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A lot of action this week as the Phillies, Twins and Dodgers made deserved jumps in our rankings as the White Sox, Brewers, Marlins, Rays and Indians dropped like lead balloons. The Padres and Reds also have been so bad that we actually had to move the Rangers and Nationals out of the dreaded 29-30 slots, something we did not forsee happening this season, at all. And of course, the Baby backs stay up in first, but they may have to do better than a .500 week to hold off the hard-charging Angels and Red Sox.

1.
Arizona Diamondbacks 21-10 (1)
-(3-3) Whenever Webb and Haren take the mound this team plays with resounding confidence...i.e. Webb gets a little roughed up by the Mets and the D-Backs come right back swinging putting up 10 runs. You like to see a team going out there hacking away for their Ace, and not leaving it all up to them to get it done.

2.
Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 20-13 (3)
-(4-3) Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana continue to pitch dominant games and stay unbeaten. With the rate he is going Francisco Rodriguez could have 60 saves by the end of the season. John Lackey is continuing to progress with his rehab assignment, this could become ugly for AL opponents facing Saunders, Santana, and Lackey in a three game series.

3.
Boston Red Sox 20-13 (5)
-(5-1) The Sox got fantastic pitching this past week as they were able to take 5 out of 6 versus division foes the Jays and the Rays, avenging being swept by each of them earlier in the year. Clearly they've been loving home cooking as they are now 14-5 at Fenway. They embark on a 10-game road trip today that will test their meddle.

4.
New York Mets 16-13 (4)
-(3-2) The Mets took 2 out of 3 against the D’backs in the desert – no small feat. Jose Reyes returned to form, reaching base 56% of the time and started reeking havoc on the basepaths. Carlos Delgado looked like the Delgado of old as he “Carlos Del-Got-It” 3 times this past week. Johan Santana gave them two very good starts and continues to look worth the major scratch he’s getting paid, although the Mets need Oliver Perez to start pitching like he did last year to tighten up the rotation.

5.
St. Louis Cardinals 20-12 (7)
-(4-2) The Cardinals are flying high as they've reached the 20 win mark faster than any other time in their franchise history. They took 2 out of 3 from the Reds and the Cubs proving that their for real in the NL Central. If Chris Carpenter returns healthy next month this team could surprise a lot people by stealing the division.

6.
Philadelphia Phillies 18-14 (11)
-(4-2) Pat Burrell continues to swing a very hot bat, as he and teammate Chase Utley each could be considered the MVP of April. Their production is removing the pressure off of Ryan Howard. Reigning MVP Jimmy Rollins is scheduled to start his minor league rehab soon. Since this was his first ever trip to the DL in his major league career, Jimmy is chafing at the bit to get back into the everyday lineup.

7.
Chicago Cubs 18-13 (2)
-(2-4) The Cubs scored more runs than they allowed over the past week; unfortunately for them, they scored 19 of them in one game! Aside from that game and another blowout win, the Cubs lost their other four games and all by 3 runs or less. Kerry Wood negated a great outing by ace Carlos Zambrano during the week; outside of Zambrano and a few others, the staff got shelled all week.

8.
New York Yankees 17-16 (10)
-(4-3) The Moose is a surprising 3-0 since Hank "The Tank" Steinbrenner called him out, and said he needes to be more like Jamie Moyer. Darrell Rasner also made his season debut, and received the big W, surrendering only 2 runs over six innings pitched. His minor league stats were impressive early on, with four wins and a 0.87 ERA in 31 innings pitched. His success will have to continue, because both Hughes and Kennedy are no longer in the picture.

9.
Oakland Athletics 19-14 (9)
-(3-4) Does anyone else find it weird that the A's have an all right handed lineup? I guess stick with whatever works. Although, batting just .234 against left-handers so far isn't going to take you far in a playoff series. The A's in the playoffs this year? What am I thinking?

10.
Los Angeles Dodgers 17-14 (22)
-(5-1) Juan Pierre is quietly having a good year in his new role. Over his past three games in which he has started, Pierre is batting 9-16(.324) with three doubles three rbi and 5 runs scored. Grady Little should keep him an everyday player if he continues to swing a hot bat.

11.
Atlanta Braves 15-15 (14)
-(3-2) Chipper Jones stayed hot and continued mashing the ball (although his .391 for the week actually lowered his batting average to .425). Tim Hudson threw a gem (complete game 3-hitter with 10 K’s) when the staff really needed a pick-me-up after the injury to John Smoltz, an injury that might make Hudson the de-facto ace for the rest of the season, so these are the type of outings the Braves need from him. Jair Jurrjens, acquired in the Edgar Renteria deal, continues to give them quality starts as well.

12.
Milwaukee Brewers 16-15 (8)
-(2-4) Great start to the week (taking 2 out of 3 against the Cubs) with a terrible finish (getting swept by the Astros). This space will continuously point out the shortcomings of their bullpen because even though Gagne saved two games this week, he blew another one last night. Mike Cameron finally returned from his suspension to help the offense and defense, but unfortunately he cannot fix the bullpen.

13.
Minnesota Twins 16-14 (23)
-(5-0) A huge week for the Twinkies as they took five from previous division-leader White Sox and predicted division-winner Tigers, and their perfect week has left them perched atop the AL Central. Joe Nathan saved 4 of the games as he proves that there’s nothing like having a superstar closer at the back of the bullpen to slam the door shut (ask Brewers’ fans if you don’t believe me). Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau had tremendous weeks and, along with Michael Cuddyer’s resurgence, paced the offense.

