Post by Rangers GM (Mike) on Jun 11, 2012 20:21:50 GMT -5
| Team | Rank (LW) | Record | Trending | Comments | |
 | Giants | 1 (1) | 8-1 | - | This week's matchup came down to the wire where the Giants barely made it alive with a win. It doesn't matter though, a win's a win and the streak is now at 8 in a row. The Giants may have their hands full for the second week in a row as they face the Phillies who are coming off a dominating win against the 6-3 Cubs. |
[tr] | Rangers | 2 (3) | 7-1-1 |  | The Rangers had no problems taking down the team with the best record in the league, easily beating Cleveland. The hitting was good like usual, but the story was their dominating pitching performance with an impressive 2.032 ERA and 0.984 WHIP. They now get to face the young, but struggling Royals before a big matchup against the Cubs. |
 | Braves | 3 (6) | 6-2-1 | | Atlanta was able to move back into the top 3 as they dominated the Reds in an easy 10-4-0 win. The offense was great as Heyward, Uggla, and Willingham all had great weeks. The pitching was also solid as Saunders and Hanson looked great and their relievers combined for 6 HD. |
 | Indians | 4 (2) | 7-2 |  | They didn't play that bad, but they got stuck facing the Rangers and ended up suffering only their second loss of the year. The offense had a pretty weak showing as Agon continued to underperform and Kipnis and Encarnacion were the lone bright spots. They'll try and bounce back against the Mariners in the second father-son matchup of the year. |
[tr] | Tigers | 5 (7) | 5-3-1 | | The Tigers offense was clicking on all cylinders as they were able to score a win against one of their wild card competitors. Peralta, Cespedes, and Boesch led the way as they put up a very impressive .348 batting average. The pitching also looked better as Kennedy and Verlander bounced back from poor performances the previous week to combine for 21 Ks and a 1.50 ERA |
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[/td][td]Coming off a week where they batted .373 with a 1.1549 OPS, the Red Sox struggled in the average department only managing to hit .234 and perform decently in the other categories. They actually pitched pretty well as Lester finally looks like his old self and Gio continued to dominate. However, the Astros offense looked great and was able to force a tie against the Sox.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Cubs[/td][td]7 (4)[/td][td]6-3[/td][td][/td][td]Ugly week for the Cubs as their ERA was almost 6 and they struggled to hit for power. Wright, Braun, and Wieters were the lone bright spots on offense as Wright continued his MVP type season. Poor performance or not, this is one of the elite teams in the league and will bounce back.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Nationals[/td][td]8 (11)[/td][td]4-5[/td][td][/td][td]The losing streak is over! The Nationals finally were able to snap out of their funk and dominated a red-hot Rockies team. The pitching sucked, but when you hit like that it doesn't matter. They have a tough matchup this week as they go up against the Cubs.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Phillies[/td][td]9 (12)[/td][td]3-5-1[/td][td][/td][td]The Phills looked outstanding this week easily beating the Cubs with a balanced offensive attack and quality pitching. Bourn busted out for 20 TB and a .500 average and FA pickup Jerry Hairston contributed with a .353 average and 1.047 OPS. They're going to have to keep it up if they are going to be the first team since week 1 to beat the Giants[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Reds[/td][td]10 (8)[/td][td]3-6[/td][td][/td][td]The Reds couldn't extend their winning streak to three in a row as they fell to the NL East leading Braves. After putting up great numbers the past few weeks, the Reds came back down to earth as they looked decent. Jeter has slowed down since a scorching start and really hurt the team's average this week. Other than him they hit pretty well, especially new acquisitions Goldschmidt and Brantley. They'll try to get back in the win column against the lowly Marlins. [/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Rockies[/td][td]11 (10)[/td][td]4-5[/td][td][/td][td]The other hot team in the league had their winning streak come to an end as they couldn't handle the Nationals. Besides average, their hitting stayed hot with Trumbo and CarGo leading the way. Their pitching though was terrible, registering an ERA of almost 6.5. They have to pitch better than that if they want any chance of upsetting the Braves.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Rays[/b][/td][td]12 (9)[/td][td]2-6-1[/td][td][/td][td]On the field the Rays continued to struggle as they dropped to 2-6-1. However, they have already decided this is a rebuilding year and were able to restock the farm with 3 of the top 4 picks in the draft.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Mariners[/td][td]13 (15)[/td][td]2-6-1[/td][td][/td][td]The Mariners finally got back in the win column for the first time since week 1 as they beat the struggling Rays. It wasn't their best week as they struggled offensively and in pitching, but they still were able to pull out the win. They've made some big acquisitions recently including McCutchen, Cozart, Wainwright, and Rasmus and it looks they are going to start paying off.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Astros[/td][td]14 (14)[/td][td]2-6-1[/td][td]-[/td][td]They weren't able to pull out a victory, but a tie against one of the better teams in the league should still be considered a successful week. The pitching wasn't too good, but the offense looked great and carried the team. Altuve, Upton, and Kubel continued their great seasons and were almost able to lead them to a win.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Royals[/td][td]15 (13)[/td][td]3-6[/td][td][/td][td]For once, it was the hitting that struggled. The Royals had put together a nice string of four straight outings where they played well, but that wasn't the case this week. The good news though is that their pitching was fantastic as Billingsley and Lohse both dominated.[/td][/tr][tr][td]
[/td][td]Marlins[/td][td]16 (16)[/td][td]1-8[/td][td]-[/td][td]For the fourth week in a row the Marlins are stuck in the last spot. For the second week in a row they played great against a very good team, but have nothing to show for it. This week's loss was especially crushing as they were winning their matchup as late as Sunday, but ended up being stuck with their 8th loss of the year. They have been playing well lately though, and its only a matter of time before they get their second win.[/td][/tr][/table]