MLB Power Ratings: Dodgers No. 1

Beyond Golf — 21 May 2012 by Jim Street

GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 6):

1. Dodgers (2): Life without Matt Kemp, currently on the 15-day DL, definitely will be a stern test for manager Don Mattingly and the pitching-rich NL West leaders.

2. Rangers (1): No top-ranked team of mine is going to get swept in a two-game home series against the perennial-losing Royals. What in the world of Josh Hamilton happened?

3. Giants (3): So far so good in C Buster Posey’s return from a position-threatening ankle injury that occurred on May 29, 2011.

4. Diamondbacks (4): The return of All-Star center fielder Chris Young is just what the doctor ordered for the recently-struggling team. Now, all snake-eyes are on SS Stephen Drew’s anticipated rehab stint.

5. Angels (6): Highly-respected manager Mike Scioscia said a lot by not saying much of anything about the firing of his longtime pal and hitting coach Mickey Hatcher. Looks like GM Jerry Dipoto has complete control of the team – just like Bill Bavasi did during his gawd-awful stint in Seattle.

6. Athletics (5): A new shipment of Duct tape has arrived at the Oakland Coliseum, giving skipper Bob Melvin more help in piecing together a lineup decimated by injuries.

7. Mariners (6): Okay, raise your hand if you really expected Kevin Millwood to pitch the Mariners’ first complete-game shutout of the season.

8. Rockies (7): The month of May has not been kind to Todd Helton, who lugged a .205 average into the final 10 days of the month. His overall .236 average is the lowest of his career this late in the season.

9. Padres (9): Observation: Those mustard and brown uniforms look as bad in 2012 as they did back in the day when Ray Kroc owned the team.

(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.