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We are now at the halfway point of the MLB season and we’ve seen some pleasant surprises (Joe Saunders, Tampa Bay Rays, Josh Hamilton) and some major disappointments (Seattle Mariners, Andruw Jones). No doubt it’s been an eventful first half of the season and the second half only figures to be even more exciting.

Will the Rays hold off the Red Sox and win the division? Will the Dodgers snap out of their offensive funk in time to overtake the Snakes? Will Chipper Jones hit over .400? Will K-Rod break the single season saves record? These are just some of the questions set to be answered come September 2008. So without further ado, here are my mid-season power rankings edition, including a quick recap of how the local teams fared over the past week:

Los Angeles Dodgers

Highlights of the Week: A trio of shutouts at the Ravine highlighted the week for the boys in blue. Eric Stults, who at the moment is a fill-in starter, had a complete game shutout of the Chicago White Sox last Wednesday. Chan Ho Park, another fill-in starter, shut down the Angels on Friday night. Chad Billingsley followed that up with seven innings of shutout ball, also the same game that saw the Dodgers get no hits in the game and still win. Bet you won’t see that again in your lifetime.

Lowlights of the Week: There were shutouts galore at the Ravine this past week, and unfortunately the blue were on the short end of two. The White Sox shut down the Dodger offense last Thursday and on Sunday afternoon the Angels handed the boys in blue another goose egg.

The Week ahead: They start July off with four more at Houston before a Weekend series in San Francisco against the hated Giants.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Highlights of the Week: How about that John Lackey? He was absolutely masterful Sunday afternoon at Dodger Stadium. He went 8 2/3 innings, no runs, and 9 K’s to lower his ERA to a microscopic 1.44. The type of numbers he put up on Sunday have seemingly become the norm for the Big Texan.

Lowlights of the Week: As good as the pitching has been, the offense has been equally bad. The Halos scored just one run over in the Freeway series against the Dodgers over the Weekend, and they followed that up with just one run against the A’s in a crucial AL West battle.

The Week ahead: Two more at home against the A’s before concluding the home stand with a weekend series against the Blue Jays.

This Week’s MLB Power Rankings (June 25-July 1) with the team’s current standings and their rise/fall since last Week’s rankings:

1. Tampa Bay Rays (50-32) (+4): They celebrate moving to the top spot in my rankings by beating the Red Sox last night.

2. Boston Red Sox (50-35) (+1): This whole “Manny being Manny” thing is getting pretty old.

3. Chicago Cubs (50-33) (-2): A series home loss to the Orioles and a sweep at the hands of the Chi Sox was enough to knock them out of the top spot.

4. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (49-34) (-2): At the rate he’s going, K-Rod seems like a lock to break the all-time single season saves record.

5. St. Louis Cardinals (48-36) (-1): Albert Pujols had four hits in his first game off the DL last Thursday against the Tigers.

6. Chicago White Sox (47-35) (+2): Jermaine Dye has hit his way into the A.L. MVP discussion.

7. Minnesota Twins (45-38) (+6): A crucial stretch coming up with nine of the next dozen games against the Tigers and Red Sox.

8. Oakland Athletics (45-37) (-1): Is their win last night against the Angels a sign of things to come?

9. Milwaukee Brewers (44-38) (+1): Eleven of Russell Branyan’s 24 hits as a Brewer have been home runs. Talk about all or nothing.

10. New York Yankees (44-39) (-1): They’ve got a huge four game series against the Red Sox this week.

11. Philadelphia Phillies (44-39) (-5): After starting the month of June with a 9-3 record, the fighting Phils dropped 11 of their last 14 games.

12. Florida Marlins (43-39) (-1): There just isn’t any quit in this team.

13. Detroit Tigers (42-40) (+4): Will Magglio Ordonez’ trip to the DL slow them down?

14. Baltimore Orioles (41-40) (-1): All these blown games have got to be devastating for a team just trying to stay alive in the AL East.

15. Texas Rangers (43-41) (+1): Josh Hamilton is already up to 80 RBIs and its only July 1st.

16. Arizona Diamondbacks (42-41) (-4): Just a game above .500 and they still lead the division by 3.5 games. Talk about being fortunate.

17. Atlanta Braves (40-43) (-2): Chipper Jones’ quest for .400 looks like its gonna be on hold.

18. New York Mets (40-42) (no change): Carlos Delgado’s 9 RBIs against the Yankees last Friday was a Mets record.

19. Los Angeles Dodgers (38-44) (+3): Add Juan Pierre to the list of the walking wounded.

20. Toronto Blue Jays (41-43) (+3): They are 3rd overall in team ERA (3.55) but rank 22nd in runs scored.

21. Pittsburgh Pirates (38-44) (-2): At least their 25-19 home record means that fans are watching some winning baseball at PNC Park.

22. Kansas City Royals (38-45) (+4): I don’t think there is a team more upset that interleague play is over this season.

23. Houston Astros (40-43) (+1): Can their series win against the Red Sox over the Weekend get this team going again?

24. Cincinnati Reds (39-45) (-4): As it stand now, Ken Griffey Jr. (.234 avg., 9 HR, 34 RBIs) is slated to start in the outfield in the All-Star game. I love Jr. as much as the next person, but there is no way he should be out there with the kind of numbers he is putting up.

25. Cleveland Indians (37-46) (-4): Fausto Carmano and Travis Hafner aren’t expected back until after the All-Star break. This team is playing so badly, I really don’t think it matters.

26. San Francisco Giants (36-47) (+1): I don’t care how funky his delivery is, Tim Lincecum (9-1, 2.38 ERA) is arguably the NL’s best pitcher.

27. Colorado Rockies (32-51) (-2): Thats now eight straight losses and counting.

28. Washington Nationals (33-51) (+1): Eight of their 18 home wins have come in the walk-off variety - including Sunday’s win over the Orioles.

29. Seattle Mariners (31-51) (+1): Sweeping the Padres isn’t a reason for optimism that things are going to turn around.

30. San Diego Padres (33-51) (-2): Scoring 15 runs last night against the Rockies is a sure fire way to snap a 7-game losing streak. Too bad it doesn’t keep you out of the bottom spot in my rankings.

Discuss:

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