Seven games separate the Red Sox from the Yankees in the American League East, which might seem like a pretty good cushion. But you could argue that those seven games mean nothing. Not with the Yanks playing like they are. Not with two months to go.
The strange part about that is Boston's lead, right now, is the biggest in baseball. By far. Nobody else has more than a 4 1/2-game edge. Half of the division leaders have less than a two-game lead. So for all of the maneuvering going on in the divisions during the first four months of the season, I count 16 teams -- that's a lot -- who still can claim a legitimate shot at a division title.
The Yankees, as far behind as they seem, are one of them. We counted them out more than once this year. Nobody's counting them out now.
Here's this week's Top 30:
| MLB Power Rankings |
| 1 |
1 |
 |
What makes the Red Sox so very scary good -- besides a sick pitching staff that, oh, about 29 other teams would kill to have -- is that things go wrong and they still win. J.D. Drew is hitting below .200 since the break. Kevin Youkilis is not much better. Coco Crisp darn near got flattened by the Mariner Moose on an ATV on Sunday. This team is not just slump proof. It's Moose proof. |
| 2 |
2 |
 |
The Angels didn't get the big bat they so badly wanted at the trade deadline, but they got a big bat back when Vladimir Guerrero crunched two homers in a win Thursday over the A's. Vlad, your Home Run Derby champ, had not homered in 30 games and 125 at-bats. He says the Derby had nothing to do with his slump. I'm saying there's no way he's going to want to defend that trophy next year. |
| 3 |
7 |
 |
Twenty home runs in their past seven games is impressive enough. But the Yankees also are hitting .372 in that span (6-1) and are averaging better than 10.5 runs a game. The only one connected to this team who is missing anything these days is Cynthia Rodriguez, who showed up late for hubby Alex's landmark 500th career homer on Saturday. She seems to miss a lot of what he does, doesn't she? |
| 4 |
5 |
 |
Fans could be worried about Pedro Martinez's comeback, or who's going to play second (Luis Castillo is hurt again), or whether Tom Glavine will lose interest now that he's nailed down his 300th win. But the biggest concern in the Big Apple? The fate of the Home Run Apple, that over-sized fruit-in-a-hat at Shea that pops up after homers. It's not going to the new stadium. Priorities, people. Priorities. |
| 5 |
4 |
 |
For a team that scores better than five runs a game, the Indians sure can't score sometimes. In Fausto Carmona's past three starts, the Tribe has scored one run for him. Total. In three of their four losses last week, the Indians managed three runs. Total. Cleveland is 10-13 since the break. I'm not saying that the Indians can't win the American League Central. They can't win it like that, though. |
| 6 |
3 |
 |
It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Tigers looked like ... well, the Red Sox. Now their rotation is a wreck (Andrew Miller and Kenny Rogers on the DL, Jeremy Bonderman on Jim Leyland's SL), the bullpen is in shambles, slugger Gary Sheffield is sore and Leyland is up to nine packs a day. Fernando Rodney (sore shoulder) has returned to the 'pen. Still, you wonder: Is the collapse coming early this year? |
| 7 |
8 |
 |
Another three-game series, another trio of one-run games. The Padres brushed off that Bonds big deal last weekend to sweep the Giants and keep pace with those desert-hot Diamondbacks. Some may wonder why the Padres are ranked higher, considering they're 4-7 against Arizona. It's simple: Better pitching, points for being defending champs and the simple whims of the Power Rankings. |
| 8 |
12 |
 |
That said, these D'backs are serious. They're a season-best 13 games above .500 after sweeping the droopy Dodgers. They've lost two of their last 15 games. They're claiming everybody and everybody's second cousin off the waiver wire (pitchers Byung-Hyun Kim and Joe Kennedy, and infielder Jeff Cirillo). They see a postseason opening -- that NL West is wide open -- and they're gunning it. |
| 9 |
6 |
 |
They've righted themselves after that recent seven-game losing streak with six wins in their past nine games. But the Mariners still have some major pitching issues, and there are rumblings in the clubhouse about the call-up of outfield phenom Adam Jones ("I don't think that's what we need," Jose Guillen told the Seattle Times). Wonder if Ichiro worked in an opt out? |
| 10 |
10 |
 |
Why is it that, whenever a team makes a move to get back into contention, there's always a letdown? After trailing the Brewers in the NL Central by 8 1/2 games earlier in the season, the Cubs finally pulled even on Wednesday ... and now they're a game back again. It's as if they're toying with us. Which, of course, is exactly what they're doing. It's what the Cubs do best. |
|
1 of 3
