MLB Power Rankings- Week 10 06/03/08

Ahh June …You get summer, sun, drinks with umbrellas, bikinis, and baseball in full swing ... well unless you live in Kansas City, then you get the summer wheat harvest. It’s going to be an even hotter summer in Chi-town this year, as the Cubbies are sizzling and the town is a buzz of World Series anticipation. I guess we won’t tell them that Ted Lilly or Ryan Dempster will be starting their first playoff road game … we’ll let them have their dreams.
Other things to watch this week:
- The Amatuer Player Draft!!! Who will be the next foreign 19-year old going on 28 or domestic born drug addled teen to lift your team to a new high (pun intended!)?!?!?
- Joba starts!!! Oh my god Joba ruuuuuuuules … watch his 6 IP of dominance this week you won’t regret it, but you probably will because Steve Phillips will most likely be talking in between pitches. And who the hell is going to pitch the 8th to get to Mo if it's close?!?!?

1.
Chicago Cubs 36-21 (4)
-(7-0) The Cubs have the best record in baseball on June 1st. You know when that last happened? You guessed it, 1908, also known for being the last season that the Cubs won the World Series. Interesting … is this the year that the 100-year curse might be broken?!? The Cubs are a ridiculous 26-8, so they’ll have to see if they can keep rolling on the road as 13 of their next 16 are on the road.

2.
Tampa Bay Rays 35-22 (2)
-(5-2) The Rays have been atop the AL East for 20 days now. I wonder when the locusts will swarm and is it really becoming the end of days? Scott Kazmir had an incredible month of May, winning his final 5 decisions to go along with an ERA of 1.22.

3.
Boston Red Sox 35-24 (3)
-(4-2) The Sox ended the week by putting the Orioles in their place after 2 tough 1-run losses to the Mariners (Timlin blew one, Bedard threw a gem in the other). But the Sox got 2 more wins from Bartolo Colon, who's making Theo look like genius for signing him to a minor-league deal before the season. The big question though, is how long will David Ortiz be out? The big fella was just finishing off a terrific May (.318, 8 HR, 22 RBI, 1.026 OPS) and looked more like the Big Papi the Fenway Faithful know and love before hearing a pop in his wrist. And I'm not a doctor, but any wrist injury can be fatal for a hitter, so we'll have to wait and see how this plays out.

4.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 34-24 (5)
-(4-2) Four walk-off victories during the week have the Angels rolling right along. As long as the pitching staff continues to carry the load the Angels will remain high on the power rankings every week.

5.
Arizona Diamondbacks 32-25 (1)
-(2-5) Eric Byrnes spent the week getting rubs from chiropractors and pricks from acupuncturists…anything to rehab his two strained hamstrings. He’s probably relaxing by the pool eating ice cream getting fat, so I doubt he’s going to be able to help the D-Backs anytime soon, and forget any SBs for your fantasy team.

6.
St. Louis Cardinals 34-24 (6)
-(4-2) Braden Looper has a 5.03 ERA but leads the team in wins (7)! The Cards are now 2.5 games behind the red-hot Cubbies, but a series this coming week against the Nats should keep the Cards right in the mix for the lead in the NL Central. If the Cards don’t win this upcoming series against the Nationals then I’ll either eat my face or vote for Hillary. You pick.

7.
Philadelphia Phillies 33-25 (9)
-(5-1) Chase Utley has started to roll again, leading the majors in home runs. Brett Myers finally woke up during the end of May. If the Phillies want to continue to lead the division, Myers needs to play a major part of that.

8.
Chicago White Sox 30-26 (8)
-(3-4) Four reasons why the White Sox are still in first place on June 1st : John Danks, Jose Contreras, Gavin Floyd, and Javier Vazquez all have ERAs below 4. Three Reasons why they’re only up by 1 game: Paul Konerko, Jim Thome and Nick Swisher have a combined .207 batting average.

9.
Florida Marlins 31-24 (7)
-(2-4) This week, the Marlins fell to 2nd place in the NL East behind the Phillies, but that may not last long. I’m not saying the Marlins are going to win the NL East this year, but I am saying that this young team is talented enough to keep it interesting until at least the All-Star Break. The Mets and Braves will catch the Marlins before long and, combined with the AL, help make the east coast where it is to watch the most exciting baseball this summer (although please ignore all Nationals and Orioles games).

