Roberts: Tuesday's Top Ten
1. Cleveland Indians (1) 25-13
Why not keep them at #1? After finally losing a few games at home, they put up 19 runs against the Royals and had a dramatic comeback win with a Travis Hafner home run - all while the rain did its best to stop the Indian momentum. The clock is ticking on their time as #1 but they survive another week.
2. Philadelphia Phillies (2) 25-15
Despite losing 2-of-3 to the Braves, the Phillies are only getting scarier. Chase Utley is making major progress and may be weeks away. Roy Oswalt has just been activated and the Phillies are starting to slowly get to full strength. Considering what they've done at half-strength, watch out NL.
3. Tampa Bay Rays (6) 24-17
It has been a fast rise for the once 1-8 Tampa Bay Rays. David Price is rounding into form and Matt Joyce is continuing to shock the baseball world. Their comeback win against the Yankees sent a message that Tampa Bay should not be forgotten about.
4. Atlanta Braves (3) 24-19
Hey, when you beat the Phillies 2-of-3 and top it off by defeating the great Roy Halladay you deserve some major props. Dan Uggla may have had his "welcome to the Braves" moment on Sunday. Now if he can get his lethal bat going the Braves can really take off.
5. Detroit Tigers 22-19
Welcome to the Top 10 Detroit…winning 7 straight will do it for ya. Justin Verlander has been unhittable in his last two starts and Max Scherzer has been untouchable all year, but now no one can get Jhonny Peralta out and with a healthy V-Mart the Tigers are making their push.
6. Cincinnati Reds 24-17
The Reds are getting hot, which means they were able to leap frog the Cards in the standings and in the power rankings quickly. They've won 10-of-12, including a sweep of the rival Cardinals. By the way, Reds/Cardinals has become the best current rivalry in baseball…these two teams (and coaches) HATE each other.
7. St. Louis Cardinals (5) 23-19
They haven't played greatly (swept by the Reds), BUT they missed their manager and their slugger still hasn't gotten hot. You have to love LaRussa; he comes back and has to make a splash by moving Albert Pujols to 3rd base.
8. San Francisco Giants (8) 22-18
The Giants have moved into first place in the NL West, where they will stay unless Ubaldo Jimenez finds his 1st half 2010 performance for the Rockies. Give the Rockies credit for beating up Tim Lincecum on Monday, but the Giants superior pitching keeps them above Colorado.
9. Boston Red Sox 21-20
It's been a long march back for the Red Sox, but here they are. Crawford is still lost at the plate and John Lackey is now on the DL, but Gonzo is having an MVP type start and the front 3 in the rotation is really starting to click now (Beckett/Lester/Buchholz). The 3-game sweep of the Yankees secured their first trip to the Top 10 of the year.
10. New York Yankees (4) 20-19
The Yankees remain in the Top 10 by the skin of their teeth. They are playing awful baseball and now have had to deal with the Jorge Posada sideshow. However, they are not this bad and can break out at any time. Teixeira/A-Rod are too good to continue to slump like this…the bats will break out soon and people will quickly forget this bad run.
Bye, bye you're gone from the Top 10 this week: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (7), Colorado Rockies (9) and the Oakland Athletics (10).
