Week Five
by Asher B. Chancey, BaseballEvolution.com
May 7, 2007

Isn't it amazing how things tend to right themselves, towards balance and equilibrium, in baseball? A week ago, the Yankees were in serious trouble. Now, they are back in second place in the AL East. A week ago, we were talking about how the Nationals may not be so bad after all. Then they peel off a 1-5 week to remind us who they are. A week ago, the A's looked sunk by injuries, and then this week Billy Beane replenishes his team with a fresh crop of young, underrated bats. In all of April, Alfonso Soriano had 0 homeruns and 1 RBI; in the two days of May, he had two homers and three RBI.

It looks like even Michael Young may be back to the status of "qualified major leaguer" by the end of May.

Without further ado, here are the Week Five Power Rankings. Enjoy and, as always, feel free to comment.

Rank	Team	Comments	Prev
1		Boston Red Sox (20-12) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. A's, Mariners, Twins Only AL East team playing well right now.	1
2		Milwaukee Brewers (21-10) Record for the Week - 6-1 vs. Cardinals, Pirates Only the Cubs are within 7 of NL Central leader.	6
3		Atlanta Braves (19-11) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Phillies, Dodgers Chipper playing unbelievably early on.	2
4		New York Mets (19-11) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Marlins, Diamondbacks This team is playing over its head right now.	3
5		Cleveland Indians (18-10) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Blue Jays, Orioles Has anyone seen Grady Sizemore lately?	4
6		Detroit Tigers (19-11) Record for the Week - 6-0 vs. Orioles, Royals Did what they had to do against bad teams	11
7		Los Angeles Dodgers (18-13) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Diamondbacks, Braves Currently have four pitchers with sub-2.00 ERA.	5
8		San Diego Padres (17-14) Record for the Week - 4-2 vs. Nationals, Marlins 6 thru 8 spots like sending three catchers to bat.	9
9		Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (17-15) Record for the Week - 3-4 vs. Royals, White Sox Garrett's injury will shake up lineup for the better.	7
10		San Francisco Giants (16-14) Record for the Week - 4-3 vs. Rockies, Phillies Lincecum makes good staff great, despite rough start.	12
11		Minnesota Twins (16-15) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Devil Rays, Red Sox Seriously - how long can Ortiz out-perform Santana?	8
12		Chicago White Sox (14-14) Record for the Week - 2-3 vs. Mariners, Angels Bet they wish that had Aaron Rowand back.	14
13		Oakland Athletics (15-15) Record for the Week - 3-2 vs. Red Sox, Devil Rays Can Billy Beane rescue his ailing team?.	17
14		Seattle Mariners (13-13) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees Pitchers tend to bleed runs.	16
15		Arizona Diamondbacks (17-16) Record for the Week - 2-5 vs. Dodgers, Mets Did not stand up well to talented opponents.	10
16		Florida Marlins (14-16) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Mets, Padres Will pitching come around before hitting cools off?	19
17		Cincinnati Reds (14-17) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Astros, Rockies Pitching has been solid so far; can it last?	15
18		Tampa Bay Devil Rays (14-17) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Twins, A's Shocker - Kazmir, Shields could be best young 1-2 in division.	20
19		Houston Astros (13-17) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Reds, Cardinals Calling up Hunter Pence is a step in right direction.	23
20		Chicago Cubs (15-14) Record for the Week - 5-1 vs. Pirates, Nationals Don't get too excited about sweeping the Nats.	27
21		Philadelphia Phillies (14-17) Record for the Week - 3-4 vs. Braves, Giants Victorino, Rowand, Burrell unlikely studs so far.	22
22		Pittsburgh Pirates (13-17) Record for the Week - 2-5 vs. Cubs, Brewers Shown the door in test against two division foes.	13
23		New York Yankees (14-15) Record for the Week - 5-1 vs. Rangers, Mariners Not out of the woods just yet.	28
24		St. Louis Cardinals (12-17) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Brewers, Astros Bad sign - only reliable starter is Braden Looper.	24
25		Colorado Rockies (13-18) Record for the Week - 3-3 vs. Reds, Giants Taveras rebounding nicely from bad start.	25
26		Baltimore Orioles (14-17) Record for the Week - 2-4 vs. Tigers, Indians Loss of Loewen means pitching can be blamed on injuries.	21
27		Texas Rangers (13-18) Record for the Week - 3-4 vs. Blue Jays, Yankees The pitching you'd expect, but where's the hitting?	26
28		Toronto Blue Jays (13-18) Record for the Week - 1-6 vs. Indians, Rangers This team is in trouble.	18
29		Kansas City Royals (10-22) Record for the Week - 2-5 vs. Angels, Tigers The talent is there - can we get some coaching?	29
30		Washington Nationals (9-22) Record for the Week - 1-5 vs. Padres, Cubs Can we stop w/"Might not be that bad" talk?	30

Power Rankings for Previous Weeks: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26

Questions? Concerns? Comments? Asher lives in Philadelphia, PA, and can be reached at asher@baseballevolution.com.