Trevino's Rise

Edgardo Trevino is living life as if he just signed a new lease on his big league career. And why shouldn't he? The 25 year old starter has found newfound success under new Scottsdale owner jlinch.

Trevino was a star pitcher in the Oakland Aces minor league system for the better part of 3 seasons, starting 79 games, and posting a 36-20 record with a 3.49 career ERA.

"Our old owner ran a very tight ship in the minor leagues, which I believe helped me excel," Trevino said.

Then, on August 18 of last summer, Trevino got the news every minor league player longs to hear; he'd been promoted to the big club.

"And that's when everything fell apart. I started 8 games or so in the middle of that season, and struggled. And that's when the franchise forgot about me."

Owner D.D., instead of demoting him to AAA, decided to put Edgardo in the bullpen. "I had no experience ever coming in as a relief pitcher, and I don't have the style for it, when it comes right down to it."

Trevino struggled that season, with a 5.22 ERA in 15 appearances, 7 of them in relief. The following year was no better. Trevino tacked up 46 innings in 36 relief appearances, and finished the year with a 5.09 ERA.

"I felt like I'd never achieve success, because I wasn't getting the chance to grow. I went into last offseason hoping to be moved to a franchise that would let me grow. And that's when my life changed, for the second time."

D.D. left the franchise, new owner jlinch immediately moved the team to Scottsdale, and re-inserted Trevino into the starting rotation. He's responded brilliantly, compiling an 8-5 record in 18 starts, while leading the AL with a 2.64 ERA.

"He's not only saved my career, but he's saved this franchise. We may not be immediately competitive, but the moves being made are showing the league that this franchise will be a player for years to come, and thanks to jlinch, I'll get to be a big part of that."

Power Rankings Week Four

Only four teams voted this week. Texas, San Francisco, Colorado Springs & Pawtucket. The Power Rankings are still severely lacking in AL input.

Total points possible this week was 128.

Rank (last week) Team (first place votes) Points
1. (2) Texas Tittyballs (2) 126 votes
2. (1) Kansas City Shuffle (2) 125 votes
3. (3) Pawtucket Polythene 121 votes
4. (7) Rochester Raging Rhinos 116 votes
5. (4) Charleston Rebels 112 votes
6. (6) Fargo Nines 107 votes
7. (9) New York Moon Shots 103 votes
8. (5) Chicago Smooth Horses 97 votes
9. (12) San Francisco Sourdoughs 95 votes
10. (11) Cheyenne ChilliPeppers 94 votes
11. (15) Iowa City Kaysons 87 votes
t-12. (10) Charlotte knights 84 votes
t-12. (8) Atlanta City Slickers 84 votes
14. (14) Salem Dodgers 69 votes
15. (15) Scranton Dunder-Mifflins 68 votes
t-16. (13) Colorado Springs AltiDUDES 66 votes
t-16. (18) Norfolk Nomads 66 votes
18. (25) New Orleans Breeze 60 votes
19. (17) San Antonio Border Jumpers 59 votes
20. (22) Memphis Hound Dawgs 51 votes
21. (21) Scottsdale T's 49 votes
22. (22) Louisville Freezer Monkeys 46 votes
23. (19) St. Louis Birdnals 45 votes
24. (20) Little Rock Big Rocks 37 votes
25. (28) Tuscon Turbocors 29 votes
26. (24) Cleveland Steamers 28 votes
27. (26) Burlington Chills 24 votes
28. (29) Huntington Cousins 20 votes
29. (30) Tampa Bay Tarpons 17 votes
30. (27) Fresno Fire Dragons 14 votes
31. (32) Detroit Tigers 8 votes
32. (31) Houston Aggies 4 votes

The first power rankings after the interleague stretch show what the games showed, that the NL had the better week than the AL. 9 NL teams climbed in this weeks rankings, and 3 remained where they were last week, compared to 10 AL teams falling this week.

Once again Texas & Kansas City flipflopped in the top two spots this week, but for the first time this season a team showed it may be more than a 2 team race, as Pawtucket picked up one second place vote to close the gap between 2nd & 3rd. Charleston fell one spot for the 2nd straight week, while Rochester rejoined the Top 5.

San Francisco & Cheyenne are newcomers to the Top 10, while Atlanta & Charlotte both fell out of the top 10.

