MLB Power Rankings - Week 5 - 4/28/08

MLB Power Rankings- Week 5 04/28/08

The Baby Backs continue to dominate the National League, while the Rays put together the most impressive week. Who says you need veterans to win this funny game? But hold your horses - it's still only April, and last week was filled with general mediocrity, with the Tigers, Indians & Dodgers all finally playing how they were expected to play.

1.
Arizona Diamondbacks 18-7 (1)
-(5-2) Another impressive week by the D-Backs. It all came against division opponents, and runs their record to 17-5 against the NL West. The icing on the cake came Sunday night as Brandon Webb out dueled Jake Peavy to go 6-0 in the month of April.

2.
Chicago Cubs 16-9 (2)
-(4-3) A really good week for the Cubs ended with a whimper against the lowly Nationals as the bats finally cooled off a bit. This team has actually looked better since losing Alfonso Soriano to injury and that has to make you wonder a bit. Their pitching continued to look great; Carlos Zambrano looked awesome in his two starts, going 7 innings in both and only giving up 1 earned run total.

3.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 16-10 (4)
-(4-2) It appears K-Rod's ankles have healed. He has been rolling; earning 7 saves in 7 appearances since April 14th. Joe Saunders is off to a fast start going 4-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 5 starts. John Lackey is starting to pitch in low-A ball and should return to the big league team sometime in May.

4.
New York Mets 13-11 (6)
-(3-4) They were able to end a poor week strong by taking 2 out of 3 from their division rival Braves, behind good pitching from Maine & Figueroa, who each got shelled earlier in the week against the Cubs. Billy Wagner continued to be lights out at the back end of the bullpen.

5.
Boston Red Sox 15-12 (3)
-(2-5) Very tough week for the Sox, as the most newsworthy story was a case of the flu tearing through the clubhouse and forcing them to call up minor leaguers to make spot starts against a very good Angels lineup. Currently they are riding a 5-game losing streak and just got swept by another division rival on the road (the Rays, who are better than we all realize). 3-8 vs. the AL East is a bad start to the season. The silver lining is that at least Buchholz & Beckett each pitched great and took hard-luck losses.

6.
Chicago White Sox 14-10 (8)
-(3-3) The White Sox are still holding strong in the AL Central but are going to have to heat things up if they plan on holding off the Tigers for much longer. Losing 2 out of 3 to the Yankees makes me think that the Sox are still missing some pieces to really compete in the AL.

7.
St. Louis Cardinals 16-10 (7)
-(4-3) You have to give it to the Cardinals for holding their own in the NL Central. Pujols is hitting and Wainwright is showing some consistency. If they can take 2 out of 3 from the Cubbies this week then the Cardinals may be the real deal.

8.
Milwaukee Brewers 14-11 (5)
-(3-4) The broken record report on the Brewers: they were undone by their bullpen yet again this week. The numbers don’t lie: In the past week, the starters gave up 14 runs in 43.1 innings while the relievers gave up 13 runs in 24.2 innings. The decision to not re-sign their ace closer Francisco Cordero is looking dumb at a Harry and Lloyd level.

9.
Oakland Athletics 16-10 (11)
-(4-2) Billy Beane has somehow put together a competitive team when on paper it looks like they should be fighting to stay out of last. The lack of power is a bit of a concern but they seem to be getting it done with just doubles. Maybe, Frank Thomas will teach them how to put one out.

10.
New York Yankees 13-13 (12)
-(3-3) And up and down week. While Chien-Ming Wang continues to pitch like an ace and never lose, the legend of Joba Chamberlain took a hit as he suffered his first major league loss. The Yankees also got some terrible news that Jorge Posada may have an extended trip to the DL coming with his ongoing shoulder woes, which means they'll be relying on a Molina brother to handle the duties behind the dish.

11.
Philadelphia Phillies 14-12 (14)
-(5-2) Wow, Pat Burell! He's hitting .349 with 8 homers and 25 RBIs. There is now adequate protection around Ryan Howard, look out for them once he starts hitting and sparkplug Jimmy Rollins gets off the DL. Brett Myers needs to lessen the home runs that are hit against him.

12.
Florida Marlins 15-10 (16)
-(4-3) They’re a young and exciting team making things happen. Josh Willingham is crushing the ball and Hanley Ramirez is going to be one of the top players in the game for a long time which combines for a Marlin’s team that should be competitive, at least through May.

13.
Tampa Bay Rays 14-11 (19)
-(6-0) The Rays pitching staff led by James Shields, recently have not been making many mistakes. This is only going to get better with the return of Scott Kazmir. Look out, AL East . this might be the year the Rays make some noise.

14.
Atlanta Braves 12-13 (10)
-(3-4) Injury woes continue to add up for the Braves as their ace John Smoltz might be heading to the DL – hearing that a soon-to-be-41-year-old pitcher leave a game because of “discomfort” in his throwing shoulder is a cause for concern, especially for a team that already has 6 pitchers on the DL (although Tom Glavine & Mike Hampton are allegedly coming off soon). The pitching has also been the Braves’ Achilles Heel this past week as the offense has continued hitting at a high rate.

