offensive starter in baseball (318th in player value rankings). Ausmus has three gold gloves to his credit, including one in 2006, but he’s not much with the stick. In 15 Major League seasons he’s hit only 73 homeruns.
21 (19)		10-14	Josh Hancock’s tragic death reminds us of the fragility of life and puts into perspective that baseball is really nothing more than a game in the grand scheme of things. Our thoughts are with him and his family.
22 (22)		12-13	It’s amazing that Josh Hamilton is still as good as he is. Spending the last five years in and out of baseball and drugs, you’d think his skills would be severely diminished, but the former #1 pick is tied for the team lead in HR with six. Adam Dunn also has six, in 20 more at-bats.
23 (24)		12-13	The Fish have an amazing team OPS of .828, tops in the Majors. Miguel Cabrera, Hanley Ramirez, Mike Jacobs, and Cody Ross are all above .900.
24 (28)		12-12	Although it’s still too early to talk about the Pirates hanging in the playoff chase, they are a considerably improved team. At this point last year, they were already 13 games under .500.
25 (21)		10-15	Texas has the worst starting pitching in the league, with an aggregate ERA of 6.26, about two earned runs per game higher than the league average.
26 (25)		11-14	The Rays are not in last place! However, Saint Petersburg hasn’t seemed to notice. Tampa Bay’s home attendance averages only 17,784- about 500 people per game less than the next lowest team, the Marlins.
27 (26)		12-14	O’s bats struggling: With the exception of Tejada, the Orioles aren’t getting consistent offensive production. Kevin Millar, Paul Bako, Corey Patterson, Aubrey Huff, and Nick Markakis have all played in at least 17 games and are all hitting under .240. Jay Gibbons, who hit 39 homeruns over the last two years is hitting just .197 with one homerun.
28 (27)		10-16	Right now, the Rockies are the best defensive team in the league, with only nine errors in 25 games. They have a collective fielding percentage of .991.
29 (29)		9-17	The Nationals lead the league in errors, with 25, averaging about one per game.
30 (30)		8-18	The Royals seem to be deficient in every offensive category, except getting hit by the pitch. They’ve been plunked 20 times, tops in the Majors.