MLB Power Rankings- Week 14 06/30/08

MLB Power Rankings- Week 14 06/30/08

We're about halfway through the summer classic and there are some major surprises and disappointments as the All-Star break nears. Who would have guessed that Tampa Bay only needed to change their name to the Rays in order to compete in the AL East (Someone should tell the Orioles and Jays that birds are no longer hip.) The Cubbies had a tough week with their crosstown rivals but are still in control of the NL Central. Let's also not forget about the quiet Twinkies who have been stringing together a couple of decent weeks here and in turn have put together a solid first half performance. At the bottom of the barrel we have major disappointments from the Rockies, the Tigers (who are creeping back), Indians, Padres, and Mariners. One can either hold their breath in anticipation to see what these teams will do as the trade deadline quickly approaches or watch the WNBA on Tuesday nights... Yeah like the latter will happen.

1.
Tampa Bay Rays 49-32 (4)
-(5-1) Evan Longoria more than lived up to the hype this past week (.433, 3 HR, 10 RBI) and led the Rays to another solid week to help them capture 1st in the AL East, without a doubt the latest in a season they've been playing this well. And with their strong pitching staff, the Rays may not have the eventual fade that everyone in baseball keeps expecting.

2.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 49-33 (2)
-(3-3) Jered Weaver and Jose Arrendondo combined for an 8-inning no-hitter. What happened to the 9th, you ask? They didn't have to pitch, because they were losing 1-0. The rarest of the rare - the no-hitter in a loss. Walks & errors will kill you - Jered Weaver learned that the hard way.

3.
Boston Red Sox 50-34 (3)
-(3-3) Pedroia has been blistering hot (19 for his last 32) to bring his season average back over .300. The Sox lost 3 one-run games this past week, and Okajima has been culprit numero uno, pitching extremely terrible of late. The Sox have a huge week coming, with 7 on a road versus the 1st place Rays and always lurking Yankees.

4.
Chicago Cubs 49-33 (1)
-(1-5) Well this team certainly took the week off. How exactly does this team drop two at home to Baltimore? We can understand the woefulness on the road (16-23 on the road after all), but you have to take care of the O’s at home. My guess is the bullpen is unable to handle its heavy load (19.5 IP this week). The starters have to be able to give them deeper outings, but at least this is encouraging news…“I guess ‘Z’ is back. I’m ready to rock and roll and get back to doing my job.”— Carlos Zambrano

5.
Chicago White Sox 45-35 (6)
-(4-1) How sweet revenge is! Just one week after being swept by cross-town rivals Cubs, the South-Siders broke out the brooms and swept the Cubs at home. One thing for sure is that all baseball fans in Chicago love a good fight in the stands.

6.
St. Louis Cardinals 47-36 (7)
-(3-3) Albert Pujols needs to go and get checked out at the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters to see which ability makes him heal quicker than any other mortal man. Pujols says that it’s his faith that makes him heal, but it’s more than likely the mutant gene.

7.
New York Yankees 44-38 (8)
-(3-3) With Johnny Damon nursing a foot and Hideki Matsui on the DL with a bad knee, the Yankees did not have a great option in LF for most of the week. At least they were tied to have the best hot dogs in baseball. Look out for the debut of Brett Gardner he's got MLB leadoff potential all over him (Minors .286 BAVG with a .402 OBP and 83% success rate on the base paths).
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8.
Minnesota Twins 45-37 (12)
-(5-1) No team is hotter right now than the Minnesota Twins (11-1 in their last 12). They’ve allowed just 25 runs in their last 12 games! The guy who has stepped up is Kevin Slowey, he is currently on scoreless streak of 19 IP, which included a sit down of the first 10 Brewers he faced on Sunday. Timely hitting has also been the key during this hot streak (.371 with runners in scoring position), and has probably been boosted by the mediocrity of the NL, because the Twins are 14-4 in inter league play.

