MLB Power Rankings - Major League Baseball

Power Rankings: Manny helps Red Sox reclaim No. 1 ranking

Week:

ESPN.com

He no longer dons their uniform, but Manny Ramirez is still helping the Boston Red Sox -- at least in this week's MLB Power Rankings.

Last week's No. 1 team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, dropped three of four games without the suspended Ramirez in the lineup. That paved the way for Ramirez's former team, the Red Sox, who reclaimed the No. 1 ranking. For the week Boston had a 5-2 record to climb three spots after falling from No. 1 a week ago to No. 4.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, dropped one spot to No. 2, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals at No. 3 and the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays at No. 4.

The team comments below were written by one of our panelists, Enrique Rojas of ESPNdeportes.com. Meanwhile, you can rank the teams yourself.

Tune into "Baseball Tonight" every Monday on ESPN to see the week's U.S. Army Power Rankings. The New York Mets are the U.S. Army Team of the Week; winners of seven straight games, the Mets jumped a whopping 15 spots to No. 5 in this week's rankings.

2009 Power Rankings: May 11
	RK (LW)	TEAM	REC	COMMENT
	1 (4)	Red Sox	20-12	Jason Bay is hitting .379 (11-for-29) with 14 RBIs in the past seven games.
	2 (1)	Dodgers	22-11	No Manny? No problem. Juan Pierre is 9-for-16 with three doubles, four RBIs and four runs scored in four games as Ramirez's replacement.
	3 (2)	Cardinals	20-12	Albert Pujols has reached base in 29 of 31 games in 2009.
	4 (3)	Blue Jays	22-12	Toronto (204) is the only club with 200 runs scored this season.
	5 (20)	Mets	17-13	The Mets won seven straight games and eight of nine after GM Omar Minaya questioned the club's edge and leadership.
	6 (9)	Tigers	17-13	With Justin Verlander (3-0, 0.39 ERA since April 27) as the ace, Detroit starters are 8-4, 2.77 in their past 14 games.
	7 (14)	Brewers	18-14	Driven by Ryan Braun (.345 BA, 8 HR, 28 RBI), Milwaukee has won six of eight games.
	8 (11)	Cubs	17-14	Chicago has won seven of 10 despite little offense from Milton Bradley (.179) and Geovany Soto (.169).
	9 (10)	Royals	18-14	Kansas City is the MLB leader in ERA (3.45).
$Texas Rangers$	10 (18)	Rangers	17-14	Texas has won nine of 13 to climb to the top of its division despite the absence of Josh Hamilton, who returns Tuesday.
	11 (22)	Angels	16-14	The Angels have won 10 of their past 13; in those victories, their ERA is 1.80 (18 runs in 90 IP).
	12 (6)	Phillies	15-14	Jimmy Rollins is hitting .195 with a .218 OBP, the worst in the majors among leadoff hitters.
	13 (7)	Yankees	15-16	Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in his first at-bat, but he followed it up with only one hit in his next 10 at-bats.
	14 (12)	Reds	17-14	Cincinnati's pitching staff leads baseball with six shutouts.
	15 (21)	Rays	15-18	With a major-league-leading 22 stolen bases, Carl Crawford has more steals than 23 clubs.
	16 (8)	Marlins	17-15	Florida is 6-14 in its past 20 games but remains near the top of the NL East.
	17 (15)	Giants	16-14	San Francisco is last in MLB in runs scored (109), but has won 13 of its past 19 games.
	18 (16)	Braves	15-16	Atlanta has six stolen bases, the only MLB team that has not yet reached double figures this season.
	19 (5)	Mariners	16-16	Before their win on Sunday, the Mariners had a six game losing streak in which their opponents outscored them 45-15.
	20 (17)	Twins	15-17	Catcher Joe Mauer is hitting .485 (16-for-33) with 10 RBIs in nine games after starting the season on the DL.
	21 (13)	White Sox	14-16	Clayton Richard will take Jose Contreras' (0-5, 8.19) turn in the rotation Tuesday.
	22 (29)	Orioles	13-19	Baltimore's pinch hitters (0-for-13 with eight strikeouts) are the only ones in the AL without a hit.
	23 (27)	Astros	14-17	Miguel Tejada had no home runs in the first 28 games, but he has two homers in the past four games.
	24 (23)	Diamondbacks	13-19	Max Scherzer (0-3 in '09, 0-7 career) has failed to achieve a victory in his first 22 major league appearances, including 13 starts.
	25 (25)	Athletics	11-18	Oakland is last in the American League in batting average (.236), runs scored (121) and home runs (18).
	26 (28)	Rockies	12-18	Manager Clint Hurdle has used 27 different lineups in 30 games.
	27 (24)	Padres	13-19	The Padres have lost 10 of 12 and now have a major-league-worst run differential of minus-38.
	28 (19)	Pirates	12-19	Pittsburgh has lost eight in a row and 12 of 13 games to fall to the NL Central basement.
	29 (26)	Indians	11-21	The Indians have lost seven of nine games and now have baseball's worst record.
	30 (30)	Nationals	10-19	Washington enjoyed its best stretch of the season, winning five of its past seven games.