Comments on: Your Monday Morning Power Rankings

By: beantownsports247

beantownsports247 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:23:34 +0000

Okay , I agree , just found it a little bit odd that he would put the Jays and the Angels ( teams who the Red Sox just torched ) ahead of them . That is all.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 19:17:52 +0000

I wasn’t being hostile. I was merely being honest. Look at the first line of your post earlier today at 12:24pm directed at Craig, that’s what I would consider hostile.

By: beantownsports247

beantownsports247 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 18:49:23 +0000

uyf , no need to be hostile , i gave your yankees plenty of credit , just stating the facts. No one expected the Red Sox pitching staff to pitch like this. The Yankees offense is on fire right now , but the pitching staff , not so much .

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:16:19 +0000

Nothing like cherry picking a date to try and make a point. Why not April 11th? But I guess that wouldn’t fit neatly into your “best record in baseball” comment. Since Craig already stated his list takes what’s happened in the past into consideration your reply isn’t germane to the list as posted.

By: Jack Marshall

Jack Marshall — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:45:19 +0000

They went up 11 slots because they were ranked absurdly low last week. (I just know you only ranked them 18th to irritate me.) The truth is that the Red Sox, at this moment, give strong signs of being better than they were projected to be. They had five big question marks entering the season: Lackey, Dice-K, Beckett, the catching, and Papelbon. Dice-K and Beckett look better than they did at any time last season, Papelbon as well. Lackey has been encouraging. Since the 0-7 start, and without much of the line-up hitting at all, the team has gone10-4, playing mostly on the road. The team’s starting pitching has a sub-1 era for its last 7 games, and Crawford and Ellsbury are starting to hit. How many teams would the Orioles less like to play this week? I fart on your “18″!

By: beantownsports247

beantownsports247 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:42:24 +0000

Sorry my bad , not .84 .

The Red Sox extended their streak to nine consecutive games in which their starting pitcher has gone at least five innings and allowed fewer than three runs. The rotation, which has a 0.88 ERA during this stretch, tied the longest such streak in franchise history, set in 1946. – Espn

By: beantownsports247

beantownsports247 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:24:28 +0000

ha , Craig , these are a joke , I could care less what you think the rankings are but they are terrible , Yankees should be ahead of the Red Sox right now , but since april 15 who has the best record in baseball ? What pitching staff has a .84 ERA in the past 7 starts ? Oh yeah , the Red Sox , this is how the east was suppose to be and will be , Yankees/Red sox battleing it out for the Division and wild card , the rays will not keep up throughout the season , sorry just not happening .

By: rynev

rynev — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:19:53 +0000

Team X is way better than ranking Y!

By: JBerardi

JBerardi — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 16:10:16 +0000

I know these rankings are somewhat-to-very arbitrary, but ranking a team you yourself picked to win the AL east about two weeks prior 29th didn’t make sense to me at the time, and it certainly isn’t looking any better this week. I mean, talent has to count for something in your rubric, right? If this isn’t a reproduction of league standings, what other basis could there be for ranking them so low?

Also, I’m not buying this “1.5 games is a lot in April” argument one bit.

By: txrangers90

txrangers90 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:33:52 +0000

just wondering if craig saw this lol
http://www.lonestarball.com/2011/4/25/2131756/hbt-power-rankings-lampoon-ranger-bullpen-usage

By: Paul White

Paul White — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:17:27 +0000

To clarify, since it seems a couple of folks are presuming that I think the Red Sox should be ranked near the top, that’s not the case. The Sox haven’t earned a spot in the top dozen or so teams yet. And the Angels, for instance, have been better overall than the Red Sox, this weekend’s sweep notwithstanding. If, on that basis, Craig thinks they should be ranked higher, that’s certainly justifiable.

But my claim that the Blue Jays have no business being ranked higher than Boston isn’t just fanboy talk. The Red Sox are simply better than them, in every measurable way. They’ve got a better record. They’ve been better in the their last 10 games and their last 20 games. They’ve got a better run differential (barely) and, presuming strength of schedule numbers mean anything, they’ve compiled it against tougher competition. They’ve played more road games. And they beat Toronto head-to-head 3 times in 4 games. Those facts all seem pretty clear, whether I’m a Red Sox fan or not.

By: uyf1950

uyf1950 — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:04:47 +0000

Every fan wants to see their team at or near the top. The problem with the comment from Paul White is several fans can make that same argument. For example: The Twins taking 2 games from the Indians this weekend warrant them being ahead of the Indians. Of course not. Just my opinion. Over time the “cream rises to the top” always has been the case always will be the case.

By: Ari Collins

Ari Collins — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:00:08 +0000

Boston should probably be higher, since they’ve been as good overall as any number of teams but have been the best team in baseball lately. But hey, subjectivity, show me more, and all that.

And as a correction: if you want to talk about how good they’ve been lately, it makes more sense to say they’ve won 8 or 9 than 8 of 10, doesn’t it?

By: Paul White

Paul White — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:17:33 +0000

Fair enough, but if this is meant to be more a measure of the season to date, then it would seem fair to note that while the Red Sox had a horrible opening week, it was entirely on the road against two very hot division-leading clubs, and since then they have been exceptionally good (10-5). Placing them below a team like Toronto, for instance, just strikes me as a lingering emotion from the first week that has little basis in fact.

By: yankeesfanlen

yankeesfanlen — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:13:17 +0000

Craig, I see where you’re coming from on this. Yankees have the biggest lead (3 games) in the AL, so they’re #3, highest in AL.It’s just that the accumulating basis hasn’t built up yet.
And Sox fans want to win a couple of games and be instantly put at the top.

By: Craig Calcaterra

Craig Calcaterra — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:03:11 +0000

This is neither a reproduction of the overall league standings nor a referendum on the previous weekend. The Red Sox went up 11 spots, which hardly ever happens. That’s a huge jump. But when I do these things I don’t ignore what teams had been doing before. The Sox had a hell of a lot of ground to make up after their slow start.

Also, while 1.5 games doesn’t seem like a hell of a lot, it is in the early part of the season. 1.5 games is what separates the seventh best record in baseball right now from the 20th.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:59:18 +0000

I think Craig is just baiting Red Sox fans this week.

By: Paul White

Paul White — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 13:37:35 +0000

So, to summarize, you feel that the team that was just swept in four home games by the Red Sox, and stands only 1.5 games better than them in terms of overall record, is TEN spots higher than the Sox in overall power rankings. And the team that the Red Sox took three out of four from and is now a game behind Boston in the standings is nonetheless three slots ahead of them in the power rankings.

Um, yeah, okay, sure.