Twins Get an 'A' for Midseason Grade

MLB's midseason grades are in

July 14, 2008

Ryan Fagan - Sporting News

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=434499

I enjoyed report-card day as a kid.

I was kind of a dork like that. Everything in my growing-up world was
a competition, and the classroom was no exception. I wanted to know
where I stood compared to the other kids in my class.

Anyway, today is report-card day at the Power Poll offices, where we
hand out first-half grades based on performance-against-expectations.
Last week's rankings are listed parenthetically.

1. Los Angeles Angels. (2) This team's leading RBI man, Vlad Guerrero,
has only 50 RBIs on the season. Only three teams -- the Nationals,
Blue Jays and A's -- have RBI leaders with less than 50, and none of
them are in the top 10 of the poll. The pitching staff is nails, and
Mike Scioscia is approaching deity status. Grade: A

2.Chicago Cubs. (3) Ten strikeouts and no runs allowed for Rich Harden
in his Cubs debut. C'mon, Cubbie fans ... you know you want to
believe. Billy goat, schmilly goat. Grade: A

3. Boston Red Sox. (7) Big sweep of the surging Twins to start the
week erased the memories of the horrible road trip through Tampa and
New York. Terry Francona's boys start the second half exactly where
everyone figured they'd be -- atop the AL East. Grade: A-

4. Tampa Bay Rays. (1) The Rays spent the first half of the season
creating a buzz with their winning ways. They'll still be all the talk
during this three-day break; unfortunately that'll be because of the
seven-game slide by which they stumbled into the All-Star festivities.
Here's a bright side to the seven-game losing streak (if there is such
a thing) -- they're still only a half-game out of first place in the
AL East. Grade: A

5. Chicago White Sox. (4) The pitching has faltered a bit -- the Sox
only kept opponents under six runs once in six games this week -- and
was hit especially hard in Texas this weekend. But these guys have
surpassed every expectation so far this season, and they'll only get
better as their confidence continues to grow. Grade: A+

6. Minnesota Twins. (5) Justin Morneau is quietly putting together
another MVP-caliber season, and the young starting pitchers are
proving they can compete on a nightly basis at the big-league level.
Grade: A

7. Philadelphia Phillies. (9) The offense is great. The pitching staff
needs work. Grade: B

8. Milwaukee Brewers. (6) Well, in two starts, we've learned CC
Sabathia can pitch, can hit and doesn't want periods in his first
name. And the Brew Crew went 3-4 this week. Grade: B

9. St. Louis Cardinals. ( Who would have ever thought Albert Pujols
would be leading the team in hits but would be only third in home
runs? Meanwhile, it was a masterful first-half job by Tony La Russa.
Grade: A

10. New York Mets. (15) Talk about waking a sleeping giant. The Mets
have won nine in a row, and the pitching staff has given up just four
runs in the past six games. Amazing. And Carlos Delgado is starting to
heat up, hitting .367 in July. Whether or not the team's early
struggles were Willie Randolph's fault, sometimes drastic changes are
the only way to go. Grade: B (two weeks ago, this grade would have
been in the C- range)

11. Oakland Athletics. (11) Smoke, mirrors and solid pitching. Grade:
A-

12. Florida Marlins. (14) Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez have gotten
most of the attention, but do you realize Mike Jacobs, Jorge Cantu and
Cody Ross have combined for 52 homers in the first half? And starter
Josh Johnson is back and throwing harder than ever; he's a potential
difference-maker down the stretch. Grade: A

13. Texas Rangers. (12) We've talked all about Ian Kinsler, Josh
Hamilton, Milton Bradley and the rest of the Texas bats, but let's
give the pitchers some credit. The Rangers are four games over .500
not because they're winning 12-10 every night. The pitchers have been
good enough to win 6-5 types of games, and that's at least something.
Grade: B+

14. New York Yankees. (10) Of whom much is given, much is expected.
Grade: C-

15. Toronto Blue Jays. (20) The Jays took five out of six at home
against the Orioles and Yankees this week. A big step in the right
direction for a team that still has the potential to finish third in
the AL East. Grade: B-

16. Detroit Tigers. (13) Just when it looked like they were crawling
back into the conversation in the AL Central, they lost three of four
to the Twins and enter the break seven games out of first. Even the
most pessimistic of preseason predictions didn't have them this bad.
Grade: D

17. Arizona Diamondbacks. (19) I love the NL West. The D-backs went
3-3 this week and extended their division lead to one game. They still
have the best one-two starting pitching punch in the NL, but they
still can't hit consistently. Grade: C-

18. Cincinnati Reds. (1 Their three-game road winning streak --
against the Cubs and Brewers -- was snapped by CC Sabathia. This is an
exciting team to watch, even if they're not going anywhere this
season. Grade: C+

19. Los Angeles Dodgers. (17) It's really hard to watch Andruw Jones
these days. Painfully hard. Going 1-3 against the Marlins at home this
week was pretty painful, too. Grade: C-

20. Baltimore Orioles. (16) These guys have the trade bait in which
other teams will be interested around the July 31 deadline. Two key
questions: Will the Orioles sell? How important is it for this
franchise to finish around .500? Grade: B-

21. Atlanta Braves. (21) Too many injuries and not enough hitting.
Now, what to do with Mark Teixeira? If they let him walk as a free
agent after the season, they'll get a couple of draft picks as
compensation; could they get more now in the trade market? Grade: C-

22. Pittsburgh Pirates. (22) These guys have offensive firepower, and
they never give up. Both great traits, and both were on display on
Saturday in their 12-11 comeback victory against the Cardinals.
Unfortunately, their lack of pitching also was on display in the
three-game series against the Cardinals, in which they gave up 28
runs. Grade: C+

23. Houston Astros. (23) Outside of Lance Berkman and Carlos Lee,
there aren't many reasons to pay close attention. Grade: C-

24. Kansas City Royals. (25) Trey Hillman's first season as the
Royals' manager has been a roller-coaster experience. Long stretches
of solid baseball, long stretches of frustrating losses. Hope is on
the horizon, though. Grade: C

25. Cleveland Indians. (2 They climb a few notches because of their
sweep of the Rays. But there isn't a more disappointing team in
baseball. Grade: F

26. San Francisco Giants. (24) At least these guys weren't supposed to
be good this year. Grade: C-

27. Colorado Rockies. (27) Well, the Rockies give the Indians a run
for their money for the "most disappointing title." They have
basically the same team from their World Series run last season, but
now they're just waiting for next year. Grade: D-

28. Seattle Mariners. (26) Ok, the Mariners are also one of the teams
in consideration for the "most disappointing" award. Grade: D-

29. San Diego Padres. (29) Yeah, the Padres are solidly in "most
disappointing" contention, too. Grade: D-

30. Washington Nationals. (30) Ugh. (yeah, I know I used that last
week. Still works ...). Grade: D




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