ESPN Power Rankings - Week 3

[oakleyselbows34]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/powerranking

Toronto Blue Jays 4 (6)
Blue Jays 10-4 Toronto won its first four series of the season for the first time in Blue Jays history and is the only team in the AL East with more runs scored (87) than allowed (58).

[evilRyu]

The Jays actually won their first 5 series in the 2001 season, so that caption is incorrect.

Speaking of the 2001 season, if you look at their game-by-game results (http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams ... ores.shtml), why did they play the Rangers only once for the opener? ie, it wasn't a 3 or 4 game series, it was juts 1 game?

I thought it might have been a rain-out, but it was at Toronto.... hmmmmmm.....

[woolf]

for some reason i remember them being in Puerto Rico for the opening game that year and Bush gave an announcement before the game started...since he was the owner of the rangers at the time (or was he the president then??? can't remember)
maybe thats why it was just one game...

anyone else remember that?

[J.Kim]

for some reason i remember them being in Puerto Rico for the opening game that year and Bush gave an announcement before the game started...since he was the owner of the rangers at the time (or was he the president then??? can't remember)
maybe thats why it was just one game...

anyone else remember that?

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/story/2001/04/ ... 10401.html

[s e n s i]

I still have a problem with the Yanks at 6, and the reasoning behind it.

Even without some of their main offensive guns and with Chien-Ming Wang (0-3, 34.50 ERA) and the bullpen (7.05 ERA) getting pounded, the Yankees are still playing above .500.

Come on. Wang alone should be enough to have this team in the mid-teens. And he's only accounting for 3 of the losses. What about the other 3? The Yanks have been largely unimpressive, and you think with the hype and anticipation surrounding the new ballpark, they would come out strong. Well really, they haven't. Sabathia has been OK. Burnett has been good. And Teixiera has been horrible.

We could easily say that the Jays, despite an average rotation, are 1st in the AL, not to mention the non-existent bat at the 3 hole and sometimes from Vernon too, which would merit a higher ranking than 4th.

But whatever, this is why I'm not big on Power Rankings.

[chargerxthirty]

We really need to keep beating on the AL Central and the West.

If we can win all those series like we've been doing, we' just have to play .500 ball against the AL East and we'll be sitting pretty. We're always good against the AL East though.

I have friends in New York and Boston... and both of them always make mention that they hate playing against us.

Make our hay earlier, and survive later.

Question: who do we play in Interleague this year... it's an interesting question because if we play lower caliber teams it could really work to our advantage.

Anybody know if any of Romero,Purcey,Richmond can handle the bat at all if they have to pitch in an NL home game?

[s e n s i]

We really need to keep beating on the AL Central and the West.

If we can win all those series like we've been doing, we' just have to play .500 ball against the AL East and we'll be sitting pretty. We're always good against the AL East though.

I have friends in New York and Boston... and both of them always make mention that they hate playing against us.

Make our hay earlier, and survive later.

Question: who do we play in Interleague this year... it's an interesting question because if we play lower caliber teams it could really work to our advantage.

Anybody know if any of Romero,Purcey,Richmond can handle the bat at all if they have to pitch in an NL home game?

Phillies primarily, I believe.

edit* And 1 series each against Reds, Nationals, Marlins, Braves.

[J-Roc]

I don't buy the Jays being rated so high. Not yet. Not when they've only played these bad teams, and mostly the AL Central. Richard Griffin had them lower.

[Holmes]

Kinda ridiculous that the Marlins are number 1 but six of their wins have come from games against the horrendous Nationals.

But nevertheless winning is winning.

[BasketballAbyss]

I don't buy the Jays being rated so high. Not yet. Not when they've only played these bad teams, and mostly the AL Central. Richard Griffin had them lower.

The fact that they got the job done against so called bad teams is a plus and relates to thinking that the Jays are a good team. Not to mention that the teams they won against, started winning games after their series with the Jays. After we took 3/4 from the Twins, they swept the Angels. Detroit has gone 6-2 after we beat them in the first series. Cleveland beat the crap out of the Yankees, a team that many agree is better than the Jays. The thing is, these teams aren't as bad as people think (maybe Cleveland is). The Jays have always played pretty well against the AL East, so if that trend continues, and we continue to beat up on "bad" teams from the AL Central and West, we'll make the playoffs. I'm not saying it's a given, but it's possible.

