NL East Power Rankings

Time once again to update the weekly NL East Power Rankings.

Not much change this week actually, although I did get a late jump on the rankings last week. In fact the order this week is exactly the same as the previous power rankings, although the Mets made some strides to overtaking the Phillies.

But which team was more impressive this weekend? Do you give the Phillies more credit for a three game sweep at home against the Nationals? Or do you put more weight on a Mets two of three series victory at home against the Marlins?

Simple. These are "power" rankings, and Ryan Howard's upper deck grand slam, which allowed Howard to pass Mike Schmidt for most career grand slams as a Phillie, demonstrated why the Phillies are on top.

Previous Power Rankings

1.  (28-20; 1) The Phillies were happy to play host to the Nationals this weekend, giving the bats some much needed life again and picking up Jamie Moyer's 250th career win.

The Phillies now have hit 69 home runs, most in the National League (ten more than the Milwaukee Brewers. But they have also hit 105 doubles and eleven triples. While the offense is good the team ERA is inching closer to going below 5.00, currently at 5.02. It will be interesting to see how things go without Brett Myers though.

2.  (28-21; 2) The New York Mets won a crucial home series over the weekend against the Marlins, but it wasn't easy. In the two games they won the Mets scored a combined five runs, and won each by one run. sometimes it is tough to figure out the Mets, although they are battling some injury issues right now.

While the Phillies are making a west coast trip the Mets go on the road against the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Washington Nationals, before coming home for a series with the Phillies.

3.  (25-25; 3) The Braves are battling injuries with three starting pitchers on the disabled list already and now Buddy Caryle has been added to the DL. Atlanta showed off some offense while in Arizona though, blowing the Diamondbacks out in two out of three games. Chipper Jones leads the team with five home runs. The Phillies have four players with at least eight home runs.

4.  (23-28; 4) The Marlins lost their weekend series in New York and continue to flounder. Questions remain about short stop Hanley Ramirez, who left a game against the Phillies early with a groin problem.

He played sparingly against New York and if the Marlins can't have him in the lineup consistently the losses will continue to pile up in Miami. The Marlins have a tough four game home series starting tonight when the Milwaukee Brewers come to town.

5.  (13-36; 5) The Nationals have a record of 5-25 against the NL East, which is the worst inter-division record in baseball. Struggles come on the road (6-20) as well as at home (7-16). Yesterday against the Phillies the top four batters (plus a pinch hitter) went 0-15. that is not exactly what you call setting the table.

Josh Willingham's two home runs therefore accounted for two runs. The Nationals lost 4-2.