another round of NL power rankings, nothing changing at the top (obviously).
1. (1.) Cubs. the team is still winning games in spite of the worst outing of the year from Carlos Zambrano. big game from Ryan Dempster coming out after Big Z's tough loss.
2. (2.) Brewers. hard to argue with a 6-0 run. i still wonder a little about the team chemistry and the stamina of the young players, but the vets like CC Sabathia have been nothing short of magical. they NEED ryan Braun to get back in and stay in.
3. (4.) cardinals. NL central is dominating but they keep winning and it is hard to argue with numbers and production. tony larussa may be drunk but he is nothing less than a baseball genius. oh yeah and that Albert Pujols guy is pretty good too.
4. (3.) Phillies. hard to drop them a spot but they are an offensive team that has been struggling at the plate. if that fact doesn't change fast that last month and a half could be a rough road.
5. (6.) Diamondbacks. a young team with great pitching and streaky bats goes out and adds the NL home run leader for essentially nothing... hard not to jump the d-backs a spot despite their 4-6 mark in their last 10.
6. (5.) Mets. do they even have a bullpen??? watching Aaron Heilman blow a save with Billy Wagner on the shelf made me thin that this team was headed right back for trouble once again.
7. (6.) dodgers. the Dodgers have a worse record than the Marlins but they at least have run differential in the +
8. (8.) marlins. lots of power in that infield but i cannot remember if any of them were able to bring their big boy gloves to the ball park or not. a young team that is not far off, but needs to work a little bit more.
9. (NL) Astros. really??? i had given up on them but they have climbed back to .500. kudos to those guys, maybe they can save ed wade's job after all.
10. (NL) Braves. I seriously almost put the Pirates here because they are so close to having the same record (and everyone feels sympathy for the bucs). but seriously i was struggling to get to ten because the bravos season was over a long time ago.
everyone, better luck next time. the Rockies are disappointing and not quite poised for that run i mentioned last week after all. and the rest are the bottom feeder that i left off the list last week. congrats to walt jocketty BTW for finally shaking things up in the queen city. you have to get worse before you can get better, trading Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey, jr. is the first step in his resurrection of the Reds.