9.
Philadelphia Phillies 44-39 (5)
-(2-4) At just 2-9 in their last 11 games, you think they'd have fallen out of first, but they've been able to hang on as every team in the NL East has been struggling. That's not good for the rest of this division that no one has overtaken them because they are a better team than they've been of late. They apparently just don't like interleague baseball.

10.
Oakland Athletics 44-37 (10)
-(3-3) The A’s have been dominating the interleague rivalry with the Giants winning 8 straight that includes the first game of this past weeks series. In the second game Tim Lincecum beat Justin Duchscherer 1-0, which should be known as the game of really hard last names to spell.

11.
Milwaukee Brewers 44-37 (11)
-(3-3) Ben Sheets is on the top of his game (past month 4 W, 2.68 ERA, 1.08 WHIP), but he couldn’t close out the week as he surrendered 5 runs to Twins, and lost the 5-0 game on Sunday. The pitching has been stable allowing just 5 runs in the three wins this week, but the hitting (Fielder 1-24 7k’s) needs to be more timely.

12.
Arizona Diamondbacks 41-41 (9)
-(2-4) I hate the fact that Micah Owings is beginning to fall apart. With an ERA north of 5 he's killing the D-Backs and my fantasy team. The D-Backs are sitting at .500 and I don't think anyone would have guessed this team would have fallen as fast as they are right now. For the most part this is a young team that caught lighting in a bottle. What goes up must come down. Good thing the rest of the NL West hasn't gone up yet.

13.
Detroit Tigers 41-40 (17)
-(5-1) Good news in Motor City! The Tigers are finally above .500 this season and it only took them 81 games to get there. With Maggs hurt Cabrera is going to have to step it up and continue with this offensive surge as of late to compete for the division. Let's just hope that the Tigers didn't create such a hole at the beginning of the season that they'll be out of gas come September.

14.
Florida Marlins 42-39 (13)
-(2-4) The Marlins were swept by the Rays in the interleague battle of Florida. It seems like the Rays are not going to be going anywhere, and the Marlins are truly the Floridian chum and will soon be sunk behind the Mets and the Phillies in the NL East.

15.
Texas Rangers 42-41 (14)
-(3-3) What can Josh Hamilton not do? After getting hit in the hand and worrying Texas that he'd miss a handful of games, he came back after missing one game to hit 4 for 10 (hitting in each game) in taking two out of three against the Phillies. He might as well burn 'Wonderboy' and a lightning bolt into his bat.

16.
New York Mets 40-41 (16)
-(3-4) The Mets are 0-7 in the last seven starts by Johan Santana, that coupled with the paltry offerings from Pedro, and it’s a surprise this team has actually gained ground in the NL East. The lowlight of the week had to be them being dominated and beaten by Aruba’s favorite son Sidney Ponson, but on the flip side they were able to finally get a great performance out of Oliver Perez. All things considered this team has a lot to work with the rest of the season, and have perhaps they have set themselves up for an inspiring second half.

17.
Atlanta Braves 40-43 (15)
-(2-4) Chipper has missed his 8th consecutive game (and the Braves are 2-10 in games he’s missed), and while he can hit and field he’s reportedly running at 50% speed….that’s like a Molina brother. His return is much needed; because as the Phillies collapse the Braves need to take advantage, but right now they aren’t even playing .500 ball.

18.
Baltimore Orioles 41-39 (18)
-(3-3) The Orioles enjoyed another mediocre week that started off very well taking 2 of 3 from the Cubs on the road. However, it ended on a poor note loosing 2 of 3 from the pathetic Washington Nationals, the final loss coming off of a walk off homer off of closer George Sherrill. The Orioles amazingly finished interleague play with an 11-7 record

19.
Toronto Blue Jays 40-43 (20)
-(4-2) Still below .500 and JP Riccardi still sucks at his job. Honestly, how can the Rays, with such a small payroll, be so competitive and a team like the Blue Jays with a lot of money to spend can't seem to field a competent team year after year. Look no further than the man Riccardi himself.

