GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 3):
1. Rangers (1): All Josh Hamilton needs to do is stay healthy and he can add a second AL Most Valuable Player Award to his collection. But keeping him healthy is a royal pain in the back.
2. Dodgers (2): Last time the Bums started a season this well, in 1981, Tommy Lasorda was the manager and the franchise was worth a whole lot less than $2.15 billion.
3. Diamondbacks (5): Wade Miley (3-1, 1.29) has put smiley faces on all of the Diamondbacks so far this season, especially after one hit in 6 1/3 inning outing on Sunday.
4. Rockies (4): Ex-Rockies great Larry Walker has been unfairly neglected in the HOF voting because he played in the Mile High city, but if Todd Helton isn’t enshrined someday, something’s wrong,
5. Giants (6): Martin Bumgarner is off to the kind of start (4-1) the Giants expected from a certain right-hander with two Cy Young Awards on his resume.
6. Angels (3): Only three weeks into the season, the Angels are fishing for some answers for their slow start, but Mike Trout does not appear to be the solution.
7. Athletics (7): Oakland had been getting straight A’s when leading after eight innings, but the nice streak ended at 10 games on Sunday in Baltimore.
8. Mariners (8): Ichiro continues to bat third in the lineup, but he also continues to drive in runs (9) like a leadoff hitter. This isn’t exactly what the Mariners wanted out of the No. 3 hole.
9. Padres (9): Pretty hard to score a bunch of runs when only one player is batting higher than .253. That deserves a big “Yikes!”
(Last Week’s rating in parenthesis)