NL East Power Rankings

After the all-star break it seems the message is clear now. The Phillies are, once again, the team to beat. After a rain-shortened sweep of the Marlins to start the second half of the baseball season, the Phillies have built one of their largest second-half leads in the division race since 1993.

And we all know how that season went.

Will anyone catch the Phillies by the end of the month, or by the end of the year? This is why you play all 162 games of baseball.

Previous Power Rankings

Philidelphia Phillies (51–38; 1) The best road team in baseball made short work of the Marlins over the weekend, and extended a four game lead to seven.

The Phillies took three games in Florida on the backbone of their pitching, both starting and bullpen.The offense did their part as well, outscoring the Marlins 15-5, including a pair of shutouts and a 12-inning contest.

The Phillies are one of two teams in the National League to have a winning record against each division in the league. The San Francisco Giants are the other.

Atlanta Braves (46–46; 3) The Braves move up a spot in the power rankings, though it is more by default than anything else. Atlanta is sitting at .500 right now and has been equally mediocre both at home and on the road this season.

To start the second half the Braves took three of four games at home against the woeful Mets.

While the Braves' home run total is second worst in the division, their batting average is the second highest.

I have never been one to count the Braves out, but they still have some holes they need to fix in order to make a serious run at the Phillies.

Florida Marlins (46–47; 2) The Marlins had a shot at closing the gap against the division leaders at home this weekend, but fell flat on their faces.

After being swept at home the Marlins fell from second to third place and put themselves nine games back of the Phillies in the loss column.

The Marlins have enough weapons that they should not be shut out twice at home in one series, but they were clueless against Jamie Moyer and JA Happ, who both made them look silly at times.

New York Mets (43–48; 4) Ahh, the New York Mets. In all fairness, with the players they are fielding, criticism might be unjust. Injuries have crippled the Mets like few teams have experienced before.

The team continues to do a free fall down the standings. The Mets are nine games out of the NL East, and it is beginning to be time to focus on the wild card standings, which find the Mets seven games behind the Giants.

With 52 home runs, the Mets are in dead last in the National League. The pitching is also causing some problems with a team ERA that is rising and strike out totals that are falling.

The addition of Francisco Rodriguez was supposed to put the Mets over the edge, but it's tough for him to make a difference when the team rarely has the lead.

Washington Nationals (26–65; 5) Nationals fans, I feel your pain. I really do. The Nationals have fielded a pretty bad team all season, but let's continue to look at the bright spots.

Washington continues to have the second highest on base percentage in the National League. They also have the fourth most hits in the league.

Pitching is clearly the downfall for the Nationals and it remains to be seen if a change at manager will work.

Fans must be wondering when the team will start to work out a contract with top draft pick Stephen Strasburg.