-
-
- CFB Front Page
-
Scores
- Teams
-
Conferences
- Players
- Standings
- Rankings
- Schedules
- Stats
- Bowl Schedule
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Soccer Front Page
-
Leagues
- Podcasts
-
-
- Tennis Front Page
-
ATP
-
WTA
-
-
|
Keep up with the latest news, notes and developments with Fungoes, a daily journal for all things baseball that will last all season long.
NL West: Rocks On, ColoradoOctober starts today. But October, for the Colorado Rockies, is both tantalizingly close and unfathomably far. Somehow, the Rockies, who until Sunday hadn't been above third place in the NL West since April 7, who were 18-27 on May 21, who didn't climb out of last place for good until June 6, who as recently as two weeks ago were still in fourth ... somehow, those Rockies are one mere triumph (tantalizingly close) over 2007 NL Cy Young winner-to-be Jake Peavy (unfathomably far) from postseason play. The NL West Bureau of SI.com's Fungoes has itself been intrigued by Colorado since the start of the season. "There's a wind blowing out of Denver -- one that perhaps should send a little shiver down the spines of the Rockies' National League West rivals," I wrote on April 2. "If (Garret) Atkins, (Todd) Helton, (Matt) Holliday and (Brad) Hawpe can just get their good games in sync with the pitchers, I can't help thinking that long-suffering Colorado, which actually found itself tied for first place on Independence Day last season, might finally follow through on its promise to bring us the most frigid October baseball we've ever seen." That's not to say Colorado earned the faith on a consistent basis. In May, when Colorado was the only sub-.500 team in the division, major questions about the pitching emerged -- it appeared that the Rockies would in fact waste their offense. But after posting a 3.67 team ERA over their next 31 games, by mid-June, the Rockies reinserted themselves into relevance. And though Colorado trailed the Arizona Diamondbacks, San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers for nearly the entire season, those who weren't caught up in their past failures never really found an obvious moment to count them out. "This is usually the time when the Colorado Rockies go back to shopping at Philosophies 'R' Us, trying to find a deal that will give them a chance of winning at high-altitude," I wrote on Aug. 13. "Next year typically starts every August, if not sooner. "Not this year. The Rockies are five games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West and only two behind the San Diego Padres (whom Colorado visits for a three-game series starting Tuesday) in the wild-card race." While they've actually been in the race for most of the season, the flat-out wonder of the Rockies' playing more than 162 meaningful games for the first time since 1995 shouldn't be dismissed. On Sept. 17, the team's situation was essentially summed up as worse than desperate. But Colorado, as the rest of baseball has finally noticed by now, saved its best for last, winning 11 straight games and 13 out of its final 14 scheduled contests to forge the last-ditch tie with San Diego. The Rockies made their run by sweeping six games from the Dodgers, who themselves were contenders until those final two weeks -- one could easily argue that Colorado was more the cause of the Dodgers' publicized clubhouse meltdown than anything exasperated second baseman Jeff Kent said. The Rockies made their run by sweeping three from the Padres in San Diego, including a Sept. 21 game in which Peavy pitched seven innings of one-run ball, only for Colorado to win in the 14th frame. The Rockies made their run by beating NL West champ Arizona Saturday and Sunday, when all the pressure in their Rocky Mountain world was coming down on them. Colorado ultimately triumphed over needing 13 different starting pitchers in 2007, including Elmer Dessens, Denny Bautista, Byung-Hyun Kim and Tim Harikkala. The Rockies withstood the loss of Aaron Cook, Jason Hirsh and Rodrigo Lopez to season-ending injuries. They survived four consecutive blown saves in a week in late June by Brian Fuentes. They got an underrated year from Jeff Francis (17-9, 4.22 ERA), a reborn bullpen led by Manny Corpas (1.89 ERA), a defense that some would call exceptional and -- last but anything but least -- pretty much exactly the offense they were looking for from Atkins (after a slow start), Helton, Holliday and Hawpe. Holliday, in particular, became a late-emerging MVP candidate by hitting 12 homers and OPSing 1.257 in 112 September plate appearances. And so, the Rockies get one more day of straddling the yawning gap between dreams and disappointment. Of course, it's asking too much to expect them to outlast Peavy again. But in a 2007 their fans won't soon forget, the Rockies are happily emboldened to ask away. Labels: NL West NL West: Rockies in the DiscussionFlying around the bend like Franz Klammer at Innsbruck '76, the Colorado Rockies, with an eight-game winning streak capped by a three-game sweep at San Diego this past weekend, are still vying for a medal with one week remaining in the regular season. If the Rockies can get over the hump, do they become the worst nightmare for their potential NL Central and NL East playoff opponents? Or do Arizona and San Diego still offer the biggest challenge? Sunday, I asked several online baseball writers for their thoughts: Rich Lederer, Baseball Analysts: Arizona has the best record in the National League since the All-Star break, yet it has been well-documented that the Diamondbacks sport a negative run differential. San Diego has allowed the fewest runs in the majors, although skeptics say that is in large part due to the fact that the Padres play their home games at spacious Petco Park. Colorado has the longest current winning streak in baseball, but is still four games back in the West. Hey, it's the playoffs. Throw out the analysis and logic, and bring on the Ouija board. Anything can happen come October. My hunch is that Colorado would do the best in the postseason, but the Rockies have to get there first. David Pinto, Baseball Musings: Which would I least like to face? The Arizona and Padres offenses just don't produce. They're both around 4.45 runs per game, near the bottom of the league. Adjusting for parks, however, gives San Diego an edge. San Diego's lineup sends good hitters to the plate, where that's not true for the Diamondbacks. [Jake] Peavy and [Chris] Young make a terrific 1-2 punch in the rotation, but Young hasn't pitched well since returning from his injury. All three teams own strong bullpens, at least among the pitchers they will use in the playoffs. The Rockies, at this point, are better than the other two clubs. With an 84-run difference, they lead the National League. As they showed in San Diego this weekend, they can score away from Coors. The starting pitching is good enough for the offense, and the bullpen does a good job of holding leads. If Young were healthy, I'd go with San Diego, but right now, the Rockies are the NL team to beat if they make the playoffs. Joe Sheehan, Baseball Prospectus: San Diego by just a little bit, mainly for the edge Jake Peavy has on Brandon Webb, and their having the best offense of the three teams. D.J. Short, MetsBlog.com: I feel that the Diamondbacks are the biggest threat, simply because of Brandon Webb, who had a 42-inning scoreless streak earlier this year. Something tells me that he could be Orel Hershiser of 1988 revisited. Led by a scrappy Eric Byrnes, the D'backs show a lot of fight and are more of an offensive force than the Padres. The Mets have dominated the D'backs at Bank One Ballpark in recent seasons, including taking three of four there in May, but all the stats in the world mean nothing once the playoffs begin. Dave Studeman, The Hardball Times: I'd pick San Diego and Arizona over Colorado, because their pitching staffs are built for the postseason: ace starter, good No. 2 and 3 starters, deep bullpen. Of the two, I'd give a slight edge to the Padres because their offense seems just a bit better, and I think a visiting team might have a hard time adjusting to their ballpark. Bob Timmermann, The Griddle: A question as puzzling as this requires a nap. And after thinking about the topic, I started napping. But once awake, the answer became no clearer. Each team, if viewed objectively, looks like it should not be able to make the playoffs. I would have originally tabbed the Padres because of their pitching, but I'm just not sold on it. I would have to go with Arizona because they actually have a manager (Bob Melvin) who seems to best be able to wring out the most from the talent he has available. The Padres are reminding me a lot of the 2004 Dodgers -- in a bad way. And I think the Rockies are not as formidable once Matt Holliday (who missed games Saturday and Sunday with a strained left oblique muscle, but will try to return Tuesday in Los Angeles) is subtracted from the lineup. Ken Tremendous, Fire Joe Morgan: I think it's unquestionably the Padres. Although Young hasn't been quite as good since the injury, he still has a WHIP of 1.06 for the season, and he and Peavy are easily the best 1-2 combo in the division. No one on the entire team can hit, but no one on the Diamondbacks can hit either, and they only have one good pitcher. Assuming the Pads make the playoffs, I wouldn't be shocked if they went to the World Series. A potential run to the World Series by San Diego threatens to be overshadowed, if not derailed, by what happened to the Padres on Sunday. In a sequence that appeared to be tailor-made for his detractors, San Diego outfielder Milton Bradley was injured while arguing with umpire Mike Winters. This came an inning after Bradley stepped on teammate Mike Cameron's hand while trying to avoid a collision with him on what turned out to be Garret Atkins' inside-the-park home run for broom-wielding Colorado. Though Bradley has been a lightning rod for injuries and criticism of his emotional outbursts, his coach and front office said he was baited. "In 26 years of baseball, I can honestly say that's the most disconcerting conversation I have ever heard from an umpire to a player," first-base coach Bobby Meacham told The Associated Press. "It was almost like he wanted to agitate the whole thing. He wanted to get Milton boiling for some reason. Milton, he held his cool. I was just appalled." Added The AP<: Padres CEO Sandy Alderson ... used to work in the commissioner's office, where one of his duties was overseeing umpires. "We're not going to sit by and see an umpire bait a player," Alderson said. He added that if the commissioner's office concludes the situation was handled appropriately, "I'll be shocked." With or without Bradley (who feared he might be out for the season as he was on his way to an MRI for his right knee), and Cameron (who might return Monday night), the Padres will enter their final seven regular-season games with a lead in the NL wild card race that has been reduced to half a game over Philadelphia and 1½ games over the Rockies. The Padres do get their next three games at last-place San Francisco to try to turn things around. Colorado hasn't tasted postseason play since 1995. Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News compares that year with this one: "What 1995 did was create unfounded expectations that the Rockies could be an annual factor in the West," Ringolsby said. "The Rockies spent the next six years trying to bandage their roster to make a run at a championship, failing to put the proper resources and effort into developing the homegrown foundation. ... This year is different. "Unlike that 1995 team -- a hodgepodge of expansion draft picks, high-priced free agents and minor-league free agents, with a couple of products of the draft sprinkled in -- this year’s version of the Rockies has a solid homegrown base with its best years ahead." The Dodgers completed their meltdown this past week with a seven-game losing streak and the rending of garments within the clubhouse over what the reasons for the collapse were. At Dodger Thoughts, I made my own attempt to counter those who think the Dodgers' focus on youth did them in, but the line of the week might belong to Tony Jackson of the Los Angeles Daily News: "This clubhouse has become what MTV only wishes The Real World could be." Nick Cannata-Bowman of Giants Cove notes, in case you missed it, that San Francisco shut down rookie Tim Lincecum for the season. Oh, and Barry Bonds said he isn't welcome back to San Francisco next year. That, you probably didn't miss. Here was Sheehan's reaction at Baseball Prospectus: "Well, bad guys can rake, too," Sheehan wrote, "and whatever you think of Bonds as a person, Bonds as a baseball player has been a force of nature. Even at 43, he's the best hitter in the NL on a per-AB basis, and second only to Alex Rodriguez in the majors. His defense, despite appearances, is just a bit below average, and his baserunning costs his team a few runs a season and isn't among the worst in the game. That player -- best hitter, so-so-defense, essentially neutral baserunning, moderately durable -- is an asset to 30 out of 30 teams, a championship-caliber baseball player who will be the best player on the market this winter, and almost certainly the lowest-risk one. Torii Hunter for five years and $75 million? Andruw Jones for five years and $70 million? Kyle Freaking Lohse for Gil Meche's deal? Or Barry Bonds for one year at $18 million plus an option? Which of those sounds like the most sensible deal to you?" Finally, Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star looks at the future of Diamondbacks third baseman Chad Tracy, who had microfracture surgery on his right knee last Thursday. As hard as it has been for basketball players like the neighboring Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudemire to recover from it, Arizona is remaning optimistic about Tracy. Labels: NL West NL West: D'backs In ControlThose Arizona Diamondbacks are wacky, but they're about to have the last laugh. Sunday in Los Angeles, Arizona starting pitcher Edgar Gonzalez threw 58 pitches but got the victory -- the fewest pitches that any winning starting pitcher in baseball has thrown this season (verified by Baseball-Reference.com. In fact, the Diamondbacks have three of the five unhardest-working winning starting pitchers on the list. Randy Johnson is No. 2 with 61 pitches on May 30, and Gonzalez is No. 5 with 63 pitches on June 16. It's all part of a season in which, as has been well-documented by now, Arizona has been outscored but is within .001 of boasting the best record in the National League. As recently as Sunday morning, the Diamondbacks looked like they would finally be heading toward their comeuppance after losing to the Dodgers twice in a row. But a 6-1 victory over Los Angeles moved Arizona much closer to its taste of the postseason since 2002. The Diamondbacks have a 3 1/2-game lead over the second-place team in the NL wild-card race, Philadelphia, with 12 games to play. As Jack Magruder of the East Valley Tribune wrote, "The Diamondbacks can differ on the importance of their Sunday victory over the Dodgers, but the fact that they could debate the point made their plane ride home so much more palatable." If any team is going to cast aside the myth that batting average is key to winning championships, it's Arizona. Aside from injured Orlando Hudson, Eric Byrnes is the team's only regular hitting better than .290, and Conor Jackson is the only other batting above .270. The Diamondbacks' team batting average is last in the National League. But it's not as if they're drawing a lot of walks, either. Arizona is 12th in that category, and last in the NL in on-base percentage. And they don't really have that much power. The team slugging percentage of .412 is 10th in the NL, and the Diamondbacks' adjusted OPS is a below-average 88. And the starting pitching isn't even that deep. After Brandon Webb, only one other member of the current rotation, Doug Davis, has an above-average ERA. But the bullpen is pretty sharp, and Arizona manager Bob Melvin has developed a reputation for deploying his relievers expertly. In the end -- or near the end -- Arizona has simply dodged enough bullets and cashed in enough opportunities to very much control its destiny. Ever since they fell out of first place in August, the Dodgers have been pushing giant baseballs up a hill, getting close to the top, only to have them roll back down on them. Sunday, Los Angeles was a victory away from closing within 2 1/2 games of Arizona, but a career-high seven walks by newly acquired Esteban Loaiza basically did them in. Loaiza allowed only one hit, but it was a three-run homer by the Diamondbacks' Chris Snyder. Two games the previous weekend in which the Dodgers allowed San Francisco to win in its last at-bat continue to haunt Los Angeles, especially after San Diego swept the Giants this past weekend to rebuild its lead over the Dodgers in the wild-card race to 2 1/2 games. It could get worse -- and then too late -- before it gets better for Los Angeles. While the Dodgers travel to Colorado for a three-day, four-game series, their top division rivals will each host teams eliminated from the playoff race: San Diego against Pittsburgh, and Arizona against San Francisco. As desperate as the Dodgers have become, Colorado is two games worse, trailing San Diego by 4 1/2 games. A 13-0 shutout of Florida on Sunday only came after a potentially devastating winless skein. "Colorado's downfall during its three-game losing streak (was) its starting pitching," C.J. Moore of MLB.com wrote. "Jeff Francis gave up eight runs in 3 1/3 innings on Thursday in Philadelphia, then Josh Fogg lasted five innings Friday night, but gave up four runs. And (Ubaldo) Jimenez had his second shortest outing of his career Saturday night, lasting only three innings." San Diego, meanwhile, is sitting relatively pretty. The Padres keep fending off the wild-card challengers, and remain within striking distance of Arizona for the division title. (The distinction is potentially important, because if the wild-card team comes from the NL West, the NL West champion will get to play the champion of the weak NL Central in the first round of the playoffs.) Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle thinks that the Giants should consider San Diego a role model. "Two weeks from today, the misery will be over and Giants management can begin the challenging task of building a winning team for 2008," Schulman wrote. "Given their biggest strength, stout young pitching, the Giants' best option might be to photocopy the Padres' master plan." Barry Bonds, who suffered a sprained toe Saturday and could miss most of this week, may be down to just a few handfuls of at-bats in his momentous Giants career. Labels: NL West NL West: The Injury BugInjuries rocked three of the four National League West playoff contenders over the past week -- but the one club to make it through unscathed could only take partial advantage. Filling in for Hudson will be Alberto Callaspo, who has had an up-and-down year to say the least: everything from being suspended and then reinstated to the team following a domestic violence arrest to falling for the hidden-ball trick. The 24-year-old Callaspo has had on-base percentages of .404 and .406 his past two seasons in the minors, but was just at .257 with Arizona in 2007. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wrote that Arizona manager Bob Melvin "is hopeful that regular at-bats will allow Callaspo to get into a groove offensively." Colorado manager Clint Hurdle told C.J. Moore of MLB.com that Matsui would miss a "few" games and Taveras "more than a few" -- in fact, Taveras may well be done for the season. "There's not going to be an Eeyore mentality here; it's not going to be, 'Woe is us.' We need to play," Hurdle said to Moore. "We need not to dwell on what we don't have and figure out what we do have and figure out how we're going to win ballgames with what we do have." Sure enough, the Rockies came back Sunday and beat the Padres, moving within three games of the NL wild-card lead. Ryan Spilborghs (.836 OPS) started in place of Taveras on Sunday, and Jamey Carroll (.602) took Matsui's spot. Cory Sullivan (.724), Omar Quintanilla (.630) and Clint Barmes (.555) could also see increased playing time, Moore wrote. "There are three things to consider when it comes to Milton Bradley's strain of the oblique muscle in his right rib cage," Bill Center of the San Diego Union-Tribune cautioned. "The Padres have classified the injury as "mild." Historically, Bradley is not a quick healer. (And) Players rarely come back sooner than expected from oblique strains, even when the injury isn't severe." Dan Hayes of the North County Times reported that Scott Hairston, Rob Mackowiak, Terrmel Sledge and Brady Clark might all step in to fill in for Bradley for an indefinite period. When Andre Ethier hit a pinch-hit, three-run, ninth-inning home run to give the Dodgers their third victory in four games at NL Central-leading Chicago, it looked like the team was racing back into contention, having won 14 of their past 21. But this weekend in San Francisco, at a ballpark where Los Angeles had won 11 consecutive games over its fabled rivals, the Giants threw up a couple of roadblocks by hitting game-winning home runs off Dodger reliever Jonathan Broxton in their final at-bats Friday (by Dan Ortmeier) and Sunday (by Ray Durham). Broxton, who also served up a homer in the Ethier game Thursday, had allowed only one homer all season prior to that. As a result (at least in part) of his sudden struggles, instead of trailing the Padres by half a game entering their three-game series in Los Angeles that starts Tuesday (with Jake Peavy pitching the first game for the Padres against Esteban Loaiza), the Dodgers trail by 2 1/2. Labels: NL West NL West: League's Best DivisionThe NL West was far from the league's doormat this year. NL East teams are 69-93 against the NL West, with only Atlanta (19-14) having a winning record. NL Central teams are 85-97 against the NL West, with only St. Louis (15-14) having a winning record. That will be of little consolation if the relative weakness of the other two NL divisions makes it easier for one of their teams -- most likely Philadelphia -- to grab the wild card. As the season heads into its final four weeks, here are the schedule challenges facing the four NL West playoff contenders: San Diego: Monday, the Padres played (and won) the first of nine consecutive road games against their three closest divisional pursuers. After handling that stretch, they earn the relative reward of seven home games against two last-place teams, San Francisco and Pittsburgh. San Diego wraps up its home schedule this season with three against Colorado, then finishes on the road against the Giants and Milwaukee. Arizona: The Diamondbacks, who have lost 10 of their past 15 games immediately after dropping only 10 of their previous 33, will also finish their season on the road, at Pittsburgh and Colorado. Arizona gets its last direct shot against the Padres today and Wednesday (ace Jake Peavy might take that start on three days' rest for San Diego, according to Corey Brock of MLB.com, but the Diamondbacks play the Dodgers six more times. Los Angeles: After finishing their current four-game series in Chicago on Thursday, the Dodgers will stay in the NL West for the remainder of the regular season. A three-game series in Los Angeles against the Padres on Sept. 11-13 potentially looms large, but if San Diego starts to run away with the division, the Dodgers certainly will have a chance to make or break their wild-card destiny with 13 consecutive games against Arizona and Colorado. Los Angeles finishes at home against their weak but oft-vexing rivals, the Giants. Colorado: Enjoy San Francisco, Rockies fans. After the Giants leave Wednesday, it's seven games in a row against the Padres and Phillies, the latter four in Philadelphia. After a three-game detour with Florida, Colorado will have an extended shot against its NL West rivals, finishing the season with 13 games with the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks. Any team that aspires to take the NL wild card might want to make their move early. Seven of Philadelphia's final 10 games are against the struggling Washington Nationals. When the two teams played four games in San Diego last week, the most tickets sold for any contest was 29,021, Timmermann added. Stadium capacity at Petco Park is approximately 46,000. Keystone-mate Ray Durham (.302 on-base percentage -- .267 since the All-Star Break) is also struggling, and Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News wrote that Kevin Frandsen will grab much of the 35-year-old Durham's playing time down the stretch. "Let the kid play," Durham said with what Baggarly called "a bit of emotion in his voice." Unlike Vizquel, Durham is due $7 million from San Francisco in 2008, Baggarly noted. What players would belong on the NL West's all-glove team? Leave your answers in the comments below. Labels: NL West NL West: Missing MadduxThere might be all kinds of reasons why the San Diego Padres are 3 ½ games ahead of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the wild-card race, but perhaps this is the simplest: Greg Maddux. At the end of last season, the Dodgers chose not to resign the future Hall of Famer. In his place, they picked up Randy Wolf for $8 million (including $500,000 if they buy out his 2008 option), as well as offering arbitration to Mark Hendrickson instead of cutting him loose and negotiating a $2.925 million one-year deal -- even though there wasn't a spot for Hendrickson in the starting rotation. The Padres grabbed Maddux, locking him in for $10 million for 2007, plus an option for 2008 that could cost San Diego from $6 million $11 million, according to Cot's Baseball Contracts. Perhaps San Diego will regret the deal in 2008, but as far as '07 is concerned, the Padres got Maddux for less than what the Dodgers spent on Wolf and Hendrickson. And what was the result? Maddux has already thrown 161 2/3 innings while leading San Diego in games started with 27, with an ERA of 3.90. His Value Over Replacement Player, according to Baseball Prospectus, is 32.0. Wolf's ERA swelled to 4.73 over 18 starts for the Dodgers before going out of the rotation for good with shoulder problems, and he accumulated a VORP of 11.4. Hendrickson, who began the season in the bullpen, has gone in and out of the rotation, making 15 starts in 30 appearances with an ERA of 5.49 and a VORP of 4.6. In short, the two pitchers combined have so far been barely half as good as one Greg Maddux, and the gap is almost certain to increase over the season's final month. You might be tempted to call it hindsight, because Maddux wasn't exactly a lock to shine this season. He turned 41 in April and has long since stopped being a pitcher you can count on for more than six innings. On the other hand, his durability over the course of a season has been remarkable -- he has made at least 33 starts each year since 1988, exculding strike years. And even if he can only give you limited innings, some felt he still was more likely to be reliable than Wolf, who was coming off Tommy John surgery and whose ERA was at or below the league average every season since 2002. As for Hendrickson, his combined ERA with Tampa Bay and Los Angeles in 2006 was actually almost identical to Maddux's, but Hendrickson's was more out of character with the rest of his career. And it's not as if Hendrickson, 33, was on the rise, either. In 2006, Maddux was a key reason behind the Dodgers' playoff push. Had the Dodgers been willing to give him the 2007 money they allocated to shakier pitchers (not to mention disappointments like Nomar Garciaparra), instead of allowing a rival like San Diego to take advantage, Los Angeles probably would be in better playoff position -- even with Jason Schmidt (six games, 6.31 ERA. $12.5 million) flaming out. It should be said that the final twist in this San Diego-Los Angeles exchange might be yet to come, now that an ex-Padre has moved up the road to pitch for Los Angeles. David Wells survived his Dodger debut Sunday despite allowing 10 baserunners in five innings, increasing the possibility that he will start against San Diego on Friday in a game that would affect the playoff race, one way or another. "Natural as it might be for people to assume that Bradley would be in the thick of any trouble swirling up around the Padres -- like the benches-and bullpen-clearing dust-up at second base last night at Citizens Bank Park -- the fact of the matter is that Bradley has been an instigator," wrote Chris Jenkins of the San Diego Union-Tribune on Friday. "He has created a huge problem for somebody else. ... The rest of the National League. "Without Bradley in the lineup this year, the Padres batted .241 and scored an average of 4.29 runs. In the 24 games he has started, they've batted .276 and scored an average of 5.28 runs." Said San Diego first baseman Adrian Gonzalez to Jenkins: "Milton Bradley is my favorite player." Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star said that Diamondbacks manager Bob Melvin "has indicated his offensive skills are making him a viable pinch-hitting option in games when he does not start" -- and indeed, Owings did so Aug. 20, drawing a walk. Unfortunately for Owings, he took the loss Friday, Arizona's third in four game befoire a victory Saturday. The Diamondbacks also learned that they will probably be without infielder Chad Tracy (.795 OPS) for the remainder of the season, according to Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. Hard to feel too bad for the Diamondbacks, though. They not only hold a three-game lead in the NL West, they have a six-game advantage over the closest team that could knock them out of a playoff spot: Philadelphia. On July 23, he only lasted 4.1 innings and fell to 3-12. His ERA was just 4.02, but he had every right to curl up into a little ball and start feeling sorry for himself. And look out Owings: Cain has two home runs himself this season, including a blast Thursday, and fellow starting pitcher Noah Lowry hit his own four-bagger Friday. Colorado's woes extended to the minor leagues: 2006 top draft pick Greg Reynolds underwent shoulder surgery after not pitching for three months, Renck reported. All that being the case, Colorado took three in a row from Washington over the weekend, moving within 3 ½ games of a wild-card spot. Labels: NL West NL West: PredictionsOver the past three weeks, Arizona has taken control of the National League West. I asked team bloggers from around the division whether they thought the Diamondbacks would hang on and what the NL West order of finish would be. Here's what they said: Jim McLennan, AZ SnakePit: I think it comes down to the Padres and D-backs for the title. The Dodgers are too far back and (until very recently) playing badly -- a fatal combination -- though I think the Rockies could still be involved, at least in the role of spoilers. I'm really glad we played them so much earlier on, as I do not fancy facing that lineup now. Arizona is in the driver's seat, but I am concerned about our bullpen, with both Tony Pena and Brandon Lyon showing signs of fatigue of late. They've been crucial to our success, especially with us being involved in so many close games. But if they can stand firm, I present to you, your 2007 NL West Champion (and slayers of run differential as a predictive tool!) Arizona Diamondbacks. Geoff Young, Ducksnorts: I'll stick with my preseason prediction of Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, Colorado and San Francisco because I'm stubborn that way. The Diamondbacks get knocked by a lot of analysts for their poor run differential, but those are wins in the bank and, like Jim, I don't see them folding. The Dodgers and Rockies will stick around a while longer, but with so many injuries to both pitching staffs, I'm not sure either has enough to reach the playoffs. I still like the Padres for the NL wild card. Mark T.R. Donohue, Bad Altitude: Lame as it might be to predict that the current standings order will be the final one, I don't see enough separation between the top three teams in the division to favor anyone either than the team with the advantage of the most wins in the bank. I've also been afraid all year that Arizona's young hitting would break through and pick up its pitching -- could still happen. San Diego's lack of a dominant middle-of-the-rotation hitter dooms it, I feel, and while Matt Holliday is the most dangerous offensive player in the division, Colorado isn't going anywhere with Elmer Dessens, Josh Fogg, and mere babes Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales in the rotation. The Dodgers obviously don't want anything to do with the playoffs, and the Giants' season effectively ended last week. Andrew Grant, True Blue L.A.: I considered the Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres equals coming into this year, but I think it's time to drop the Dodgers from the discussion. Over the last 10 years, only four teams have come back from a deficit of more than a game and a half (at this point in the season) to make the playoffs, so even if you believe the Dodgers are due to improve, six and a half games is simply too much to make up. If you break it down between the Diamondbacks and Padres, I think you have a dead heat. Arizona is on pace to have the best record ever for a team that has been outscored on the year, but as you get further and further into the season, regressions that should happen are less and less likely to occur. Meanwhile, the Padres main concern was depth, but they've dealt with that at the deadline by acquiring solid players like Morgan Ensberg and Scott Hairston. If I had to pick a winner, I would say the Padres, because while the Diamondbacks have been underperforming offensively between Chris Young, Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson, they've been getting above-average performances out of pitchers like Doug Davis and Livan Hernandez, who have been overperforming based on their peripheral stats (walk rate, strikeout rate, and home run rate). When you combine that with an inevitable regression the team should experience thanks to their overperformance, I would bet that the Padres catch them as the season draws to a close. The final race for the NL West title should be very close between the Padres and the Diamondbacks, and the Dodgers, Rockies, and Giants will follow them. Grant Brisbee, McCovey Chronicles: I stopped following the NL West race when the Giants fell out of the race, which was in, oh, February. So I might be the wrong guy to ask. Like most of you, I'm caught between acknowledging the Diamondbacks' luck and acknowledging that their offense should improve. Their young hitters have been super-prospects like Sean Burroughs instead of super-prospects like Grady Sizemore, and that should change. If I'm going to concede an automatic offensive upgrade to the D-Backs, though, I should do the same with the Padres. They don't have a good offense, but they have some players who could improve from "wretched" to "tolerable." With that pitching staff, "tolerable" could get them to the World Series. The Rockies' bullpen shouldn't be that good, and the starting staff is a lump of average at best, but replacing half of their lineup with an amphetamine-free Neifi Perez would still leave them with the best offense in the division. I can count about seven hitters on the Dodgers who could be the No. 3 hitter on the Giants, and yet the Dodgers are still having trouble scoring runs. That reflects more on the Giants than the Dodgers, but it's tough to make up six games in the standings with a limp offense. My guess: Padres, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Rockies, 1962 Mets, Giants Labels: NL West NL West: Tap the RockiesThis is usually the time when the Colorado Rockies go back to shopping at Philosophies 'R' Us, trying to find a deal that will give them a chance of winning at high-altitude. Next year typically starts every August, if not sooner. Not this year. The Rockies are five games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks for first place in the National League West and only two behind the San Diego Padres (whom Colorado visits for a three-game series starting Tuesday) in the wild-card race. It's gotten to a point where every personnel decision the Rockies face is worthy of attention. First and foremost comes Colorado's starting pitching. Already having lost Rodrigo Lopez for the season, the Rockies' latest casualty was Jason Hirsh, who went down with a fractured right fibula. Astonishingly, Hirsh pitched five innings with the injury, but Colorado needs some longer-term solutions. On Sunday, 36-year-old journeyman Tim Harikkala started and allowed three runs and nine hits in 3 1/3 innings against the Cubs, then was designated for assignment after the game. Jeff Francis (114 ERA+ according to Baseball-Reference.com, with 100 being league average) gives the Rockies a strong chance to move within a game of San Diego on Tuesday when he opposes Greg Maddux, but on Wednesday Colorado is tentatively scheduled to throw 23-year-old Ubaldo Jimenez, who has allowed 41 baserunners in 24 2/3 innings over five starts. "Jimenez revealed flaws that kept him nestled in Colorado Springs for much of the season," wrote Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post concerning Jimenez's last start, in which he allowed nine runs in two-plus innings. "His fastball was flat, and he couldn't command his curveball or changeup. ... It raises the question: How much more patience can the Rockies show the 23-year-old?" Renck said that 21-year-old lefty prospect Franklin Morales "is on the fast track." Beyond that, the options look like retreads such as veteran Elmer Dessens, now at AAA Colorado Springs. Although the Rockies could welcome back All-Star closer Brian Fuentes this week, according to Thomas Harding of MLB.com, it will have to be the Rockies' offense that carries the team through these rough patches. To that end, Colorado has added another weapon, calling up 22-year-old third baseman Ian Stewart. Colorado already has a starter at third in Garret Atkins, but Stewart will, if nothing else, help off the bench (replacing Jeff Baker, who was hit in the head by a Jason Marquis fastball Friday). Stewart also is helping the Rockies ease Todd Helton (back spasms) back into the lineup at his own pace, by allowing Atkins to spot-start at first base. "This was no September call-up," wrote Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post. "A hot prospect in the Rockies' organization since his selection in the first round of the 2003 June draft, Stewart was tossed into the fire of a pennant race." Colorado has also been improvising in center field. Clint Barmes, the deposed Rockies starting shortstop, has moved to the outfield in place of Willy Taveras, who is nursing a right quadriceps injury. Barmes doubled and scored on both Saturday and Sunday. But with all these transactions, a little magic never hurts. Stewart went 0 for 2 in his first start Saturday before giving way to pinch-hitter Jamey Carroll. Drew Bienhoff of Up in the Rockies picks up the story from there: Coming into today's game against the Cubs, you could almost sense a bit of panic throughout Rockies Nation. Two straight losses to Chicago on the heels of a dominant sweep of the Brewers had taken Rox fans from a nice sky high to a very earthly low, 6.0 games back of the unfathomably hot Diamondbacks. I guess that goes to show something when it's hard not to panic after two consecutive losses, but with the way that this franchise has mailed it in late in the season over the past decade, it's difficult to blame Colorado fans for feeling a bit anxious. Plus, with the Cubs' young phenom Rich Hill on the mound going against Rox fifth starter Josh Fogg, the pitching matchup was anything but advantageous. Times were tense… But along came the most unlikely of heroes with the bases loaded, two outs, and a tie game in the bottom of the sixth inning. That's right, Jamey Carroll, he of the 17-for-96 (.177) start to the season and the current .229 batting average, strode into the batter's box and lined a grand slam into the first row of the left field bleachers, sending the Coors faithful into an uproar. Brandon Webb is about one game away from being worthy of round-the-start national coverage. Webb has thrown 33 consecutive scoreless innings, putting him more than halfway to Orel Hershiser's major league ecord. "The difference last night -- and, indeed, during much of the streak, was the return of Webb's ability to control his pitches," writes Jim McLennan of AZ Snakepit. "In six starts since the All-Star break ... he has allowed only nine walks in 44.2 innings -- 1.83/nine innings. In the last six starts he made before the All-Star break, that figure was 3.23, and his ERA was 3.92. Now, he can throw the sinker for a strike, almost at will, and hitters are no longer able to lay off, knowing it'll probably drop out of the zone." These have been heady times for division-leading Arizona, which has endured three consecutive losing seasons (including a 51-111 debacle in 2004), and Justin Upton fever has only fed the frenzy. Upton, whose Aug. 2 callup (23 days before his 20th birthday) made him the youngest player in the majors, is 10 for 34 with four walks, three doubles, three triples and a home run. That's a .368 on-base percentage and a .647 slugging percentage. "Even as he looks a bit uncomfortable in right field, Upton looks like he belongs in the majors when he's up at the plate," wrote Nicholas Cote of Out in the Desert. "He doesn't chase bad pitches, or even good pitches that are slightly off the plate but tempt inexperienced hitters ... and he's willing to hit pitches where they're thrown. This guy is exactly what the Diamondbacks need right now." Nevertheless, a small dose of reality struck the Diamondbacks in the eighth inning against the Washington Nationals on Sunday. Six outs away from cementing a five-game lead in the division, Arizona allowed six runs and lost, 7-6. Waiver claim Byung-Hyun Kim starts the Diamondbacks' next game against his most recent team, Florida. Milton Bradley has been a success for San Diego when he has played. Now on his third California team in three years, Bradley has an on-base percentage of .461 and slugging percentage of .627 in 89 plate appearances, but a strained right hamstring has held him to one plate appearance since Aug. 3. "He's just sore because he worked it real hard" in a workout before Friday's game, Padres manager Bud Black told Tom Krasovic of the San Diego Union-Tribune. Brian Giles has cushioned Bradley's absence, hitting, as Corey Brock of MLB.com points out, five home runs in 13 at-bats against Cincinnati after hitting two in his first 286 at-bats this season. Like their division rivals, the Padres are also still working to solve the back end of their rotation. Brock wrote that "Clay Hensley, who pitched six walk-free innings in Triple-A on Friday, apparently will return to the Padres and start for Wil Ledezma on Thursday against the Rockies" after Ledezma lasted only 2 1/3 innings in his Friday start." Small side note: the pitcher who made his major-league debut by throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings while relieving Ledezma, Jack Cassel, is the brother of New England Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, Brock noted. Jack was sent back to AAA after the game, as the Padres keep rotating arms onto the roster. Now that Barry Bonds has gone into the great home run beyond, the problems of the San Francisco Giants return to the spotlight. Grant Bisbee of McCovey Chronicles had his own take. "Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team," Bisbee wrote. "I'm just going to repeat that a few times for effect. Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team. Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team. Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team. Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team. Randy Winn is the second-best hitter on this team." I've avoided doing this so far this season on Fungoes, but for an update on the Dodgers, I'd like to invite you to check my Sunday posting at Dodger Thoughts. One thing you don't hear much about these days in Los Angeles that you did hear in July: the notion that Bill Mueller turned the offense around after replacing Eddie Murray as hitting coach. Not with these awful numbers since July 24, provided by David Pinto of Baseball Musings. Labels: NL West NL West: D'backs take the reinsWhoever wins the National League West may end up making "winning ugly" hip again. If the Arizona Diamondbacks are any indication, for example, there's nothing like a good blowout loss to propel your team to the top. Since July 17, the Diamondbacks have gone 14-4 -- and they've been outscored by two runs. Their four defeats have been by the scores of 10-1, 6-2, 14-0 and 11-0, a total pummeling of 41-3. That's some pretty big yang to go with Arizona's yin, even if the yangs have been few and far between lately. Essentially saving their runs for when they have best been able to use them, the Diamondbacks have become the third team to rule the NL West this season, taking leads of 1 1/2 games over the Padres and four games over the Dodgers, whom Arizona swept in Los Angeles this weekend. Colorado continues to lurk on the outskirts of the race, 5 1/2 games back. The NL West has been the top division in the National League this season, with its teams entering play Monday a collective 16 games over .500. But the group seems to be about as fit as a run-over fiddle these days. All four contending teams face significant issues in their starting rotations: San Diego, which could get Young back sooner than later to rejoin Jake Peavy at the head of the rotation, perhaps should still be considered the favorite in the NL West. However, it's interesting to consider that, if you stipulate that the Rockies had the least to lose when it came to pitching, that they have the most to gain from the wave of problems everyone is having. If the NL West race becomes a battle of offenses against a majority of starting pitchers who appear to be throwing something close to batting practice each time they take the mound, would it be so strange for outfielders Matt Holliday and Brad Hawpe to help Colorado get its turn at the lead? Probably, one should continue to bet against the Rockies being on top come October, but no team in the NL West is invulnerable. Labels: NL West NL West: A four-team raceArizona has roared out of its slump, and the Rockies have done their part. With exactly two months left in the regular season, there is a four-team race in the National League West. The Dodgers, Diamondbacks and Padres are separated by a half-game (or, to be more precise, .005 in winning percentage), with Colorado now a mere 3 1/2 games out of first. With Matt Holliday, Garret Atkins and Ryan Spilborghs slugging a combined .768 and Aaron Cook setting a franchise record with a 74-pitch complete game, the Rockies just took series from Los Angeles and San Diego to close the gap -- only to be overshadowed by Arizona. The Diamondbacks' 14-0 loss Sunday was fairly digestible considering the eight-game winning streak that preceded it. Despite losing Randy Johnson for the season, the Diamondbacks have a 3.40 ERA since the All-Star Break. The offense has still had its ups (Chris Snyder, Tony Clark, Conor Jackson, Chris Young, Eric Byrnes) and downs (Orlando Hudson, Mark Reynolds) over the past two weeks, but Arizona has capitalized on the struggles of Los Angeles and San Diego nonetheless. If the regular season ended Sunday, the Diamondbacks would be the NL wild card. It only gets more interesting with Arizona traveling to San Diego for a three-game series beginning Tuesday. Chad Billingsley has made eight starts this season for the Dodgers. Stats in his odd-numbered starts: 25 2/3 innings, 14 hits, four runs, nine walks, 19 strikeouts, 1.40 ERA. Stats in his even-numbered starts: 18 1/3 innings, 22 hits, 16 runs, 13 walks, 15 strikeouts, 7.86 ERA. Even with a rainout and a complete game by Billingsley in Houston July 23, the Dodger starting rotation still is suffering, with all five members of the projected rotation in March now injured. Not only are Jason Schmidt, Hong-Chih Kuo and Randy Wolf on the disabled list, but Derek Lowe and Brad Penny both developed ailments that could preclude them from making their next starts. And now, there are even more troubles for Los Angeles. Jeff Kent, who has reached base in 38 consecutive games -- tops in the majors this season -- strained his left hamstring Sunday and is day-to-day. Kent has a 1.200 OPS in July (30 for 71 with six doubles, five homers and nine walks). San Diego scored 2.5 percent of its runs this season in the first inning of Sunday's game at Houston. The Padres had four walks, four singles, two doubles and two home runs before Josh Bard grounded into a force play to end the inning. Labels: NL West NL West: Dodgers staff in tattersInjuries and ineffectiveness have pulverized the once-formidable Los Angeles Dodgers pitching staff to such an extent that three pitchers have started and relieved in the same week. The Dodgers have been a pitching punching bag ever since July 4, when starters Hong-Chih Kuo and Randy Wolf met up with Jason Schmidt on the disabled list. Reliever Chin-hui Tsao compounded the problems by joining bullpenmate Yhency Brazoban on the DL on July 15 -- a day after Tsao gave up a grand slam that propelled the Dodgers into a 12-inning, 193-pitch endurance-fest in San Francisco and undermined any rest built up over the All-Star Break. Perhaps most discouraging, All-Star closer Takashi Saito hasn't entered a game since Wednesday because of soreness, which Saito fears might be a revival of spinal cord issues that plagued him during his final three seasons in Japan, according to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Saito is scheduled for an MRI today. As a result, if you've ever been looking for a team that would be nifty enough to use its starters as relievers on the days they're scheduled to throw in between outings, the Dodgers have collapsed into that paradigm. If Chad Billingsley, a 22-year-old righthander who has a 3.56 ERA but isn't always economical with his pitch counts, can't give the Dodgers innings tonight in Houston (and that may be the case as he struggles with a blister on his pitchaing hand), it would surprise no one at this point to see Brett Tomko -- who gave the Dodgers six innings of shutout respite Friday -- become the latest to pull double-duty. Essentially, the Dodgers have resorted to using a six-man rotation with every starter on call for relief at least one day in between. To get off this treadmill, one or several things has to happen. Saito has to get back in action, or the Dodgers need to add him to the DL and call up a minor leaguer like Eric Hull (3.18 ERA at AAA Las Vegas) or Jonathan Meloan (2.20 ERA at AA Jacksonville before his recent promotion to Vegas). And some starter besides Brad Penny has to pitch into the seventh inning. Since the All-Star break, no one else has. For all their problems, the Dodgers are in first place in the NL West, a game ahead of the San Diego Padres and a half-game behind the New York Mets and Milwaukee Brewers for the best record in the NL, thanks to a revitalized offense led by 22-year-old Matt Kemp (1.007 OPS) and 23-year-old James Loney (.942 OPS). It's a complete turnabout from the run-challenged, pitching-strong group that carried the team for the season's first three months. Wolf is tentatively set for a rehabilitation start in a Class A minor-league game Wednesday, but it should be a while before he emerges as an innings eater to say the least. Since July 1, 2004, he has lasted seven innings only six times. Of course, a team's first instinct in July is to look to the trade market for help, but it's not as if there are fields of quality arms waiting to be harvested. And, the Dodgers' most tradeable commodities, Kemp and Loney, are now integral to the team. Moving them would only re-open the team's offensive woes. With Hendrickson and Tomko as inconsistent this year as they have tended to be for years, the pitcher to watch might be Billingsley -- who, appropriately enough, began the season in the bullpen. Billingsley, who turns 23 Sunday, has only logged 65 2/3 innings in 2007. The talent is clearly there, as evidenced by his adjusted ERA of 122 (100 being average) according to Baseball-Reference.com. But doubt remains whether he become efficient enough with his pitch counts in time to save the Dodger staff this season.
