This week marks another edition of these rankings with the Detroit Tigers at
the top.
Now, I'm not talking about styles of play here, I'm just talking about how
these Tigers are coming out of nowhere and absolutely dominating; does anybody
else notice the similarity between them and the Chicago White Sox last
season? I do. I'm just bringing that up; take it how you want
to.
The team up the most spots this week is the quietly-hot San Francisco
Giants. With a 7-3 record in their last ten games they have rocketed up
nine spots to the number nine slot. I can honestly say that until I made
these rankings I had no idea the Giants were playing well.
The team down the most spots since last week is the Oakland A's (4-6 in last
ten games), down seven spots to number fourteen.
| Rank |
Last Week
(+/-) |
Team |
Record
(Last 10) |
Comment |
| 1 |
1
(-) |
 |
56-27
(8-2) |
Since June 2nd, Tiger starting pitchers are 15-2 with a 2.55
ERA in 25 games. |
| 2 |
3
(+1) |
 |
50-30
(8-2) |
With ten wins each Curt Schilling and Josh Beckett are the
third pair of Boston pitchers to both reach that victory total before July
since 1946. |
| 3 |
2
(-1) |
 |
53-29
(6-4) |
While catcher A.J. Pierzynski is still productive against left
handed pitchers (.728 OPS), he does much more damage against right-handers
as shown by the .864 OPS he has against them. |
| 4 |
4
(-1) |
 |
46-34
(6-4) |
Although he's only pitched seven innings in the span, RP Mike Myers hasn't allowed an earned run since May
3rd. |
| 5 |
9
(+4) |
 |
46-35
(10-0) |
In the month of June C Joe Mauer collected 42 hits in 93
AB's (.254/.528/.624), but only managed to hit one HR. |
| 6 |
6
(-) |
 |
46-36
(6-4) |
For the month of June the Toronto Blue Jays had the
second-highest team OPS (.838) in the American League (Seattle-.841
OPS). |
| 7 |
5
(-2) |
 |
48-34
(3-7) |
Carlos Delgado is the all-time leader in RBI's in
interleague play (128). |
| 8 |
13
(+5) |
 |
43-39
(5-5) |
Since joining the Padres on May 5th Josh Bard has been
excellent. The backup catcher is 36 for 96 (.325/.425/.615) with 5
HR and 18 RBI. |
| 9 |
18
(+9) |
 |
43-40
(7-3) |
For having a "bad year" Barry Bonds is still
great. His batting line this season is still an eye-popping
.246/.480/.497 (.977 OPS) through 59 games. |
| 10 |
12
(+2) |
 |
44-39
(5-5) |
When Jason LaRue is the Reds starting catcher, the Reds' team ERA
is 4.23. Which is much better than the team ERA when Dave Ross
(4.66) or Javier Valentin (4.68) is the
backstop. |
| 11 |
11
(-) |
 |
42-40
(5-5) |
Dodger pitchers are 9-13 with a 5.87 ERA since May
27th. Not surprisingly, their starting pitchers are only managing a
very low 5 1/3 innings per start during that stretch. |
| 12 |
10
(-2) |
 |
44-37
(2-8) |
The Cardinals had the worst team ERA in the National League
in June (6.09) |
| 13 |
8
(-5) |
 |
42-41
(3-7) |
Posting a losing record in June is nothing new for the
Rangers (13-14). In six of the past seven Junes they've done the
same thing. |
| 14 |
7
(-7) |
 |
42-36
(6-4) |
If it weren't for the Detroit Tigers (304 runs allowed), the
Oakland Athletics would lead the AL in least amount of runs allowed
(359). |
| 15 |
14
(-1) |
 |
42-40
(6-4) |
Talk about bad luck! In ten quality starts this season
(six or more innings allowing three or less earned runs) Aaron Cook's
record is only 3-6, despite an ERA of 2.56. |
| 16 |
15
(-1) |
 |
42-42
(6-4) |
In the month of June Raul Ibanez batted .326/.414/.695 with
9 HR and 27 RBI. |
| 17 |
19
(+2) |
 |
38-43
(6-4) |
As of Monday Grady Sizemore leads the AL in runs scored
(66). If he finishes the season as the leader he will be the third
Cleveland Indian to do so in the last 50 years (Albert Belle,
Roberto Alomar). |
| 18 |
17
(-1) |
 |
38-44
(6-4) |
By only going 13-13 in the month of June the Angels still
have not had a winning month in 2006. |
| 19 |
22
(+3) |
 |
39-45
(6-4) |
For some reason the Orioles do their best hitting when there
is nobody out. In that situation they have posted a .805 OPS.
With one out that number drops to .746, and with two outs it falls to
.724. |
| 20 |
20
(-) |
 |
41-42
(4-6) |
Since May 1st 3B Morgan Ensberg is only hitting
.197/.344/.387 with nine HR's in 173 AB's--one HR every 19.22 AB's. Last season
Ensberg hit a HR every 14.61 AB's. |
| 21 |
21
(-) |
 |
40-43
(4-6) |
The Diamondbacks went 7-20 in the month of June. Ouch! |
| 22 |
16
(-6) |
 |
41-43
(4-6) |
The big question in Brewerland is whether they should trade
or keep OF Carlos Lee when the trading deadline comes around. This
is his walk year and so far he is making himself look very attractive to
any suitors by batting
.284/.346/.572 with 25 HR, 66 RBI and 11 SB's (through July 2nd). |
| 23 |
23
(-) |
 |
35-44
(4-6) |
Mike Jacobs has posted a .967 OPS against right handed
pitchers this season. Against lefties that number free-falls to a
disgusting .408! |
| 24 |
27
(+3) |
 |
36-47
(6-4) |
The Braves are 11-21 in one-run games this season. |
| 25 |
24
(-1) |
 |
37-44
(2-8) |
The Phillies have not discriminated against any baseball
stadiums this year. So far they have hit 54 HR's on the road, and 53
HR's at home. |
| 26 |
25
(-1) |
 |
36-47
(4-6) |
Tampa Bay is only batting .237 with runners in scoring
position this season (13th in AL). |
| 27 |
26
(-1) |
 |
36-48
(4-6) |
Jose Guillen is having a very "un-Jose Guillen"
like season so far in 2006. He's hitting only .211/.270/.407 with 8
HR's and 29 RBI. |
| 28 |
29
(+1) |
 |
30-52
(2-8) |
The Cubs are sure to be happy that they are getting C
Michael Barrett back from his ten game suspension. Very quietly he
has had a great season in 2006 batting .308/.369/.507 (.876 OPS), with 9
HR and 31 RBI. |
| 29 |
30
(+1) |
 |
29-55
(3-7) |
In 2004 Oliver Perez went 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA and had 239
K's in 196 IP for the Pirates. Since then he is 9-15 with a 6.18 ERA
and has 158 K's in 179 IP. What happened? |
| 30 |
28
(-2) |
 |
27-54
(5-5) |
Although he hasn't gotten many AB's against left-handers
(37), when he's gotten them David DeJesus has taken full advantage.
In those instances he is hitting .378/.500/.703 (1.203 OPS), with 2 HR and 8
RBI. |
