Here are the power rankings after another week in the MLB. Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcome.
Rank(Pv) |
Team |
Record |
Comments |
| 1(1) |  |
73-39 | El Duque pitched fairly well in his first game back at Yankee Stadium (even though he lost), but the highlight of that game for me was the two spectacular catches made in the first inning by Aaron Rowand. The back to back robbing of Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano prompted Ozzie Guillen to call Rowand a Gold Glove candidate. |
| 2(2) |  |
72-41 | As if the Cardinals even needed to get any better, they called up top pitching prospect Anthony Reyes for last night’s game who allowed just two hits and a walk (which resulted in two earned runs) in 6 1/3 innings pitched for his first career win against the Brewers. |
| 3(4) |  |
64-47 | Does it say in Billy Beane’s book why the A’s are so great in the second half? Maybe this year they can finally carry it over to the playoffs. |
| 4(5) |  |
64-47 | Terry Francona said that Keith Foulke isn’t ready to return any time soon, although he threw 25 pitches off a mound for the first time since surgery. Perhaps that isn’t such a bad thing for the Red Sox. |
| 5(3) |  |
65-48 | Jeff Francoeur has continued to be phenomenal for the Braves. If you want to find one problem with the guy who’s hitting .403, look at how often he’s walked. As in not at all. Zero walks. |
| 6(6) |  |
61-45 | Vlad had a rough July, hitting .208, but he’s started off well this month with a .409 average. |
| 7(9) |  |
60-52 | Ozzie Guillen said last week that he felt the Indians were a better team than the Yankees right now, and I’m inclined to agree with him. |
| 8(8) |  |
60-51 | Three of the five pitchers that started the year on the Yankee’s staff are currently on the DL, plus Chien-Ming Wang. Randy Johnson is missing his next start. Yet still we will not see Hideo Nomo in pinstripes, a sight I will find more than just a little bit funny. |
| 9(7) |  |
60-52 | Willy Taveras might be the only player who can compete with Jeff Francoeur for NL Rookie of the Year, but as admirable as it is to lead rookies in infield hits and bunt singles I don’t think those categories are helping his cause. To be fair, he does lead all rookies in hits and steals as well. |
| 10(12) |  |
58-54 | Philadelphia has been ridiculously inconsistent so far. It was only a few weeks ago I was being asked to put them in last for having no heart, but it seems like they’ve managed to find one and now trail Houston by only 1.5 games for the NL Wild Card. |
| 11(10) |  |
58-54 | Early in the season, people were saying to wait for the second half and that Dontrelle Willies would tail off. Well, the second half is here and he’s still pretty darn good. |
| 12(14) |  |
57-54 | The Mets are still within decent range of the NL Wild Card, but I don’t think they can do it with the team they have right now. They’re going to have to make some sort of transaction to leapfrog the teams ahead of them, including two from their own division. |
| 13(11) |  |
57-55 | Good news for Toronto: Roy Halladay will be back for next week’s series against either the Angels or Tigers. |
| 14(13) |  |
59-53 | Washington is already slumping horribly, and now Jose Guillen is banged up. To look at the bright side, even if they post a poor record the rest of the way they’ve still exceeded most expectations. |
| 15(20) |  |
56-55 | Brian Giles has been really good for the Padres this year. He’s still not quite worth Jason Bay and Oliver Perez, but he’s doing his best to try to justify that trade with the fourth best OBP in the NL (.419) and the most walks (87). |
| 16(17) |  |
57-55 | On one hand, you can use the Twins recent slump as evidence that they should’ve made some move at the deadline. On the other, you can assume that nothing could’ve been done to make the playoffs this year that would’ve been worth it in the long run. I’m going to go with the latter opinion. |
| 17(16) |  |
56-55 | Kenny Rogers is expected back tonight, too bad the Rangers are pretty much out of the playoff race now. |
| 18(18) |  |
56-58 | As a small market fan, I’d love to see the Brewers finish above .500, but this isn’t really the year to get excited about Milwaukee. If they can keep this team together for a few years though, watch out. |
| 19(19) |  |
52-56 | With a win against the Astros last Thursday, Brad Halsey extended his unbeaten streak to seven games. |
| 20(22) |  |
50-55 | Perhaps expectations for this year’s Tigers were a bit too high. They’re still – to this point – improving over last season. It’s very difficult for a team to go from pitiful to above .500 in just three years, I don’t care how much talent you add. |
| 21(20) |  |
54-59 | Hey, the Cubs are actually doing something right with their pitchers for a change! When they feel they’re out of the playoff race, Kerry Wood will be shut down. |
| 22(21) |  |
51-55 | The Lee Mazzilli firing came as a bit of a surprise, but it was clearly deserved. For whatever reason, the team just can’t win anymore and Mazzilli obviously couldn’t figure what, exactly, that reason was. |
| 23(23) |  |
51-62 | Cincinnati hitters lead the league in home runs and total bases, now if they could just find some pitching besides Eric “Moonshot” Milton. |
| 24(24) |  |
50-62 | Jeff Kent reached his ninth consecutive season with 20+ home runs last weeks, a record for second basemen. |
| 25(27) |  |
48-63 | Felipe Alou is completely overreacting to radio host Larry Krueger’s comments. Krueger could have been a little more politically correct, but if what he said is the worst thing Felipe has heard since John Rocker than I’d say Felipe’s pretty lucky. |
| 26(25) |  |
48-63 | Chris Snelling hit his first MLB home run since May 2002 and second career Monday against the Twins, and I am demanding to see this guy’s test results. I mean, all of a sudden he just doubles his career home run total in one game and we’re supposed to look the other way? Outrageous. |
| 27(26) |  |
47-65 | You know, the Pirates started the season with Ty Wigginton at third, then Mackowiak took over and now Sanchez is playing the hot corner. Each time it’s been an upgrade. Pittsburgh also went from Tike Redman to Chris Duffy in centerfield, another nice improvement. |
| 28(29) |  |
43-70 | Colorado swept the Marlins last week and had won two (two!) games in a row until they ran into the Pirates juggernaut and were destroyed 12-4. |
| 29(28) |  |
43-70 | Don’t mess with Casey Fossum, he’s hit batters in 10 straight starts. |
| 30(30) |  |
38-73 | This is the first time I’ve sat down to do the power rankings, glanced at the standings and seen a team winless in their last ten games. Yeah, so the Royals aren’t that good. |