Geoff Blum hasn't permanently taken second base from Marcus Giles in San Diego, but the 34-year-old journeyman infielder (.699 career OPS) has started four of the past five games at the position -- going 7 for 12 with three walks in the process -- ahead of Giles, who has a .200 on-base percentage in 82 plate appearances since June 25. Padres manager Bud Black told Scott Bair of the North County Times that "a number of things" were going wrong for Giles. "I think he's still expanding the strike zone a little bit," Black said. "I think that he tends to be a little bit out in front of off-speed pitches. Then when he tries to stay back, he ends up being late on the fastball. He's caught in between, and for a hitter that's always a tough spot. "We're just trying to stay positive. ... basically told him, 'Keep your head up, keep plugging away and keep on working.' During the first part of the season, he was mainly responsible for our success, and we feel that he's capable of carrying us again." Jockeying for first place with the Dodgers for weeks now, the Padres have played two fewer games then their Los Angeles rivals. In the final three weeks of the season, the Dodgers are off on three consecutive Mondays -- Sept. 10, 17 and 24. San Diego also has Sept. 10 off, but then closes with games on 20 consecutive days -- including a four-game trip to end the season in Milwaukee, against a Brewer team currently trying to fight off the Chicago Cubs for the NL Central title. If Milwaukee has clinched by then, it could be a cakewalk for the Padres, but if the Brewers need the wins, the Padres could have a rough final hurdle for the playoffs. The Dodgers finish their season against the team that loves to hate them, San Francisco Giants -- but in Los Angeles. While "Big Unit" Randy Johnson continues on the rehab road, the guy Arizona Diamondback fans have begun calling the "Petit Unit" -- Yusmeiro Petit -- is winning people over. Petit pitched six shutout innings to lead Arizona over the Cubs on Sunday, 3-0. Petit now has a 2.54 ERA in five starts totaling 28 1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks. "All hail, in particular, the Petit Unit, who did what he does best: throws quality strikes," wrote Jim McLennan at AZ Snakepit. "In six shutout innings, he allowed only three hits, walked none and struck out five. A phenomenal performance, and the Marlins must be kicking themselves for letting go of Petit -- effectively trading him for Byung-Hung Kim (Arizona traded Jorge Julio to Florida for Petit -- Julio then went to Colorado for Kim) . Did I mention that the kid is only 22, and won't turn 23 until the off-season? My only concern is that he hasn't gone past six innings since his debut, though since he hasn't thrown more than 90 pitches in any outing, it's hard to tell if this is stamina-related or not." Petit's victory got the Diamondbacks back within 3 1/2 games of the Dodgers and 2 1/2 games of a wild-card spot, as well as giving them two games of separation from the Colorado Rockies, who tied with them for third place after Friday's games. Brad Hawpe of Colorado may have 17 home runs, a .387 on-base percentage and a .544 slugging percentage, but Colorado has begun platooning him against left-handed pitchers with Ryan Spilborghs. Against lefties this season, Spilborghs is 17 for 40 with five walks, four doubles and three home runs, which translates into a .489 on-base percentage and .750 slugging percentage. Hawpe is 15 for 79 with a .273 on-base percentage and .278 slugging percentage. "It's really in the best interest of the ballclub to give those at-bats to Spilborghs right now," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle told Michael Phillips of MLB.com. Labels: NL West NL West: Bonds' big slumpWell, heck, his 2007 on-base percentage has just now dropped below .500. It's important to keep things in perspective -- Barry Bonds hasn't tumbled irredeemably off a cliff, not as far as on-field performance goes, anyway. That didn't make it any less mind-blowing to see the San Francisco Giants' lightning rod short out this past weekend against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers, going 0-for-12 (with three walks) and grounding into three double plays. No fewer than 16 runners were on base during Bonds' at-bats in the series, and he failed to drive in any of them. Bonds is actually zero for his past 20 since July 5 (with eight walks). Some have speculated that he's trying too hard to hit home runs as he closes in on the career record, although I seem to recall a time in the past when history was on the line and he had no trouble producing. Nor did Bonds seem tired this weekend, coming off the All-Star Break. In Saturday's game, Bonds put himself in position to score the tying run in the bottom of the ninth inning after he walked by dashing to second on a hit-and-run to forestall a double play, and earlier made a diving stop in the outfield to prevent a base hit from going to the wall. San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy offered that Bonds had become "pull-conscious," according to The Associated Press, a thought that Bonds quickly dismissed. In fact, in what little time Bonds gave the media after Sunday's game, he was less concerned with the why than the what. "It's an embarrassment for me to be wearing this [expletive deleted] uniform 'cause of the way I'm playing," Bonds said. "There, that's it. Now go away," And the thing is, that really is probably the whole story right there. He's slumping, but right on the heels of a stretch from June 22-July 3 in which he went 11 for 24 with 16 walks, three homers and a 1.600 OPS. Even with Bonds' 43rd birthday approaching later this month, it would be a mistake to read too much into this particular dry spell. That didn't make it any less stunning to see the Dodgers' chief tormentor fail to produce, at-bat after at-bat. With one timely Bonds hit Saturday or Sunday, the Giants could have ended their home losing streak to Los Angeles. Instead, the Dodgers have won 11 straight in San Francisco, their longest such streak in nearly 30 years. "Barry Bonds, he's human," said Dodgers catcher Russell Martin after Sunday's game. "He's going to have times when he's not swinging the bat really well. We pretty much got lucky." Colorado won Friday to move over .500 after the All-Star Break for the first time since ... well, actually, it was only last year that the Rockies were 44-43 until the final out of their first post-Break game. In any case, Colorado is right on the edge of threatening in the postseason chase, but the Rockies dropped their Saturday and Sunday games. That will make them even more anxious to get pitchers Brian Fuentes and Jason Hirsh back to health. Fuentes is tentatively scheduled for a minor-league rehab assignment Tuesday in a Single-A game, Thomas Harding of MLB.com reports. But Hirsh, recovering from a July 2 ankle sprain suffered during a game in which he shut out the New York Mets over six innings, still hasn't even completed a bullpen session yet. In their first two days after the All-Star Break, the San Diego Padres got crushed in one game, had their renowned bullpen blow a cushy lead in another, fell out of first place in the division, had starting pitcher David Wells get suspended for seven games (now under appeal) and, perhaps most frightening, had staff ace Jake Peavy push his scheduled Sunday start two days into the future because of a sore biceps. Though Peavy is expected to be just fine, the Padres were ready for anything to keep the weekend from total disaster. And, just as it should be for a title contender, someone stepped up: Justin Germano threw 6 1/3 shutout innings Sunday to lead San Diego past Arizona, 4-0. Germano, a waiver-wire acquisition by the Padres this spring, had a 2.67 ERA while averaging six innings in his first nine starts. But he also averaged only 4.7 strikeouts per nine innings, leading many to believe his unpedigreed performance was a fluke -- a theory only enhanced when he posted a 10.13 ERA in his final two starts before the All-Star Game. It still remains to be seen how well Germano will fare for an entire season -- he had only 28 career innings in the majors before 2007 -- but manager Bud Black, who had a 3.84 career ERA while striking out 4.6 batters per nine innings, and 41-year-old future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who also gets by mostly on guile these days, are there to tutor him on making the most of his command. "There was a lot of 80s, 81s, 82s that weren't really his fastball and weren't really his changeup," Arizona manager Bob Melvin told Michael Schwartz of MLB.com. "He gets ahead of you and all of a sudden humps up a [mid-80s] pitch in to get an out." Labels: NL West NL West: Midseason GradesAn afterthought for years running when it comes to postseason baseball, the NL West has pulled closer to its league rivals, if not ahead of them. Four of the five teams in the division are at .500 or better, and collectively the NL West is 105-81 against the NL Central and NL East. San Diego quietly established itself as the best team in the NL in the first half of the 2007 season, leading the league in winning percentage and run differential. At the same time, the Padres are 15-15 over their past 30 games, so they aren't exactly running away with anything. Los Angeles seems to have the greatest wherewithal to overtake the Padres, but the Dodgers' potpourri of strengths and weaknesses makes a post-All Star Break slump as likely as a surge. Arizona remains a contender, and Colorado -- yes, Colorado -- is only 5 1/2 games off the Padres' league-leading pace. While the NL barely has any teams on pace to win 90 games, AL hopefuls should pay attention to the Padres. Facing the likes of Jake Peavy and Chris Young in the postseason could be death to anyone's World Series dreams. San Diego Padres Record: 49-38, 1st place Runs Scored: 374 (11th in NL) Runs Allowed: 298 (1st in NL) What went wrong: The Padres have struggled offensively at a few positions, most notably thanks to the Giles brothers. Second baseman Marcus and right fielder Brian are well below league-average production for where they play, and third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff took forever to get going. San Diego also hasn't been particularly lucky -- its record in one-run games of 15-18 has allowed division rivals to stay right on their heels. What went right: Even accounting for the run-dampening effects of Petco Park, San Diego's pitching has been superb. The team's ERA+ of 130 (according to Baseball-Reference.com, with 100 being average) is tops in the league, and the Padres' are allowing only 3.69 runs per game on the road. Peavy came back from a subpar (for him) 2006 to become the league's leading Cy Young contender -- even while being outpaced in the ERA race by teammate Young (2.00). And the bullpen has allowed only 74 runs in 279 1/3 innings over 87 games (2.38 ERA). What's next: New acquisition Milton Bradley will be given a chance to boost the offense while the Padres consider making a trade to solidify their playoff hopes. Expected to be a playoff contender, the Padres have more than met those goals -- yet some San Diego fans must be nagged that the Padres haven't stretched out their division lead even more. Grade: A- Los Angeles Dodgers Record: 49-40, 2nd place Runs Scored: 400 (8th in NL) Runs Allowed: 366 (3rd in NL) What went wrong: Three hefty contracts handed out over the offseason were busts: Jason Schmidt was lost for the season after throwing 25 2/3 innings, Juan Pierre has a .311 on-base percentage in center field and Nomar Garciaparra, a returning free agent, is a corner infielder with a 72 OPS+. What went right: The team trails only the Padres in fewest runs allowed per game, thanks in large part to Brad Penny (183 ERA+). Russell Martin (125 OPS+) turned the sophomore jinx on its ear, becoming an All-Star catcher at 24. Luis Gonzalez (123 OPS+) showed that the offseason wasn't a total bust. And just when they needed them to, minor league callups James Loney and Matt Kemp (each with on-base percentages over .400 and slugging percentages over .500) had massive Junes. What's next: The Dodgers return to action with three-fifths of the starting rotation (Schmidt, Randy Wolf and Hong-Chih Kuo) on the disabled list, as well as lingering offensive questions. The urge to make a trade will be fierce, though whether there is anyone worthwhile out there who can be acquired at a reasonable price is dubious. The Dodgers currently hold wild card position in the NL, but with their payroll and farm system, Los Angeles has to be disappointed not to be in first place (no disrespect to the Padres). Grade: B Arizona Diamondbacks Record: 47-43, 3rd place Runs Scored: 371 (12th in NL) Runs Allowed: 401 (7th in NL) What went wrong: Randy Johnson pitched well but without durability, logging 56 2/3 innings while making repeat visits to the DL. And promising 26-and-under players like catcher Chris Snyder, shortstop Stephen Drew and center fielder Chris Young have disappointed so far this year. The Diamondbacks watched local hero Gonzalez go to the Dodgers on a one-year contract in large part to make room in the starting lineup for outfielder Carlos Quentin, who then went 42-for-200 with a .299 on-base percentage and .350 slugging percentage. What went right: Arizona arguably has the second-best pitching in the NL. The Diamondbacks are tied with the Dodgers with a 114 ERA+, and their bullpen is deeper than it's been in ages. In addition, infielders Orlando Hudson, Mark Reynolds and Chad Tracy and outfielder Eric Byrnes have been steady. What's next: Despite losing 19 of their past 30 games, the Diamondbacks are only 2 ½ games out of the wild-card lead and 3 ½ games out of first place -- with lots of room for potential improvement from their younger position players. Perhaps the growing pains were worse than Arizona hoped for, but unless the starting rotation collapses like Johnson's aging body, don't count Arizona out. Grade: B+ Colorado Rockies Record: 44-44, 4th place Runs Scored: 428 (3rd in NL) Runs Allowed: 438 (11th in NL) What went wrong: Honestly, if All-Star closer Brian Fuentes (now injured) hadn't blown four leads over an eight-game stretch at the end of June, the Rockies might be the talk of baseball. Instead, concerns over a spotty starting rotation have extended to a relief corps ... What went right: ... that otherwise has performed quite well. Overall, though, it's the offense that has carried Colorado, particularly Matt Holliday (145 OPS+), Brad Hawpe (141) and Todd Helton (137). At 31, Mets castoff Kazuo Matsui (108), along with 22-year-old rookie shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (103), have also shone. What's next: No one expects Colorado to make the playoffs, so the team can continue to operate in stealth mode, counting off days of the schedule while trying to stay within shouting distance. But can the Rockies find the starting pitching to get them over the hump? This is a team that is young at its core -- the 33-year-old Helton and Matsui are the only regulars over the age of 30, so there's no urgency for the team to win now -- just impatience arising from the 12 years that have passed since Colorado's only playoff appearance. Grade: A San Francisco Giants Record: 38-48, 5th place Runs Scored: 365 (15th in NL) Runs Allowed: 362 (2nd in NL) What went wrong: Though 10 games below .500, the Giants have actually outscored their opponents, so their biggest problem has been waste. Outside of Barry Bonds, the lineup is about as unthreatening as they come, with longtime defensive whiz Omar Vizquel (54 OPS+) having the most egregious numbers. Meanwhile, mega-free agent signee Barry Zito hasn't been terrible, just wildly inconsistent. In 18 games, he has nine quality starts, but has allowed more runs than innings pitched in five other appearances. What went right: Starting pitchers Matt Cain, Noah Lowry and Matt Morris, all with an ERA+ of 120 or more, have mitigated Zito's ups and downs. Ryan Klesko has had a late-career renaissance, with an on-base percentage of .385 and slugging percentage of .477. But the fact remains that without Bonds and his league-leading 191 OPS+, this might be the worst team in the NL. What's next: The Giants will watch Bonds' pursuit of 756 while trying to play spoiler in the NL West race, but their main goal should be to make sure that rookie Tim Lincecum (79 strikeouts in 72 innings) is healthy for the 2008 season. With the starting rotation as its foundation, San Francisco should start the rebuilding process ASAP. Grade: C- Labels: NL West NL West: Heroes today, gone tomorrowThe past week in the NL West saw the departure of a minor folk hero, a dispiriting losing streak by one team, a matchup of two of the NL's best starters and two outstanding efforts by young pitchers who hope to become two of the NL's best starters in time. On Friday the Los Angeles Dodgers designated Marlon Anderson for assignment to make room for relief pitcher Chin-Hui Tsao. Anderson was acquired by the Dodgers last season on Aug. 31 from Washington and surprisingly became the team's best hitter during its drive to capture the NL wild card. In 25 games and 64 at-bats, Anderson batted .375 and slugged .813 with seven home runs, including the fourth in a series of four consecutive home runs hit off of Padres pitching in the ninth inning to tie a game at 9-9. The Dodgers would go on to win 11-10 over San Diego in 10 innings back on Sept. 18, 2006, a game which has almost achieved mythic proportions. But in 2007, Anderson missed much of spring training recovering from right elbow surgery and when he was activated he was still not healthy and needed another operation on the elbow. The emergence of younger players such as James Loney, Matt Kemp and Tony Abreu made it hard for the Dodgers to find any playing time for a guy who still is prominently featured in several different highlight montages on the Dodger Stadium video board. And so, Anderson is now waiting for a call from another team looking for a left-handed hitting utilityman. Anderson joins a list of former Dodgers who had one brief period of glory in a year the Dodgers made it to the postseason and then exited from the stage. 