AL Power Rankings

1. Toronto Blue Jays (26-14)
Halladay now has 8 wins, thats pretty sick at this point in the year. They have a run differential of +59 (2nd place is +31 DET) 28 runs better than the next best team in the AL. The talk was about the Rays, Yanks, and Sox, but may turn into the Jays.

2. Texas Rangers (23-14)
The Rangers have won 7 straight, taking them up from 6 to 2 in the BL Sports Power Rankings. Everyone knows about the Rangers powerhouse lineup, but in their 7 game winning streak it has been the arms. The Rangers pitchers have allowed 3 runs or less in 5 of the 7 games in their win streak.

3. New York Yankees (20-17)
The Yankees are starting to roll. A-rod is back and the offense is getting going. Jonny Damon is hitting like crazy, and with power. XBH in 10 of 11 games. When/if the pitching gets going watch out. Current team ERA of 5.30 is 12th in the AL.

4. Boston Red Sox (22 -16)
The Red Sox are currently treading water, and benched David Ortiz this week. Jason Bay is on a tear with 11 Homers and 40 RBIs, but the Sox pitching is giving up 5 runs a game. Not good enough to make the playoffs that much is for sure.

5. Detroit Tigers (20-16)
The Tigers were swept by the Twins losing two heartbreaking games, and then swept the A's over the weekend. The pitching has been great, but Galarraga has the Tigers nervous. The bats have been hot all over the lineup but the likes of Magglio, Guillen, and Laird all need to get going.







6. Tampa Bay Rays (19-20) Riding the insane bat of MVP candidate E Longoria
7. Kansas City Royals (20-18) Had a rough week, but still have the unhittable Greinke
8. LA Angels (18-18) Got swept by divisional foe Texas, Lackey threw 2 pitches in 1st start
9. Seattle (18-20) Another victim of the Rangers, swept early in the week by them
10. Minnesota Twins (18-20) Not getting people out, not scoring runs. Still near .500
11. Baltimore Orioles (16-22) Adam Jones and Markakis form one of the best AL OF Pairings
12. Oakland A's (13-21) Looked like a minor league team over the weekend vs DET
13. Chicago White Sox (15-21) Worst hitting team in AL. Not like the normal Sox
14. Cleveland Indians (14-25) Looks like they really are the worst team in AL

We Won.....but we might just have a problem

Armando Galarraga for whatever reason, has been absolutely awful in his last 4 starts, and that is not good considering I thought he was going to be good for 15 wins. Teams are pounding him, knocking him all around Comerica Park.

Today he didn't make it an inning. 2 outs, 5 runs, 4 hits and 3 walks later he was on the bench. Thank goodness for some offense and some great bullpen work, Zach Miner was a stud today.

The Tigers fell behind 6-0 and it looked very bad.

In the 3rd inning though with 2 outs the Tigers rallied for 4 runs behind triples by Josh Anderson and Ramon Santiago. Two innings later Santiago would hit a 3-run job giving the Tigers their first lead.

From that point on the Tigers would control the game versus the struggling A's team. CG would add his 10th HR of the season, and the bullpen would shut down Oakland.

Tigers prevail, and sweep the weekend series 3 games to none.

Tigers 11 A's 7

Porcello, Stay Put

For weeks now, there have been rumors of a Willis or a Bonderman, or even both coming up to the Tigers. The talk was that Porcello would most likely be heading to AAA. At this point, that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense. He has come out and gave the Tigers a chance to win almost every time out.

Porcello's combination of fastball, curveball, sinker, and slider is the stuff that great starters are made of. Most young pitchers come up and try and throw their fastball past MLB hitters and it just does not work, this Tigers' rookie is a step ahead.

Porcello gave the Tigers 6 more good innings Saturday (1 ER 5 Ks). The offense did the rest. Cabrera once again raked, 4 RBIs worth. Ryan Raburn has been reading BL Sports and is quite pissed, so he decided to hit a 3-run HR the day after hitting a GS in the first inning.

Tigers 9 A's 1

For Those Who Complained About Pudge

There were many, many Tigers fans in past few years that complained that their Catcher Ivan Rodriguez either struck out too much, or swung at too many bad pitches (high pitches usually), or what have you.

The thing was he still hit over .290 as a Tiger catcher. Well lets for comparison's sake look at the catchers of the Tigers now.