Atlanta, St. Louis & Little Rock all dropped 4 spots this week, the largest drops of any team, while New Orleans continues to skyrocket up the charts. In 28th just two weeks ago, the Breeze climbed 7 spots this week to move all the way to 18th. New Orleans - the only team in the world to finish last in their division all four seasons in Sharkey's World - took advantage of the AL South's weakened state this season, going 9-3 in interleague play to push them to within 2 games of the NL's 2nd wildcard spot.

Power Rankings Week Three

Sorry these took so long. No records this week because these polls were done yesterday, Tuesday, as far back as Monday, so the poll doesn't 100% sync up to current standings.

5 people voted this week; Pawtucket, Rochester, Texas, Scranton & Fresno. 160 possible points this week.

Rank (Last Weeks Rank) Team (First Place votes) Points

1. (2) Kansas City Shuffle (5) 160 votes
2. (1) Texas Tittyballs 155 votes
3. (4) Pawtucket Polythene 144 votes
4. (3) Charleston Rebels 143 votes
5. (5) Chicago Smooth Horses 142 votes
6. (10) Fargo Nines 133 votes
7. (7) Rochester Raging Rhinos 130 votes
8. (6) Atlanta City Slickers 126 votes
9. (8) New York Moon Shots 115 votes
10. (13) Charlotte knights 114 votes
11. (9) Cheyenne Chillipeppers 111 votes
12. (11) San Francisco Sourdoughs 110 votes
13. (16) Colorado Springs AltiDUDES 106 votes
14. (17) Salem Dodgers 85 votes
t-15. (12) Iowa City Kaysons 84 votes
t-15. (19) Scranton Dunder-Mifflins 84 votes
17. (20) San Antonio Border Jumpers 83 votes
18. (18) Norfolk Nomads 80 votes
19. (21) St. Louis Birdnals 67 votes
20. (14) Little Rock Big Rocks 66 votes
21. (25) Scottsdale T's 61 votes
t-22. (22) Louisville Freezer Monkeys 50 votes
t-22. (15) Memphis Hound Dawgs 50 votes
24. (24) Cleveland Steamers 45 votes
25. (28) New Orleans Breeze 41 votes
26. (28) Burlington Chill 38 votes
27. (31) Fresno Fire Dragons 33 votes
28. (27) Tuscon Turbocors 28 votes
29. (23) Huntington Cousins 24 votes
30. (26) Tampa Bay Tarpons 17 votes
31. (30) Houston Aggies 10 votes
32. (32) Detroit Tigers 7 votes

Quick Prediction Plus Update

Super delayed power rankings coming tomorrow. Good thing I don't work for ESPN.com, I'd be fired.

Thursday AM signifies the start of interleague play, as well as the draft. I'm sure there will be plenty of talk about the draft in the coming days, so I'll talk about interleague.

Plain & simple, the NL is better than the AL. The AL is top heavy, and even the topmost in the AL wouldn't fare as good in the NL.

And anonymous NL team is quoted as saying "Pawtucket would have easily gotten 116 wins in the AL last year, but I have a hard time seeing KC getting 105 wins in the NL."

Oh yeah, not only is the NL better, it's cocky.

192 interleague games over the next 4+ days. I have no doubt the NL will win at least 100 games, and will take the over if the number was set at 104.5.

Enjoy 12 meaningless games against the same division for a 5th straight year! Can't wait until WIS starts rotating interleague divisional matchups.

1st Annual NCAA Tourney Pick'em

A little something different. I figured since everyone in America fills out a bracket anyway, might as well see who's the college bball champ of our world.

Just go here, and click join a group (need a yahoo id). Join a private group. The group ID# is 70770. The password is bryant.

Don't forget to fill out your bracket if you do join. Deadline is Wednesday night or Thursday morning, I forget.

Good luck!

Glass shatters Tucson hitters: No-hitter for Huntington

AP (Tucson) - Who says Tucson's Electric Park isn't pitcher-friendly? In one of the more notorious hitters parks in baseball, Huntingon's Matthew Glass tossed a no-hitter in an afternoon game earlier today. While always being a fairly solid pticher, Glass has never been known for his durability. In fact today was his first complete game - despite being a starter for almost all of his 5 big league seasons. "There was no way I wasn't going to make my way to the mound in the 9th inning" Glass said. "They were going to have to drag me off the field kicking and screaming".

Glass, who fell a walk and hit batter shy of a perfect game, improved his record on the young season to 3-4 while dropping his ERA 4.21 with the great outing.

The Cousins won the game 2-0, scoring on a bases loaded walk in the first inning and again in the 8th when recently-aquired 2B Bob Kennedy avoided a tailor made double play ball with his speed allowing a runner to score from third. "I knew Matt was pitching a whale of a game but I wanted to get him one more insurance run and make sure we pulled this game out for him", Kennedy said.

