Professional baseball rankings -- week 19

*Number 1 -- SEATTLE MARINERS-(85-33) -- Mariners defeat the Chicago White Sox on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball 2-1. Relief pitcher Arthur Rhodes got the win and improves to 7-0. Sasaki got his 36th save. Seattle leads the majors in runs scored with 690. They are 40-18 at home and 45-15 on the road.

*Number 2 -- OAKLAND ATHLETICS-(68-50-) -- Athletics are 24-7 since All-Star break. Oakland moves up from number 11 to number two in my rankings, by winning 11 games in a row. Still 17 games out of first in A.L. West. They sweep the Yankees in Oakland this weekend. Jason Giambi hits a dramatic two-run homerun in the bottom of the ninth to win the game 4-2. It was his 29th of the year. He has 91 RBI's and is batting .330 for the season. Pitcher Mark Mulder got the win, pitching a complete game. He is 15-6 now with an ERA of 3.20.

*Number 3 -- NEW YORK YANKEES--(69-49) -- Lost three in a row to Oakland. Yankees beat Tampa Bay Thursday 4-3. Roger Clemons pitched, but did not figure in the decision. He pitched 7-1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs and striking out eight. His ERA is 3.50. Ramiro Mendoza got the win. He is 8-3. Mariano Rivera earned his 37th save.

*Number4 -- ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS-(66-51) -- They lead the N.L. West by a 1/2 game over the Giants. Arizona sweeps the Braves this weekend in Atlanta. Pitcher Curt Schilling improved his record to a major lead best at 17-5. His ERA is 2.89. Man what a year! Lopez earned his first win of the year Sunday, in 9-1 drubbing of Atlanta. He is 1-3 now. Outfielder Steve Finley hit his ninth homerun in that contest.

*Number 5 -- CHICAGO CUBS-(66-50) -- Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood back on the DL. Tendinitis they say! Cubs lose two out of three to San Francisco this weekend. Pitcher Jon Lieber picks up his 15th win of the year on Friday in a 9-3 win. He pitched a complete game. First baseman Fred McGriff hit a grand slam in that game. He has two homeruns as a Cub. Michael Tucker hit his 10th in that game. Sammy Sosa hit his 41st homerun in Saturday's loss to the Giants. That moves him past Billy Williams on the all-time homerun list.

*Number 6 -- HOUSTON ASTROS-(66-51) -- Pedro Astacio gets his first win as an Astro on Friday in a 7-2 win. He is 7-13 on the year. Third baseman Vinny Castilla hit his 15th homerun in that game and went 4-5 with three RBI's, two runs scored and two doubles. Jeff Bagwell hit his 29th homerun. Both homered in Sunday's win to give Castilla 16 and Bagwell 31 on the year. Houston won 10-5 over Florida. Lance Berkman hit his 30th in that game. Berkman is batting .345. Houston is second in batting in the N.L.

*Number 7 -- SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS-(66-52) -- Barry Bonds hits his 50th homerun on Saturday in a 9-4 win over Chicago Cubs. He is the oldest player to hit 50 homeruns in a season. He is also ahead of Mark McGwire's homerun pace of 1998. That was Bond's 544th career homerun. Pitcher Livan Hernandez won that game. He is 11-11 with an ERA of 5.62. He went 4-4 in that game with his first homerun of the year. He had three RBI's. Giants have the best home record in the N.L at 38-21. They are 20-10 since the All-Star break.

*Number 8 -- CLEVELAND INDIANS--(65-52) -- Indians are 35-23 when playing on the road. Pitcher C.C. Sabathia improved his record to 12-4 with 13-2 win over Texas Sunday. He struckout seven and allowed three hits in six innings of work. Second baseman Roberto Alomar was 3-5 with four RBI's, three runs scored, one double and a triple. Juan Gonzalez went 2-5 with three RBI's and one run scored. He has 104 RBI's on the year.

*Number 9 -- PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES--(65-52) -- Phillies sweep LA Dodgers this weekend. Pitcher Nelson Figueroa improves his record to 4-2 with 10-5 win over Dodgers on Friday. Outfielder Pat Burrell hit his 17th homerun of the year in that contest. It was a grand slam. Jimmy Rollins hit his 10th.

*Number 10 -- MINNESOTA TWINS--(64-53) -- Lost three in a row to Tampa Bay. That's not good. Twins beat Cleveland on Thursday, 6-4. Pitcher Eric Milton was the winner. He is 11-4 with an ERA of 4.28. David Ortiz hit his ninth homerun of the season in that win. LaTroy Hawkins earned his 27th save.

*Number 11 -- LOS ANGELES DODGERS--(65-53) -- Losers of four in a row. Outfielder Shawn Green hit his 32nd homerun of the season in a 10-5 loss to Philadelphia on Friday. Pitcher James Baldwin lost that game for the Dodgers. Dodgers have been struggling this past week.

*Number 12 -- BOSTON RED SOX-(65-51) -- Red Sox were swept by Oakland in three game series last week in Oakland. Pitcher Frank Castillo back from the DL. Boston beat Baltimore on Sunday in a slugfest, 12-10. Pitcher Tim Wakefield was the winner. He is 8-7. Derek Lowe got his 24th save. Mike Lansing hit his seventh homerun, Nomar Garciaparra hit his third, Mirabelli hit his fourth, Carl Everett hit his 12th, and last but not least, Manny Ramirez hit his 37th of the year in that homerun hitting game.

*NUMBER 13 --ATLANTA BRAVES--(64-53) -- Atlanta is sliding fast and trail the Phillies by one game in the N.L. East. Braves have lost five in a row. Greg Maddux broke the N.L. record for consecutive innings without a walk Tuesday in 6-5 win over Houston. He made it to 72-1/3 innings without a walk on Sunday, but lost to Arizona 9-1. Maddux is 15-7 now. Batters scattered 12 hits off him in that game, and he gave up six earned runs.

