MLB West Power Ratings: (Week 9)

Beyond Golf — 09 June 2012 by Jim Street

GW’s MLB Power Ratings (Week 9):

1. Rangers (1)): More than half of the AL’s All-Star starting lineup could end up being Rangers, and anything less might be a shame. These guys are good.

2. Dodgers (2): As long as Andre Ethier remains healthy and in the lineup, the loss of All-Star home run derby captain Matt Kemp won’t be quite as bad.

3. Angels (3): The top of the Angels lineup will really be something when Albert Pujols begins to hit like Albert Pujols. Imagine this: Mike Trout, Torii Hunter, Pujols and Mark Trumbo being the first four hitters of every game.

4. Giants (4): The last thing Giants fans expected was for catcher Buster Posey to land an All-Star berth coming off a horrible ankle injury and Tim Lincecum to not even be in the Midsummer Classic conversation.

5. Diamondbacks (5): The hometown blues were threatening to turn the D-Backs’ season into a shambles, but sweeping the A’s in a three-game interleague series got things back on track. For now, at least.

6. Mariners (7): Eight of the nine West coast teams salute one-half half of the Mariners’ pitching staff that combined to no-hit the Dodgers.

7. Rockies: (6): This interleague play stuff is not working out so well this season for the Rocks, who have been swept in a pair of three-game series against the Mariners and Angels of the AL West.

8. Athletics: (8): After being swept by the D-Backs the Athletics noticed that help might be on the way – a three-game interleague series against the Rockies starting on Monday.

9. Padres (9): CF Corbin Maybin is the latest honorary member of the “Harvey’s Wallbangers Club” in Milwaukee. But you are supposed hit the ball over the wall, not run smack dab into the wall.

(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.