Tuscon pitcher Tony Garces came out to start the game but got the call early in the first inning that he was being traded to Cheyenne in a blockbuster deal and was immediatley removed from the game. He couldn't avoid the tough-luck loss however, as the walk he gave up to the second and last batter he faced ended up coming around to score the deciding run.

Tucson and Huntington will play the rubber game of their 3 game set tomorrow.

Colorado Springs Counters

AP (Colorado Springs) - A mere 8 hours after San Francisco acquired 3B Abercrombie from Huntington (see story below), Colorado Springs launched a counter-attack. SP Johnny Cordova was acquired from Tampa Bay in exchange for AAA prospect Albert Carreras.

"Our offense has simply not gotten started this year" said AltiDUDES GM Jeff Reynolds. "When we saw San Francisco make a move for more hitting we knew we had to make a move. With no viable hitter in our reach we decided to bring in Mr. Cordova in an effort to solidify an already productive pitching staff. We hated to see Albert leave the organization but we did what we had to do and wish him nothing but the best in Tampa Bay."

Will the NL West be decided between San Francisco and Colorado Springs? Its far too early to tell. "We just couldn't let San Francisco sprint out too far ahead of the division" said Reynolds. It seems the move created a spark in the 'Dudes locker room as the team has won 7 of 8 games since the trade completed league approval. But they've only gained one game on division-leading SF. "We're expecting a dog-fight the rest of the year" said Reynolds. "We've got a long way to go and we're going to keep taking it one game at a time."

Sourdough Deal to Acquire Abercrombie

AP-San Francisco Sourdoughs GM John Derasmo, a man not known for the blockbuster trade, shipped talented but underachieving second baseman Bob Kennedy, hard-throwing setup man Chance Cox, and gold glove first baseman Shawn Hamilton to the Huntington Cousins for SS Mark Abercrombie and 2B Bingo Bellhorn.

Abercrombie has been on the Sourdough's radar for two years. The talented SS will play 3B, according to Derasmo, moving Don Mulder over to 2B, with Bellhorn taking over at 1b for the time being.

The big question is how this trade will affect the surprising Sourdoughs, who as of their last game have a three game lead in the NL West.

"I believe we've improved our team with this trade," Derasmo said. "We believe Mark has the skills to be one the more dangerous hitters in baseball. You always have to give up talent to get talent."

Rookie Chance Cox had 21 saves in AAA last season, and a 3.02 ERA. Kennedy had been the highest rated offensive prospect in the San Francisco organization when he was brought up to the big club 2 years ago, but while he's shown flashes of brilliance, he wasn't fulfilling his vast potential.

Fans just hope that team chemistry hasn't been damamged by the trade.

Power Rankings Week Two

Six people submitted rankings this week. Pawtucket, San Antonio, Colorado Springs, Scranton, Texas & Rochester. The max possible score this week was 192.

I'd love to get some more AL participants next week, balance things out a bit.

Rank -- (Last Weeks Rank) -- Team (1st Place Votes) -- Points -- Record (thru AM sim)
1. (3) Texas Tittyballs (4) 189 votes 26-9
2. (1) Kansas City Shuffle (2) 188 votes 25-10
3. (5) Charleston Rebels 175 votes 25-10
4. (4) Pawtucket Polythene 174 votes 24-11
5. (8) Chicago Smooth Horses 171 votes 25-10
6. (13) Atlanta City Slickers 158 votes 23-12
7. (6) Rochester Raging Rhinos 154 votes 21-14
8. (2) New York Moon Shots 151 votes 21-14
9. (17) Cheyenne Chillipeppers 144 votes 20-15
10. (11) Fargo Nines 141 votes 20-15
11. (9) San Francisco Sourdoughs 137 votes 20-15
12. (25) Iowa City Kaysons 121 votes 18-17
13. (15) Charlotte knights 110 votes 17-18
14. (14) Little Rock Big Rocks 107 votes 17-18
15. (15) Memphis Hound Dawgs 104 votes 17-18
16. (22) Colorado Springs AltiDUDES 98 votes 16-19
17. (20) Salem Dodgers 91 votes 17-18
18. (19) Norfolk Nomads 87 votes 16-19
19. (7) Scranton Dunder-Mifflins 83 votes 15-20
20. (18) San Antonio Border Jumpers 81 votes 16-19
21. (27) St. Louis Birdnals 75 votes 15-20
22. (11) Louisville Freezer Monkeys 72 votes 16-19
23. (10) Huntington Cousins 63 votes 14-21
24. (21) Cleveland Steamers 55 votes 14-21
25. (24) Scottsdale T's 44 votes 14-21
26. (26) Tampa Bay Tarpons 43 votes 14-21
27. (22) Tuscon Turbocors 38 votes 12-23
t-28. (30) Burlington Chill 36 votes 14-21
t-28. (32) New Orleans Breeze 36 votes 14-21
30. (30) Houston Aggies 24 votes 13-22
31. (28) Fresno Fire Dragons 11 votes 11-24
32. (29) Detroit Tigers 7 votes 10-25

