Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers lost some ground in the standings last week with their average play.  They are now three games out of first place in the National League West.  The team is at .500 with record of 65-65 after the crushing loss Sunday night to the Philadelphia Phillies.  The team had a 2-1 lead when they turned matters over to their closer Jonathan Broxton.  He had a shaky outing in Citizens Bank Park.  Pedro Feliz hit a three-run walk-off home run in the 11th inning, giving the Philadelphia Phillies a 5-2 victory.  At one point in the game, the Phillies used seldom played pinch-hitter Adam Tracy.  This was Tracy’s first appearance in the majors since 2004.  Broxton proceeded to walk Tracy on four pitches for whatever reason, and the wheels came off from there.   Feliz was next at-bat and hit a game tying single to force the game into extra innings.  It turns out that Feliz was the hero again with his blast in extras. 

Arizona Diamondbacks

The Diamondbacks found themselves a little breathing room this week after surviving a horrible series versus the Florida Marlins.  They’ve struggled with the Marlins all year long, and I’m sure they’re glad to have finished with playing Florida in 2008.  The Marlins won the season series against Arizona 7-2 after a commanding performance from Marlins’ hurler, Ricky Nolasco, on Sunday.  This was the third win for Nolasco versus the D-Back’s this year.  He is 4-0 lifetime against Arizona with a dental floss thin 2.12 career ERA.  There was some early life in the game from Arizona, when leadoff hitter Stephen Drew parked a 402-foot moon shot into the pool behind the right-center-field wall in the first inning.  This was Drew’s second leadoff homer of his career and the fourth time a D-Backs hitter has accomplished the feat this season.  Arizona completed their six game homestand 4-2, and showed the ability to win at home, which is what manager Bob Melvin has been preaching to the team.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers have a firm grasp on the NL Wild Card spot this week.  I think it’s safe to assume that the wild card will come from either the NL Central or NL East as we look towards the future.  Milwaukee has a 3 ½ game lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in the standings, with a crucial two game series between the two teams starting on Tuesday.  The brew crew will rely on Ben Sheets (11-7) to get them off to a good start.  The games will be played In St. Louis where the Redbirds are always tough to beat.  A good sign for the Brewers is slugger Mike Cameron’s bat, which is getting warm at the right time.  He went 5 for 5 on Sunday in a Brewers 4-3 victory over the Pirates.  Cameron collected two RBI’s in the game including an eighth inning solo home run to give his team a lead.  However, it was only fitting that shortstop J.J. Hardy singled in the winning run in the twelfth inning.  It was Hardy’s official bobble head day in Miller Park.  One could say the bobble head gods were working overtime in this one.  Hardy later told mlb.com the following: "Jason Kendall said before the game that I was guaranteed two or three hits or a homer, because it was my bobble head day… I didn't know about that."

New York Mets

This final week in August will yield some great head-to-head action with relevance to playoff positioning.  Look no further than the upcoming series between the Phillies and Mets, which starts on Tuesday.  The Mets own a slim 1/2 game lead over the Phillies in the NL East,x and they are doing it with smoke and mirrors.  The source of misery for the Mets continues to be lack of production from the bullpen.  Reliever Pedro Feliciano blew an at-bat against the Houston Astros which lead to a Sunday loss.  Feliciano served up a gopher ball to Brad Ausmus who went into the game with only one home run on the season.  Mets slugger Carlos Beltran tried to keep his team in the game all day with two home runs against Astros pitcher Randy Wolf.  Beltran has been struggling against lefties this year.  This was just his third and fourth homer he has hit against left-handed pitching this season.  Before Sunday, he had 127 at-bats against left-handers, so his home run rate against them was only 1.58 per 100 at-bats.

Colorado Rockies

The Rockies were having that empty feeling on Sunday.  Colorado stranded a franchise-record 18 men on base Sunday before unlikely hero Omar Quintanilla stepped his game up and hit a towering solo home run in the 12^th inning 4-3 win over the Cincinnati Reds.  Quintanilla was stuck in a 0-for-16 slump and had just one big league home run in 427 at-bats before he creamed a pitch by Reds reliever Mike Lincoln.  Rockies starter Ubaldo Jimenez was great early, but left the game trailing, 3-1, after giving up three walks and a solo home run to Chris Dickerson in the sixth. He gave up three runs (two earned) on four hits and struck out six in the outing.  This is the third straight series win for the Rockies who want to duplicate heroics of last year with a late season-ending push.

Philadelphia Phillies    

Where would the Philadelphia Phillies be without the play from the “Flyin’ Hawaiian” Shane Victorino during this second half of the year?  Victorino is arguably their MVP going down the stretch of this up and down Philly season.   The fighting Phillies are a ½ game back of the Mets and have their hearts set on winning the NL East.  Victorino is coming off a high of watching his little league hardballer’s win the LLWS.  There were numerous pre-game hyped interviews of Victorino, which showed his pride and appreciation as he watched his little team beat Mexico to claim the championship.    Last night, Victorino was singling and scoring the game-tying run in the ninth, then stretching a hit to leftfield into a double in the 11th to set the stage for a game-ending three-run home run by Feliz that lifted the Phillies to a 5-2 win over the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park.  Not bad for an undersized Rule 5 draft pick out of Maui. 

Houston Astros

Astros manager Cecil Cooper has been having headaches of late with news that slugger Lance Berkman’s hamstring is not improving.  Berkman has been dealing with pain in his left hamstring, and about a week ago, he fell and hit his wrist at home.  Cooper gave Berkman the day off on Sunday but the Big Puma is scheduled to start on Monday.  This small hiccup did not stop Houston’s bats with Hunter Pence, Brad Ausmus and Darin Erstad homering in an Astros victory on Sunday.  The Mets and Astros will conclude their series today.  Right-hander LaTroy Hawkins has been impressive in relief appearances since coming over to Houston.  Hawkins was 1-1 with a 5.71 ERA in 33 games for the New York Yankees this year, but the righty has been lights out during his time with the Astros.  He has not allowed a run in his 10 games with Houston, including a perfect inning against the Mets on Sunday.