Los Angeles Dodgers

NOTE: Team W-L records updated through Sunday Morning, May 24.

1. Los Angeles Dodgers (30-14, Last Week: No. 5)

This team is back in the top spot once again because they play great offensively and their pitching staff (at the moment) is second to none.

They have the best pitching staff in the majors (only giving up 165 runs over 44 games), and are ranked No. 4 in runs scored (238). And they've won eight of their last ten games. They are no longer showing any signs of missing Manny.

The Dodgers found yet another way to win Saturday night when down by a few late. As they've done earlier in the season, it was their patience at the plate that paid off.

Juan Pierre's bases loaded walk scored Matt Kemp, and the Dodgers overcame a 4-1 deficit to defeat the Angles in 10 innings, 5-4. With the win, the Dodgers are the first team in baseball to reach the 30-win mark.

Both teams played to a standstill the first 4 innings. Russell Martin hit and RBI double in the second to go up 1-0, but Juan Rivera's solo homer in the fourth tied it up.

For the Dodgers, the formula was simple: get a big hit, win the game.

Too bad it never actually happened.

The Dodgers went a dreadful 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position in dropping the Freeway Series opener to the Angels, 3-1. The bottom line is that the big bats were nowhere to be found, wasting a good effort by Clayton Kershaw.

They're facing the reality of losing their middle-of-the-lineup slugger for two months.  The $12 million flame-throwing starting pitcher is on the DL.  The leadoff hitting shortstop has been injured and inconsistent to start the year. 

They have to rely on a small-ball offense with consistent production from the entire lineup and a bullpen lead by a flame-throwing closer.

And despite all of that, the Dodgers have the best record in baseball.

What?  I bet you thought I was talking about the Mets, weren't you?

Manny Ramirez’s stupidity did not just ruin his own fantasy value.

Nobody in baseball benefited more from the teammate hitting behind him than Andre Ethier has since Ramirez was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trading deadline last season.

Before Hollywood transformed into Mannywood, Ethier was known in fantasy circles as a nice doubles hitter who could bat around .290, but had average speed and average power. He was good enough to be a fourth outfielder on a fantasy roster, but he did not do one thing well enough to be much more than that.

Much has been made of Manny Ramirez's suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs, and rightfully so. When one of Major League Baseball's most prominent stars embroils himself in the game's biggest scandal, it figures to get a lot of run in the media.

If you listen closely to the static, somewhere in all the volume are whispers about how the revelation benefits no team more than our beloved San Francisco Giants—about how the 50-game hiatus for Manny has saved the Orange and Black season.

To a degree, the whispers are appropriate.

Clayton Kershaw was wild on Sunday. At times, he struggled with his control and had thrown over 100 pitches by the eight inning. Yet, after seven innings, he still had not allowed a hit.

While not having the best contro,l Kershaw still pitched an effective game. So effective that many at LandShark Stadium were preparing to witness history.

First of all, calm yourselves. I am in no way speaking of Hall of Famer Vin Scully. 

Instead, while Vin was enjoying the last day of a week long vacation while the team was on the road in the East, new Dodger broadcaster Eric Collins and commentator Steve Lyons (pictured above) provided the play-by-play of today’s Dodgers/Marlins game on Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

Sunday, Dodger manager Joe Torre sent Clayton Kershaw to the mound to face the Fish.

For seven innings, Kershaw allowed no hits.