By Tom Morris I must press on. I must continue with my daily life. I must not hang my head in shock and dismay at what I --what we-- have all just learned: Rafael Palmeiro has just been suspended for ten days by Major League Baseball, for testing positive for steroid use. And though I am an Oriole fan, and one of countless recent Palmeiro Hall-of-Fame advocates --and therefore in as much disbelief as any baseball fan out there-- I have to step back from what will surely become the biggest story of the season. There will be plenty of ink spent on this one, so for now my time will be best served by providing the readers of this website with the Top-Team Rankings page. And let everyone else do the talking for now. Plus, maybe he was just drinking too much Red Bull... Well, the trade deadline came and went without much incident, though the Atlanta Braves and Florida Marlins may beg to differ. In all, though, the biggest impact was made by those deals that did not make it through the works. Meanwhile across both leagues some teams are getting very serious about the playoffs. The A's and Astros, for example, continue to savagely feast on their weaker prey, while so many of the other playoff hopefuls just appear to be --well, out to lunch. Here we go, then: [Last Week's in Parentheses...] 1. Chicago White Sox: ( 1 ) I have had the chance this past weekend to watch the White Sox again, as they administered a clinic to the disappearing Baltimore Orioles. I see absolutely no reason why Chicago's Southsiders will have any trouble with anyone when the playoffs come around. Smart hitting. Great pitching. Crazy manager. That always spells success. Just ask Earl Weaver. 2. St. Louis Cardinals: ( 2 ) The top-two teams keep the top-two spots again. For good reason, too. Even with Scott Rolen and Larry Walker on the DL again --and Jim Edmonds hitting only a fraction better than if he were too-- the Cards keep holding firm in the CENTRAL. Next weekend's series vs. the Braves should be a nice NLCS preview. Save me a seat. 3. Houston Astros: ( 6 ) I just checked out the Astros' schedule for the next couple of weeks: Arizona, SF, Pittsburgh and Washington. You think they were hot before, just sit back and watch this team spread its wings even further. Before two weeks ago, these guys were already heating up, but their last 14 games: 13 - 1, outscoring their opponents 79 - 24! I'm sorry, but those numbers are absurd, but the wild-card hopefuls in the NL aren't laughing. 4. Oakland Athletics: ( 5 ) These guys are playing so well, we can officially stop calling them scrappy...or overachieving for that matter. 31 - 9 spells HOT, and I'm sure there's still plenty left of whatever's in the drinking water over at the Coliseum. 5. Atlanta Braves: ( 4 ) The Braves are waiting to get Mike Hampton back in the rotation, but they might not even notice because of all the trade deadline celebrations going on. Several arrests were made yesterday in the Atlanta Metropolitan area after a spate of Kyle Farnsworth impersonators made headlong football takedowns on unsuspecting passers-by. More news later. 6. (Los Angeles) Angels of Anaheim: ( 4 ) Bit of a slump going on for the Halos, who can't seem to find their bats of late. Giving up late leads to the Yankees twice didn't help either. Look for Angels and White Sox in the ALCS, however. Pitching wins --always. In this offense-light season, it wins by a wide margin. And the Angels have the pieces in place. 7. Boston Red Sox: ( 9 ) Well, what can I say...Manny won't be a Met just yet. The slugger seemed sincere in his press remarks the other day -- re-committing himself to this World Series winning team. But, knowing Boston fans, their sparkling re-embrace of one of the game's top-3 hitters (PERIOD) smelled a little disingenuous. Regardless, I want to see if the Red Sox can continue to win like this, even with a rickety rotation and banged-up bullpen. 8. New York Yankees: ( 10 ) Hey, wherever the Sox are, the Yanks (or Giambi and Co.) are sure to be close by. Keep your enemies closer, they say, and these two teams, with poor overall pitching, won't stray far from each other the rest of the way. The wild card is going to a team from a different division this year (unheard of), so duck-and-cover, 'cause the AL EAST will be even more hotly contested when September rolls around this time. 9. Chicago Cubs: ( 11 ) Yeah, say what you will. I like these guys. And I think they've got a shot at movin' on up, once the star-bound Astros crash to Earth. Or at least begin the re-entry process. Kerry Wood, Scott Williamson and Nomar make returns very soon. The Cubbies seem to be the only Chicago team getting any love and respect. They need to go on a run to earn it now. And it's gonna need to come from more than just their new outfielder Lawton 10. Minnesota Twins: ( 7 ) This team has held its collective head high enough to this point, because of an old-school, pitching-and-defense philosophy that has disguised a nonexistent offense. But now Torii Hunter had another run-in with the center-field fence, and for once the fence won. The outlook is bleak for this team, whose fall from grace may not be as bad as what happened to the O's, or the Nationals, but wherever they land will not be in the playoff bracket. Sorry... 11. Philadelphia Phillies: ( 12 ) These guys continue to show signs of enrgy. Will they have enough Abreu-Volts, or pitching, to charge ahead to the playoffs. Not a chance. But, you know, there aren't many decent teams left down this end of my list. Waddya gonna do? 12. Florida Marlins: ( 15 ) One of the silliest things the Marlins could ever have done was saddle themselves with Sidney Ponson. For one thing, he'd crush the horse. Even better than that was that AJ Burnett stayed put as a result, and he's enrgizing this pitching staff with his best stuff of the year. But, after the Braves, the NL East is either too competitive or too complacent for anyone else to raise their hand for the postseason. 13. Cleveland Indians: ( 14 ) Well, their hitting continues to simmer, but they are still within reach of the A's for the wild card...for now. Don't count on Oakland just laying down and taking a siesta. Travis Hafner is out, which hurts the Indians. But it's their arms that have kept them at this level for a while now, and will keep them there until they are eventually eliminated. 14. Washington Nationals: ( 8 ) I had these guys at # 3 a couple of weeks ago, I think. My how things change. They may not be the most disastrous team in the DelMarVa area --then again, it's hard to play any worse than the Orioles are right now. The Nationals issued a public statement vowing not to play in any more one-run games for the rest of the season. That's a sword they lived by and now they are ...well, you know the song. 15. Texas Rangers: (NEWCOMER) One of a host of American League stuck-in-the-mudders who sent out very serious, well-intentioned memos to MLB asking for a transfer to the NL West before the end of August...citing irreconcileable differences. They wouldn't even need to be .500 to win that trash heap over there. Hey, almost forgot. Latest news: Rafael Palmeiro was told by trainer Bill Conte to take a pill that would make his moustache stronger and more resilient. That answers that question. Strike three and I'm outta here. Stay away from cameramen everyone...