By Larry Stone, The Seattle Times –
Larry Stone’s MLB power rankings
Last week’s rankings in parentheses
Team
1 Rangers (1) Every conscientious manager feels need to warn young players of Ranger Danger
2 Cardinals (4) Raise your hand if you had Lynn with 4 wins, and Wainwright with none
3 Dodgers (3) Matt Kemp on 186-RBI pace. We know he can hack, but can he Hack Wilson?
4 Rays (10) Chicago Bulls had Air Jordan; Rays have Air Udite: witty manager Joe Maddon
5 Nationals (5) Bryce Harper can be LeBron of baseball. That doesn’t mean egotist without title
6 Yankees (6) Justifying the Pineda trade is not a labrum of love for Brian Cashman
7 Braves (7) Retiring Chipper Jones homers on his 40th birthday, won’t do so on 41st
8 Orioles (15) Plate ump Jeff Kellogg tackles Camden intruder, drafted in fifth round by Ravens
9 Blue Jays (9) Jays expect Bautista to produce like Pujols — and so far, he has
10 Tigers (2) Brandon Inge released. Replacement Brad Eldred had 13 HR in 20 games at AAA
11 Indians (16) Trying to build a team Harry Doyle would be proud of
12 Giants (8) Sandoval surpasses Mays’ season-opening hit streak, for one day is Say Hey Panda
13 Diamondbacks (11) Still trying to remember that Cody Ransom is not Colby Rasmus
14 Red Sox (20) Surging Red Sox must have found their secret KFC stash
15 White Sox (17) In next start, Humber becomes 8,932nd MLB pitcher to throw an imperfect game
16 Rockies (19) Moyer’s fastball clocked at ceremonial first-pitch speed
17 Phillies (14) No timetable on Utley’s return or, thus, Phillies’ offensive improvement
18 Mets (18) Mets have Scott Hairston to spell Nieuwenhuis, but he always forgets first “u”
19 Mariners (23) NFL draft’s “Mr. Irrelevant” wants to meet Hisashi Iwakuma for advice
20 A’s (24) A’s developing impressive rotation — or as they call it, tomorrow’s trade bait
21 Reds (22) Area punsters torn between “Leake” and “Rolen” as favorite player
22 Brewers (13) Where’s Dave Nilsson when you really need him?
23 Marlins (21) Giancarlo Stanton changing his name again, to Metta World Series
24 Angels (12) Not sure which is more surprising: Pujols struggling, or Scioscia getting 2nd-guessed
25 Pirates (25) Pirates have spent most of the last two decades “trading down”
26 Astros (27) Eager to get in division with team more messed up than them, like the Angels
27 Cubs (28) Cubs got Boston to take Marlon Byrd by telling them his first name was really “Larry”
28 Padres (29) Maybe one day Lucas Luetge will save a win for Cory Luebke
29 Royals (30) You know things are bad when Betancourt is a leading example of plate discipline
30 Twins (26) Only team with “wins” in their name, but it’s a nom de plume
