Braves, Mets lead the way; Red Sox climb to No. 3

Albert Pujols had 28 walks, 14 home runs and 32 RBIs in a record-setting April last year. Before Sunday, the Cardinals' slugger had exactly five walks and one homer this season. He had all of two RBIs. And both of those came in one game. He was hitting .158.

Pujols awoke Sunday against the Brewers with a pair of home runs and five RBIs. He now has all of three homers and seven RBIs this season. And he's still hitting only .186. Which proves that everybody -- Pujols, the Cardinals and your friendly neighborhood Power Rankings -- still has a long way to go ...

MLB Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 2 Atlanta Braves If the Braves don't strike you as a No. 1 kind of team ... well, yeah, I see where you're coming from. But they've beaten good teams (No. 2), bad ones (No. 30) and so-so ones (No. 18), and all with a leadoff guy hitting below .200 (Kelly Johnson) and Andruw Jones hitting .200. The hot start's great. The Braves still have plenty of room for improvement. 2 3 New York Mets Add up the home runs so far for Carlos Delgado, Moises Alou and David Wright and you have the grand total of Barry Bonds fans in Bud Selig's office. Zero. Mets righty Orlando Hernandez gave up three more homers in his last outing -- to the Nats! -- than that trio has hit. The Mets are struggling and still winning. Once they get going, they'll be really tough. 3 12 Boston Red Sox The big jumpers in this week's PRs streak up nine spots on the strength of their manhandling of the previous No. 1 team. Curt Schilling is starting an early salary drive, Josh Beckett looks like the old Beckett, J.D. Drew is playing -- every game, no less -- and Manny hasn't even started yet. They get the Yanks (Matsuzaka v. Matsui) next weekend. 4 8 Arizona Diamondbacks Like a lot of people, I have a foot up on the Arizona bandwagon. And this hot start makes you want to swing that other leg up. But a young team like this is going to hit some bumps. Still, Orlando Hudson is playing well (1.038 OPS), and the Unit is due back soon. All in all, though, I'd feel better if they'd have beaten someone ranked higher than No. 14. 5 5 Los Angeles Dodgers The mature-ish Dodgers abused San Diego pitchers not named Peavy over the weekend, giving them Round 1 in their season-long NL West showdown. Leadoff man Juan Pierre is off to an awful start (.192 OBP), and half the roster seems a broken hip away from a long stretch on the DL. The talent's there, though. Can it hold up over a whole season? 6 6 San Diego Padres If the Padres could play the Giants all season long ... well, nobody would watch, but San Diego would be a heck of a winning team. Three shutouts of the hapless San Franciscans in six games skewer the numbers a bit. But the pitching is there for the Padres. Now, if someone would just invite Mike Cameron (.156, 13 Ks in 45 ABs) to play along. 7 1 Los Angeles Angels In the last six games (1-5), the Angels are hitting .176 with runners in scoring position. And the Red Sox, in two games over the weekend, outscored them 18-1. Any questions, class? Still, Jered Weaver's due back, and Bartolo Colon's not far behind. This streak has to be freak, not fact. It has to be. Or a lot of us will look really foolish by the All-Star break. 8 4 Minnesota Twins Since the beginning of August 2005, Johan Santana had pitched 24 straight games in the Metrodome without a loss. He was 17-0. The Twins were 24-0. And then Friday, Santana and the Twins ran into (cue drum roll): The Devil Rays. All good things must come to an end. But to the Rays? Twins' cure: The Mariners and Royals this week on the road. 9 9 Cleveland Indians The Indians have won all three series they've played. They're a legitimate team with good pitching (very good outings from Paul Byrd and C.C. Sabathia against the ChiSox last weekend), plenty of good hitting (more, if Andy Marte ever breaks out) and adequate defense. You wonder how those makeups will play out. But that's for July's Power Rankings. 10 10 Toronto Blue Jays How do you want it? In the head or in the gut? Troy Glaus is still out. Reed Johnson is, too. Frank Thomas isn't hitting his weight, and he's a big man. Now B.J. Ryan has the dreaded appointment with Dr. James Andrews. Yes, Jason Frasor has closed before. He's no Jorge Julio. But he's no Ryan, either. Hate to break it to you.