Here’s the Power Rankings over at ESPN, where they have the Marlins, 11-1, rightfully in the No. 1 spot. They’re followed by the Dodgers, Cubs, Blue Jays and Cards. With four of the five in the NL, is the power shifting? Or does anyone really even give a damn about power rankings, anyway?

Over at Fox Sports, Florida is No. 1, followed by the Dodgers, Blue Jays, Padres and Cubs.

Not that any of their opinions really matter, but it’s always cool to read about how well your team is doing. And when your team is the Braves, it’s always depressing to watch them fall from No. 1 to No. 15 in less than a week. A .190 batting average over the course of five games willl do that to you.

[ESPN]
[Fox Sports]

Here’s the link to the Power Rankings on ESPN. And here’s the link to the rankings on Fox Sports. CBS Sportsline is yet to have theirs out, though I’ll keep a watchful eye and update the post when they’re delivered. A couple of notes:

• The top three in both are comprised of the Marlins, Braves, and Cardinals. ESPN likes the Braves more than the Marlins; Fox Sports is the other way around. Both think St. Louis is the third best team one week in.
• Fox Sports really likes the Mariners at No. 5; ESPN thinks they’re barely inside the top 10, putting them at No. 9.
• Both believe the Astros and Nationals are the two worst teams in baseball, with the Nationals taking the cake for being the lousiest. Fox Sports believes the Indians are the third worst team, while ESPN says they’re better than San Francisco and Milwaukee, who both have one more win.

[ESPN]
[Fox Sports]

In sad news today, Harry Kalas, voice of the Philadelphia Phillies, passed away today just before the start of the Philadelphia/Washington game. He had been the voice of the Phillies since 1971. He was 73 years-old.

[ESPN]

How do you blow a seven run lead in the seventh inning? Pull your starter, insert mediocre relievers, and make sure those relievers couldn’t throw a baseball in the ocean if they were 10 feet from it. They hit a batter, walked four more, and at one point walked in three straight runs with the bases loaded. As you can tell, I’m a Braves fan, and as you can tell, I’m a little steamed at how this one panned out. So much for sweeping the Champs.

[AJC]

The widow of Cory Lidle is suing the plane manufacturer for $50 million. How much, you say? Yes. Fifty million. This happened in 2006, and it’s now 2009. That’s three years, for the average math reject. That’s over $15 million per year over the three year span, and last I remember, Cory Lidle wasn’t exactly C.C. Sabathia. Not to trample on the man’s grave, but we’ll see how this pans out.

[NBC New York]

You think she ever drew pictures of her holding hands with tiny stick that had slanted eyes? Or maybe a couple of them had long noses and were really cheap. Do tell, Mrs. Hamels.

[Cole Hamels Should Really Not Let His Wife Speak In Public]
[Deadspin]

In recent weeks, there have been a lot of people — journalists, bloggers, media types — that have said in all of this, Bud Selig should be held responsible. And you know what? They’ve got a point. But you know what? They can all go eff themselves.

“I don’t want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn’t care about it,” Selig told Newsday in a Monday phone interview. “That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I’m sensitive to the criticism.

“The reason I’m so frustrated is, if you look at our whole body of work, I think we’ve come farther than anyone ever dreamed possible,” he said, adding, “I honestly don’t know how anyone could have done more than we’ve already done.”

So don’t blame this on Bud. He’s done everything he could. And on the bright side, at least these Congressional hearings didn’t end in a tie.

New York Mets 7, Philadelphia Phillies 8: It’s very, very hard to get up 7-0 on your opponent and then lose, but the Mets found a way. It took 13 innings, but if there’s ever That Game in the middle of a season that separates whether a team makes the playoffs or not, this may very well be it. New York might have this loss lingering for a while.

Chicago Cubs 14, Pittsburgh Pirates 9: The Cubs can hit, they can pitch, and if they can get over this curse thing, they should be in the World Series.

LA Dodgers 1, Washington Nationals 2: The Dodgers better get it together fast. Thankfully for them Arizona lost, but they’re still three games back.

Florida Marlins 9, Atlanta Braves 10: The Marlins are starting to fade as was expected, but you’ve gotta give this club some credit for being in it this long.

Cincinnati Reds 2, Houston Astros 1: Bronson Arroyo is actually starting to look like a real pitcher again. He pitched a complete game in this one and got the win.

