| MLB Power Rankings |
| 11 |
7 |
 |
OK, Milton Bradley and Frank Thomas aren't the answers. The pipsqueak A's still have the lowest batting average and the lowest slugging percentage in the game. Yeah, they lead the AL West. But swept by the Diamondbacks? An NL team? Revoke their AL privileges already. |
| 12 |
15 |
 |
Nobody expected the Rockies to be in this kind of shape. At 42-39, Colorado hit the halfway point of the season with the third-best record in franchise history. An unheralded star: right fielder Brad Hawpe, who has a .963 OPS overall and a .342 average away from Coors. |
| 13 |
17 |
 |
A four-game set over the weekend had skipper Felipe Alou pulling out all the stops. Sunday, he let pitcher Matt Morris hit with two outs and a man on in the seventh inning with the Giants down a run -- and he singled, starting a five-run rally. Desperation, thy name is Frisco. |
| 14 |
9 |
 |
Eric Gagne had another setback in his rehab, the Angels' Orlando Cabrera stole home -- uncontested -- on Chad Billingsley on Sunday, L.A., lost five of its last six and Nomar Garciaparra was stiff-armed from the NL All-Star team. Being a Dodger is tough these days. |
| 15 |
16 |
 |
The good: The slightly surging Mariners are just a game out of first place in the AL West, even after losing two of three to the Rockies over the weekend. The bad: They don't get to play the likes of the Rockies and the rest of the NL anymore. The M's were 14-4 in interleague. |
| 16 |
11 |
 |
Just about everybody else feasted on the NL. The Rangers choked, losing 11 of 18 and dropping to .500 for the first time since late May. An old bugaboo is biting the Rangers again: Texas starters have a 5.15 ERA, 25th in baseball, and now Kevin Millwood is hurt. Uh oh. |
| 17 |
18 |
 |
As screwed up as this team has been -- with l'affaire Grimsley, the Russ Ortiz debacle and just awful play during an 8-20 June -- the Diamondbacks are only two games below .500 and three games out of first. Which, when you think about it, is just downright sad. |
| 18 |
14 |
 |
Someday, in another life or another faux retirement, maybe Roger Clemens will come back to a team that actually scores for him. Until then, Clemens is 0-2 for the first time in 19 years -- and only the second time in his 23-year career -- because his teammates can't hit. |
| 19 |
19 |
 |
As bad as they've been lately, all the Brewers need is a little spark -- say, the reappearance of ace Ben Sheets -- to make a legitimate run in the NL Central. Sheets, on the DL since May 10, is still weeks away, but he's progressing, he says. The Brewers will have to wait. |
| 20 |
21 |
 |
Miguel Tejada, an All-Star again, played in his 1,000th straight game, which is about all the good news coming out of this organization. The worst of it probably is that O's fans have lost faith. Attendance is down more than 6,000 a game at Camden Yards. |
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