BASEBALL: Area and CIF Rankings
After Alhambra, who are the best teams in the area this week? Also, since they lost since the rankings, should the Moors drop from the top next week?
Lots of Rio Hondo League presence in the CIF polls this week.
Above: San Marino's Nick Wilson. (SGVN/Staff Photo Keith Birmingham/SXSports)
STAR-NEWS RANKINGS
Records before Tuesday
BASEBALL
1. Alhambra (18-1)
School-record win streak at 17
2. Monrovia (12-5)
Wildcats have won three straight
3. San Marino (12-3-1)
Two of three losses to Monrovia
4. St. Francis (12-10)
Banged up and fading fast
5. Temple City (13-6)
Tough loss to San Marino
6. Gabrielino (14-5)
Won seven straight and 13 of 14
7. Pasadena Poly (14-3)
Winner of 12 consecutive
8. La Salle (12-8)
Solid out of league play
9. Arcadia (10-9)
Tripped up by La Salle
10. La Cañada (10-5)
Spartans on four-game win streak
DIVISION III
1. Alhambra, 2. Notre Dame/SO, 3. South Hills, 4. Paramount, 5. Cajon, 6. El Rancho, 7. Laguna Hills, 8. San Gorgonio, 9. Mayfair, 10. Crespi.
DIVISION V
1. Bishop Amat, 2. St Paul, 3. Monrovia, 4. San Marino, 5. Mary Star of the Sea, 6. Temple City, 7. Gabrielino, 8. Sultana, 9. Campbell Hall, 10. Hesperia.
DIVISION VI
1. Beaumont, 2. San Jacinto, 3. Desert Christian/L, 4. Pasadena Poly, 5. Kern Valley, 6. Bishop, 7. Notre Dame (Riverside), 8. Maranatha, 9. Bloomington Christian, 10. Desert Hot Springs.
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Melendez worked as a correspondent for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for three years and later landed a job as a freelance writer at the Los Angeles Times before accepting an offer at The Orange County Register covering high schools. Melendez covered Major League Soccer at The Register for three years before being promoted to report on the Lakers, Angels and Dodgers for the Web. Melendez also worked for the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Fresno Bee, Oakland Tribune and The Boston Globe. E-mail opinions, suggestions and tips to miguel.melendez@sgvn.com. |
Poly 4
South Pasadena 3
A.J. Talt goes all seven to earn the "W".
South Pasadena 8
San Marino 2
MADE MISTAKE!!!!
TC 1
MON 0
TC 1
MON 2
Almont It: Don't get me wrong. I'm not bagging on Alhambra. They have good athletes and a traditionally good program in the area. And you are right that they do not get to choose their competition (the coaches do choose the tournaments, though), but once the season starts, shouldn't a teams W/L record be viewed in light of the records of the teams they have played? I say absolutely. Consider:
My team, La Serna has played this season:
Patriot, #1 ranked D4 and lost 7-2 with a 7th inning 3 run HR by Skipworth, the best HS catcher in the country.
Laguna Hills. Ranked 8th in D3. Lost 4-1 to a guy (Rauh)who is a definite D1 and last time I checked was 8-0.
El Rancho. League mate ranked 7th in D3. Beat them 9-6 a couple of weeks ago.
Paloma Valley. Ranked 10th in D3. Beat them 7-1.
St. Paul. Ranked #2 in D5. Lost three tough games to this talented, young team.
La Serna has played other teams with good records as well, and is sitting at 14-6.
Alhambra has played the following ranked teams:
.....DVI Pasadena Poly.
And oh yeah, the Los Angeles team Alhambra whacked 14-0 was really good, I'm sure.
La Serna is 2-1 against ranked teams in D3 with the current poll.
Not saying LS is better than Alhambra, but I guarantee you if they played, LS would be the best team Alhambra has played this year by far; I'm not sure the same could be said the other way around.
My whole point is that teams' schedules and the programs they've played shoudl be taken into account when ranking teams. Who cares if you rack up 18-20 wins by beating a bunch of rec ball teams 20-1 and occasional competitive game?
My logic is faulty, how?
Almonty,
For what it's worth, Alhambra is a great team that should toy with its league...
But are you sure you've got your story straight that Monrovia (Moore) "backed out," or was it more about playing at home for both teams?
Hmmmm...
Del Rio: Your argument is faulty. Just because Alhambra hasn't played those teams doesn't mean they can't beat them. Those teams also have poor records because Alhambra has pinned those losses on them. Granted, the Almont is a poor league this year, but that's not Alhambra's fault nor should it be the rationale for why they shouldn't be considered as good as other teams. It's not like they ended up with Rosemead and El Monte in their preseason tourney on purpose. They were supposed to play Monrovia in the final game, but Moore backed out. FWIW, they beat a good LA High team this weekend.
Just because they haven't faced a ton of very good teams doesn't mean they can't beat them. Rankings are subjective and should be taken as such. What happens in the postseason will be most telling, but don't sit here and say they'd get beaten by those other teams just because their competition hasn't been strong.
I agree, Scott, LS should be ranked ahead of ER. I just heard that the D3 coaches did not report, and the ranking is last week's. And don't get me wrong: Alhambra is obviously a good team to have the record they do. But really, who have they played? I bet they'd get beat by BA, San Dimas, Bonita, Covina, Northview and all the other good D4s in SGV. With those teams, Patriot and Sonora, D4 is unusually strong this year.
True, WHS got beat by Schurr, but check what I said: Alhambra's opponents have a very bad, far below .500 record. They have played no ranked teams.
Take the time to go through MaxPreps and you'lll see that some teams look great record-wise, but then you look at who they've played and the record has a different perspective.
Hopefully LS and Alhambra can match up in CIF and we'll see if I'm right.
League mate Whittier also lost to Schurr, which lost to both San Gabriel and Alhambra. I think a better question for you delrioHB would be why El Rancho is ranked above La Serna.
La Serna (Whittier) of the Del Rio League should be on the D3 list. They are currently 14-6, and have beaten Paloma Valley and league mate El Rancho already this year. LS is in first at 8-1. Plus, La Serna has played a very difficult scheduile and only have lost to Patriot, Laguna Hills, St Paul and league mate Whittier, who also beat El Rancho and SO/Notre Dame earlier this year. Strength of schedule should count, and La Serna has done well with a difficult schedule. Compare their opponents' records to Alhambra's for example. Not even close. Alhambra is good, but what ranked teams have they played? The cumulative record of their opponents is horrible.
And another thing: the divisions are a joke! BA and Saint Paul D5? The good D4s in the SGV are as good as the best D3's or D2's and can compete well with the D1 teams. In baseball, at least, the population-based divisions mean very little; it is all about the guys, the chemistry, the program, etc that you have at the time.