Up top this week, Kansas City & Texas flip-flopped, with Texas becoming the 3rd team in three weeks to hold the top spot. Last week's other #2, New York, had a less than stellar 7-13 showing this week, to drop them to #8.

New to the top 10 this week are #6 Atlanta, #9 Cheyenne & #10 Fargo. Dropping out were #11 San Francisco, #19 Scranton & #23 Huntington.

The AL, long considered a top heavy league with little depth, now holds 6 of the top 10 spots, and 9 of the top 14.

This weeks big winner was Iowa City, which rose 13 spots to #12.

The big losers this week were the NL East, the self-proclaimed "best division in baseball." The divisions Huntington Cousins fell 13 spots to #23, the biggest fall in the world this week, while Scranton fell 12 spots to #19, the second largest fall.

At the bottom of the rankings, Detroit collected 5 of 6 last place votes to give them a stranglehold at the bottom spot.

Huntington Ships Kevin Ball to Kansas City

Huntington (AP Report) - The Cousins have sent center fielder Kevin Ball and cash to the Kansas City Shuffle for a pair of prospects. The 25 year old Ball has played the past 4 seasons as Huntington's starting center fielder, averaging 22 homers and 92 RBIs per year. He has a career .304 batting average as well as 46 career stolen bases.

The prospects received in the deal, Connie Guthrie and Omar Rodriguez, instantly become part of Huntington's long term plans. Guthrie, a starting pitcher, struggled last year in High-A but is a raw talent with a very high ceiling. He has the abilities to be an extremely serviceable ML pitcher if he is brought along properly. Omar Rodriguez is much more of a sure thing. The 22 year old short stop has worked his way through the minor leagues making stops at every level. He is more know for his glove, but he does boast a career .312 batting average in 4+ minor league seasons.

The trade is set to be completed tomorrow after league approval and the players passing their physicals.

Week One Players of the Week

The Texas Tittyballs J.R. Lankford was named the week one offensive player of the week. The 29 year old second baseman, who is in the final year of a 4 year, $40 million contract with Texas, has hit safely in 18 of 20 games so far this season.

The versatile player finds himself in the Top 5 of only one major statistical category, runs scored, but secured the award with solid player across the field, belting 6 home runs and 20 rbi's to go along with 5 stolen bases and a .351 average.

If allowed to reach the open market this offseason, Lankford will command a near record salary.

On the other side of the ball, Dennys Shin continues his old age dominance as he collects yet another player of the week award.

The reigning AL Cy Young winner, 34, posted arguably the best week of his career, giving up 4 earned runs in 5 starts so far this season, for a 4-0 record.

Like Lankford, Shin is in the final year of his current deal, and if allowed to reach the open market, will be very sought after.

Sources from inside both organizations declined comment on the status of their star players beyond this year, but one can expect they'll do everything in their power to retain their services for season 6 and beyond.

Power Rankings Week One

5 people submitted Rankings this week. Pawtucket, Colorado Springs, Texas, San Antonio & Scranton. Hopefully as we do this more, more people will participate. Special thanks to San Antonio for helping me set this up.

The points system worked as follows. 32 points for each first place vote, 31 for each second... 2 for each 31st, 1 for each last. With 5 contributors this week, the max votes possible was 160.

