Advice for Chris Young for the next time he faces Albert Pujols - DUCK!

The National League West provides the biggest contrasts in the league. Arizona is still holding on to a substantial (3.5 games) lead despite only winning four of the last ten. San Diego is at the bottom – actually, the worst in the whole league. However, San Francisco and Colorado have only a marginally better record. Any could easily finish at the bottom. Los Angeles has the potential to move up to first place even with all their injuries.

Arizona Diamondbacks

Okay. Assume that Eric Byrnes has an OPS of .673 and four steals, Chad Tracy has four at-bats, forcing the team to give Mark Reynolds 173 at-bats, during which he strikes out 61 times and only hits .225 in that time, and Chris Young is unable to make much progress in batting average (.243). Do you expect to find them at the top of the division? Probably not. However, you probably wouldn’t expect them to be leading the NL in ERA. A lot of which comes from allowing the fewest walks and the second fewest home runs.

In the last week, it has been tough on their best starters. Brandon Webb, who looked like he could go undefeated, lost twice but struck out 15 in 11.1 innings. Dan Haren allowed four earned runs in his loss, but still struck out eight. Micah Owings was 1-1 and had a 13/4 K:BB ratio in 13 innings. Randy Johnson struck out ten in a no decision. Doug Davis, in his return from cancer surgery, only allowed one run in seven innings to pick up a win in one of the feel-good stories of the year. The team outscored their opponents but finished 2-5. Byrnes hit .227, Conor Jackson .211, Mark Reynolds .174, Chris Young .172, and Justin Upton was 0 for 20-.214 for the month.

Los Angeles Dodgers

This team is stocked with young talent. Unfortunately, their older veterans have been almost completely lacking in positive influences. Famously, Andruw Jones is only hitting .165 and is on the DL. Nomar Garciaparra has only played in nine games. Jeff Kent has an OPS of .659. And Rafael Furcal has only played in 32 games, though they have been very good ones. Six of their starters are hitting over .290, but with five home runs being the team lead, the long ball is not their key to winning. In the last week the team is 3-3 despite having an ERA of 2.33. Even Brad Penny, who had the worst start of their rotation, only allowed four earned runs and struck out five. Derek Lowe, Chad Billingsley, and Hideki Kuroda each allowed two earned runs (two starts for Billingsley). This was also the case for Clayton Kershaw, who struck out seven in his first major league start. (Wow, did you notice how I used his name without mentioning his astounding curveball?) As a fan of him, I am glad to be able to mention that Takashi Saito got a win and two saves in three appearances, striking out seven in only 3.1 innings. It is amazing how he is managing to keep Jonathon Broxton in his setup role. The team hit fifty-eight points better than they allowed, but only equaled their opponents in runs. However, it was a fairly empty week statistically for the offense. James Loney hit .158; Blake DeWitt, .182; Russell Martin, .250 with no runs; Jeff Kent, .250 with no RBI; and Andre Ethier hit .360 for the week, but only scored one run and had one RBI.

Colorado Rockies

Injuries have become almost an epidemic for the team. With the injuries and the inconsistencies in the team, only three players had 20 or more plate appearances in the last week. Todd Helton led the team in runs (5) but the most RBI were had by Clint Barmes and Matt Holliday, who were both placed on the DL. Willy Taveras was five for 13 with two steals and two runs in only four games. Garrett Atkins was limited to three games in the week. With hitting like this and a team ERA of 6.67, it is almost surprising that the team managed to win two of six games this week. Aaron Cook started the week out with a loss in allowing four earned runs, but finished with a one-run complete game. He rarely comes close to striking out one batter per inning and does not make the two to one strike out to walk ratio, but you cannot argue with his success. He is 7-3 with a 2.82 ERA and 1.20 WHIP. He is also pretty consistent with innings-he is second in the NL in innings. Ubaldo Jimenez is perhaps looking up finally. He allowed no earned runs in seven innings on three hits and two walks. In each of his last two games he has had 16 groundball outs and combined for three walks over 14 innings. Taylor Buchholz continues to prove himself a very valuable member of the bullpen, and perhaps next in line for saves. He already has ten holds on the year and very good ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts. In the last week his two appearances netted him a win, a hold, and five strikeouts, with no walks and two hits allowed.

San Francisco Giants

In the last week, the Giants won three and lost three. Surprisingly, one of these wins came from Barry Zito, who had his best game of the year (6.1 innings, five strikeouts, one run, and only three hits). Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum each struck out six in six innings-which was pretty typical for the team as it had a ratio of 9.06 strikeouts per nine innings. Brian Wilson got two saves and struck out five in 2.2 innings over three appearances, though eight runners and two runs allowed makes it look pretty ugly. On the offense, this last week pretty much boiled down to four players. Rich Aurilia hit .357 with a home run. Randy Winn scored seven runs and stole a base. Aaron Rowand hit .389, hit two home runs, scored three runs, and had nine RBI. Bengie Molina was nearly unstoppable this week. He was 14 for 20 with a homer and a 1.782 OPS. He also scored five runs and drove in nine. Omar Vizquel set the record for games at shortstop this week. And as my brother would say after every Brett Favre start, he will probably continue to set this record many more times this year. However, in the last week he hit .111 and is only at .234 for the year. The end is coming for him.

San Diego Padres

The Padres were another team in this division to go 3-3 this week. On the 21^st, they placed ace Jake Peavey on the DL; on the 22^nd, Chris Young. In the meantime, they got a nice start out of Randy Wolf (two earned runs, nine strikeouts) and two acceptable outings by Greg Maddux and one by Shawn Estes. Through 19.1 innings, Estes has only allowed five earned runs. Maybe it is just because he shares my birthday, but I think he could be a pretty capable pitcher in San Diego, not that I am predicting a Cy Young award or anything. Wolf is doing well with his strikeouts, though his ERA could be a little better at 4.76. He has not come close to 200 innings since 2003, but it looks like he may get the chance this year. Trevor Hoffman picked up a save this week, but also had a loss and gave up five hits and two runs in three innings. The team had pretty limited offense this week. Scott Hairston hit .333 with five doubles, a home run, a stolen base, two runs, and two RBI. Kevin Kouzmanoff hit .385 and had four home runs, seven RBI, and scored six runs. Adrian Gonzalez had three home runs, hit .385 also and drove in nine runs while scoring five times. He also contributed four doubles.