CNNSI Power Rankings

CNNSI has their latest Power Rankings out. The Red Sox remain second.

1. Arizona Diamondbacks - Yeah, everybody loves the Diamondbacks, and there's reason enough for that. But I wonder: Is having a leadoff guy who strikes out so much (28 times in 21 games) and totes around a .333 on-base percentage going to come back to bite the Snakes? Centerfielder Chris Young is a heck of a player. He'll probably become an even better one. But unless he gets on more, he's just never going to be an ideal leadoff hitter.

2. Boston Red Sox - The Sox spent the week digging under rocks for starters when Daisuke Matsuzaka was smothered by the flu and Josh Beckett's sore neck knocked him from a turn. Shows you how good Terry Francona and this team are at scrambling. Another example: Can't say enough about the fill-in job that Sean Casey (.346, .414 OBP) has done since Mike Lowell's injury scrambled the infield. What a pro. What a signing.

3. Chicago Cubs - If Young is miscast as a leadoff hitter in Arizona, what about Alfonso Soriano? Since he's been down with his hopping injury, the Cubs are 8-2, hitting .327 with a .415 OBP. Before then, with Soriano mostly at leadoff: 7-5, .249, .328. Look, I'm not saying that Reed Johnson or Mike Fontenot are better players than the free-swinging Soriano. I'm just saying they're a better choice to be leadoff men. That's all.

4. Los Angeles Angels - Vladimir Guerrero, who has always looked as if he's defending the plate from some kind of rogue baseball assault, has begun to tinker around with his stance a little. His early season stroke has been particularly violent this year. "It hurts me. I get stiff after seeing a few of those swings," hitting coach Mickey Hatcher told the L.A. Times. All of Vlad's numbers are down so far. You know what? I'm not going to tell him.

5. St. Louis Cardinals - I made a big deal out of a 17-pitch at-bat that erstwhile pitcher and now centerfielder Rick Ankiel had against the Brewers' Carlos Villanueva back on April 16. Since then, Ankiel has only three hits (in 25 at-bats), all singles, without an RBI. The Cardinals finally showed a little slippage, too. They lost their first series of the season. It was going to happen. But when it happens at the hands of the Giants, you have to wonder.

6. Milwaukee Brewers - The decision to carry 14 pitchers for a bit was kind of wacky -- really, when you have to use pitchers to pinch-hit, there has to be a better alternative, doesn't there? -- but the Brewers got away with it, as they have a lot of things so far. Really, this team is not playing nearly as well as it should -- hitting, especially -- but the Crew continues to win. This is setting up as a bizarro '07: Choppy at the start, hot at the end?

7. New York Yankees - I can't decide whether having another loudmouth Steinbrenner on hand is good news or not. There's certainly some entertainment value in watching everybody scramble when Boss Lite says something dumb, as he did about Joba Chamberlain. Then again, we've seen this before. And done better. Can't Hank come up with his own schtick? Either way, I guess, it deflects attention away from the awful right side of the infield.

8. Chicago White Sox - Ozzie Guillen has a big ol' man crush on Derek Jeter. He's "the perfect man," Oz told the TribunePaul Konerko is especially struggling, hitting .176 in his last nine games with just one walk to go with eight strikeouts. He's not alone. Maybe he's just lonely. How about a little man-love for your own guys, Oz?

9. Baltimore Orioles - When a team has been as far down as this one has, you don't need to look far for encouraging signs. The win-loss record, for one. And for another, check out Daniel Cabrera's pitching line from Thursday. Eight innings in Seattle. Five hits. Two runs. Five strikeouts. A win. And no walks. Excuse me, I said NO WALKS. If the heretofore wild Cabrera really begins to settle down, we're not going to know what to make of it.

10. Seattle Mariners - Closer J.J. Putz returned -- and, boy, was that a welcome sight -- but the murmuring around the Mariners last week was about their designated hitter position. Specifically, whether they should try to grab Frank Thomas off the heap to replace Jose Vidro. As it turned out, Thomas went back to the A's instead. And Vidro popped a tiebreaking two-run single against the O's on Tuesday. Just call him the Little Hurt.

ESPN also has new rankings here, Boston rises from 8th to 4th.