Starting Catcher Gerald Laird is 17-87 (.195)
Backup Dane Sardinha is 1-16 (.063)
Misty May Treanor went 0-13 (.000 lol)

That puts us at 18-116 for a mammoth average of .155 on the season at Catcher.

In the Month of May, Tigers catchers are 2-42 (.048), Laird is 1-28 and Sardinha is 1-14.

Just because it needs to be mentioned in this article Pudge is hitting .283 with 4 HR for the Houston Astros this season.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...PLEASE!

The Tigers would have to wait an hour before the game would start due to rain in the Detroit area. When the rain slowed the Tigers got off to a hot and fast start Friday night, it was just a matter of whether or not the game was even going to count.

Ryan Raburn (AKA the worst player in the majors this season) hit a Grand Slam on a 2-2 pitch in the 1st inning, as part of a 5 run first. Then they would score 2 runs in the third, and 2 runs in the 4th before the rain came again. In Major League Baseball you have to go 5 full innings to have a game count. The score was 9-1 and after an hour I was starting to wonder if this game was going to count. Luckily, it did about 80 minutes later.

Edwin Jackson, who has been unlucky in the W-L department this season came out, most thought to try and get 3 outs, get his W and go to the bench. He did well enough though in the 5th, and felt good enough to go 3 full. He went 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 0 BB, and had 6 K's. His season ERA is now 2.42. How's Matt Joyce doing (in AAA)?

Brandon Inge would follow up Raburn's Slam with one of his own in the 6th. That would mark the first time since 1968 the Tigers would hit 2 Grand Slams in one game (Northrup hit 2 that day).

Tigers 14 A's 1
The race to 22-18 is still going strong, that would mark a good enough start not to firesale (I think)

Ouch Bullpen, Ouch

Verlander looks unhittable for 6 innings. Bullpen gives up 5 run lead.

Justin Verlander had 13 Ks in 6+, and the offense had scored 5 runs on Baker, who at times looked like he was also unhittable. Everything was pointing towards a Tigers win, and then came Bobby Seay. Seay had been great up to today, Today however, he got crushed.

Hit after hit, either to the wall, or Joe Crede's (the Tiger killer) broken bat GW blooper. It didn't matter, we just could not get an out.

What a waste of a great start by JV.

That hurt, and we just got swept by a divisional opponent. The final two, just crushing games back to back within 12 hours of each other.

We will need to rebound, and quickly. Oakland comes to town Friday.

AL Power Rankings

1. Toronto Blue Jays (21-12)
Right now, this team is the best team in the American League. Halladay is still Halladay (6 wins), but the hitting has been amazing. The Jays are tops in the AL in both Batting Average, and Batting Average against.



2. Kansas City Royals (18-13)
Every baseball fan knows about Greinke and his 0.51 ERA, but some may not realize the Royals are #1 in the A.L. in quality starts which means the other starters are also producing.



3. Los Angeles Angels (15-14)
The Angels have guys injured all over the place and are still in the AL West race. The Angels and manager Mike Scioscia just play Angels baseball, and that is good enough to win more than not. It looks like another good year out west for the LAA.


4. Boston Red Sox (19 -12)
The hitting has been as good as expected (outside of Papi). But the pitching has been dreadful. Josh Beckett has an ERA of almost 7, and the Sox are in the bottom half of the AL in almost every pitching category.


5. Detroit Tigers (16-13)
The Tigers have had better than expected results from their starting pitchers. Edwin Jackson, Armando Galarraga, and lately Justin Verlander have been outstanding. The hitting has been inconsistent, and Guillen is back on the DL, but if the SP keeps this up they will compete for a playoff spot.




6. Texas Rangers (16-14) need better pitching
7. Tampa Bay Rays (15-17) not quite the Rays from last season
8. NY Yankees (14-16) Going to get better, starting slow
9. Seattle (15-16) on a 6 game skid
10. Chi Sox (14-15) Typical hitting missing, 13th in AL AVG, 12th in runs.
11. Minnesota Twins (15-16) Need a better Liriano
12. Oakland A's (11-17) Not taking advantage of great pitching (2nd in AL in ERA)
13. Baltimore Orioles (13-18) Dreadful pitching (.296 BAA), team lead in Ws is 2.
14. Cleveland Indians (11-20) ERA of almost 6 (last in AL), not hitting well either (.266)