1.) Detroit Tigers
After losing two of three to the Royals over the weekend, the Tigers hardly deserve the top spot.  Of course, the team at number two also lost a recent series to the giant-killers from KC.

2.) Boston Red Sox
Curt Schilling threw three scoreless innings in a rehab start on Saturday and Jon Lester will make his 2007 debut tonight in Cleveland.  The Sox need two of three from the Schil/Lester/Gabbard group to pitch well to return to their former dominance.  It’s not unlikely that all three will have some success.  Lester’s Pawtucket numbers are far from impressive (3.89 ERA, 67 H, 31 BB, 51 K, 71.2 IP) but a call-up might be motivation enough.  He’s already inspired many; his performance tonight is secondary.

3.) Cleveland Indians
The Tribe are hangin’ tough with the Tigers in the Central.  They enter this week a single game back (two in the loss column).  Fausto Carmona’s smoke-and-mirrors act is proving to be the “real deal;” he doesn’t strike enough batters out, and gives up way too many hits, but toss him into the John Maine/Chien-Ming Wang category.

4.) Los Angeles Angels
With the Reggie Willits era coming to an end (.152 BA in his last 78 PA) the Angels need someone else to step up behind Vlad.  They are nearly 4 wins over their Pythagorean record, and an injury to the starting rotation away from mediocrity.  That said, few teams in baseball are playing well in the summer heat.

5.) New York Yankees
They explode onto the Power Rankings as they exploded over the weekend, beating the Devil Rays with 7, 17, and 21 runs after dropping the first game of the series behind a struggling Mike Mussina.  A four game set in Kansas City begins on Monday, so this is probably when the Royals will start playing like shit again.  They wouldn’t be ranked this highly if they weren’t the Yankees and this wasn’t a Red Sox website.  At least we aren’t lying to ourselves.

6.) Los Angeles Dodgers
The possible loss of Takashi Saito is worrisome, but Jonathon Broxton is the future and a capable replacement.  Rafael Furcal has had a disappointing season by all accounts, but has been playing through an ankle injury from Spring Training.

7.) Chicago Cubs
The Cubs finally appear to be playing to their potential.  Big Z has a 1.55 ERA and 63 Ks in his last 8 starts.  Rich Hill hit a rough patch at the end of the first half, but the break has treated him well, he’s given up a combined three earned runs in his last two starts.

8.) Milwaukee Brewers
The Cubs have hit their stride so Bud’s Brewers are in trouble.  I have a hard time putting a team with a 3.5 game lead behind their competition, but I’ve thrown caution to the wind and done it anyway.   Don’t be fooled by Claudio Vargas’ 8-2 record - his 1.468 WHIP isn’t indicative of the success he’s experienced.

9.) New York Mets
Old Red Sox farmhand Chip Ambres got his name on SportsCenter after collecting his first hit in two years on Sunday, it happened to be of the extra-inning walk-off variety.  Carlos Beltran has busted out of his funk, he hit three bombs last week to bring his season total to 19.  They finally dumped Julio Franco’s corpse, only to see him picked up by the Braves.

10.) Seattle Mariners
I guess I have to put them in here somewhere, but they really aren’t good.  Due to the Rivera-effect reincarnated in J.J. Putz they’re a gigantic 6 wins over their Pythagorean record.  If you aren’t familiar, the Yankees have historically outperformed their expected W-L and have been way over .500 in close games.  This has been attributed to the dominance of Mariano Rivera.  The M’s have only scored 4 more runs than they’ve allowed.