Milwaukee Brewers 12, St. Louis Cardinals 0: Milwaukee’s pulling away from St. Louis, and the Cardinals Wild Card chances are getting dimmer and dimmer.

Arizona Diamondbacks 2, San Diego Padres 9: It’s a tough loss for the D’Backs, but the Dodgers lost, too, so no ground was lost.

Colorado Rockies 7, San Francisco Giants 2: There will be no late season rally from Colorado this year.

Chicago White Sox 8, Baltimore Orioles 3: The race between the White Sox and Twins is starting to get interesting, but it may simmer down. I don’t know how many, but the Twins have got something like 20 of their next 25 games on the road.

Cleveland Indians 10, Detroit Tigers 4: I know it would’ve been a long shot, but had they kept Sabathia, and with their recent surge, would the Indians be in this thing?

Boston Red Sox 7, New York Yankees 3: If the Yanks don’t take the next two in this series, you can pretty much count them as dead this year.

Toronto Blue Jays 6, Tampa Bay Rays 2: It’s a set back, but they’ve got the best record in baseball, and it’s going ot be hard for the Sox to catch ‘em.

Texas Rangers 2, Kansas City Royals 1: I feel like every year we think the Rangers year may be next year, and then they put together similar success from the previous season. But seriously: Next year this team could be dangerous.

Oakland A’s 1, LA Angels 5: They don’t have the best record in baseball anymore, but it’s hard to stay motivated when you’re up by about 3,000 games out West.

Minnesota Twins 2, Seattle Mariners 3: Maybe the Mariners just have the Twins number. For whatever reason, Minnesota just can’t seem to beat Seattle.

When I was younger, I was so good at soccer, baseball, basketball and football that teams feared playing me. It wasn’t so much a fear of death, but a fear of getting embarrassed. Well, my athletic prowess has been surpassed, because there’s a nine year old out there that’s so good at baseball other teams are refusing to play.

The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.

“He’s never hurt any one,” Vidro said. “He’s on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?”

How can you punish him for being too good? Listen, Vidro, when the kid’s got a fastball with more hop on it than Jamie Moyer or Tom Glavine, I gotta agree with the wussies in this one.

St. Louis Cardinals 3, Cincinnati Reds 7: It’s always nice to see Cincinnati actually win a game. I know he’s on an awful team, but Edinson Volquez might well be your Cy Young. He’s the best pitcher, and he’s proving it by winning 15 games for one of the worst teams.

San Francisco Giants 3, Atlanta Braves 1: The Braves are reaching all time lows. They can’t hit, they can’t pitch, they can’t really do anything right now.

Chicago Cubs 9, Florida Marlins 2: The Marlins are sinking further and further back. They had a nice run, but it looks as if it’s ending.

Colorado Rockies 7, Washington Nationals 2: The Rockies have won four of their last five. Can they rattle off 22 straight and make the playoffs? They did last year.

New York Mets 4, Pittsburgh Pirates 0: It looked rash getting rid of Willie not even half way through the season. But whether it’s his management style or not, the move is paying off.

Arizona D’Backs 0, Houston Astros 3: Don’t look now, but here come the Astros.

Milwaukee Brewers 5, LA Dodgers 7: It took a walk off, but it put the Dodgers back in first place.

Philadelphia Phillies 2, San Diego Padres 1: The Phillies are still two back from the Mets.

LA Angels 3, Cleveland Indians 4: It’s rare, but the Angels actually lost a series, and to the Indians, no less.

Baltimore Orioles 16, Detroit Tigers 8: They were an early season favorite, but the Tigers just haven’t played well this season.

Kansas City Royals 6, New York Yankees 15: They’re only five back in the Wild Card, and this “The Yanks are dead” talk may have been a bit premature.

Toronto Blue Jays 15, Boston Red Sox 4: All that’s ever talked about is Manny-Manny-Manny, but Jason Bay, even going 0-3 in this one, is hitting .328 since coming over to Beantown.

Seattle Mariners 8, Minnesota Twins 11: This year Adrian Beltre makes $13.4 million. He’s been a rip off for a while, and though he’s still not worth $13M, he’s at least got 20 homers this year.

Chicago White Sox 13, Oakland A’s 1: Ouch.

Tampa Bay Rays 7, Texas Rangers 4: With Boston struggling, they’re starting to run off with the AL East. And given that their entire team is injured, it’s something to applaud.