Phillies remain low in MLB Power Rankings
A new number one this week, the Rangers prove to be leaders as they are on a four-game winning streak. The Red Sox fell behind and are now seventh in the rankings.
There's a new number one this week. The Texas Rangers have proven to be baseball's leaders, as they are on a four-game winning streak. The Red Sox fell behind and are now seventh in the rankings.
We saw some interesting events over the last week, from disturbing injuries to fabulous catches to 1,000th and even 1,500th career hits.
And then we had the Angels' Mike Trout ruin a perfect game for poor White Sox pitcher Chris Sale.
With that, here are this week's Power Rankings:
(First numbers in parentheses indicate record, second indicate last week's rankings)
1. Texas Rangers (24-13) (2)
A sweep of the Houston Astros over the weekend keeps the Rangers way ahead of the AL Western standings this week. Yu Darvish (6-1) lasted seven innings Saturday as Nelson Cruz, Adrian Beltre and Lance Berkman all homered in the 8-7 win over the Astros. As for injuries, catcher A.J. Pierzynski was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique.
This week's series: Oakland Athletics and Detroit Tigers
2. New York Yankees (23-13) (5)
Robinson Cano earned his 1,500th hit on Thursday against the Colorado Rockies. He's got nine home runs and 21 RBI so far. The pre-game dispute in the dugout between Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera Saturday didn't seem to hurt the team's outing against the Kansas City Royals as Vernon Wells came up with a two-run homer in the fifth inning.
This week's series: Cleveland Indians, Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays
3. St. Louis Cardinals (23-13) (3)
Rookie Shelby Miller nearly had a perfect game against the Rockies Friday but he gave up one hit to start off the game. Sounds weird, right? Well he went on to complete the game and retired 27 in a row with no walks, not hits, nada as the Cards beat the Rockies 3-0. An injury to right-handed pitcher Jake Westbrook landed him on the 15-day DL due to right elbow inflammation.
This week's series: New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers
4. San Francisco Giants (23-15) (6)
The Giants were able to bounce back from two tough losses to the Philadelphia Phillies in the beginning of the week as they outscored the Atlanta Braves 26-10 in the series over the weekend. Right fielder Hunter Pence still leads the team with seven home runs.
This week's series: Toronto Blue Jays and Colorado Rockies
5. Baltimore Orioles (23-15) (7)
The Orioles stole the series 2-1 from the Kansas City Royals early last week and then traveled to Minnesota to steal that series 2-1 from the Twins as well. Wei-Yin Chen pitched a solid five innings Sunday but left with a strained right oblique. Chen allowed only five hits and struck out three over five innings.
This week's series: San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays
6. Cincinnati Reds (22-16) (11)
Shin-Soo Choo still dominates the Reds with his .316 average, 7 home runs, 29 runs and stolen bases. Choo came up big in Tuesday's game against the Braves as he delivered a walk-off homer to beat the Braves 5-4.
This week's series: Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies
7. Boston Red Sox (22-16) (1)
Last week's number one team; this week's number seven. It's not because of the drug accusations against David Ortiz but for only winning two of their last 10 games. To add to these events in Boston, center fielder Shane Victorino tried to be the hero in Sunday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays and attempted to catch Emilio Bonifacio's bomb to right field. In short, he missed the catch, lost his glove and then went to the hospital. Here's the GIF.
This week's series: Tampa Bay Rays and Minnesota Twins
8. Cleveland Indians (20-15) (16)
A significant jump in the rankings has this Indians team tied for first in the AL Central. Right-handed pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez pitched a solid six innings against the Detroit Tigers Saturday as he recorded eight strikeouts. Some would say this club is on fire. At least, second baseman Jason Kipnis was on Sunday, as he quite literally burned a hole in his pants.
This week's series: New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and Seattle Mariners
9. Pittsburgh Pirates (21-16) (9)
The Pirates stole the series from the Mets, 3-1 over the weekend in New York. Francisco Liriano made his debut for the Pirates as he recorded nine strikeouts over 5.1 innings in the 11-2 win over the Mets on Saturday.
This week's series: Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros
10. Arizona Diamondbacks (21-17) (14)
Despite splitting the series 2-2 over the weekend to the Phillies, this Diamondbacks team is in the race for the lead of the NL West. Good news for closer J.J Putz as he will not need elbow surgery but will be out of commission for two weeks.
This week's series: Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins
11. Washington Nationals (20-17) (15)
An ingrown toenail kept Bryce Harper out of the lineup Friday and he made sure the Twitter world knew about it as he Tweeted a picture of the injury. It's not pretty. On another note, their five-game winnings streak came to an end Saturday as they fell to the Cubs 8-2. They are still only one game back from the Braves and appear to be doing better than that first place team in the last 10 games with a 7-3 record.
This week's series: Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres
12. Atlanta Braves (21-16) (13)
Closer Craig Kimbrel reached a big milestone last week as he recorded his 100th save. He is only the second youngest player, at age 24, to reach that mark. Right fielder Jason Heyward is expected to return to the Braves this week after recovering from an appendectomy.
This week's series: Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers
13. Tampa Bay Rays (19-18) (20)
Evan Longoria hit a walk-off home run Saturday to beat the Padres 8-7. Then on Sunday, outfielder Matt Joyce came up big with a key ninth inning play to help beat the Padres 4-2.
