Beyond Golf — 08 July 2012 by Jim Street
GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 13)

GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 13):

1. Rangers (1): RH Roy Oswalt might have saved his job with a solid effort in his final start, on Sunday, against the Twins. . .well, at least until some of the injured starters return to action.

2. Giants (2): Ryan Vogelsong must be wondering what it takes to become an All-Star considering that his league-leading 2.36 ERA apparently wasn’t low enough to land an invitation to Tuesday night’s game in KC.

3. Angels (4): Feel free to write in the Angels as one of the AL’s post-season teams. The way I see it, there could be a World Series being played in Anaheim this fall for the first time since 2002.

4. Dodgers (3): Unless Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw get their recent struggles solved, the second half of the season could be a rocky road for the Dodgers.

5. Athletics (6): To enter the All-Star break with a .500 record (43-43) says a lot about the managerial skills of Bob Melvin. He has to be in the running for Manager of the Year.

6. Diamondbacks (5): The quicker-than-expected jump from the minor leagues to the majors has not been as smooth as those in the Valley of the Sun anticipated.

7. Rockies (8): One has to wonder if this painful season turns out to be future Hall of Famer Todd Helton’s final hurrah with the Rockies – or any other team for that matter.

8. Padres (7): The Pads could use another productive bat in their lineup, even if it’s pitcher-turned-position player Micah Owings, who is trying to follow in Rick Ankiel’s footsteps. Good luck from the GW folks.

9. Mariners (9): Felix Hernandez will be the only Mariner at the All-Star Game, but there will be five ex-Mariners – Adrian Beltre (Rangers), Asdrubal Cabrera (Indians), Adam Jones (Orioles), R.A. Dickey (Mets) and Bryan LaHair (Cubs) – in the Midsummer Classic.

(Last Week’s rating in parenthesis)

 

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Jim Street

Jim’s 40-year sportswriting career started with the San Jose Mercury-News in 1970 and ended on a full-time basis on October 31, 2010 following a 10-year stint with MLB.com. He grew up in Dorris, Calif., several long drives from the nearest golf course. His first tee shot was a week before being inducted into the Army in 1968. Upon his return from Vietnam, where he was a war correspondent for the 9th Infantry Division, Jim took up golf semi-seriously while working for the Mercury-News and covered numerous tournaments, including the U.S. Open in 1982, when Tom Watson made the shot of his life on the 17th hole at Pebble Beach. Jim also covered several Bing Crosby Pro-Am tournaments, the women’s U.S. Open, and other golfing events in the San Francisco area. He has a 17-handicap, made his first and only hole-in-one on March 12, 2018 at Sand Point Country Club in Seattle and witnessed the first round Ken Griffey Jr. ever played – at Arizona State during Spring Training in 1990. Pebble Beach Golf Links, the Kapalua Plantation Course, Pinehurst No. 2, Spyglass Hill, Winged Foot, Torrey Pines, Medinah, Chambers Bay, North Berwick, Gleneagles and Castle Stuart in Scotland, and numerous gems in Hawaii are among the courses he has had the pleasure of playing. Hitting the ball down the middle of the fairway is not a strong part of Jim’s game, but he is known (in his own mind) as the best putter not on tour. Most of Jim’s writing career was spent covering Major League Baseball, a tenure that started with the Oakland Athletics, who won 101 games in 1971, and ended with the Seattle Mariners, who lost 101 games in 2010. Symmetry is a wonderful thing. He currently lives in Seattle and has an 8-year-old grandson, Andrew, who is the club's current junior champion at his home course (Oakmont CC) in Glendale, Calif.

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