*NUMBER 14 -- ANAHEIM ANGELS-(62-56) -- Angels beat Toronto Sunday 6-5. Pitcher Al Levine earned the win. He is 6-7 with an ERA of 2.25. Pat Rapp started the game. Garrett Anderson hit his 22nd homerun in that win. Catcher Ben Molina hit his third. Closer Troy Percival earned his 33rd save.

*NUMBER 15 -- ST. LOUIS CARDINALS--(61-55) -- Cardinals have won four in a row. Slugger Mark McGwire hit his 21st homerun of the year on Sunday in a 4-1 win over NY Mets. McGwire now has 575 career homeruns and is in fifth place on the all-time career list. He trails Frank Robinson for fourth place. Pitcher Darryl Kile got the win Sunday. He is 13-7. Rookie Albert Pujols hit his 28th homerun.

*Number 16 -- FLORIDA MARLINS-(59-58) -- Pitcher Ryan Dempster's record is now 14-9 after a 13-5 win over Houston Saturday. Third baseman Mike Lowell hit his 13th homerun and Preston Wilson hit his 10th.

*Number 17 -- CHICAGO WHITE SOX--(57-59) -- Chicago beat Seattle on Friday, 8-6. Rocky Biddle got the win in relief. He is 4-7. Closer Keith Foulke got his 28th save. Rey Ordonez went 3-5 with two RBI's and one run scored. He also hit his 27th double of the year.

*Number 18 -- SAN DIEGO PADRES-(57-60) -- Padres beat Pittsburgh on Saturday, 6-2. Pitcher Brian Lawrence earned the win. He is 3-1. He pitched eight innings, allowing six hits and only one earned run. Future Hall of Famer, Tony Gwynn, hit his first homerun of the year in that win. Ryan Klesko went 2-4 with one RBI. He has 92 RBI's on the year now. He also scored a run and hit a double.

*Number 19 -- TORONTO BLUEJAYS-(55-63) -- Toronto beat Seattle on Thursday, 6-5. Reliever Paul Quantrill got the win. He is 10-2 now. Brad Fullmer hit his 13th homerun. Curtis Delgado went 3-5 with one run scored.

*Number 20 -- NEW YORK METS-(54-64) -- Mets beat Milwaukee on Wednesday, 5-4. Pitcher Steve Trachsel improved his record to 6-10 with win. He has an ERA of 4.98. He tossed a three hitter through seven innings. Armando Benitez got his 27th save in that win. Edgardo Alfonso hit his 12th homerun.

*Number 21 -- TEXAS RANGERS-(52-66) -- Rangers beat Cleveland two out of three this weekend. Texas wins on Friday, 7-2. Pitcher Doug Davis improved his record to 6-8 with win. Outfielder Gene Kapler hit his 13th homerun and went 2-3 with two runs scored and a double. Infielder Frank Catalanotto was 3-4 with one RBI and one run scored. He hit his 24th double of the season in that game.

*Number 22 -- COLORADO ROCKIES-(49-68) -- They lead the N.L. in team hitting with 674 runs scored. Rockies beat Chicago Cubs 14-5 on Wednesday. Pitcher Mike Hampton was the winner. He is 12-8 with an ERA of 5.13. He hit his seventh homerun of the year in that game, matching a N.L. record set by Hall of Fame pitchers Don Drysdale (1958,1965), and Don Newcombe (1955). MLB record is nine homeruns by Philadelphia pitcher Wes Ferrell back in 1931. Outfielder Juan Pierre, who played his college ball at University of South Alabama here in Mobile, went 3-6 with three RBI's, two runs scored and two doubles.

*Number23 -- MILWAUKEE BREWERS-(49-66) -- They beat Montreal 6-0 on Saturday. Suzuki was the winning pitcher. He is 1-3. First baseman Richie Sexson hit his 29th homerun in that game.

*Number24 -- BALTIMORE ORIOLES-(49-69) -- Orioles lose rookie Jay Gibbons to a broken wrist for the season. Orioles beat Boston 4-2 on Saturday. Pitcher Josh Towers earned the win. He is 7-7. His ERA is 3.81. Cal Ripken Jr. went 3-3.

*Number 25 -- CINCINNATI REDS-(48-68) -- Ken Griffey Jr. is the youngest ballplayer in MLB history to reach 450 career homeruns. He is only 31 years old.

*Number 26 -- MONTREAL EXPOS-(49-69) -- They blank Milwaukee 5-0 on Sunday. Pitcher Javier Vazquez earned the win. He is 11-11. His ERA is 4.05. Vladamir Guerrero went 3-4 with one RBI and one run scored.

*Number 27 -- DETROIT TIGERS-(48-68) -- Can't hardly win a game, much less a brawl with Kansas City. Royal's Mike Sweeney throws helmet and fist at Detroit's pitcher Jeff Weaver over words exchanged.

*Number 28 -- KANSAS CITY ROYALS-(48-70) -- Have won four in a row. Just told you the Mike Sweeney story. He needs to be severely punished by MLB's disciplinarian Frank Robinson for his actions. No call for that, even if Weaver did say something to him.

*Number 29 -- PITTSBURGH PIRATES-(45-71) -- They beat San Diego on Sunday, 7-6. Aramis Ramirez hit his 25th homerun in that win. Gary Matthews Jr., picked up by the Pirates this week from the Chicago Cubs. Pirates 21 games out of first in the N.L. Central.

*Number 30 -- TAMPA BAY DEVIL RAYS-(41-77) -- Winners of three in a row. That is good. Well, it is for them. Still going nowhere, as they are 28 games out of first in the A.L. East.

See you at the game.