10.
New York Mets 28-27 (16)
-(5-2) Nice bounce-back week, led by two great Johan Santana starts. He’s looking like the ace the Mets paid for, and they have Pedro Martinez coming off the DL this week, so if he has anything left, the Mets should make a run. But what really carried the Mets was the top of the order (Reyes, Castillo, Wright & Beltran); they combined to hit .362 over the past week with 9 HRs, 20 RBIs, 29 runs, 8 doubles and 6 SBs. When you get that kind of production, 1 thru 4, it’s pretty tough to lose.

11.
Toronto Blue Jays 31-28 (13)
-(4-3) What would have been a phenomenal week was somewhat dampened when closer BJ Ryan blew a save on Sunday night. Is it time to panic??!?!? I don’t think so, it’s just a bit of overuse by the manager. He pitched in 12 games in May recording 10 saves and a win. He’ll have his bumps, but as long as he remains healthy Ryan can be an elite closer, and the Jays desperately need him to hold up as Jeremy Accardo is on the shelf.

12.
New York Yankees 28-28 (14)
-(3-3) The Yankees pitching staff has thus far issued more walks and less strikeouts than the Kansas City Royals. The offense is also sporting an OBP less than that of the Rays. All this topped with injury and they are still hovering around .500 only 4 games back of the Sox in the L column. This team can grind the regular season, and they will be in the thick of things come September. Also, let's all pray that Giambi convinces more MLB players to bring back the mustache look ...,it makes the games oh so much more enjoyable for me.

13.
Oakland Athletics 30-27 (12)
-(2-4) Yes, Eric Chavez is back and still overrated. Carlos Gonzalez has 4 hits, all doubles, since being called up last week. The A’s swept Boston then they went and lost two series in a row to Toronto and Texas. This team is consistent … (12 second pause)… NOOOOT!

14.
Atlanta Braves 29-28 (11)
-(1-5) Even Mark Teixeira’s monster week (.333, 3 HR, 13 RBI) couldn’t save the Braves on the road, as their road woes continued against teams that were struggling (although they did run into the wrecking ball known as Jay Bruce in Cincinnati). Losing so many close games makes you wonder how badly this team needs John Smoltz to return to shore up the bullpen.

15.
Houston Astros 30-28 (10)
-(1-5) Well so much for that hot start in May as this week the Astros looked as pretty as a bloody hemorrhoid on a crap matted Baboon butt. What can you expect as they only scored six runs in their five losses? The culprits; Michael Bourn & Kaz Matsui. They bat one and two in the lineup and have a .214 and .259 AVG. Set the table so the big dogs (Tejada/Berkman) can eat!!

16.
Texas Rangers 29-29 (17)
-(3-3) If you haven’t yet voted for Josh Hamilton for the All-Star game please do so. Vicente Padilla, 4-0 in May, has left the team to attend to a family emergency in Nicaragua... Seriously... I'm not making this up.

17.
Minnesota Twins 29-27 (18)
-(4-2) The Twins continue to get ridiculous performance from their bullpen - the team should have their GM teach a bullpen-building clinic to make some money, because this franchise is like that friend who's always out of money. Seriously, if the Twins scouting & player development was used by a team that has some money, it would be over for the rest of the league; I mean, this team let Torii Hunter walk and traded away Johan Santana because of money and they're right in the thick of things in the AL Central.

18.
Los Angeles Dodgers 27-29 (15)
-(1-6) “There is no place like home! There is no place like home! There is no place like home!” Just a guess as to what Joe Torre is saying after his team lost 6 of 7 games on their recent road trip. Take them away from Chavez Ravine and they look like the Giants, Padres or Rockies.

19.
Cincinnati Reds 28-29 (22)
-(5-1) Jay Bruce blah blah blah Jay Bruce blah sensational blah blah rookie blah blah real patient blah blah blah. It’s great that everyone (ESPN) wants to talk about the rook's one week rise to stardom, but it’s the veterans that need to anchor a team. What good is it to have a rookie spark plug when your team Ace (Harang) gets his ass handed to him by the Pirates and is sitting at 2-7?

20.
Milwaukee Brewers 29-28 (23)
-(6-1) Now that they have a reliable guy pitching at the back end of the lineup, the Brew Crew starting playing as they were expected to. Since becoming the closer, Salomon Torres (at $3.3M/year) is 1-0 with 4 saves in 4.1 innings in which he has not allowed a run, walked a batter and has only allowed one hit. Eric Gagne’s totals from May (at $10M/year): 0-1, 2 saves, 9.45 ERA and 3.00 WHIP in 6.2 innings. Can we officially declare the Eric Gagne signing the worst signing of the offseason? Or of the last decade maybe?

