NL West: Division still up for grabs

Baseball Betting Lines

08/09/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It appears the National League West Division will be decided by either San Diego or San Francisco. Just don't mention that to anyone affiliated with the Rockies or Dodgers.

The Padres have been the top team in the standings for quite some time this season and the powers that be rewarded manager Bud Black with a contract extension because of it. They're currently two games in front of the Giants, who also have their sights set on a playoff spot with a half-game lead over Philadelphia for the NL Wild Card.

San Diego (64-46) may not have a better rotation than the Giants on paper, but the numbers don't lie. It is first in the majors with a 3.28 earned run average among its starters and is tops with a 2.82 ERA out of the bullpen. Scoring runs, not pitching, has been the main problem in the Padres' recent funk. Before salvaging the finale of a three-game series with Sunday's 10-1 win in Arizona, the Padres had lost six of their previous nine games.

"All wins are important," Black said after the win. "The thing we've been doing all year is showing our resiliency."

The win couldn't have been more important for the Friars since San Francisco lost in Atlanta after pulling within a game of the division lead a few nights before. Victories should come in bunches over the next few weeks for San Diego with lowly teams such as Pittsburgh, Chicago, Milwaukee and Arizona on the docket. It will also visit San Francisco for three games in between from Aug. 13-15 at AT&T Park.

Mat Latos, Jon Garland and Clayton Richard are the best Black has to offer for the run towards the playoffs. Those three and either Kevin Correia or Wade LeBlanc would occupy the fourth spot in a possible playoff rotation. Latos has been the biggest surprise with a team-high 12 wins (12-5) and a 2.36 ERA. Garland is a 10-game winner once again and gives San Diego a solid 1-2 punch.

Take a look at the back end of the staff and you'll see closer Heath Bell. Bell owns 31 saves in 46 games this season and is joined by a solid corps of relievers in Luke Gregerson, Edward Mujica, Ernesto Frieri, Joe Thatcher, Ryan Webb and Tim Stauffer. Gregerson has the only loss this month among the relief staff after he served up a game-winning home run on Saturday, ending his 11.0- inning scoreless streak. He is among the league leaders in holds with 26.

The Padres beefed up their bullpen after they activated Mike Adams from the disabled list this weekend because of an oblique strain. He missed a total of 20 games and had one rehab outing with Double-A San Antonio last Thursday.

Meanwhile, San Francisco's upcoming schedule isn't as favorable as San Diego's with future matchups against the Cubs, Padres, Phillies, Cardinals and Reds.

The Giants (63-49) should be able to handle the Cubs with ease, but the rest of the stretch could send them five or six games off the NL West pace. They enter Monday's series opener with Chicago having lost two straight and four of five games, and the slump doesn't seem to bother a confident Jonathan Sanchez.

"We're going to play San Diego now and we're going to beat them three times," said Sanchez, who won't take the mound in this next series with the Cubs. "If we get to first place, we're not going to look back."

Those are fighting words by Sanchez, who was the losing pitcher on Sunday against the Braves and allowed four runs in four innings of a 6-3 decision. Three of San Francisco's big horses of the rotation all lost this past weekend, as Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain were joined by Sanchez in the loss column. The Giants are right behind San Diego with a 3.41 earned run average among starts, while their relief staff is fifth with a 3.25 ERA.

Closer Brian Wilson is just as good as Bell, and has 32 saves in 46 games this season. Sergio Romo, Guillermo Mota, Santiago Casilla, Chris Ray and Javier Lopez are a few of manager Bruce Bochy's weapons in the bullpen, which hasn't had a member of the staff lose a game since July 18 against the New York Mets.

DON'T COUNT OUT THE ROCKIES YET

The Colorado Rockies have been known to come alive in the second half of the season, and it appears they're headed for a big run.

Colorado (58-53) is 6 1/2 games behind the Padres for the NL West lead and 4 1/2 games in back of San Francisco in the wild card standings. It has won seven of the last 10 games thanks to MVP candidate Carlos Gonzalez. It's not ridiculous to add Gonzalez to the list, especially after he went 4-for-5 with three RBI and a home run in Sunday's win over Pittsburgh.

In his last 11 games, Gonzalez owns eight homers, 15 RBI and 16 runs scored. He has 25 home runs and 77 RBI to go along with a .327 average this season, and fell a triple short of the cycle for the second time in 2010. Gonzalez hit for the cycle back on July 31 against the Cubs.

"I knew I had the chance, but it's not that easy," Gonzalez said on the team's site. "I was trying to drive the ball, but I was running out of gas, too. It was so hot out there.

"I knew if I hit the ball in the gap, I was going to start running and try to get to third base. But it didn't happen."

Gonzalez and the Rockies will begin a stretch of games against the Mets, Brewers, Dodgers and Diamondbacks on Tuesday, when New York plays host to the surging ballclub.

LILLY IN FULL BLOOM WITH DODGERS

It's no secret the Los Angeles Dodgers have little money to move around with the current state of affairs in upper management. But at least they made an effort to shore up the roster, including the acquisition of starter Ted Lilly.

Like a life raft from the US Coast Guard, the Dodgers (58-54) saved Lilly from the rough waters of the Chicago Cubs. The Cubs have no postseason plans once again, and maybe that's why Lilly seems re-born with the Dodgers, having won his first two starts for his new club.

The lefty recorded seven innings of one-run ball in a big win over San Diego in his LA debut on August 3, then got more than enough run support in Sunday's 8-3 victory against Washington. Lilly was reached for three runs in six frames, but was not satisfied with his performance.

"I felt a little flat," Lilly told the team's site. "I thought my ball was a little flat so I had to work to try to get back on top of it and get a little plane to it."

With the addition of Lilly, the Dodgers have a formidable rotation with Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Vicente Padilla and Hiroki Kuroda. Padilla, Billingsley and Kershaw are slated to take the hill in the Dodgers' upcoming series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Dodgers, who also added infielder Ryan Theriot and reliever Octavio Dotel at the trade deadline, are seven games off the lead in the NL West and five games behind the wild card race. They have a tough stretch of games on the horizon, as the Dodgers will face the Phillies, Braves, Rockies and Reds in succession.

NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP(TON) FOR ARIZONA

The Arizona Diamondbacks are playing out the string and that doesn't seem to change the mindset of one of their best players.

Right fielder Justin Upton has been consistent the majority of the season and is currently sporting 16 homers and 56 RBI to go along with a .280 average. Before going 0-for-3 in Sunday's 10-1 loss versus San Diego, Upton was hitting .386 and had reached base safely in 21 of his last 23 games.

Upton has 34 multi-hit games this season and already ripped off a 17-game hitting streak for the Diamondbacks, who had a three-game winning streak stopped on Sunday and are 5-3 so far in August. According to manager Kirk Gibson, the team's consolation will be making an impact on this current run in the NL West Division. Upton and the D'Backs (43-69) will play 12 straight games against division foes starting August 20 against Colorado.

The Padres and Giants are also on the list.

Meanwhile, Arizona shortstop Stephen Drew has reached base safely via a hit or walk in 15 straight games since July 23. He will appear in his 600th career game Monday against Milwaukee and has played in no fewer than 135 games in his first three full seasons -- all in the desert.