[evilRyu]

I don't buy the Jays being rated so high. Not yet. Not when they've only played these bad teams, and mostly the AL Central. Richard Griffin had them lower.

keep in mind that it's a weekly rating.. even though at times they never live up to it anyway

[evilRyu]

We really need to keep beating on the AL Central and the West.

If we can win all those series like we've been doing, we' just have to play .500 ball against the AL East and we'll be sitting pretty. We're always good against the AL East though.

I have friends in New York and Boston... and both of them always make mention that they hate playing against us.

Make our hay earlier, and survive later.

Question: who do we play in Interleague this year... it's an interesting question because if we play lower caliber teams it could really work to our advantage.

Anybody know if any of Romero,Purcey,Richmond can handle the bat at all if they have to pitch in an NL home game?

but our divisional-mates play the same teams also, no?

[J.Kim]

We really need to keep beating on the AL Central and the West.

If we can win all those series like we've been doing, we' just have to play .500 ball against the AL East and we'll be sitting pretty. We're always good against the AL East though.

I have friends in New York and Boston... and both of them always make mention that they hate playing against us.

Make our hay earlier, and survive later.

Question: who do we play in Interleague this year... it's an interesting question because if we play lower caliber teams it could really work to our advantage.

Anybody know if any of Romero,Purcey,Richmond can handle the bat at all if they have to pitch in an NL home game?

but our divisional-mates play the same teams also, no?

3-game series' with NL East, and 1 extra 3-game series against an NL "Rival" I think...
(Red Sox - Braves, Yankees - Mets, Rays - Marlins, Orioles - Nationals, Jays - Phillies)

[Brinbe]

I don't buy the Jays being rated so high. Not yet. Not when they've only played these bad teams, and mostly the AL Central. Richard Griffin had them lower.

The fact that they got the job done against so called bad teams is a plus and relates to thinking that the Jays are a good team. Not to mention that the teams they won against, started winning games after their series with the Jays. After we took 3/4 from the Twins, they swept the Angels. Detroit has gone 6-2 after we beat them in the first series. Cleveland beat the crap out of the Yankees, a team that many agree is better than the Jays. The thing is, these teams aren't as bad as people think (maybe Cleveland is). The Jays have always played pretty well against the AL East, so if that trend continues, and we continue to beat up on "bad" teams from the AL Central and West, we'll make the playoffs. I'm not saying it's a given, but it's possible.

This is pretty good analysis as it's been our inability to win those "easy" games against the ALC and ALW in the past that have killed out playoff chances. As others have said we've usually done well against the rest of the ALE. Hopefully that continues when we get to them next month.

Also just read this article off yahoo which projects our playoff chances. Looks pretty good!

The Blue Jays remained hot and for the second straight week they are the #1 team in terms of improving their chances of making the playoffs. They improved +3 percent last week and zoomed up +8.5 percent this week. Not only did they go a solid 5-3 this week, they were helped out by the other Week 1 upstart in their division – Baltimore – coming back to earth (lost their last four games).

[s e n s i]

Anyway, I think when it's all said and done, the AL East this year could possibly be the toughest division in the history of the game.

[J-Roc]

Richard Griffin has us 9th, after the Yankees and Sox. I like it because a weekly ranking should just be about who played well for a week. It's about knowledgeable people watching a team and making a decision on where they rank.

The Jays have played well. But we all know their pitching is struggling with injuries that will catch up to them. The fact Griff has them 9th is really good. And if they keep it up, then they'll move forward.

But I understand for some weekly rankings, they're just looking at how the team did in terms of wins and losses.

[oakleyselbows34]

From the wiretap: http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... _rankings/

2. Toronto Blue Jays: 4.78

Ricky Romero has been a success beyond anyone's wildest expectations as the much maligned former first round pick is healthy and has a 1.71 ERA in 21 innings.