GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 19)

Beyond Golf — 19 August 2012 by Jim Street

GW MLB West Power Ratings (Week 19):

1. Rangers (1): Every MLB traveling secretary reminds players to pack their passports before any road trip that includes Canada. Guess Ryan Dempster didn’t get the news, or has never been outside the U.S.

2. Dodgers (4): Six ejections for skipper Don Mattingly so far this season. Hmmm, didn’t he used to be calm, cool and collected first baseman for the Yankees?

3. Athletics (3): Not sure how the real MVP voters see it, but in the eyes of this former MVP voter, Yoenis Cespedes is among the top five candidates for the AL award this season.

4. Giants (2): The cost of testosterone injection(s) could cost Melky Cabrera millions and millions of dollars. He even tried to hide the truth via a website, one that should have been called: www.melkythecheater.com.

5. Angels (5): Time is running out on the spend-at-will team from Anaheim to kick it in gear and claim a post-season berth as expected. And losing eight-run leads, like they did against Tampa, does not bode well.

6. Diamondbacks (6): Manager Kirk Gibson hit the nail on the head when he said it’s high time for his defending NL West champs to get hot and stay hot for the remainder of the season or else the Snakes will be supplanted.

7. Mariners (8): The season definitely had a Rays of sunshine for King Felix last Wednesday, warranting a profound tip of the cap from golferswest.com. Kudos for the perfecto!

8. Padres (7): Here’s a promotion idea for 2013: A hole-in-one night for all left-handed golfers in honor of minority owner Phil Mickelson.

9. Rockies (9): The final six weeks of the season will be longer than usual for a team that appears destined for a last-place finish in the NL West.

(Last Week’s rating in parenthesis)

About Author

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.