Welcome to another edition of "Serious Baseball's" Power
Rankings.
You know what the great thing about baseball is? That it is a long,
long season and in the end the cream will rise to the top. Another
by-product of the long schedule is watching teams that probably aren't going to
be there in the end (Like the Colorado Rockies or Cincinnati Reds), get off to
hot starts. Yes, they probably will fall down sooner or later, but as of
right now — at this moment in time — teams like the Reds are better than New York
Yankees, Boston Red Sox and the like. That is what makes baseball
great.
This week the biggest climber was the Minnesota Twins who moved up five spots
to number twenty-one. The team the fell the most spots was the Chicago
Cubs. Their 1-9 record in their last ten games dropped them seven spots to
number twenty-seven; ahead of only the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Marlins, and
the Kansas City Royals.
| Place |
Last Week
(+/-) |
Team |
Record
(Last 10 games) |
Comment |
| 1 |
1
(-) |
 |
25-12
(6-4) |
The White Sox have collected 14 of their 23 wins
at home this year and sport a .737 winning percentage at U.S. Cellular
Field (14-5). |
| 2 |
3
(+1) |
 |
24-13
(6-4) |
Just the opposite of the White Sox, the Tigers
are picking up most of their wins on the road compiling a 16-7 (.696)
record there so far in 2006. |
| 3 |
7
(+4) |
 |
24-14
(7-3) |
RHP Brad Thompson has not allowed a run in 14
1/3 consecutive innings. |
| 4 |
4
(-) |
 |
23-14
(5-5) |
If Cliff Floyd can ever find his stroke this
team can get even better. I'm sure he has nowhere to go but up after
his horrible start so far this season (.197/.294/.299, 3 HR, 14 RBI) |
| 5 |
2
(-3) |
 |
23-15
(4-6) |
OF Austin Kearns leads the National League in
multi-hit games with 14. |
| 6 |
10
(+4) |
 |
22-14
(7-3) |
Through Friday night, Red Sox outfielders had
made zero errors. |
| 7 |
6
(-1) |
 |
21-15
(6-4) |
Hideki Matsui, and Gary Sheffield are
hurt. Johnny Damon is playing in pain. Randy Johnson is
pitching like Don Johnson. Yet the Yankees are still 21-14...calm
down already. |
| 8 |
5
(-3) |
 |
21-18
(5-5) |
RHP Ramon Ramirez has set team record for
consecutive scoreless innings to start a career with sixteen. |
| 9 |
12
(+3) |
 |
22-17
(8-2) |
During Dave Roberts 10 game hitting streak, that
ended this past Sunday against the Chicago Cubs, he hit .422 (19/45), had
4 RBI and stole nine bases. |
| 10 |
13
(+3) |
 |
22-15
(9-1) |
Even though starting pitcher Brett Myers has the
best ERA (2.37) of any of the starters for the Phillies he only has two
wins — the least amount of victories on the staff. |
| 11 |
11
(-) |
 |
21-17
(6-4) |
By hitting his 507th double this past Sunday,
Luis Gonzalez passed Babe Ruth on the all time list in that category. |
| 12 |
9
(-3) |
 |
22-17
(3-7) |
For one reason or another Brad Lidge is
somewhat hittable this season. Collectively, batters are hitting
.258 against him. He's also walking more hitters than normal.
So far this season he's issued 16 free passes; after only walking 23
batters all last season. |
| 13 |
14
(+1) |
 |
21-16
(7-3) |
Not many players in the league can hit B.J.
Ryan, especially left-handers. This season southpaws are 0/14
against him, and for Ryan's career lefties have only managed a .169
batting average against him. |
| 14 |
8
(-6) |
 |
20-17
(5-5) |
Third baseman Hank Blalock is doing most of his
damage against right handed pitchers in 2006. His OPS against them
is a robust .984, while against lefties his OPS is a still
respectable, but much lower .784. |
| 15 |
19
(+4) |
 |
20-19
(8-2) |
If he's healthy, he's still a great
hitter. That's exactly what Nomar Garciaparra is proving so far in
his first season as a Dodger. In 75 AB's he's batting
.360/.424/.707 with 5 HR and 21 RBI. |
| 16 |
15
(-1) |
 |
18-19
(4-6) |
Nick Swisher doesn't care what pitcher he faces
when at the plate. Against left-handed pitchers he has a .966 OPS,
and against righties he has a 1.108 OPS. |
| 17 |
17
(-) |
 |
19-19
(4-6) |
Very quietly, Damian Miller is having a very
good year in 2006. In 98 AB's he hitting .337/.398/.592 with 4 HR's
and 21 RBI. |
| 18 |
18
(-) |
 |
19-20
(5-5) |
Before issuing a base on balls to Jose Cruz Jr.
in his last start, Jason Schmidt had not walked a batter in 23 consecutive
innings. |
| 19 |
23
(+4) |
 |
18-20
(6-4) |
Part of the reason for the Braves bad start this
season is their 5-11 record in one-run games. |
| 20 |
21
(+1) |
 |
18-21
(4-6) |
Chris Ray is starting off 2006, his first as a
full-time closer, on the right foot. He has successfully closed the
door in all nine save opportunities he's had this season. |
| 21 |
26
(+5) |
 |
17-21
(6-4) |
After scoring seven runs in the first inning
against the White Sox this past Sunday, the Twins still couldn't beat the
defending champions. They ended up losing 9-7, with most of the
damage done against the struggling Carlos Silva. |
| 22 |
16
(-6) |
 |
17-21
(2-8) |
Swept by the Kansas City Royals, really??? |
| 23 |
24
(+1) |
 |
17-22
(5-5) |
Jose Lopez has already tied his career high in
HR's (5) this season, and will have a new career-high RBI total when the
season is over as he has already eclipsed his previous high in this area (22) |
| 24 |
22
(-2) |
 |
16-22 (4-6) |
Vladimir Guerrero does his best work during the
day. When the sun is out his OPS is 1.158 , in night games it is
only .708. |
| 25 |
25
(-) |
 |
15-23 (4-6) |
From the fourth inning against the Blue Jays
this past Friday night until the eight inning on Sunday, the Devil Rays
did not leave one single runner on base. That 20 inning run was the
longest such streak since the Pittsburgh Pirates went 21 innings without
stranding a runner in 2001. |
| 26 |
27
(+1) |
 |
13-25 (4-6) |
When this weekend's series versus the Chicago
Cubs is over, the Nationals will have completed a grueling part of their
schedule when they played 28 of their first 41 games on the road. |
| 27 |
20
(-7) |
 |
15-22 (1-9) |
It's been a "Tale of Two Months" for
Todd Walker in 2006. In April his OPS was .943; in May his OPS is
only .486. |
| 28 |
28
(-) |
 |
11-27 (3-7) |
Jason Bay has reached base safely in all 18
homes games this season. |
| 29 |
29
(-) |
 |
10-25 (5-5) |
Half of the Royals 10 victories this season have
come against the under-achieving Cleveland Indians. |
| 30 |
30
(-) |
 |
11-25 (3-7) |
After 32.3 badly-pitched innings where he walked
more batters than he struck out (25/21), and had a 6.40 ERA, Jason Vargas
was demoted to Triple-A Albuquerque late Saturday night. |
