Week 4 Power Rankings, Balanced Rays remain at top

Teams no longer have the "It's only April" excuse as the baseball season moves into the month of May. The AL East and NL East look like the best divisions in baseball so far, but it looks like there will be plenty of competition out west in both leagues. The central divisions? I'm not too sure about them after one month of baseball.

1. Tampa Bay Rays (18-7): Another solid start for Evan Longoria: .347, 6 homers and 19 RBIs.
2. New York Yankees (16-8): Robinson Cano might be the MVP in the AL so far.
3. St. Louis Cardinals (17-8): Four wins apiece for Carpenter and Wainwright. This division should be theirs in a runaway.
4. Minnesota Twins (16-9): Still only played nine games at their new home Target Field (6-3).
5. Philadelphia Phillies (14-10): Huge contract for Howard and another week atop the NL East...barely.
6. San Diego Padres (16-9): Third in the majors with a team 2.76 ERA.
7. Detroit Tigers (16-10): Could D-Train be back after posting six shutout innings?
8. New York Mets (14-11): Just lost two straight and Santana was shelled, but have to be impressed by their short-lived surge to first place.
9. San Francisco Giants (14-10): Pablo Sandoval is going to be asked to do a lot for the Giants to contend...and he will answer.
10. Florida Marlins (13-12): Big matchup tomorrow with Anibal Sanchez going up against Tim Lincecum.
11. Texas Rangers (13-12): Three straight wins finds the Rangers atop the AL West.
12. Chicago Cubs (13-13): When this team hits, they really hit. When they don't, not so much.
13. Washington Nationals (13-12): Next nine are against division rivals.
14. Toronto Blue Jays (13-13): I feel bad for this team playing in front of some very, very small home crowds.
15. Oakland A's (13-13): Ben Sheets career looks over and it's a true shame.
16. Colorado Rockies (12-13): The Rockies need a healthy Jorge de la Rosa.
17. Cincinnati Reds (12-13): One game under, but a -29 run differential.
18. Los Angeles Angels (12-14): Same story as the Reds, Minus-28 run differential.
19. Los Angeles Dodgers (11-14): Opposite side for the other LA team. Three games under with just a -2 run differential.
20. Boston Red Sox (11-14): Each week they find themselves this low is each week their deficit to the Rays and Yankees grows.
21. Seattle Mariners (11-14): Can't ask for much more from Cliff Lee in his seven inning shutout debut.
22. Atlanta Braves (11-14): Snapped their nine game losing streak with a current three game winning streak.
23. Arizona Diamondbacks (11-14): They lead the NL with 144 runs scored and 155 runs allowed. Yikes.
24. Chicago White Sox (10-15): Worst batting average in the league as well as highest ERA from starting pitchers. Double Yikes.
25. Milwaukee Brewers (10-15): They need better than a 5.09 team ERA to compete for the Wild Card.
26. Kansas City Royals (10-15): I feel for Zack Greinke. The Cy Young winner is 0-3 with a 2.27 ERA and even tinier 0.98 WHIP.
27. Cleveland Indians (10-14): They have a major league low 85 runs scored.
28. Pittsburgh Pirates (10-15): Their -89 run differential is the worst in the majors...by 45 runs, more than double.
29. Baltimore Orioles (7-18): Climb out of the cellar with a sweep of the Red Sox.
30. Houston Astros (8-16): After a promising climb, the Astros failed to win a game last week.

American and National League Players and Pitchers of the Month

Friday marked the final day of April and the end of the first month of baseball. We have seen all-star players slump while young athletes ascend the tower of baseball stardom. There have been plenty of Cy Young and MVP performances through April, but only one player in each league will be awarded as the best player or pitcher in baseball for April. This is not part of the segment, but my teams of April have to be the Tampa Bay Rays and the San Diego Padres. The Rays went 17-6, beating the Yankees 2 of 3 and sweeping the Red Sox in Boston in a four game series. The Padres, who I picked to finish last in the NL West, has been the surprise of the 2010 baseball season along with the Washington Nationals. The Padres went 15-8 in April and I still can't name an All-star on the team outside of slugger Adrian Gonzalez.

American League Player of the Month: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees second baseman. With Mark Teixeira hitting under the Mendoza line in April and Alex Rodriguez only off to an average start, Cano has carried this team. He is lead the American League in hitting at .400 and hit 8 home runs and drove in 18 runs in April. He leads the league with 23 runs and is second in on-base percentage, slugging and on-base plus slugging. And all of this from a second baseman. Once Mark Teixeira comes around, this Yankees team is really going to push the Rays for American League supremacy.

American League Pitcher of the Month: Matt Garza, Tampa Bay Rays. I wanted to pick Francisco Liriano here, but I couldn't resist with Garza. I've been waiting the last few years for Garza to fully reach his potential and he has showed it this year. He went 4-1 with a 2.06 ERA in April and 34 strikeouts in five starts. Aside from his start against Toronto when he allowed five runs in five innings, Garza only allowed three runs in 30 innings pitched in his other four starts. Along with another pitcher of the month nominee, David Price, the Rays are in this for the long haul. They have the pitching and certainly have the lineup. Garza on his game makes the Rays a top three World Series contender.

National League Player of the Month: Jorge Cantu, Florida Marlins third baseman. A lot of good choices here including Ryan Braun, Matt Kemp and of course, Albert Pujols. But I'm going to go with Jorge Cantu. I think the Marlins are a real wild card contender if Cantu continues his hot April. Cantu hit .311 in April with five homers and 23 RBIs. He opened the season with 10 straight games with a hit and RBI and the Marlins went 11-12 in the first month. They could have found themselves in a much bigger hole if not for Cantu. The National League East is very competitive and Hanley Ramirez needs help on the Marlins offense. Cantu has been that answer so far.

National League Pitcher of the Month: Ubaldo Jimenez. Again, there are a lot of contenders including former Cy Young winners Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. But there is no doubting Jimenez's dominance in April. Not only did he throw a no hitter against the Braves, but he went 5-0 in April with a minuscule 0.79 ERA. He's given up just three runs in 34.1 innings and batters are hitting just .186 against him. Jimenez ended April by running off three scoreless starts spanning a total of 22.1 innings. The Rockies were just 6-12 when Jimenez did not pitch in April.