By Tom Morris If you think your division is tough, come and visit the AL East for a week or two. Boot Camp for baseball sissies, this hotbed of pain, disaster, ballooning ERAs, and belligerent Blue Jays managers will chew up and spit out even the hardiest of tourists. So don?t stay long. Unless you plan to tough it out. The Red Sox got the fuzzy end of the lollipop this past week, as the Yankees used their heels to stamp them out as they would a lit cigarette. Wild and certifiable walking head-case John Gibbons revealed to the baseball world that he, not Lou Piniella, is the biggest buffoon in baseball management. The biggest surprse was not Gibbons? sad lack of conduct and leadership, but that his bosses backed him up afterward, saying how Gibbons and his ssparring partner Ted Lilly had worked it out between themselves. My bet is they padded the walls of the manager?s office, closed the clubhouse, and ?hashed it out? with their knuckles. In the rest of the American League, Minnesota and Chicago are laying down drop-cloths in preparation for what surely will be a tough and bloody 3-game series this coming weekend. Oakland just went into Turbo Boost again, with Texas and the Angels wishing they could hang tough. The National League continues to provide the same scintillating mix of uninspired, unexceptional competition, though if you try really hard you can spin two straight wins into a dramatic push for the playoffs. In fact, two in a row stands out in this steady stream of pretenders, though the Dodgers and Mets may soon be joined by the Phillies as the only NL teams playing with a vengeance. The rest of the race is more about deceleration, and who?s doing it quicker than the others. Enough to make you yawn. For fear of dong the same to you, I?ll get on with it. Here?s your rankings this week. Detroit still holds firm, everybody, but take note: the Yankees and Twins are on the move. [ Last Week?s Rankings, and W ? L records, in Parentheses ] 1. Detroit Tigers (1) (4 ? 4) The Tigers faithful need not have gotten their jocks in a twist over last week?s five-game slide (including a sweep by Chicago). This week Detroit resumed its yearlong pursuit of pitching excellence (2.90 ERA), but stumbled a bit at the plate enough to lose 3 of 4 to surging Texas. Still, with last night?s series-opening 7 ? 1 thumping of the White Sox, Justin Verlander reminded us why he should win not only the Cy Young and Rookie-of-the-Year Awards, but also a seat on the City Council, should he want it. 2. New York Yankees (2) (7 ? 2) What to say about this past weekend? Five straight wins against reeling Boston, outscoring their rivals 49 ? 26! Each game seemed to break a longest game record set just the night before by these two exhausted, overworked, and bullpen-depleted squads. But the fact remains: the Pinstripes came out on top each time. That vaults them up to #2 in my Rankings this week, and showed everybody what the Yanks will be able to do in the postseason when they provide decent enough pitching protection for their deep, patient, punishing line-up. Damon (4 HR, 12 RBI last 8 games) definitely seemed to be extra-motivated for this trip back to Fenway, and Cory Lidle looks like he may be exactly the catch Brian Cashman was fishing for in that trade-deadline fishing expedition. 3. Minnesota Twins (4) (4 ? 2) The Twins just took 2 of 3 from still-slightly-stumbling Chicago, and 4 of 6 for the week. Each night the starting pitching was outstanding, and the bats (.297 BA this week) made a timely response to being quieted for three straight nights last week against the Blue Jays. Liriano may not be on the roster right now (and his return is still very much a crap shoot), but this gritty squad is determined not to let that be a factor in their postseason push. 4. Chicago White Sox (3) (3 ? 5) The White Sox looked to be back on the boil after slowly simmering for several weeks. But they hit some troubles again this week, running into a KC team that posted unusually terrific numbers (.330 BA, 3.48 ERA!). The White Sox themselves had a 5.40 ERA this past week, a fact made emphatic by Garcia, Vazquez and the previously unbeatable Contreras, who all had sloppy starts over the weekend. A couple of those lads will have to sharpen their swords a little, because a rejuvenated John Garand may not be enough to hold off the insistent Twins from stealing the Wild Card. 5. New York Mets (2) (4 ? 3) According to the New York Post, the Mets management has signed up for stress management therapy sessions, after every member of their top brass started developing apple-sized ulcers. Why? Pedro Martinez is on the DL with a calf strain which may just develop into a Griffey-style injury for all we know. And now, Glavine, the veteran with 287 wins, and most on the Mets with 12 this year, is sidelined with an arm injury which may just be season/career ending. This team will not lose the NL East, but the rest of the rotation, to this point pleasantly surprising back-ups, need to take center stage while these pitching injury mysteries get solved. Doesn?t look good ? for now. 6. Oakland Athletics (7) (6 ? 2) Any team whose name begins with ?O-A-K? is going to start racking up W?s come August. I said it last week and I?ll say it again. The A?s just know how to turn it on down the stretch, and this year is no different. They are getting solid starts night after night, from Zito, Haren, Blanton, Saarloos and Loaiza. But the biggest change was a line-up which finally started to score runs again (49 in 8 games). The Angels and Rangers are both making surges right now, but my guess is it?ll be too little too late to catch an A?s squad that has won 20 of 25, and are only just warming up. 7. Los Angeles Dodgers (8) (4 ? 