21.
Cleveland Indians 25-31 (19)
-(2-4) Cliff F’n Lee…that’s what you’re saying every time you look at that guy who is in first in your fantasy league. He’s also the reason the Tribe are in the realm of respectability right now. He pitched the Indians to two wins this week, but here’s something all us fantasy players looking up in the standings should relish, and all Cleveland fans should fear. Cliff Lee has a career 2.72 ERA in April and an abysmal 4.71 after that.

22.
Baltimore Orioles 26-29 (20)
-(2-4) All of the “Playa Hatin” that we do on the Orioles is making me start to feel bad for the team honestly. The best hitter on the team (stats wise) is Aubrey Huff … I wonder if the Orioles fans know that they could have easily brought in and developed more talented players than the Rays if everything was done right these past 3-4 years? Well anyway, they’ll continue their downward spiral in the AL East which they will be referred to as “the team formally known as the Baltimore Orioles”.

23.
Pittsburgh Pirates 26-29 (21)
-(2-4) My poor Pirates are beginning their steep decline too soon. How am I going to write about the Pirates for another 4 months if all they do is lose? I was praying for a miracle .500 season but now I’ll settle for 75 wins at this point. (Note: I hold the write to dramatically reduce the amount of wins I think the Pirates will have this year. Why? Because mega suckage is hard to predict), In more enjoyable news… Jason Bay from “06” showed up in the Delorean this week. Special thanks to Doc Brown for finally fixing the flux capacitor.

24.
Detroit Tigers 24-32 (25)
-(3-3) Magglio Ordonez is good, and well, uhm, Todd Jones writes decent articles for Sporting News, but that’s all I have to say about that. Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates, sometimes you get a nice wrapped up gift of delicious sweet stuff and sometimes you get a nice box with a bunch of melted crap … and that’s all I have to say about that.

25.
San Francisco Giants 24-33 (27)
-(4-2) I’m telling you this team doesn’t bore me! Backhanded compliment, you say? I say every Giants fan would disagree. I mean you lost your supposed face of the franchise (Bonds), your GM makes the worst signing in MLB history (Zito), and your big bat is a Molina brother (the one named after the dog that fought a mountain lion), and yet you come through with a great signing (Rowand) and your pitching (Cain/Lincecum) is electric. This team has 2010 written all over it (until then I will bash them relentlessly, so eat it up now Giants fans). (Also, I officially set the record for parentheses in a power ranking write up!)

26.
Washington Nationals 24-34 (26)
-(2-5) Current Nationals on the DL- Chad Cordero, Austin Kearns, Nick Johnson, Paul Lo Duca, Johnny Estrada, Shawn Hill, Ronnie Belliard, and soon to be Ryan Zimmerman. AAA Columbus is now playing at a brand new ballpark in the nation's capital.

27.
San Diego Padres 23-35 (29)
-(4-2) Trevor Hoffman started off his June very poorly with a terrible blown save against the Giants, which was very reminiscent of his blown save in the playoff game last year. He was coming off a terrific May (2.00 ERA, 6-for-6 in saves, 14 Ks in 9 IP) but he really showed his age on Sunday. You have to wonder how long they can keep going with Hoffman when set-up man Heath Bell has been pitching lights-out.
Oh yeah, and their offense still blows goats.

28.
Seattle Mariners 21-35 (30)
-(3-3) Eric Bedard and Felix Hernandez each had phenomenal starts this past week (7 shutout innings of 2-hit ball from each), explaining why some “experts” (ahem, us) made pre-season predictions that they would take the division from the Angels this year. While the Mariners have a ways to go, if Bedard & King Felix can pitch like that more often, the M’s could climb in the standings very quickly.

29.
Kansas City Royals 23-34 (28)
-(2-5) Well, a 12 game losing streak will certainly drain your team's morale. Also having four different shortstops play in four games will drain your team's faith in the organizational development. And just two weeks ago things were going so swimmingly. Shucks.

30.
Colorado Rockies 20-37 (24)
(0-7) Did this team really represent the NL in the World Series last year? I understand how difficult it is to repeat that feat when so many key players end up on the DL but the unluckiness of the Rockies this season is ridiculous. If you thought Jeremy Bentham was dead then you haven’t seen the Rockies’ injury report lately.

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