1959 -- Chuck Essegian was a trade deadline acquisition (back when it was on June 15) from the Cardinals and batted .304 in 24 games. In the World Series against the White Sox, Essegian hit two pinch-hit home runs. Essegian stuck with the Dodgers for the entire 1960 season but played in just 52 games and batted .215. The Dodgers sold him to Baltimore in the offseason. 1963 -- Dick Nen was a September call-up and got into his first game on Sept. 18 with the Dodgers' lead in the NL over the Cardinals down to just three games. St. Louis led 5-4 in the top of the ninth when Nen homered off of Ron Taylor to tie the game, which the Dodgers ended up winning 6-5 in 13 innings. Nen spent 1964 in the minors and was traded to Washington in the offseason as part of a seven-player trade, with Frank Howard and Claude Osteen being the principal players in the deal. 1977 -- Mike Garman came to the Dodgers from the Cubs along with Rick Monday in exchange for Bill Buckner, Ivan DeJesus and a minor leaguer. Garman appeared in 49 games with a 2.37 ERA and had 12 saves and also picked up a save in the Dodgers' improbable comeback win over the Phillies in Game 3 of the NLCS. The next year, Garman pitched in just 16 1/3 innings for the Dodgers before he was dealt to Montreal for Larry Landreth and Gerry Hannahs. Arm problems ended his career after the 1979 season. 1988 -- Brian Holton turned in an outstanding year out of the bullpen, going 7-3 with a 1.70 ERA as a long man. However, with closer Jay Howell suspended for two games of the NLCS after having pine tar found on his glove, Holton was moved into the closer's role in Game 5 and picked up a save. After the season ended, Holton was traded along with Juan Bell to Baltimore for Eddie Murray. 2004 -- Steve Finley was acquired in a trade deadline deal from Arizona and hit a game-winning, division-clinching grand slam against the Giants capping off a comeback from a 3-0 deficit in the ninth inning in Game 161 of the season. Finley left as a free agent to sign with the Angels when the season ended. All of this is just a reminder of how baseball's heroes are often people who are just passing through and happen to be in the right place at the right time. After sweeping the New York Yankees at home from June 19-21, the Colorado Rockies went on the road just 3 1/2 games out of first, although in fourth place. Colorado then proceeded to lose eight straight to the Blue Jays, Cubs, and Astros. And four of the losses were blown saves by Brian Fuentes. And three of those blown saves had come after Troy Tulowitzki had hit a home run that had given the Rockies a lead in the final inning. Bad Altitude's Mark T. R. Donohue seemed to take the losing streak in stride, then he started to worry, then he got angry, and then he finally decided to give up. The Rockies appeared to get back on track with a 5-0 win on Saturday in Houston, but lost again on Sunday, 12-0, with Fuentes giving up two runs in mopup duty in the eighth. Fuentes may be looking at a new role when the team returns home to face the Mets and Phillies. Fuentes did make the NL All-Star team, along with teammate Matt Holliday. The Rockies are still in fourth place, but are now eight games out. The Rockies eight-game slide matches the Giants for the longest losing streak in the NL West this season. The Giants lost eight straight from June 13-22. Prior to facing each other Saturday night at Dodger Stadium, Brad Penny and Jake Peavy had remarkably similar pitching lines. Penny had thrown 2/3 more innings than Peavy (105 2/3 to 105), given up just nine more hits (91 to 82), given up one more home run (2 to 1), and surrendered one fewer earned run (24 to 25) and two fewer walks (28 to 30). Penny entered the game with an ERA of 2.04 and Peavy was at 2.14. The only major difference was in strikeouts where Peavy had 113 to Penny's 70. Both pitchers went seven innings and both gave up one earned run. Peavy allowed his second homer of the year to match Penny's total. Penny struck out seven, while Peavy struck out six. Penny finished the game with an ERA of 2.00 and Peavy at 2.09. The Padres won the game 3-1 in 12 innings. Tony La Russa should have both pitchers available to choose from as an All-Star Game starter for the NL as both are scheduled to pitch again on Thursday and should be rested for next Tuesday's All-Star Game in San Francisco. The Dodgers are 14-3 in games that Penny starts and the Padres are 13-4 in games started by Peavy. And Peavy's teammate Chris Young is not far behind Penny and Peavy. Young has an ERA of 2.14 and has given up just three home runs with 90 strikeouts and just 36 walks. And Young didn't even make the NL All-Star team, but is one of the candidates in the "Final Vote" election. Two much heralded young pitchers turned in outstanding performances on Sunday. Giants rookie Tim Lincecum threw seven shutout innings against Arizona, striking out 12 and giving up three hits with no walks. The Giants won the game 13-0. The loss left Jim McLennan of AZ Snakepit concerned about the Diamondbacks' recent offensive woes. Down in Los Angeles, second year pitcher Chad Billingsley had the best start of his brief career, throwing seven shutout innings against the Padres as the Dodgers avoided a sweep with a 5-0 win. Billingsley struck out nine, walked none, and gave up just three hits. Labels: NL West NL West: Midseason All-Stars
The pandering for All-Star Game votes has gotten a little out of control in parts of the country, don't you think? Just last week on the radio, Dodgers announcers Rick Monday and Jerry Reuss let us know about an official organizational bribe to get people to vote for the local boys -- coupons and discounts and such, with more of it coming your way the more you stuffed the ballot box. My current apathy toward voting (the opposite of how I felt a decade ago) is on the verge of turning into a boycott. Nevertheless, I have been curious who the best players in the division closest to home have been this year. I thought it might be fun to see what an All-Star team just from the NL West would look like. Here's what I came up with: Catcher: While playing in 71 of the Dodgers' 75 games -- almost unreal for a backstop -- Russell Martin of the Dodgers has been consistently above average as a hitter. Only the slightest dip has begun to register in June, but Martin has still produced an Equivalent Average of .293 according to Baseball Prospectus (where .260 is the norm). Martin is also on pace to steal a remarkable 28 bases in 32 attempts, while throwing out a third of those attempting to steal against him. First base: In a close call with Colorado's Todd Helton, we'll give the slightest edge to Adrian Gonzalez of San Diego, mainly because the Padre has been mostly going it alone as a major offensive threat in his team's lineup. Certainly, a case could be made for Helton, who has a .443 on-base percentage and a .326 EQA. But when you factor in park effects, Gonzalez has been just about as productive, with a .317 EQA and a .512 slugging percentage playing in San Diego's offensively challenged Petco Park. For a team that relies on pitching, Gonzalez is the man that keeps the offense from disappearing. Second base: Arizona's Orlando Hudson gets the nod over the Dodgers' Jeff Kent here. Hudson, with an on-base percentage of .383 and a slugging percentage of .469, has had the superior offensive season (a .300 EQA compared to Kent's .284). Defensively, Kent is still giving it his best shot at age 39, but it's hard to place him in Hudson's class. Shortstop: Not the NL West's strongest category, especially with Rafael Furcal of the Dodgers dropping off offensively and Stephen Drew (Arizona) and Omar Vizquel (San Francisco) disappearing. Khalil Greene of San Diego has come on after a slow start with a June OPS of .898, but I'm giving Troy Tulowitzki of Colorado the midseason prize. The 22-year-old has an OPS+ of 95 while playing solid defense. Third base: If Mark Reynolds (120 OPS+) and Chad Tracy (131) of Arizona were one person, this position would be a slam dunk. Each has turned in a nice offensive performance, with Reynolds a pleasant surprise filling in while Tracy missed four weeks worth of games. Arguably, Garret Atkins (85 OPS+) should get the honors here by default just from surviving the entire season at the position without being a total disaster, but even though Tracy has been playing some first base since his return from the disabled list, we'll pencil him in at the hot corner. Left field: While Matt Holliday of the Rockies has positioned himself as a potential MVP candidate for the division (.399 on-base percentage, .599 slugging percentage, 154 OPS+), there isn't much avoiding the fact that Barry Bonds wins here. Even though the longtime Giant has had home-run droughts this year, pitchers still fear him more than perhaps any other hitter in the NL West. His on-base percentage is .500, his slugging percentage is .586 and he has 15 homers -- two more than Holliday. Bonds' OPS+ is 189. While Bonds' intentional walk total might go down if he batted in Colorado's lineup and his defense reveals his age, Bonds remains the division's scariest left fielder. Center field: Always a top defensive center fielder, Mike Cameron of San Diego is holding his own offensively as well (although his best competition in the division, Willy Taveras of Colorado, isn't much to text home about). Cameron (104 OPS+) has an on-base percentage of .322 and a slugging percentage of .428 -- not impressive on the surface, but again, remember how San Diego's home park favors pitching. Right field: The Rockies' Brad Hawpe is the easy choice here -- which is nice, because I've slighted the other big Colorado hitters, Helton and Holliday. The Third H has a 134 OPS+ (.383 on-base percentage, .532 slugging percentage). His stats don't match Holliday's, but there's no Bonds competing against him in right field; the best alternative is Andre Ethier of the Dodgers (102 OPS+). One of the annual leaders in outfield assists over the past couple of years, racking up 16 last season, Hawpe is on pace for nine this year. I can't confirm this, but I suspect word has spread not to test his arm. Starting pitcher: The battle between Jake Peavy of the Padres and Brad Penny of the Dodgers have been neck-and-neck all season, but provisionally, we'll leave it to Peaver. That's true even though Brad Penny slipped ahead of Peavy in park-adjusted ERA, according to Baseball-Reference.com, 205 to 187, after Peavy allowed three runs in a five-inning start against the Boston Red Sox on Sunday -- Peavy's shortest outing of the season. In fact, Peavy even trails teammate Chris Young in ERA now, 2.14 to 2.08. But Peavy has been the dominant starter in the division if not the league, striking out 113 batters in 105 innings while allowing 116 baserunners and just one home run. Penny just misses out in this battle of the superb. Set-up man: Heath Bell of the Padres began the season with one run allowed in his first 20 2/3 innings. His idea of a slump has been for his ERA since that time to be 2.49. For the year, he has struck out 47 in 42 1/3 innings while allowing 38 baserunners, and has stranded 12 of 16 inherited runners. In 35 appearances, he has one blown save and one loss. Closer: The Dodgers' Takashi Saito is still working in the shadow of Padres closer Trevor Hoffman -- and still outpitching him. While Hoffman has had another fine season, Saito has actually done the unthinkable -- make Los Angeles fans not miss Eric Gagne. In 31 innings, Saito has struck out 40 and walked three. He has allowed 26 baserunners and five runs for a 1.45 ERA, converting 20 of 21 save opportunities. Labels: NL West NL West: D'backs play safe with UnitThanks to injuries and ineffectiveness, Randy Johnson had only one quality start in his return to Arizona through the Diamondbacks' first 35 games of the season. Coming off a 2006 season in which he had a 5.00 ERA, it would have been reasonable to wonder whether the 43-year-old Johnson would ever dominate again. But then over a 4 1/2-week period, Johnson knocked out six consecutive knockout starts, allowing eight runs over 35 2/3 innings (2.02 ERA) while striking out 51 and walking five -- a ratio few achieve at any point in their careers. According to Baseball-Reference.com, opponents had an on-base percentage of .222 against Johnson and a slugging percentage of .233 in that span. The only difference between this Johnson and the ideal Johnson was not getting past six innings in any of the starts. Johnson averaged 91.5 pitches per start, only once exceeding 101. In a further sign that the Diamondbacks were keeping caution from the wind, they put Johnson on the disabled list last week with "glute tightness" even, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported, before team doctors finished reviewing an MRI exam. "We are going to err on the side of caution," Melvin told Piecoro. "I said that from Day 1. That's how we're going to handle it. We're not going to run him out there in a situation where it could get worse." Johnson's return could come as early as June 26, in a home game against the Dodgers. Arizona had a down-and-up week, following a sweep by the Yankees with a sweep of the Orioles. Colorado has furthered its attempt to go from pretender to contender. Since May 21, the Rockies are 17-7, even including Sunday's 7-4 loss to Tampa Bay. However, in that time Colorado has only gone from being seven games out of first place to 5 1/2 games out, because San Diego (which was in second place May 21) has gone 16-8. On May 14, I wrote that "the Rockies' main problem this year is that their pitching isn't as deep as they might have hoped, at home or on the road. .... The Rockies are hardly dead and buried, but they have got to get their pitching turned around to stay in the competitive division race." In the 31 games since, Colorado's team ERA, 5.10 prior to the article, has been 3.67, according to Baseball-Reference.com. The resurgence has been led by Jeff Francis, who has a 1.76 ERA in six starts (41 innings) over that stretch. And the bullpen has been on its game, with Brian Fuentes, Manny Corpas, Jeremy Affeldt, LaTroy Hawkins, Tom Martin and Jorge Julio all boasting above-average ERAs. The oft-maligned Hawkins has been charged with one run in nine innings over 10 games since returning from the DL May 22. Martin has been tagged with one run in his past 10 innings. And Julio has decimated the 12.54 ERA he had with Tampa Bay this year, coming over in a trade to throw eight innings of relief with a 1.13 ERA. (On the other hand, last month I also highlighted the fact that Todd Helton was batting .397 on May 11. Since then, he is hitting .243.) Labels: NL West NL West: Not just for emergenciesIt was the once-a-decade event that haunts managers' psyches. Save your backup catcher until the last possible moment, we're told, because you don't want to see him to get hurt and end up scrambling for an emergency backstop. Friday night in San Francisco scrambled the Giants like their morning eggs. They took out their starting catcher in the fifth inning and lost their backup catcher to injury in the 10th, compounding the problem by having no position players left on the bench, thus forcing infielder Pedro Feliz