14.
Chicago White Sox 14-15 (6)
-(0-5) The White Sox went 0-5 this week, Ouch! They rank dead last in team batting average. I'm starting to wonder if Ozzie was a huge benefactor of a great 2005 team that got hot at the right time. I don't see a coach that can lead a team back to the World Series.

15.
Toronto Blue Jays 15-17 (20)
-(4-2) The two back-to-back walk off wins by the Sox could have soured the week in Toronto, but these Jays continued with the strong pitching (8 runs allowed in 6 games), and put together a nice 4 game win streak. Roy Halladay thankfully won a start or we might have seen the first on the field spontaneous human combustion ever in the history of sports.

16.
Florida Marlins 17-14 (12)
-(2-4) The Marlins missed the bat of Josh Willingham this past week when they got swept by the Dodgers. Hanley and company are going to have to make up the difference if they plan on competing in the NL East for much longer.

17.
Tampa Bay Rays 16-15 (13)
-(2-4) Carlos Pena is showing some life at the plate. He has gone 7-28 over the past week, but he is still lacking in the power department. Scott Kazmir has returned to the rotation and should help the Rays win more games. With Kazmir’s return, the (devil) Rays have an abundance of quality, young starting pitchers.

18.
Detroit Tigers 14-18 (21)
-(3-3) Doesn't Sunday's loss say it all about this team? They score six runs in the first and get the loss. They just can't win consistently. It has to be a chemistry issue as the talent is obviously there. I guess it doesn't help that your Ace is 1-5 with a 6.28 ERA. Verlander is hitting his sophomore slump a year late in my opinion.

19.
Baltimore Orioles 16-15 (18)
-(2-4) The Orioles are tied for 2nd with the Rays and the Yankees so chances are the stars will begin to align and the Orioles will begin to head to the bottom of the division where they belong. The O's should just trade Daniel Cabrera and cut their losses. He's so unpredictable that his upside is no longer warranted taking a chance on.

20.
Cleveland Indians 14-17 (15)
-(2-4) The offense is almost anemic at times. They've scored just 12 runs in their last 8 losses. The only bright spot on this teams dreary start is Cliff Lee, who won his 5th straight start and now sports and ERA of 0.96 and a WHIP of 0.56...he's walked just two on the year.

21.
Kansas City Royals 14-16 (19)
-(3-2) The offense needs to wake up. Its pretty pathetic when your team RBI leader is Jose Guillen who has 15 RBI’s and is batting a whopping .171. On the other hand Joakim Soria is as dominant as you can get right now. He has a 0.00 ERA with 7 saves and 15 K’s.

22.
Houston Astros 16-16 (25)
-(4-2) Well not only do they take one from the Dynamic D-Backs, but they sweep division rival Milwaukee to end the week. How are they getting it done? With an offenisve surge! That's right, these aren't your momma's Astros these guys put up 37 runs in 6 games this week to put them back at .500 and into the realm of respectability.

23.
Seattle Mariners 13-19 (16)
-(1-5) Another bad week for the Seattle offense as they only push across 16 runs, although Ichiro seems to be breaking out of his slump (10-27, 6 SB); although no one was driving him in so it was all for naught. The starting pitching had a tough week as well as the struggling Indians and the injury-depleted Yankees knocked them around (although Batista & Bedard each had good outings). What’s really troubling is that the Mariners were built to have a team capable of overtaking the Angels and find themselves 6.5 games behind them already.

24.
Colorado Rockies 12-19 (17)
(2-4) The Rockies are 9 games behind the Diamondbacks, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki is on the DL and anything short of a miracle is going to leave this team out of the playoffs. At least Aaron Cook got the memo that the season started.

25.
San Francisco Giants 14-18 (24)
-(3-3) Well, the Tim Lincecum magic has run its course. Oh, I'm not saying he's stopped pitching lights out, but the Giants were 5-0 in his starts up until this week. Now they are 5-2 when Tim takes the mound, and in one of those losses he didn't even surrender an earned run.

26.
Washington Nationals 14-18 (29).
-(5-1) Chad Cordero was placed on the DL and will miss four to six weeks. He hasn’t been a factor all year due to injuries, but this hurts the Nationals tremendously because they can not trade an injured closer. This team needs some sort of spark to revive the offense and also to draw fans to a brand new empty ballpark.

27.
Texas Rangers 13-19 (30)
-(4-2) You can point your finger at many things wrong with the Rangers. These include not just the awful starting pitching, and the terrible relievers, but also the defense which is last in the league. The Rangers need lots of help to win games, and it just gets tougher when you give up lots of unearned runs.

28.
Pittsburgh Pirates 12-19 (28)
-(2-4) The Pirates continue to fall and fall deeper into another wasted season. They've let up a ridiculous 181 runs so far this season, just awful. I wonder if McLouth and Nady ever wonder if anyone else is going to hit the ball?

29.
San Diego Padres 12-20 (26)
-(2-4) The Padres won their games this week on the strength of good starts from their one-two punch of Jake Peavy and Chris Young. But the offense put up almost half of their weekly production in those two starts, so per usual, did not have enough offense to win any other games. Outside of Adrian Gonzalez (.302 on the season, .385 for the week), there’s not one player on this team that could strike fear into an opposing pitcher. Every regular is under .250 for the season except Gonzalez, Kevin Kouzmanoff (.277) and Brian Giles (.263). I can’t say it enough: their offense is terrible.

30.
Cincinnati Reds 12-20 (27)
-(1-5) The reds are in a straight out free fall. Dusty Baker is looking like a manager that is happy to just be getting paid, and Bronson Arroyo looks little more than a AA pitcher sporting an 8.60 ERA and a .360 opponents BA.

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