3) The Dodgers came down from their high perch briefly, granting a few wins to SF and SD. A few weak appearances by their starters stand out only because of the stellar track record they had established for the previous three weeks (17 ? 1). Furcal, Garciaparra, Kent, JD Drew. All parts of a potent, effective batting order. OK, these guys aren?t the team of ?57, but they are about as close as it gets to excitement in the morphine-soaked National League. 8. Boston Red Sox (6) (1 ? 7) The Red Sox players, coaches, team announcers all have been making brave statements about showing character in how they bounce back from this. About how these things happen. About not panicking. Meanwhile everyone else who loves the team is doing excatly that. It?s hard to say what kind of an impact that 5-game onslaught will do to the Sox of ?06, but I think it may be a tad early to start making 1978 comparisons. Never since have we seen a summer fade quite as convincing as that one. Still, a shellshocked Boston team, with bullpen arms dragging to the ground, must find a way to start pitching again. Big ERAs started two months of sub-par play, and they were also why the Yankees scored almost 10 runs a game against them. There may be 40 games left, but the silver lining is getting harder and harder to see. 9. Los Angeles Angels (9) (5 ? 2) The Halos made a strong push this week, which is a good thing. If they waited any longer they would have had to reach for the telesope to get a sighting of the red-hot Athletics. Jared Weaver?s Jose Contreras impersonation is very convincing, but the Angels need John Lackey to stop scuffling if they want to pretend Bartolo Colon never got hurt. With only 8 games remaining against sub-.500 teams, my guess is this team won?t have enough in the tank to make the long drive to the playoffs. 10. St. Louis Cardinals (12) (4 ? 2) My God, were they looking pitiful. Beyond pitiful. Not merely content to play well below their own standards, he cardinals practically mailed in their games two weeks ago, laying down night after night with some truly lousy pitching. That all changed this past week, when they outscored ther opponents 29 ? 19, while posting a 3.15 team ERA. Jeff Suppan and Jason Marquis may be on the upswing, or maybe the planets aligned to allow for each of them to put up strong starts in the same week. Jeff Weaver also is a big question mark, but Mark Mulder returns tomorrow from a long stay on the DL. He will need to turn his huge 2006 ERA into ancient history if this team wants any kind of postseason longevity. 11. Cincinnati Reds (11) (4 ? 3) The Reds are sorely in need of arms. In their bullpen especially, surprisng considering how they went and got, what, 6 or 7 arms by the July 31 trade deadline. They are winning just enough to keep St. Louis within reach, and losing just enough to let clunkers like Atlanta and Florida keep dreaming of a 2006 playoff berth. Really, who knows how wild the NL card will be this year. 12. Toronto Blue Jays (10) (3 ? 4) You can thank Shaun Marcum and Scott Downs for the 22 runs Baltimore scored against Toronto in 2 games over the weekend. But they weren?t the pitchers who really disgraced this apparently disharmonious team. For that, we look to Ted Lilly, whose scarily amusing throw-down with manager John Gibbons, during last night?s meltdown against Oakland, was the stuff baseball beat reporters dream of. Right out of the Kenny Rogers book of anger mismanagement. Gibbons is the real embarrassment here. It has become apparent he really wants to burn this village to save it, but he will be the one to get burned when his bosses wake up and realize how discordant the Blue jays clubhouse has become under his leadership. 13. Texas Rangers (13) (4 ? 3) The Rangers have patched together an almost passbale starting rotation out of rookies, unknowns and journeymen. Be that as it may, they are starting to get it done for this hopeful ball club. They have won 9 of 12 after suffering 4- and 6-game losing streaks prior, but will win the AL West the same day Joe Lieberman is sworn in as President. 14. Philadelphia Phillies (Not-rated) (6 ? 2) I have to admit, I am secretly rooting for the Philadelphia Phillies this year. I like them. Rollins, Burrell, Utley, Josh Howard. These are fiery, exciting hitters who come to the park ready to make impacts. Running quickly forward now, as opposed to in-place, the Phillies are determined to make up for a pitching staff which continues to fight to stay below a 5.00 ERA for the year. Bottom line: Philly has won 18 of 27, and are the only realistic bet at catching the indecsive Red Stockings 15. Arizona Diamondbacks (14) (3 ? 5) To be honest, this last spot could have gone to just about anybody. In fact, were it not for their season records, Baltimore, Clevelend or KC could have inhabited this unassuming spot at the bottom of the Rankings. But The D-Backs get it this week, despite stumbling through the week. They lost some ground in the Wild-Card race, which is really almost impossible to do in this league. They still have enough youth and talent to make it interesting these last 40 games or so, but not nearly interesting enough to compete with Cincinnati, LA, or Philly. Myself, I will be competing again reall soon. My hamstring is slowly healing and before long I?ll be back on the softball diamond going toe-to-toe with Oakland?s finest out-of-shape players. I think the games are on Pay-per-View this year. As always, keep your mind in the game and the game on your mind.