Bombers crack Top 10; Brewers stage resurgence

Summertiiiiiime, the song goes, and the livin' is eaaaaaaasy.

George Gershwin, clearly, didn't have the Mets in mind when he wrote that. Or the Orioles. Or the Cubs. Or Andruw Jones. Or Elijah Dukes, for that matter.

As baseball and the rest of us step into the first days of summer this week, we know that some tough times are ahead. Sure, the Yankees are back in business. The Angels are playing better than they have since 2002. The Brewers are playing better than they have for a lot longer than that. The Red Sox are in fine shape.

But for most teams, and many players, the first few weeks of summer will be a struggle just to stay relevant, just to try to be good enough so the rest of the season means something. Let's face it: If Jones doesn't get off his slide soon, if Dukes doesn't straighten up and fly right, if the Cubs and Mets keep mucking around, this is going to be one long, hot, miserable summer.

The Orioles? Well, it's already too late for them. In Baltimore right now, the livin' is anything but easy.

On to this week's Power Rankings ...

MLB Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 1 Los Angeles Angels Garret Anderson is back on the DL for a couple more weeks, and hot-swinging Casey Kotchman took a pickoff throw to the head on Saturday, putting him out of commission for a couple of days. Did that bother the deepest and most versatile team in the bigs? Would the Angels be No. 1 if it did? Speed, enough power, pitching ... the Angels have it all. Not to mention the Dodgers' number. 2 2 Boston Red Sox Let me give you two reasons the Sox aren't going to lose the AL East race in '07, no matter how well the Empire plays the rest of the season: 1) Hideki Okajima has a 1.04 ERA, he's given up just 19 hits in almost 35 innings, and opponents are hitting .157 against him, and 2) Since May 3 Dustin Pedroia is hitting .397 with a .453 OBP and a 1.022 OPS. These guys aren't accidents. 3 4 San Diego Padres GM Kevin Towers is still searching for a big bat that will give his team some breathing room in the tight NL West. If he doesn't get it, though, the Padres have shown they're good enough -- and tough enough -- to survive. Chris Young throwing a haymaker at the Cubs' Derrek Lee? Jake Peavy calling out the strutting Alfonso Soriano? The Pads have won three games in '07 with two hits. That's tough. 4 3 Cleveland Indians Casey Blake has now hit in 26 straight games, but no matter how long the Tribe's third baseman keeps it up, the streak will never grow as long -- and certainly never as unruly -- as that gawdawful Jeremiah Johnson thing sprouting out of his face. The Blake Beard makes Johnny Damon's 2004 mug rug look practically civilized. Is hitting really so easy a caveman can do it? 5 5 Detroit Tigers Justin Verlander followed up his Tuesday no-hitter with a win against the Phillies on Sunday, going six innings and giving up seven hits. "I definitely prefer zero," he said. Under the category of the rich getting richer, lefty Kenny Rogers returns from shoulder surgery as early as Friday, which puts Mike Maroth on the trading block, which means the Tigers are in position to get even better. Scary. 6 7 Arizona Diamondbacks Sweeping the Orioles over the weekend almost shouldn't count, but since everybody else is doing a number on the Birds, the D'backs will take it. And, in fact, they get to take it again when they host the slumping O's next weekend. The D'backs struggle to score runs, but their pitching is good enough that they've won a baseball-best 17 one-run games. None necessary, of course, against the O's. 7 8 Los Angeles Dodgers The Dodgers are so desperate to find some hitting help right now that they're trying out a first base prospect (James Loney) in right field, with predictable consequences. Loney's faceplant into the Dodger Stadium wall in another Freeway Series loss to the Angels on Sunday was painful to watch. Right now, the Dodgers are no better than the third-best team in SoCal. 8 6 New York Mets It's hard to believe that a good team can lose 12 out of 15 games at any point in the season. But that's what the Mets have done. Their bullpen has collapsed this month. Carlos Delgado is hitting .206 in June. Tom Glavine (0-2, 10.57 ERA in three June starts) can't seem to get off career win No. 295. This is setting up perfectly for Pedro's return, isn't it? 9 12 Milwaukee Brewers You gotta give the guys credit. They rebounded from getting no-hit with four straight wins, taking series from the Tigers and Twins. And how about Prince Fielder, chugging around the bases at the Metrodome on Sunday with a stand-up inside-the-park home run? (If he'd have had to slide, we'd still be feeling the aftershocks.) A good week, finally. 10 14 New York Yankees The Empire returns to the Top 10 for the first time since Week 1, after bottoming out at No. 21 just three weeks ago. To say these guys are hot is to say this Boston Dirt Dogs video on Roger Clemens in 2057 is kind of funny. Or that the idea of Jorge Posada playing first base is kind of silly. Still, the Yanks are winning. We'll all have to deal with it.