This week's series: Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles
14. Detroit Tigers (20-15) (4)
Even though they are just 5-5 in their last 10 games and have lost their last two games, the Tigers are right in it with the Indians for first place in the AL Central. A struggling Justin Verlander gave up six hits, five walks and four runs on Saturday against the Indians. But things aren't looking so bad for Prince Fielder at the plate. Check out Friday night's bomb against the Indians here. That puppy went 460ft! But then this awkward encounter happened Saturday for the poor fella.
This week's series: Houston Astros and Texas Rangers
15. Colorado Rockies (20-17) (8)
The Rockies placed outfielder Michael Cuddyer on the 15-day DL with an inflamed cervical disc. On the bright side, they were able to snap four-game losing streak Sunday with an 8-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals. Jorge De La Rosa lasted seven innings as he recorded seven strikeouts.
This week's series: Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants
16. Seattle Mariners (18-20) (17)
The Mariners were able to take the series 2-1 from the Oakland Athletic's over the weekend. Kendrys Morales's three-run home run lifted the Mariners 6-1 over the A's Sunday. With Sunday's win, pitcher Joe Saunders is now 3-0 at home this year.
This week's series: New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.
17. Oakland Athletics (19-20) (10)
The A's have plenty to be mad about especially after the blown call by the umpires on what should have been a home run by Adam Rosales. Losing five straight last week didn't help matters either. Even A's outfielder Josh Reddick, who's been placed on the DL, has some beef with super market goers not taking proper care of their carts.
This week's series: Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals
18. Philadelphia Phillies (18-21) (18)
The Phillies were able to tie the series 2-2 over the weekend against the Diamondbacks. Cliff Lee pitched seven scoreless innings Saturday in the 3-1 win. Things aren't too, too bad in Philly with just 5-5 in their last 10 games and four games back the Braves. The Indians come to town this week with Jonathan Pettibone and Cole Hamels on the mound.
This week's series: Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds
19. Kansas City Royals (18-16) (12)
The Yankees took the series 3-0 from the Royals over the weekend. With that, they are still only 1.5 back in the AL Central.
This week's series: Los Angeles Angels and Oakland Athletics
20. San Diego Padres (16-21) (24)
The Padres started off pretty sweet last week with a four-game winning streak. Then they ended the weekend with three straight losses to the Rays. But at least Alexi Amarista made an incredible catch Saturday against the Rays.
This week's series: Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals
21. Minnesota Twins (17-17) (23)
Starting pitcher Vance Worley earned his first win of the season Saturday against the Orioles. Offensively, Joe Mauer has 10 doubles so far in May. In addition, Justin Morneau is up there with 13 RBI and averaging .349 at the plate this month.
This week's series: Chicago White Sox and Boston Red Sox
22. Los Angeles Dodgers (15-21) (21)
A rough seven-game losing streak for the Dodgers over the first 10 days in May was finally snapped on Saturday as they beat the Miami Marlins 7-1. Matt Kemp hit his 1,000th career hit in Sunday's 5-3 win over the Marlins, which also extends his hitting streak to 11 games.
This week's series: Washington Nationals and Atlanta Braves
23. Toronto Blue Jays (15-24) (29)
Pitcher J.A. Happ was discharged from the hospital less than 24 hours after he was drilled in the head by a line drive last week. He suffered a fractured skull. On a lighter note, the Blue Jays trumped the Red Sox 12-4 Sunday. The Blue Jays scored five home runs in that win, two of which came from Jose Bautista.
This week's series: San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees
24. Los Angele Angels (14-13) (26)
Leave it to Mike Trout to steal a perfect game. White Sox pitcher Chris Sale was perfect in Sunday's match-up against the Angeles until the seventh inning when Trout singled to center field. The White Sox still won 3-0 in that game. And the Angels are now 10 games back in the AL West.
This week's series: Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox
25. Chicago Cubs (15-22) (27)
First baseman Anthony Rizzo signed a pretty improtant contract with the Cubs for seven years, $41 million. Was it his acrobatic catch over the weekend that landed him the sweet deal? Or maybe it's because of his nine home runs and 28 RBI.
This week's series: Colorado Rockies and New York Mets
26. Chicago White Sox (15-20) (25)
Pitcher Chris Sale was of course robbed of a perfect game on Sunday by the one and only Angels' Mike Trout who singled and totally wrecked Sale's chances. But the White Sox still won 3-0 over the Angeles. Rewinding to Tuesday's outing against the New York Mets, pitcher Hector Santiago forgot it was his turn to bat in the sixth inning. Was there something else that was more important going on? I guess we will never know.
This week's series: Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles
27. New York Mets (14-20) (22)
Just four wins in their last 10 games has the Mets five and a half games back in the NL East. Jon Niese isn't helping matters for the Mets with giving up 22 runs in his last five starts.
This week's series: St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs
28. Milwaukee Brewers (15-20) (19)
The pitching staff for the Brewers has come up short, to say the least. Kyle Lohse is 1-4 with a 3.53 ERA. Deep in a four-game losing streak, the Brewers are sitting seven and a half games back in the NL Central.
This week's series: Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals
29. Miami Marlins (11-27) (28)
The last two series for the Marlins did not go well, to say the least. They were swept by the Padres and lost the series 2-1 to the Dodgers. The Marlins are struggling not only on the field but in the stands as well. The lack of fans has pushed the Marlins to close the upper bowl for six of their nine home games in the home stand that begins Tuesday. The picture is quite depressing.
This week's series: Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks
30. Houston Astros (10-28) (30)
Just when the Astros thought they were on the verge of a season high three-game win streak, the Angels rained on their parade. Mark Trumbo hit a two-run double in the eighth inning Thursday to help beat the Astros 6-5.
This week's series: Detroit Tigers and Pittsburgh Pirates