behind the plate (along with outfielder Randy Winn to third base and pitcher Noah Lowry into the outfield). Emergency catchers in major-league games are rarer than no-hitters, triple plays and cycles, but managers still manage in fear of them most of the time. It was almost as shocking to see Giants skipper Bruce Bochy throw caution to the wind as it was to see the wind blow it back in his face. "Back in the 19th century, pretty much everybody was an emergency catcher because the catcher didn't wear a glove, the catcher didn't wear much protective equipment aside from a mask and there was not unlimited substitution," said Bob Timmermann, keeper of the clever historical and observational baseball site The Griddle. "So sometimes a catcher would get a broken finger and there was no one to replace him, or the manager/team captain would think that his bat was still important so they'd stick him in the outfield somewhere and move someone else behind the plate." Timmermann went on to say that of course, often "this didn't work out well and you would see teams giving up lots of passed balls," noting that Alex Gardner, who caught one game for Washington of the AA in 1884, is credited by the Sporting News with a major-league record 12 in one game. In the past 50 years, however, the number of emergency catchers used in a major-league game has been slight. Occasionally, injury isn't even an issue -- the catchers-of-the-last-resort were just the result of a manager going for broke trying to rally his losing team by pinch-hitting for his last catcher and succeeding. Pinch-hitting legend Manny Mota, for example, caught the only game of his career on July 13, 1964 in such a situation, though Timmermann said that Mota regularly warmed up pitchers. After a passed ball in the top of the 11th, Mota nearly won the game with a double in the bottom of the 11th, only to contribute to a 12th-inning loss with a second passed ball. Injuries certainly play a part. One of the treasured memories of my baseball childhood came in April 1980, when injuries to regular Dodger catchers Steve Yeager and Joe Ferguson forced utilityman Derrell Thomas into the eighth position of his career. Thomas ended up catching in five games in a row, including three complete games in which the Dodgers won two, before Los Angeles finally called up Mike Scioscia to make his major-league debut. Meeting Thomas for the first time in the Dodger Stadium press box last summer, I reveled in the opportunity to bond with him over this memory. Still, the most famous emergency catcher in baseball history is probably Lenn Sakata, who made his debut behind the plate in the 10th inning of a tie game against Toronto in August 1983. In the Blue Jays' explicable eagerness to run on Sakata, they somewhat inexplicably took such reckless leads that Orioles pitcher Tippy Martinez picked off three runners in a row. Sakata then hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th to win the game. I'll admit I always look forward to seeing an emergency catcher just for the novel excitement or exciting novelty of it, but that's not the reason that it burns me to see managers keep their backup catcher out of a game when they could benefit from using him. You really can't let yourself forget that needing an emergency catcher is the baseball equivalent of getting hit by lightning (don't hold me to the math -- it's just a metaphor). In retrospect, Bochy's decision to remove starting catcher Bengie Molina in a fifth-inning double-switch might seem reckless. But, at the time, the Giants had already fallen into last place in the NL West, eight games behind Bochy's former team, the San Diego Padres. If Bochy felt that removing Molina gave him a better chance to win the game, there's no way he should have let fear of injury to backup batteryman Eliezer Alfonzo forestall him. Managers should keep the same go-for-broke attitude in mind. The chances your last catcher getting hurt are slim, and the worst thing that will happen as a result is probably going to be a great story to tell. After sleeping off (Friday) night's travesty of a ballgame, I'm now a little more even tempered. This team has worn me out and the third month of the season isn't even half over yet. With an utter lack of execution in key spots, teams are making the Giants pay for mistakes, while young ballclubs like the Padres, Dodgers, and D-Backs continue to roll. At the same time, with all this age and rickety behavior on behalf of the Giants, they still manage to have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, which spells good years to come in the future. "You'll have to excuse me if I see the glass still as half empty," Donohue wrote Friday. "The Rockies have had stretches in each of the past few seasons where they've gotten within hailing distance of .500. This year and the last, these warm patches have been driven predominantly by a sudden spike of effectivness in starting pitching. No matter what the engine, if it's any time after the start of summer vacation, it's a tease until proven otherwise with this club. An interleague series in Baltimore might afford the team the opportunity to reach that magical break-even point for an ephemeral day or two (in fact, it got Colorado to 31-32) before the Rockies have to move on to Boston and face reality: They're still not very good." In the past two weeks, the Dodgers have called up youngsters Hong-Chih Kuo, Matt Kemp and James Loney in an effort to jumpstart a team that fell from first place to third. Labels: NL West NL West: Underachieving starsFor a division that is close to getting all five of its teams to .500 or better, the NL West still has some noteworthy underachievers. Below are five that have been playing spoiler for their own teams. Arizona Diamondbacks: Carlos Quentin The right fielder has lost none of this preternatural ability to get hit by a pitch: After 103 plunks in three minor-league seasons, the 24-year-old Stanford grad had 14 in his first 346 major league plate appearances. But last year, Quentin was inflicting his own damage, slugging .530 in 191 plate appearances as a rookie. This season, Quentin's slugging percentage has been punished, falling to .380 -- though that itself is an improvement from three weeks ago, when it was down at .271. Colorado Rockies: Garrett Atkins The guy is 27 years old, coming off a season in which he had a .409 on-base percentage and .556 slugging percentage. And he's playing at Coors Field. So why was he down to a .300 OBP and .335 slugging heading into Sunday's games? The humidor doesn't only work on him, does it? Colorado will be hoping that a homer, double and game-winning 10th-inning single Sunday against Cincinnati isn't just a tease. The home run was the second since April 14 and fourth on the season for Atkins, who hit 29 in 2006. Los Angeles Dodgers: Nomar Garciaparra In a year that has been a surprising challenge for several big-name major-league first basemen, Garciaparra can console himself that Richie Sexson, Carlos Delgado and Paul Konerko, among others, are hurting at the plate. Still, Dodger fans might not be in much of a mood to commiserate now that Garciaparra looks like he's 33 going on 43. In the first half of 2006, Garciaparra had a 1.004 OPS. in the second half, his OPS tumbled to .694, and now through the first two months of 2007, he's at .685 with one solitary home run. He had two extra-base hits in 104 plate appearances during the entire month of May (.289 slugging percentage). San Diego Padres: Khalil Greene Last week, an attention-worthy post at Padres blog Gaslamp Ball asked, "Is Khalil a Bust?" The conclusion: "As it looks right now, we have a starting shortstop with a history of injury problems that can't hit for average, has no speed, not much power, can't hit in his home park and can't get on base." Gaslamp might be too tough on Greene for his power -- seven home runs, 16 doubles and a .436 slugging percentage for a good-fielding shortstop at Petco Park ain't so bad -- but with a .262 on-base percentage for the year, it's been an all-or-nothing kind of existence. San Francisco Giants: Omar Vizquel Speaking of slick-fielding shortstops, here's one who has seen better offensive days. It's hard to expect to much when a player has turned 40, but Vizquel has never been more of a one-dimensional player than he is now: a .274 on-base percentage and .278 slugging percentage, essentially rendering him a nonentity in the Giants' lineup. Since May 14, Vizquel was 7-for-52 (.135) with three walks before getting two singles and a walk Sunday. The NL West enters play this week with Los Angeles, San Diego and Arizona virtually tied for first place, and San Francisco and Colorado essentially tied for fourth. The Padres and Dodgers begin a three-game series Tuesday in San Diego, which will be marked by the return from the disabled list of Jason Schmidt, who threw six shutout innings in a rehabilitation start last week against a Class A opponent but won't have faced major league competition in nearly two months. Chris Young will challenge Schmidt on the hill Tuesday, followed by Greg Maddux against Randy Wolf on Wednesday and Jake Peavy vs. Hong-Chih Kuo (making his second start of the year) Thursday. The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, will host the Giants while the Rockies hope to gain ground by playing the slumping Houston Astros. Over the weekend, interleague play returns, with Arizona drawing the short straw by getting the AL's top dog, the Boston Red Sox. Labels: NL West NL West: Streakin'Colorado has won six in a row. Arizona has won five in a row. San Diego has won six out of seven. San Francisco would have been undefeated last week if not for the Rockies. The Los Angeles Dodgers took four out of six from the top two teams in the National League Central, and almost had to hide its face in shame. There might not be a World Series favorite in the bunch, but the NL West will enter June in the midst a hotly contested race, with three teams within a game of each other and on at least a 91-win pace, and two others not exactly going meekly. The Padres moved into a tie with the Dodgers for first place at 29-21 thanks to a stretch in which it allowed 2.1 runs per game. The Diamondbacks (30-23) took the opposite path to come within a half-game of the leaders, scoring 40 runs in their past five games and 66 in their past 10. Meanwhile, the Dodgers needed two eighth-inning rallies to avoid getting swept by the Cubs and for the week added three one-run victories to their NL-best 11-4 record in that category. (Right behind them in one-run games is Arizona at 14-6.) It's that narrow margin of victory with which Los Angeles and Arizona are generally sneaking by that might make San Diego a slim favorite with two-thirds of the season remaining to win the NL West. The Padres are 9-10 in one-run games and 20-11 in all others, suggesting a team that is very rarely out of it on a given night. Of course, the recent resurgence of the Diamondbacks' offense also bodes well for them. The Dodgers, for their part, still look like they will live and die with their pitching, which nonetheless remains in flux, with Brett Tomko falling out of the starting rotation and Mark Hendrickson perhaps right behind him, while the young Chad Billingsley and Hong-Chih Kuo and the rehabilitating Jason Schmidt work toward replacing them. With the Dodgers and Padres trading series against the sub-.500 Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates this week, you might think that the pressure is off, but the likelihood is that every loss will seem like an unfortunate stumble. Arizona started off the week with a bigger test playing the Philadelphia Phillies, but took the first game Monday, 5-4. On the verge of falling out of the race before sweeping San Francisco last week, Colorado will continue trying to reestablish its relevance. The Rockies (24-27) play series against the NL Central's bottom two teams, St. Louis and Cincinnati, giving the team a good chance of reaching .500 and moving out of the NL West cellar. The Giants (24-25) play the Phillies after a series with the NL’s best, the New York Mets. The NL West surprised some in 2006 by providing the league’s wild-card team. With a collective 136-117 record, including 42-19 against the NL Central, don’t be surprised if it happens again this year, at the end of a down-to-the-wire pennant race. Labels: NL West NL West: The Plague of PierreEver since their team hired Billy Beane disciple Paul DePodesta as GM, traded Paul Lo Duca and acquired Hee Seop Choi and J.D. Drew in 2004, Dodger fans have been split in two camps: Those who believe that statistics predominantly tell the story of a player’s value, and those who believe stats undervalue hustle and team chemistry. Here in 2007, Juan Pierre can serve as the uniter. After 44 games, Pierre has met the low expectations of those who thought he would be an offensive Three Mile Island, producing a .305 on-base percentage and .314 slugging percentage. The man with the five-year, $44 million contract entered Sunday’s games with the 11th-worst OPS among qualified batters in the National League, and neither his 10 net stolen bases (15 stolen bases, five caught stealing) nor his reputation for friendliness do much to boost his value. How often can you race from first to third on a single when you’re barely on first base to begin with? But distaste for Pierre has been bipartisan. Even many of those who might have been swayed by his conventionally laudable .277 batting average and 100-run pace (the latter fed by his never sitting out a game) have shielded their eyes from his feeble swings, bad routes to fly balls and dental floss throwing arm. Even if both sides were to concede that they haven’t seen the best Pierre might offer this season -- that the career .302 hitter will get it in gear once he stops hitting the ball in the air so much (his ratio of ground outs to air outs is 1.33 according to MLB.com, which would be by far the worst of his career) and that his defense will improve as he gets used to picking up the ball in Dodger Stadium -- the signing has every chance to be the first true albatross of GM Ned Colletti, who took over for DePodesta after the 2005 season. Though the team was embarrassed by the Angels over the weekend in a three-game sweep -- its power and clutch-hitting vulnerabilities exposed for all to see -- the Dodgers still have much going for them. Russell Martin has arguably been the NL’s best catcher, the Takashi Saito- and Jonathan Broxton-led bullpen has scintillated, shortstop Rafael Furcal snapped out of his per-usual early season slump by going 14 for 16 in one stretch, and the starting pitching has for the most part held together while waiting for Jason Schmidt to return from the disabled list -- which may be soon, after an encouraging side session Sunday. On the other hand, Pierre, who hasn’t missed a major league game since 2002, has been a constant -- that is, a constant problem. The suggestion that he has been a net positive does not withstand scrutiny, no matter which side of the stats vs. scouts fence you set up camp. Colletti has cut his losses before. Last July, he sent one of his first pickups, reliever Danys Baez, to Atlanta after a miserable attempt as Eric Gagne’s understudy, and this month, he tacitly welcomed the benching of one of the players he picked up in that trade, Wilson Betemit, when he called up third baseman Andy LaRoche from AAA Las Vegas. And it wouldn’t be fair to say that Colletti is uninterested in improving the Dodgers’ power. He always intended to get a slugger this past offseason, then settled for Pierre and left fielder Luis Gonzalez when none would come his way. The unsurprising result is that Los Angeles is 28th in baseball in home runs and 27th in slugging percentage. (It isn’t helping that first baseman Nomar Garciaparra has one home run and a .361 slugging percentage.) Colletti likes his pitching staff, but he doesn’t like it that much, and rumors have already started that he has renewed his power pursuit. Still, nothing in the tea leaves currently suggests he would endorse even a periodic benching of Pierre. Even with the slow start, Pierre is on target to get 191 hits and 60 stolen bases, which may be all Colletti wanted out of him. Should Colletti part with one or more of the Dodgers highly regarded prospects in a trade for a power hitter, some will be left wondering whether what stopped him from the easiest solution to the Dodgers’ biggest offensive problem was that it was a problem of its own making? The offseason knock on 22-year-old farmhand Matt Kemp was that he was too vulnerable offensively and defensively to hold center field, but his potential compares too favorably against Pierre’s stagnation to be ignored. One is left feeling that Kemp could hardly do worse than Pierre’s .619 OPS or hard-on-the-eyes defense -- and has much more of a chance to keep the Dodgers in first place. The bottom line is that Dodger fans will grumble quietly as long as the team remains atop the division. But if this weekend’s slide were to continue, the grumblings against Colletti and Pierre will grow louder -- from all sides. “Because team officials didn't want to release Callaspo -- ‘That would have gone against our belief in second chances,’ Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall said -- they agreed to abide by the recommendation of an independent counselor," Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported. “Hall said the Employee Assistance Program counselor concluded that Callaspo was ‘fit for work’ and recommended he undergo counseling, which Callaspo agreed to do." Labels: NL West NL West: Helton Back in Fine Form
