The Yankees and Mets find themselves on the opposite ends of this week’s rankings. The Yankees climbed near the top while the Mets flirted with the bottom spot. The rival Phillies are on top after the Rangers struggled in The Bronx.
1. Phillies (10-4) (Previous rank: 2) — The Big Four in the rotation is 7-2. Roy Oswalt’s back injury is not expected to be serious.
2. Rockies (12-3) (4) — Troy Tulowitzki (.364, seven home runs, 14 RBIs) is early MVP favorite after making cavernous Citi Field look like Little League park.
3. Yankees (9-5) (9) — Phil Hughes remains concern on DL, but Yankees up 2 ½ games in AL East despite rotation concerns.
4. Angels (10-5) (13) — Jered Weaver and Dan Haren are only two pitchers in majors with four wins.
5. Rangers (10-5) (1) — Finished East Coast trip losing four of five to Tigers and Yankees.
6. Indians (11-4) (5) — Grady Sizemore returns from microfracture surgery on knee with homer, double in win over Orioles to cap another surprising week for first-place Tribe.
7. Royals (10-5) (8) — Roughed up Felix Hernandez and Mariners to get second four-game winning streak of early season. Play host to Indians in surprising battle for first place in AL Central starting Monday night.
8. Giants (8-7) (12) — Will throw Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain in Colorado in early NL West battle.
9. Marlins (8-6) (15) — Went to Atlanta and Philadelphia and left with three wins in five games.
10. Reds (9-6) (6) — Ace needed: Edinson Volquez (6.75 ERA), Mike Leake (5.40), Bronson Arroyo (4.24), Travis Wood (3.86) all up-and-down in Cincinnati rotation.
11. Cardinals (8-8) (24) — Lance Berkman pounded six home runs in four days to help Cardinals rebound against Diamondbacks and Dodgers on road.
12. Nationals (8-7) (23) — Overcame Ryan Zimmerman injury to sweep Brewers and get over .500.
13. White Sox (7-8) (3) — Bullpen woes are haunting.
14. Athletics (8-8) (27) — All five starters have ERA of 3.00 or under. Gio Gonzalez (2-0, 0.47 ERA) leads group.
15. Orioles (6-8) (7) — Reality hits after getting swept by Yankees and Indians on road.
16. Rays (6-9) (30) — Johnny Damon had game-winning RBI in five straight games.
17. Cubs (7-8) (17) — Starlin Castro is star in the making, but former Rays 1B Carlos Pena (.211, no home runs) and Matt Garza (0-2, 6.27 ERA) have been disaster.
18. Brewers (7-8) (10) — Getting swept in Washington before heading to Philadelphia is no way to finish road trip.
19. Braves (7-9) (16) — After Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, no Braves regular hitting above .259.
20. Blue Jays (7-8) (11) — Yunel Escobar finding way in Toronto after failing to break out in Atlanta.
21. Tigers (7-9) (25) — Miguel Cabrera is hitting, rest of team isn’t.
22. Padres (7-8) (18) — Former Yankees pitcher Dustin Moseley has a 1.83 ERA; he is also 0-3 and has not received run of support in his three starts. That sums up Padres offensive capability pretty well.
23. Dodgers (7-8) (14) — Matt Kemp broke five-game losing streak with walk-off homer Sunday against Cardinals.
24. Pirates (7-8) (19) — Andrew McCutchen, Jose Tabata and Neil Walker make this young lineup dangerous.
25. Twins (5-10) (26) — Joe Nathan out as closer but that won’t get scuffling lineup going.
26. Diamondbacks (6-8) (22) — They will score plenty of runs, but just can’t stop anyone else.
27. Red Sox (4-10) (20) — Josh Beckett has produced back-to-back dominating starts to keep Boston from completely embarrassing themselves. Offense finally started showing life in back-to-back victories over Blue Jays.
28. Astros (5-11) (28) — Have yet to win back-to-back games.
29. Mets (5-11) (21) — Always good to have a must-win in the 16th game of the season. Terry Collins used starters Chris Capuano and R.A. Dickey to help escape Atlanta with win and avoid having worst record in majors.
30. Mariners (5-11) (29) — Young pitching stud Michael Pineda earned two wins this week, but Mariners lost the four games in between his starts.
