The Dodgers appear to be running away with the NL West, but things could get more difficult as they must play their remaining 93 games on the road.

A lot of people blame Terry Pendleton for the Braves hitting woes. That’s like blaming the manager for the team’s won-loss record: entirely reasonable.

Roy Halladay, 10-1 before his injury, deserves to at least be in the conversation about pitchers currently on the DL.

The Brewers have cooled off since their early season tear, but don’t fall asleep on these guys as they have talent up and down the roster. I just squeezed three cliches into one sentence. I should at least be in the conversation for lamest writer.

The Mets are ten spots higher than last week because Mets fans are the ones that send me the most death threats.

The Tigers have performed well so far, but the season is a marathon not a sprint, so Tigers fans shouldn’t get too excited. In fact, they should boo the team and throw batteries at them.

The only way A-Rod could be more hated in New York is if he were A.J. Burnett one year from now.

Jason Bartlett is having a surprisingly good year at the plate, which means he’s on steroids. I’m sorry, but everyone’s under a cloud of suspicion these days. Suspend the fucker.

It’s easy to say that the Indians continued futility is the fault of Eric Wedge, but that’s because it’s true. It’s easy to say things that are true.

The Cardinals have shaky middle infield defense, which is going to ruin their chances of winning a World Series. The corners are good, though, so they can still win the pennant.

The Giants need to get Barry Bonds on the phone and see if he can play DH. Then they need to call the league to see if they can adopt the DH in the National League. Actually they should probably do that first.

Ervin Santana is back on the DL again, which tells me he shouldn’t have pitched in the World Baseball Classic. And he didn’t, which means he made the right decision.

Disturbing stat for the Phillies: No World Series champ has ever repeated when failing to make the playoffs the following year.

The Orioles are rapidly becoming the team to beat in the AL East, and their rivals are responding in kind by beating them.

Ken Williams continues to believe his sad sack team will make a run in the second half, so I’m dropping them four spots here just to send him a message.

Mike Maddux spotted a problem with Vicente Padilla mechanics: he’s throwing the ball toward the batter instead of dropping his glove and running for his life.

This team probably won’t win the World Series this year, but that’s okay. The whole thing was devalued when the Phillies won it anyway.

Jake Peavy has electric stuff but his dainty little ankle is always hurting. I bet if they put a stop payment on his paychecks it’ll stop hurting pretty fast.

Does anybody know what the D'backs are up to these days? If so, shoot me an email and I’ll incorporate it into next week’s rankings.

As usual, the Astros don’t seem to have much of a blueprint for the success of the team. I suggest treading water into September and then sparking a month-long hot steak by firing Cecil Cooper.

For all their problems and general lack of talent, the Royals haven’t been that bad this year. That’s actually the new slogan they’re using to sell season tickets.

I hate to do this, but the Pirates are dropping three spots this week in my power rankings. Yet another setback for this star-crossed franchise.

The return of Ken Griffey has been the feel good story of the year for the rest of the division.

Second year player Jay Bruce is just not getting it done at the plate this year. On the upside, he’s the team’s third best pitcher.

Manager Bob Geren has done a good job of keeping the team on an even keel while they torpedo to the bottom of the standings.

Joe Mauer is on fire, but there’s no way in hell he’s going to hit .400. For that reason, I’m dropping the Twins down to the last spot.