Combined, Webb and Haren have more wins (26) than any other dynamic duo that the National League has to offer, and find themselves tied with the Angels’ Joe Saunders and Ervin Santana and Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte of the Yankees for number of wins among two pitchers on the same team.
On top of that, their combined ERA averages out to 2.83.
Not too shabby!
Beyond the Webb/Haren juggernaut, opposing teams still have to face the Big Unit, who has some gas left in the tank for an old guy as he nears 300 career wins.
On the other hand, the Dodgers’ rotation is in shambles. Plagued by injuries, which include stars Brad Penny and Jason Schmidt (who are both currently spending time on the disabled list), their staff is anchored by Derek Lowe, who would not be considered a number-one starter on most teams.
Young Chad Billinglsey has proved to be a strikeout phenom and the Dodgers’ most feared starting pitcher, while Hiroki Kuroda has proved to be extremely inconsistent, with his starts ranging from a complete-game one-hitter to a couple in which he could not even make it out of the third inning.
Even their closer, Takashi Saito, is out injured. Joe Torre has left Jonathan Broxton to pick up the slack.
In other words, give me the Diamondbacks’ pitching.
It’s pretty likely that this particular race will be decided by many close, low-scoring games down the stretch, and the most important factor in those games is pitching, which the D-Backs have a lot more of.
One underrated factor in the whole equation is how well the Diamondbacks and Dodgers play against the other three really, really bad teams in the NL Worst…I mean, West.
Granted they won’t score many runs, the Diamondbacks will end up taking the division in yet another tight National League race.
After all, who is anticipating a slugfest from these two clubs?
That is, unless Manny erupts for a three-homer game.
WILD CARD –
The pick: BREWERS
The Milwaukee Brewers, a team that has not made the playoffs since the Reagan Administration (26 endless years ago!), punch their ticket in 2008.
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