By the time baseball gets its first .400 hitter since Ted Williams in 1941, batting average could be so devalued as a statistic that people might have to be reminded to care. Whether it's due to on-base percentage or a much more advanced stat, batting average loses more than a few campers from its tent every summer. On the other hand, there was someone out there Saturday batting .397, and you can tell me if you noticed who it was: Todd Helton. The veritable identity of the Colorado Rockies endured a career-worst season in 2006, although most players would take on a big ol' bear for a shot at the numbers he had: .302 batting average, .404 on-base percentage and .476 slugging percentage (with a park-adjusted OPS+ of 119; 100 is average). As solid as those numbers are, they're not the kind he's been getting megabucks for, and rumors flew during the offseason, that before the 2007 season, Colorado would try to unload his contract (which has nearly $90 million in guaranteed pay remaninig) to the Los Angeles Angels or Boston Red Sox. Instead, the 33-year-old Helton returned to Denver -- and has put up a monster performance for the first fifth of the season. Although his average slipped to .383 by the end of the weekend, it wasn't an empty .383. His on-base percentage is .497 (trailing only Barry Bonds in the National League) and his slugging percentage is .563. Between April 12 and May 11, Helton batted .451 with an OBP of .557 and slugging percentage of .670. That's quite a rebound. The only area where Helton hasn't been extraordinary is home runs. After hitting 49 in 2001 and more than 30 each year from 2002-04, Helton slipped to 20 two years ago and 15 last season. This season, he is on pace to hit 19. He is also easily on track to exceed last season's doubles total of 40. Even in the humidor era, the first thing anyone's going to check with a Colorado hitter is his home/road splits -- and in Helton's case, he is enjoying home cooking like a prisoner who just got home to mama: a .420 batting average and .559 on-base percentage. On the road, his batting average is a meager -- I mean, aren't we talking downright embarrassing -- .359. Helton's batting average on balls in play this season is an out-of-this-world .395, a level so unusual and hard to maintain that his stats are due to take a tumble. Meanwhile, Helton's got someone breathing down his neck in the batting race -- his teammate, Matt Holliday, who is batting .364 -- with a .636 slugging percentage, no less. So, even if batting average doesn't have the cachet it used to, who knows? Maybe Helton and Holliday could give us a fun run at .400 for a little while this season. After all, that number still has some magic left in it. Despite Helton and Holliday's heroics, Colorado is the only sub-.500 team in the NL West. The Rockies' main problem this year is that their pitching isn't as deep as they might have hoped, at home or on the road. Jeff Francis, who excelled with a 116 ERA+ (100 is average) in 2006, has dropped all the way down to 84. Aaron Cook and Josh Fogg have also backslid. As a team, the Rockies' ERA+ is at 88 in 2007 compared to 103 in '06. The staff misses Jason Jennings, who posted a 127 ERA+ last season before being traded to Houston. The good news is that Jason Hirsh has been Colorado's top starter (104), the bad news is that still represents a decline from Jennings (who, it's worth noting, hasn't pitched in a game since April 8 because of tendonitis). In addition, the bullpen lacks depth behind closer Brian Fuentes. The Rockies are hardly dead and buried, but they have got to get their pitching turned around to stay in the competitive division race. Labels: NL West NL West: Everything's JakeJake Peavy is back. A year after the San Diego ace's ERA rose to an unreliable 4.09, Peavy has been nearly unhittable. Peavy, who will turn 26 on May 31, struck out 10 while allowing four baserunners in seven shutout innings Sunday at Florida -- his third consecutive game with 10 or more strikeouts, as Corey Brock of MLB.com pointed out. "If the Marlins felt as if they were strapped to an operating table Sunday, minus the anesthesia, it was because San Diego Padres pitcher Jake Peavy sliced them to shreds with a surgeon's precision," Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald wrote. Peavy's ERA is now a sterling 1.75, and he has struck out 56 in 46 1/3 innings while allowing only one baserunner per inning -- and only one home run all season. Brock writes that Padres insiders are partially crediting new addition Greg Maddux for teaching Peavy to pitch with greater efficiency. Maybe so, but Peavy's resurgence actually began in August. Entering the month with a 2006 ERA of 5.01 (including 7.12 in July), Peavy finished the rest of the season at 2.64, with 79 strikeouts in 78 1/3 innings. (Let the record show that in August, the legally blind Peavy got a new set of contact lenses after struggling to have a new prescription filled for the better part of the season.) Peavy burst into the baseball consciousness in 2004 by leading the NL in ERA at age 23. Amazingly, he didn't get a single point in the Cy Young voting, but many have been waiting for him to take the award each year since -- until this year, when some began wondering what went wrong. Now, when it comes to Peavy, it's back to the Cy Young watch. "He's got his arm back, he's healthy and he seems so much more relaxed," wrote Gaslamp Ball, a Padres blog. "You actually see him smiling out on the mound. Earlier in his career you could see him chewing himself out in a tight situation. This year if he misses a pitch you'll see him smile occasionally or just throw the next pitch. He still puts emotion into his game but he's learned to control it. He's just simply become a better pitcher than he ever was. We always knew he could throw, but now he can pitch." Elsewhere around the division: Labels: NL West NL West: Lofty Heights For Giants
"Hoo boy, it's going to be a long season." -- Idiots Write About Sports, a Bay Area blog, April 10 "The pennant is winnable." -- Giants Win, Saturday When life gives you lemonade, should you make lemons? That's the question San Francisco Giants bloggers were asking themselves over the past week, after their team, predicted by many to be the NL West's doormat, won eight straight games and 10 out of 11 to reach first place Thursday night. Many bloggers bridge the fan and analyst universe and are therefore torn when it comes to dealing with unexpected success. Surveying the Giants blogs, you could see the collective internal struggle. In the midst of the streak, Only Baseball Matters allowed itself to exult: "That was some smokin' hot homestand," John J. Perricone wrote. "I'm talking about a season-changing, critic-swaying, bandwagon-building homestand. Damn!" But even after the streak continued with a road sweep over the archrival Dodgers, Perricone stepped back for some perspective. "The streak was nice, but we still need a hitter," he stated. "I'm not sure who he is, or where he'd play, but we need someone who can ctually hit home runs behind Barry Bonds. They'll still walk him, that's not the point. The point is that we have no one but Bonds who can go yard. You can't sustain winning baseball scoring the fewest runs in the league." Even when the analysts are self-admitted fans, caution is rarely thrown to the wind. Instead, it nestles tightly against their chests. Bay City Ball checked its enthusiasm for the Giants by comparing them to the 2005 hot-starting, cold-finishing Washington Nationals. "The question that hangs in the air is, 'Is this how good the offense actually is? Or will it get better?' Optimists would tell you that the offense still isn't clicking on all cylinders. Ray Durham hasn't hit his stride, and if he can get going he should boost the offense. Todd Linden, who most hoped could be a valuable contributor to the O, is still struggling. It seems a bit much to expect Bonds and Rich Aurilia to carry this team. ... "The Giants are going to need the offense to pick up if they want to keep winning games. Bonds is doing it all right now. The pitching has been great but I don't like the chances of Matt Morris, Noah Lowry and Russ Ortiz continuing their early success over the course of a full season. They continue to walk too many hitters and eventually it'll catch up with them." By the time we make it to Orange and Black Baseball, the verdict seems to be in. The Giants are having a great run, but it doesn't change the future. "It's easy to get caught up in the wins," Daniel Smith wrote, "and easy to think that the starters are indeed this good and Bonds can indeed keep this pace up to an NL West title after that many wins in a row. But more the fools us, if we believe it will keep up like this. "Not that the Giants can't make a run at the title -- when a team wins seven in a row with pitching like this, they're capable of making a run here and there, and I'm still not convinced there is a good team in the NL West. But the offense is still a problem, a problem that, for now, Barry is hiding behind his bat." Bloggers bask in cold realities, even if they hurt. And sure enough, a sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks over the weekend blunted the Giants' momentum, knocking them back to 12-11 and third place in the division. Continuing last week's conversation with NL West bloggers, we asked the following: Who's your favorite player on your team to watch play baseball, and why? In other words, what player is the best reason for a baseball fan to tune in and watch your team? Arizona Diamondbacks Jim McLennan, AZ Snakepit: Watching Brandon Webb pitch is always a delight. His sinker may be the single best pitch in the majors. Even though the hitters know it's coming -- heck, the entire crowd knows it's coming -- the pitch is still absolutely unhittable when its on. But if Randy Johnson returns to anything like his old form, watching Mr. Snappy buzz in towards a hitter's ankles promises to be a joy to behold too. On the position player side, I really enjoy watching Stephen Drew. He's been thrust into an unfamiliar spot this season, batting leadoff, but he battles every single time he's up there, working deep in the count and trying to get on base, by any means necessary. His defense was reported to be questionable coming up through the minors, but so far he's surpassed all expectations with the glove, making plays you'd never expect him to make. Carlos Quentin is another player who specializes in making the miraculous look routine in the field. As an aside, the favorite player to listen to is, unquestionably, Orlando Hudson. The man's mouth is amazing: he gets out about 300 words per minute, and you don't so much listen, as hang on for the ride, hoping to pick out the verbs and nouns as they fly past. Colorado Rockies Mark T.R. Donohue, Bad Altitude: My immediate knee-jerk response is to say Todd Helton, out of loyalty more than anything else. We haven't seen Classic Todd for more than three seasons now and are increasingly unlikely to see him ever again. The new Todd Lite is not going to justify earning the huge percentage of the overall Rockies payroll to which he is entitled through 2011, even with Helton's all-universe intangibles. For a long time though, Helton was the lone bright light in a very dark valley and for that I'll always be appreciative. Still, I'd rather trade him and win than keep him and not win. So as for 2007's answer to the question, my choice is Jeff Francis. The signing of star free-agent pitchers is out of the question in Denver after the Mike Hampton debacle, so the only way this team will ever contend is if they can develop starters from within. The Francis Channel (his jersey number, 26, is the cable channel on which most of the Rockies games run) has the smarts of a 20-year vet and much better stuff than you'd expect from a slender lefty with a baby face. Even after consolidating his place as the rising star of the rotation and securing a nice contract extension, Francis continues to try and improve himself, adding a sinker to his repertoire and watching tons of game film on his iPod. The Rockies need more guys like him who can get strikeouts and ground balls, hang around in games when they don't have their best stuff, and who love the challenge of pitching at Coors Field. Los Angeles Dodgers Andrew Grant, True Blue L.A.: Russell Martin, without a doubt. Once he starts to get more recognition from the national press, he's almost assured of getting the"heart and soul" and/or "plays the game the right way" tag stuck on him. It's very rare that you see a catcher that could be classified as a five-tool player, but Martin can do it all. He plays great defense, has a good arm, can hit for average, shows good patience, flashes a little bit of power and he'll even steal a few bases along the way. Someone once suggested that the Dodgers marketing campaign should consist of Russell Martin saying to the camera, "Hi, I'm Russell Martin. If you come to Dodger Stadium, you can watch me play." I'd be willing to brave the Dodger Stadium parking nightmare for that. Aside from Martin, I also like to watch Jonathan Broxton pitch. While Joel Zumaya was being hyped as the next big reliever last year, Broxton quietly put up superior numbers in 2006. When Broxton broke into the league, he struck out Albert Pujols on two separate occasions, and his hard fastball-slider combination been making opposing hitters look foolish ever since. Finally, I enjoy watching Olmedo Saenz. Partially for his ability to seemingly hit every fastball he sees over the fence, but mainly because of my love for obese guys who can be considered professional athletes. San Diego Padres Geoff Young, Ducksnorts: Jake Peavy is exciting to watch because he has the ability to dominate a game when he's on the mound. That said, he only gets into around 30 games a year. Trevor Hoffman has the history, and he's a true craftsman. Also, there's no better moment in sports than when he enters a save situation to Hell's Bells. I know I'm biased, but that never gets old. As with Peavy, though, Hoffman usually doesn't play. On an everyday basis, the guy that really impresses me is Adrian Gonzalez. Despite his age, he's very focused and composed. It's a horribly trite thing to say, but he is a true professional. Gonzalez has a beautiful swing that generates line drives to all fields. What I enjoy most, though, is the way he fields his position. The importance of defense at first base is often dismissed or at least downplayed, but Gonzalez is a pleasure to watch around the bag. His footwork is fantastic, and he routinely (and seemingly without effort) makes his infielders look that much better. Gonzalez is the kind of player that, if I had children, I would have them watch to learn how a ballplayer does his job. San Francisco Giants Grant Brisbee, McCovey Chronicles: Barry Bonds is the obvious answer. I have my misgivings about blindly cheering him on, but he's like your uncle with five DUIs and a couple of possession busts; he's still family. It's even more entertaining now that pitchers are willing to challenge him. In a recent battle of steroid-fed monsters, Bonds tied a game with an eighth-inning home run off Ryan Franklin. He wouldn't have even had the chance to swing in previous years, and danged if it wasn't as exciting as any other homer he's ever hit. Matt Cain is the less-obvious answer, but if I had to pick just one player, he'd be the guy. I can't recall a starting pitcher who could get by with his fastball like Cain. If he only threw fastballs, I could see him being at least a league-average pitcher for years. Add in his developing curve and change, and he's just going to get nastier and nastier. It seems as if he pitches a one-hitter every other time out. Labels: NL West NL West: Simply The Best?