Rank -- (Last Weeks Rank) -- Team (1st Place Votes) -- Points -- Record (thru AM sim)

1. (2) Kansas City Shuffle (2) 154 votes 11-4
t-2. (14) New York Moon Shots (3) 151 votes 14-1
t-2. (10) Texas Tittyballs 151 votes 14-2
4. (1) Pawtucket Polythene 146 votes 10-5
5. (13) Charleston Rebels 141 votes 11-4
6. (3) Rochester Raging Rhinos 139 votes 10-6
7. (8) Scranton Dunder-Mifflins 122 votes 9-7
8. (12) Chicago Smooth Horses 115 votes 9-6
9. (15) San Francisco Sourdoughs 109 votes 9-6
10. (18) Huntington Cousins 102 votes 9-7
t-11. (7) Fargo Nines 98 votes 8-8
t-11. (6) Louisville Freezer Monkeys 98 votes 7-8
13. (25) Atlanta City Slickers 94 votes 10-6
14. (23) Little Rock Big Rocks 91 votes 9-7
t-15. (19) Memphis Hound Dawgs 90 votes 8-7
t-15. (21) Charlotte Knights 90 votes 8-8
17. (9) Cheyenne ChilliPeppers 87 votes 8-8
18. (17) San Antonio Border Jumpers 84 votes 8-8
19. (5) Norfolk Nomads 82 votes 7-8
20. (26) Salem Dodgers 70 votes 7-9
21. (29) Cleveland Steamers 60 votes 6-9
t-22. (16) Tuscon Turbocors 56 votes 5-10
t-22. (4) Colorado Springs AltiDUDES 56 votes 5-11
24. (22) Scottsdale T's 52 votes 6-10
25. (11) Iowa City Kaysons 43 votes 6-9
26. (24) Tampa Bay Tarpons 41 votes 6-9
27. (31) St. Louis Birdnals 33 votes 5-11
28. (27) Fresno Fire Dragons 25 votes 5-10
29. (20) Detroit Tigers 16 votes 4-12
t-30. (28) Burlington Chills 15 votes 4-11
t-30. (32) Houston Aggies 15 votes 5-10
32. (30) New Orleans Breeze 14 votes 5-11

The big winners this week were the Kansas City Shuffle, who despite losing 3 in a row have climbed up one spot to take this week's top spot. This is a spot many people expect Kansas City can occupy for the entirety of the season.

The New York Moon Shots received 3 of 5 first place votes to win the big climber this week, climbing from 14th in the preseason to #2. Atlanta also climbed 12 spots this week, and should be expected to climb higher if they continue to play as they are.

The Texas Tittyballs staked their claim as the beasts of the National League, scoring runs at an alarming rate en route to a 14-2 start, 3 games better than any other league opponent. It was this offensive explosion that played a role in defending champion Pawtucket and NL rival Rochester to both fall 3 spots and out of the Top 3.

The big losers this week were the Norfolk Nomads, who fell from 5 to 19 (14 spots) and the Colorado Springs AltiDUDES, who fell from 4 to 22, an 18 spot drop that may never be duplicated. Colorado Springs has lost 9 of 10. Norfolk, meanwhile, has won 7 of 11 since being swept in a 4 game opening series against Pawtucket, and expects to climb back into the top 10 soon.

Voters were also unimpressed with Iowa City, who despite only being 6-9 in an extremely tough division, fell 14 spots all the way down to #25.

The race for the worst team in the world is a tight one, as Detroit, Houston, & Burlington are all within 1 or 2 votes of last place New Orleans. All four squads received one last place vote, with New Orleans being the big loser, getting a second last place vote, that secured their place as this weeks Cellar Dweller.

Again, thanks to everyone who voted. If you want to vote next week, submit your 32 team rankings to me by email (sharkeyke@gmail.com) by noon eastern on Tuesday.

Chicago's Jolbert Nunez on the Trading Block?

CHICAGO (AP Report) - An unknown source in side the Chicago Smooth Horses organization has stated that young pitcher Jolbert Nunez is available if the deal is right. Nunez has pitched strong in AA ball the past 4 years compiling a 24-28 record, with a 4.80 ERA and has started the year as the big club's number 5 starter. A player with all the correct tools, Nunez has refused to comment an the validity of these rumors and his status within the organization.

Looking For Help

I'm going to do a power rankings ever Tuesday. In order to make it more fair, instead of just my opinions, I'm looking for help.

Anybody that would like to submit their own power rankings should email them to me, all 32 teams, no later than by noon eastern every Tuesday.

Anybody can participate, it matters not to me who you are, if you're a blog contributor, if you don't want to write for the blog but would like to help with this.

I just figure this is something fun for everyone to look forward to every Tuesday.

I will compile all the power rankings (giving each first place vote a score of 32, each last place a score of 1, etc) and every Tuesday afternoon/evening post the league's power rankings.

My only request is that if you do it, please be fair, and don't put your team higher than you believe you should be, and don't put a rival lower than they should be.

Thanks.

My email address is sharkeyke@gmail.com.