NL West: Midseason Report

Recapping a division like the NL West is almost as depressing as writing a eulogy, but it's gotta be done, so here we go.

At the beginning of the season, it appeared that the Arizona Diamondbacks were going to run away with the both the division and the National League pennant. 

Of course, you can't expect everything to last through a 162-game schedule. That sure is the case with the Diamondbacks. They hit a bump in the road somewhere and now find themselves tied for first in the NL West.

They are one game under .500. You read that right folks. It says a lot about the division. Let's find some bright spots on this "first-place" team.

Brandon Webb is leading all pitchers in wins. He looked absolutely unbeatable at the beginning of the year. He's lost a few games since then, but he's still the dominant starting pitcher in baseball this season.

His 13-4 record and ERA of 3.27 along with Dan Haren's record of 8-5 and 2.83 ERA have somehow kept the Diamondbacks in first place most of the year. Randy Johnson and Micah Owings also provide strong starting pitching on the strikeout front.

The best player on the offensive front has to be third baseman Mark Reynolds, who has 18 homers and 53 RBI. However, the rest of the offense leaves something to be desired, as the Diamondbacks are in a three-way tie for the second-lowest team batting average in the majors.

That'll have to improve if there is to be October baseball in the desert.

Tied for first in the West with the Diamondbacks are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who, despite having many key components injured, are very much alive in their division. Joe Torre's Yankee teams have been known in the last few years to go on second-half tears. Maybe he can convince his new team to go on a tear of their own.

The pitching staff can be somewhat confusing when looking at team stats. They have the lowest ERA in the National League, but have pitched the fewest innings in that league. A low ERA is always a good thing, but I'm not quite sure how legitimate it is when a team hasn't even pitched 800 innings yet this year.

The ace of the staff is undoubtedly Chad Billingsley, who, despite a .500 record, is among the league leaders in strikeouts with 115. Billingsley's 3.38 ERA is just above that of rookie teammate Hiroki Kuroda (3.39). Derek Lowe has also been getting guys out on strikes with 84 Ks to his name.

Leading the bats are first baseman James Loney and catcher Russell Martin, whose batting averages are both over .300. Despite the Dodgers having the second fewest home runs in baseball, they don't need to club a lot with the pitching staff they have.

With the Bonds era now in the past, the San Francisco Giants can now look towards the future of their new star, Tim Lincecum. In this writer's opinion, Lincecum should start for the National League in the All-Star Game, especially after reading his cover story in Sports Illustrated.

A 10-2 record with 126 strikeouts and a 2.66 ERA shows that this young phenom is going to amaze players, managers, and fans in the big leagues for years to come. In the end, hopefully Giants fans will embrace him more than the 'roider that "broke" Hank Aaron's home-run record.

The City of Cable Cars might as well be renamed the City of Strikeouts. Besides Lincecum, teammates Jonathan Sanchez and Matt Cain have already passed the 110-strikeout mark. However, strikeouts can only get your team so far in games, as the Giants' team ERA is in the lower half in MLB.

They're just another way of getting guys out. What good is it if your team can't stop earned runs like they can send hitters right back to the dugout?

New center fielder Aaron Rowand was once one of the top-10 hitters in the National League by batting average, but that's all one can really say about an offense that is dead last in the majors in homers.

Perhaps it makes fans in the Bay Area miss their "hero" more, but regardless, the high team ERA and below-average offense is putting the Giants on a fast track to nowhere as far as 2008 goes.

If there's one thing the Colorado Rockies have proved this year, it's that their late run last September and throughout the NLCS was a fluke. The reigning National League Champions were likely picked by most to finish at least second in the West, or maybe no worse than third.

Not the case this year.

They are in fourth place, and injuries to key players such as Troy Tulowitzki, Todd Helton, and Jeff Francis have kept them out of contention pretty much all year.

Still, Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins have been tearing it up for the Rockies and are giving fans reasons to keep going to Coors Field this summer. There's also Aaron Cook's 11-6 record and 3.66 ERA. That's only one pitcher, though, on a staff that has the second-worst ERA in the NL. Barring another miracle run like last year, look for the Rockies to finish under .500 this year.

The worst team in the worst division is the San Diego Padres, but let's give them their due.

First baseman Adrian Gonzalez has given Padres fans plenty of hope for the future as he has emerged as one of the top power-hitters in the game. Brian Giles has provided the veteran leadership with a .300 average. The Padres are still a poor hitting team overall, though, as they have driven in the second fewest runs in the league.

The pitching staff hasn't been too impressive this year either. Despite leading the league in innings pitched, veterans Randy Wolf and Greg Maddux haven't been pushing .500 records. It's easy to see why this team is in last.

Prediction

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers will battle it out in this God-awful division. It'll come down to the top two pitchers in both rotations. In the end, the duo of Webb and Haren will outperform that of Billingsley and Kuroda. Arizona is the division champion once again.

On Deck: AL East