You'll forgive some folks in Los Angeles if they're still a little gunshy about the Dodgers, the winningest team in the National League so far at 13-6. Two years ago, their team, just like this one, was 13-6 and leading the National League West, only to finish the year in disastrous 71-91, Jim Tracy- and Paul DePodesta-firing fashion. The common assumption is that the 2007 Dodgers can suffer no similar collapse because they are deeper. Luis Gonzalez and Nomar Garciaparra have been producing, but many fans root for players like Matt Kemp and James Loney to rise from understudy status (see below). Meanwhile, strong Aprils by Mark Hendrickson and Brett Tomko have shown that the Dodgers can handle an injury to a starting pitcher (Jason Schmidt) before even asking promising youngsters like Chad Billingsley and the rehabilitating Hong-Chih Kuo to move into the rotation. When Russell Martin hit a walkoff grand slam in the bottom of the 10th inning Saturday, an inning after the Dodgers scored the tying run on a walk, wild pitch, error and passed ball, you sensed that the opening scene of the "How They Reached October" highlights package was in the can. But when Juan Pierre dropped a fly ball to center field Sunday, allowing the Pittsburgh Pirates to score their third run on their way to a 7-5 victory in Los Angeles, the rewrite team had its say. In a twist on the old Garry Maddox proverb, two-thirds of the earth is covered by water -- and Gonzalez and Pierre have gone swimming. No one expected much defensively from the 39-year-old Gonzalez or the throwing arm of Pierre, but the startling revelations for those who haven't watched Pierre closely before are the bad reads he has been getting on fly balls. Expected to be the glue of the Dodgers outfield, Pierre has been almost as toxic as the adhesive on George Costanza's wedding invitations. The infield has been strong defensively, but anything past them has had opposing hitters thinking double right out of the box. The Dodgers are also struggling offensively at third base, waiting for Wilson Betemit's hits to fall (he's 5 for 40 so far, though he has walked 10 times to nearly match Pierre in on-base percentage, .288 to .302). And as welcome as the strong starts by Tomko (2.65 ERA) and Hendrickson (1.62) have been, their long, nondescript careers offer no promise they can maintain those levels. On the other hand ... Here is a team that has won 68 percent of its games while getting a 7.36 ERA from Schmidt, a 6.52 ERA from Billingsley, zero innings from Kuo and sizzling minor leaguer Jonathan Meloan (0.96 ERA,14 strikeouts and no walks in 9 1/3 innings with AA Jacksonville) , a .438 OPS from Betemit, a .426 OPS from Rafael Furcal, and six major-league hits combined from highly anticipated prospects Kemp, Loney and Andy LaRoche. In other words, there's a cushion. Most common misunderstandingsThe Dodgers were my top story this week, but I could easily have chosen the San Francisco Giants, who have won five straight and seven of eight, allowing only 2.5 runs per game in the process. With a 2-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday, San Francisco moved into third place in the NL West at 9-8, three games back of Los Angeles. Swept by the Dodgers in the first week of the season, the Giants come to Los Angeles for a three-game series beginning Tuesday, looking to postpone revelation of their fluke status and show that starting pitching (1.08 ERA over the past seven days and Barry Bonds (1.270 OPS!) will be enough to keep them in the race for a little while.In the meantime, I asked five dedicated NL West bloggers to pass along the most common misunderstanding about their teams. Here's what they said, leading with the Giants and then working our way clockwise geographically: San Francisco Giants Grant Brisbee, McCovey Chronicles: "I've been racking my brain trying to think of some great answer to this one, and I can't. Everyone pretty much has the Giants pegged. They're old and brittle. They don't have enough power. The bullpen's an anthropomorphic jug of kerosene. That was the consensus opinion before the season, and it's holding up. One area where the team doesn't get much respect, though, is the young pitching. Matt Cain looks as good this season as he did in the last half of '06, Tim Lincecum is striking out 27.5 hitters per nine innings in AAA, and Noah Lowry is a fine bottom-of-the-rotation guy who is locked up for the next few years. And while the Barry Zito contract is obscene, he should still be a good-not-great pitcher for a couple of years, at least. The pundits who are quick to bury the team in the same crypt as the '98 Orioles might want to wait and see what the young rotation can do. It's easier to build a young lineup than it is a young rotation." Colorado Rockies Mark T.R. Donohue, Bad Altitude: For my part, I would rather people have misconceptions about the Rockies than simply not think about them at all, which is more common. I miss the days when there was an incredibly simple answer to this question, which was the old, "They need to find some gimmick strategy to win at altitude." Run-scoring trends at Coors Field have changed so erratically the last few seasons that no one is really sure whether the humidor is belatedly kicking in, the division is going through a protracted power shortage, or maybe the Rockies pitchers are a little better. Maybe it's not as inside-baseball as some other things that are underappreciated about the team, but I think the biggest misconception about the team is that they can't win, period, because they're the Rockies, and it's not really worth examining the talent they've so far assembled and the pieces they still need to find because they're just never going anywhere. Arizona Diamondbacks Jim McLennan, AZ Snakepit: I guess it's that the pitching rotation does not just consist of Brandon Webb, plus a bunch of has-beens and never will-bes. In Webb, Randy Johnson, Doug Davis and Livan Hernandez, we've got four men who were Opening Day starters on their teams last year, and even with Johnson out thus far, our starters have, to date, a cumulative ERA (approximately) the same as the much-more feted Dodgers staff. The walks being allowed by Davis do concern me, but in general, this is a rotation that will keep us in games, and save the bullpen from the punishment they endured in 2006. And at the back end, we have good prospects like Micah Owings, Dustin Nippert and Edgar Gonzalez; odds are they'll see their share of action, simply though normal wear and tear, but I'm not worried about depth as far as starters go. Now, relief pitching, that would be a horse of an entirely different color... San Diego Padres Geoff Young, Ducksnorts: Probably the biggest misconception is that this is an old team. The highest-profile players -- Trevor Hoffman, Greg Maddux, David Wells -- are way up there in years, but the Padres have a solid nucleus of young, affordable talent that should help them remain competitive now and into the future. Jake Peavy appears to be rebounding from a subpar (by his standards) 2006 and is on a long-term deal, while Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young have just signed extensions of their own. Cla Meredith, who dominated last season and who has made Bonds look terrible at the plate twice in the early going, turns 24 in June. Even guys like Khalil Greene, Clay Hensley and Kevin Kouzmanoff are potential contributors who aren't old. The Padres don't have a lot of high-ceiling guys like, say, the Diamondbacks, and the farm system still needs retooling, but there's more going on here than a lot of people might realize. Los Angeles Dodgers Andrew Grant, True Blue L.A.: While people do recognize that the Dodgers' lineup lacks power, they tend to brush that off by saying that the Dodgers lacked power last year, and they had no trouble scoring runs. This is a situation where correlation doesn't equal causation. This offseason, the Dodgers lost J.D. Drew, who led the Dodgers in most offensive categories in 2006, and a surprisingly effective Kenny Lofton, who contributed a .360 on base percentage in 522 plate appearances. They were replaced by Gonzalez, who has declined for the last five years and is moving from one of the most hitter friendly parks in baseball to Dodger Stadium, and Pierre, who hasn't exceeded a .330 on base percentage since 2004. Also, this team was incredibly clutch in 2006. With runners in scoring position, the Dodgers' team OPS went increased by 43 points. If this regresses back to normal, the Dodgers could be in big trouble. However, this weakness could be mitigated if the Dodgers do their best to get prospects Kemp, LaRoche and Loney into the starting nine. These three are arguably the best hitters in the Dodgers organization and would provide a huge boost to a below-average offense. Jon Weisman is an SI.com columnist and founder of Dodger Thoughts. Labels: NL West NL West: Here's to Mrs. Robinson
Rachel Robinson was married to Jackie Robinson for 26 years. She has been a widow for nearly 35. So much was written about Jackie over the past several days, I fear that people might be suffering from Robinson fatigue by the time this piece hits your browser. And yet, I'm finding that one more thought lingers ... On Sunday night, sitting in the stands at Dodger Stadium with my wife of nearly seven years and my stir-crazy 2- and 4-year old children as Rachel spoke to the crowd and the national television audience, wondering whether I'd be able to keep things under control at least until the first pitch was to be thrown, I listened carefully to Rachel's words but kept returning to the same question: How has she done it? How has she kept it all together? Practically a newlywed during Jackie's first season in the majors, Rachel endured, along with no small amount of loneliness as the only black baseball wife in the majors, the grief and fear that underscored his pioneering career -- a tension destined to either break their partnership or bond it tighter. Clearly, the latter happened. As Jackie's baseball life transcended, so did their marriage. Jackie retired after the 1956 season. Sixteen years later -- a snapshot in the life of the 84-year-old Rachel -- Jackie passed away at age 53. His death came a year after an automobile accident killed the Robinsons' oldest son, Jack Jr. Thirty-five years ago, the finely crafted structure of Rachel's life shattered. Yet instead of retreating into her grief, Rachel remained in the public eye. She founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which provides academic scholarships for minority children. She carried on Jackie's essence, combining it with her own, and helped ensure that those of us who weren't fortunate enough to see Jackie play or witness his courage firsthand could have as strong a sense of it as possible. Don Newcombe and Vin Scully can tell us what Jackie Robinson was like, and it's a precious thing to hear them bear witness. But Rachel shows us. At the exhausting end of an exhausting day of an exhausting life, Rachel gave us a speech Sunday brimming with optimism about the future while admonishing us not to forget the hard-earned lessons of the past, and we intuitively realize that if Jackie had one-tenth of Rachel's character, he truly was a man to be in awe of. And rumor has it that Jackie might even be Rachel's equal ... Eleanor Gehrig was probably the most famous baseball wife of the first half of the 20th century, immortalized when her husband Lou died from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (a stature only enhanced when the angelic Teresa Wright portrayed her in The Pride of the Yankees.) Rachel Robinson, it would seem, has transcended her to become the most famous baseball wife of all time. Rachel's fame is truly deserved, though there isn't a lot of competition. The list of well-known baseball wives ends shortly after that. But the importance of these women throughout baseball history can't be underestimated. They have had to be supportive of their husbands while going it alone for long stretches of time, raising children single-handedly in many cases. For most of baseball history, material rewards were few. For all of baseball history, they have had to battle the anxiety of their husbands cheating on them while on the road. While realizing that not every baseball wife has earned the right to have Teresa Wright play her, watching Rachel Robinson on Sunday made it clear to me how much thanks baseball and its fans owe to baseball wives for making our heroes stronger. In Popeye terms, they're the spinach. There's no Baseball Wives Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, though it sure wouldn't hurt to have, say, a resource spotlighting some of the great wives of the past. But right now, I suppose, the Baseball Wives Hall of Fame exists right inside Rachel Robinson, who embodies how important they are in this sport's history. I honestly don't think it's overstating the case to call Rachel a national treasure. D'backs' promising startStaff ace Brandon Webb has a 5.21 ERA, and Randy Johnson hasn't thrown a pitch yet. Nevertheless, the Arizona Diamondbacks aren't disappointing anyone who pegged their youthful core as NL West-leading material. After taking two of three games from Colorado over the weekend, Arizona is off to a 9-4 start, including eight wins in its past 10 games. Yet for all the focus on youth, the guys leading the offense for the Diamondbacks are relative fogies compared to their much-heralded kids: 29-year-old second baseman Orlando Hudson, who had an EQA of .350 through Saturday's games, and 31-year-old outfielder Eric Byrnes, who was at .303. Meanwhile, 25-and-unders Stephen Drew and Conor Jackson were around .250, and 24-year-old Carlos Quentin hasn't even gotten off the disabled list to play yet, though 27-year-old Chad Tracy (.289) bridges the gap a bit. Mostly, Arizona has thrived thanks to capable starting pitching from people of all ages: 24-year-old Micah Owings (1.59 ERA), 31-year-old Doug Davis (1.64 before Sunday's game, 3.37 after allowing 13 baserunners in five innings but still getting a win) and 32-ish-year-old Livan Hernandez (1.80). A team can make or break its season on how well it does when its ballyhooed players are producing less than the ballywho are. Playing .692 ball while getting nondescript results from Webb, Johnson, Drew, Jackson and Quentin bodes well for the Diamondbacks' season-long competitiveness -- though of course, two weeks are just a small window into the season. In an early matchup of perhaps the two most popular choices to win the division, Arizona will host the Los Angeles Dodgers (just a half-game back in the standings at 8-4) tonight and Tuesday. The Dodgers have been a story of extremes these first two weeks, with fine performances offensively by Luis Gonzalez (.320 EQA), Russell Martin (.324) and surprising Wilson Valdez (.327) overshadowing chalk-scraping starts by Juan Pierre (.178) and Wilson Betemit (.067). Pitching has been the Dodgers' strongest suit: starters Brad Penny, Derek Lowe, Randy Wolf and Brett Tomko are averaging 6 1/3 innings per start and a 2.72 ERA, and the bullpen has thrown 38 2/3 innings at a 2.58 ERA. The biggest worry is free-agent signee Jason Schmidt, who has mostly resembled a batting practice pitcher in posting a 7.36 ERA over three starts totaling 11 innings. Labels: NL West NL West: Inauspicious Debuts
Last in the alphabet but first in salary among 2006-07 free agents, Barry Zito entered the sixth inning of his second start as a San Francisco Giant with a 3.60 ERA. Three of the next four batters hit grounders on the infield. The fifth batter of the inning was a major leaguer whose roster status is so tenuous that every game might be his last. Then came a journeyman who isn't even the most famous major leaguer with his own name. But by the time the inning was over, the Los Angeles Dodgers had carved up the $18 million-a-year Zito much the same way area code surgeons once carved up Los Angeles -- leaving an enormous chunk of 8.18 as his ERA. Trailing only 2-1, Zito allowed infield singles by Jeff Kent and Matt Kemp to sandwich a clean shot to left-center by Luis Gonzalez. Wilson Valdez (career OPS entering the game of .548) tripled, and infielder Ramon Martinez, known by fans of both Arrested Development and the former Dodgers pitcher Ramon Martinez as Lucille II, hit a sacrifice fly. Just like that, Zito was down 6-1 on the way to a 10-4 loss. He wasn't exactly hammered -- but that didn't mean he wasn't looking for ways to improve after he took two of the Giants' five losses in six games this past opening week, allowing 18 baserunners in 11 innings. He told Becky Regan of MLB.com that he felt he had a problem with his release point and needs just to make "a couple small adjustments." He's not the only one. It was that kind of up-and-down week for big-name pitchers on new teams in the National League West. Perhaps the most clearcut success for an NL West starting pitcher in his debut with his team was Jason Hirsh, who struck out eight and allowed one run over 6 2/3 innings to defeat San Diego on Friday. If I might segue for a moment, Hirsh's performance was one of three quality starts the Rockies made in San Diego this past weekend, but Colorado lost two. Josh Fogg allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings Saturday, but the Padres won in the bottom of the ninth. And Sunday, Aaron Cook outdid them all, sailing through nine innings with only a Jose Cruz Jr. homer as a blemish, but Kevin Kouzmanoff's 10th-inning RBI single off LaTroy Hawkins sent Colorado to defeat. And if I might segue the segue, Kouzmanoff epitomized the challenge managers face with inexperienced ballplayers at the outset of the season. The offseason acquisition from Cleveland had begun the year 2 for 17 when manager Bud Black rested him Friday. Kouzmanoff eventually fell to 2 for 20, but Black still did not deny him the pressure at-bat Sunday. And then there's the story of the Dodgers' Valdez, the 28-year-old scrub poised to go on waivers the minute starting shortstop Rafael Furcal returns from the disabled list. In his first two starts as a Dodger, Valdez got six hits and 12 assists, not to mention a game-ending putout as an emergency left fielder Wednesday. If nothing else, Valdez has given the Dodgers even more patience in granting Furcal all the time he needs to recover from his troublesome ankle sprain. If only to wrap the threads of this piece together, it's worth pointing out that the next big pitcher to enter the NL West might not be on anyone's major league roster right now: Tim Lincecum. The San Francisco farmhand struck out eight in five innings in his AAA Fresno debut Saturday, soothing Nick Cannata-Bowman of Giants Cove with the thought that "in the midst of what's been a less than optimistic week, seeing the next Roy Oswalt succeed right off the bat gives some hope for the season." Jon Weisman is an SI.com columnist and founder of Dodger Thoughts. Labels: NL West NL West: Recognize the Rockies
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I have a soft spot for the state of Colorado. I'm a sucker for its mountains and mountain air, its entire outdoors-infused, breathmint-fresh way of life. The most mundane activity takes on a cleaner, crisper feel when I picture it at Rocky Mountain High. Colorado's baseball team has been sort of a reality-check to this travel-brochure fantasy. The Rockies have begun most baseball seasons DOA. It has been more than six years since their last winning season and more than 11 since their one and only playoff appearance, which immediately went downhill when Don Baylor's managing left Colorado with pitcher Lance Painter (10 career hits) striking out as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded at the end of a 5-4 defeat in Game 1 of the National League Division Series. Look around the Internet, and few expect the Rockies to put an end to their misfortune in 2007. But there's a wind blowing out of Denver -- one that perhaps should send a little shiver down the spines of the Rockies' National League West rivals. As Rockies blog Purple Row pointed out over the weekend, the Rockies have a middle of the lineup that people should take notice of. Garret Atkins (.310), Todd Helton (.291), Matt Holliday (.304) and Brad Hawpe (.287) form the only foursome in the division with park-adjusted equivalent averages last season of .285 or better, according to Baseball Prospectus. For the uninitiated, that's a fancy way of saying these guys can hit, and that it's not just Coors Field souping up their numbers. So why isn't that enough to put Colorado in the prognosticators' pockets? Well, there's uncertainty at the top of the lineup, where Willy Taveras and Kazuo Matsui inspire little fear, and at the bottom, which is dependent on promising but unproven rookies Troy Tulowitzki and Chris Iannetta. And though Aaron Cook and Jeff Francis form an underrated front of the starting rotation, the back is shakier than the ground beneath an avalanche. In all likelihood, the Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks and Giants can probably hold their breath as they push through the heart of the Rockies' batting order and exhale by most games' ends. But when SI.com asked me to pick a surprise story of the year, my thoughts soon landed on those rugged Rocky peaks. If Atkins, Helton, Holliday and Hawpe can just get their good games in sync with the pitchers, I can't help thinking that long-suffering Colorado, which actually found itself tied for first place on Independence Day last season, might finally follow through on its promise to bring us the most frigid October baseball we've ever seen. Some other Opening Week notes: Jon Weisman is an SI.com columnist and founder of Dodger Thoughts. Labels: NL West  |
THE LINEUP
AL East blog (Monday)
NL West blog (Monday) AL Central blog (Tuesday) NL Central blog (Wednesday) AL West blog (Thursday) NL East blog (Thursday) Wild Card (Friday) Recent Posts
Archives
  |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Copyright © 2008 Time Inc.
A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.