15.
Cleveland Indians 12-13 (23)
-(5-1) They played great ball this week, and their two studs, (CC and Fausto) looked like their usual selves. They almost put in a sweep of the week, but ran into an excellent outing by Chien-Ming Wang. Cleveland needs to continue their success this week get up over .500 and have a chance to lead the division, and then this slow start will be all but forgotten.

16.
Seattle Mariners 12-14 (15)
-(2-4) Erik Bedard returned from the DL and looked like the stud pitcher that the Mariners had traded for. J.J. Putz returned from the DL and gave the bullpen a boost (although he gave up some meaningless runs in his 2nd outing). Look for the Mariners to start rolling behind a formidable rotation and strong bullpen (now that everyone is back in their correct roles) as soon as Ichiro can get on track and start pacing this offense like he has for years.

17.
Colorado Rockies 10-15 (13)
(1-6) The Rockies just couldn’t get it done this week and they’re slipping in the NL West very quickly. The inconsistencies with this team are just awful. Brian Fuentes is now closing since Manny Corpas is simply sucking at the job. Maybe Manny should get some tips from teammate Troy Tulowitzki on how to perform at the big league level. Look for this team to bounce back after the all-star break.

18.
Baltimore Orioles 14-11 (17)
-(3-3) They’re not in third in the AL East, yet, but no matter how well this team looks in April there is no chance they’ll be in it come September. It’s exciting to see them win a few games but the reality is this is a rebuilding phase for Baltimore. On a positive note: Nick Markakis is the first piece in rebuilding this franchise.

19.
Kansas City Royals 11-14 (21)
-(2-4) Alex Gordon and Billy Butler need to continue to contribute in order for them to win. Butler .283/1/11 and Gordon .290/3/10 have currently been lacking in the power department. The pitching staff has been dominant all year, but not going to win many games if you don’t score any runs

20.
Toronto Blue Jays 11-15 (9)
-(1-6) Roy Halladay has already pitched 41 innings, but only has two wins to show for it. This team is in desperate need of some timely hitting. Ten of the fifteen losses have come by two or less runs.

21.
Detroit Tigers 11-15 (24)
-(5-2) Well they finally put some wins together, but now they'll be receiving a steady diet of Yankees and Red Sox (10 of the next 13 games). This schedule should really test the mettle of the struggling Tigers. If they can't get up for these games then the season may be lost all too soon.

22.
Los Angeles Dodgers 12-13 (26)
-(5-2) Hey Nomar Garciaparra is back on the DL, is he ever going to stay healthy? James Loney and Matt Kemp have been carrying most of Andruw Jones’ weight. Just in case you were wondering, Jones has struck out 29 times in 82 at bats this season. This guy went from star to washed up faster than Britney Spears.

23.
Minnesota Twins 11-14 (20)
-(2-4) Back to the minors for Francisco Liriano as he got shelled in his last start. Tommy John surgery is not easy to come back from and the Franchise has some major kinks to work out. Livan Hernandez came back to earth and took a drubbing this week as well. Not all is well for the Twins as their typical strength (starting pitching) became a glaring weakness.

24.
San Francisco Giants 11-15 (25)
-(3-4) Yup, it's time to bring out those paper bags whenever Zito (0-6) is on the mound. Surprisingly enough, Jonathan Sanchez ranks third in the majors in K's. The Giants may really have something with the young trio of Lincecum, Cain and Sanchez.

25.
Houston Astros 12-14 (28)
-(5-2) Before the season, I thought Lance Berkman had an MVP type run in him this year. His hot April (.326 8HR, 23 RBI, 22R, 4SB) has him on track. Too bad the team as a whole is mired in mediocrity.

26.
San Diego Padres 10-16 (18)
-(1-6) Ugh. The team had a batting average of .185 for the week. Just terrible. And if you take out the offense’s only bright spot, Adrian Gonzalez, and their pitchers, the rest of their position players combined for a 34-207 effort (.164). Is it time yet to trade some pitching for some offense? It’s not rocket science. It didn’t help that the pitching wasn’t all that great this week either, but I’d be embarrassed to be a Padres’ fan because of their anemic offense.

27.
Cincinnati Reds 11-15 (22)
-(3-4) Wayne Krivsky got the axe, but his acquisition of Edinson Volquez, two wins this week, proves he knew what he was doing. Heck he dumped Wily Mo Pena he's got my vote of confidence. Let's hope Krivsky gets a gig where they'll appreciate his baseball knowledge.

28.
Pittsburgh Pirates 10-15 (27)
-(3-4) Releasing Matt Morris was a much needed move that won’t make a difference. There isn’t much more to say about this team other than they need to start thinking about trading away some players in hopes of getting some young pitching for the future.

29.
Washington Nationals 9-17 (30).
-(4-3) The Nationals showed some life this week, splitting short 2-game series with the Braves and the Mets. They also took 2 out of 3 from the Cubs. Paul Lo Duca needs to come back from the DL and show more leadership on a young team.

30.
Texas Rangers 9-17 (29)
-(2-5) The Rangers are having a hard time winning baseball games, primarily due to their pitching staff and their high ERA, even though Vicente Padilla tossed a shutout. The offence is missing a bat in the bottom of the lineup; Jason Botts has the tools but still needs time to develop.