20.
Cleveland Indians 37-45 (19)
-(2-4) The Indians, as well as the Rockies, have to one of the most disappointing teams in 2008. The Indians seem to suck during even number years. They were good in 05' and 07' but sucked in 06' and 08'. Look for the tribe to come roaring back in 09'. Who knows why? I don't get that hocus pocus stuff. With CC heading to free agency this year look for the Indians to be trading CC in hopes of some decent talent for their farm system.

21.
Los Angeles Dodgers 38-43 (21)
-(3-3) You have to give credit to the Dodgers for winning a game without getting a hit. The Freeway Series delivered that rarity over the weekend, but got shutout and only got 3 hits the next night. Torre might want to schedule some extra BP for this squad before the next game.

22.
Houston Astros 39-43 (23)
-(4-2) A good week for the Stros. They've now taken a series from the Rays, the Rangers, and the Red Sox. The Astros are definitely the best bottom tier team in the league. They may be under .500 but with Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee driving in runs behind Oswalt and (the unpredictable but strangely solid) Wandy Rodriguez the Stros are competitive in any series. Being 10 games behind the Cubs it's safe to say that if they make any moves it will be selling off bigger names.

23.
Pittsburgh Pirates 38-43 (22)
-(2-3) The Pirates had a short week playing only 5 games due to a postponed game at Yankee Stadium. The Bucs are offering free tickets if you sing “take me out to the ballgame.” If you win you really should hope for a game with a worthy opponent,
Pirate games are not that exciting.

24.
Cincinnati Reds 38-45 (24)
-(3-3) Obvious statement #1 - The Reds can seriously hit for power. Obvious statement #2 - The Reds strikeout way too much to be even a decent team. Someone needs to head to Cincinnati and teach these boys how to take a pitch.... or two (Team: 315 BBs - .581 Ks). Also, can someone please let Aaron Harang (18 HRS let up) know that when he leaves the ball up in the zone the ball is going to go very very far...

25.
Kansas City Royals 37-45 (26)
-(4-2) Despite losing 2 out of 3 to the Cards, they still took the Show Me State season series. Besides David DeJesus, nobody is hitting well for the Royals. Will he be just another great CF developed by the Royals, only to be priced out of their range when he hits free agency (like Damon & Beltran before him)?

26.
San Francisco Giants 34-46 (27)
-(4-2) The Giants had a good week but that doesn't take away from the fact that they just plain suck. Please do not fret Giants' fans because your savior Tim Linecum is the first piece in rebuilding this franchise. He has shown flashes of brilliance this year and is clearly the ace of the staff while former Cy Young winner Barry Zito is barely the ball boy. If, and this is a big if, Barry Zito can right his mechanics look for the Giants to compete for the wild card as early as next year.

27.
Colorado Rockies 32-50 (25)
(0-6) After an 0-6 week, the Rockies need to make moves that should be started with the firing of Manager Clint Hurdle, and finishing with not trading Matt Holiday. (especially to the Yankees who currently have trash and squirrels playing LF)

28.
San Diego Padres 32-51 (28)
-(0-6) San Diego, which in German means a whale’s vagina, is a lovely town with a very inadequate baseball team. The only thing roaring in this city is probably located in the Zoo. They have Adrian Gonzalez, who hit a HR in six games this month, but unfortunately the Padres were only able to win one of those games. Someone needs to punch this team in their ovaries….oh well stay classy San Diego!

29.
Washington Nationals 33-50 (29)
-(3-3) Elijah Dukes continues to show the flashes that made him a top prospect, including staying away from underage girls. And Peter Angelos blood must have been boiling when his Orioles lost two out of three to his area rivals.

30.
Seattle Mariners 31-50 (30)
-(5-1) Well we hyped Felix last week, and he hits a grand slam to lead off this week, but gets hurt in the process…
This team obviously dug themselves too deep a hole, but one has to wonder what their future will hold. The more they struggle the more likely it is Sexson and Bedard will be outbound, but if they start playing ball like they did this past week maybe this team can be salvaged for next year. So while this next half of baseball will mean didley squat for this year it will be vital in determining the franchises future.