NL West reverting to awfulness, like in 2005

Remember when all the experts and bloggers, including us, were predicting that the NL West was the best division in baseball? We also predicted the Cardinals to suck too, but we were also wrong. Well, everyone was wrong. To be fair, the Rockies have suffered due to injuries (although Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki are back), the Padres can’t hit, and neither can the Giants, and the Dodgers have suffered by hiring Ned Coletti as their GM. Only the young and inconsistent Diamondbacks are at .500 right now, and Eric Byrnes being injured does not help at all.

Diamondbacks	40	40	.500	—	24-15	16-25	3-7	Lost 3
Dodgers	37	42	.468	2.5	21-19	16-23	6-4	Won 1
Giants	34	46	.425	6	14-24	20-22	4-6	Lost 2
Rockies	32	48	.400	8	20-19	12-29	4-6	Lost 5
Padres	32	49	.395	8.5	21-24	11-25	1-9	Lost 6

(Copied and pasted from SI.com)

Looks like they all have one thing in common: They are not good on the road, and in the Giants case, the Giants suck more at home and happen to have the best record of everyone in the NL West on the road. A lot of other factors too, but we can call the NL West the “NL Worst” again.

Also, who put money on the thought that Chan Ho Park would be around longer than players like Brad Fullmer and Richard Hidalgo?

My NL all-cheap team

In my expertise, the cheaper you are, the uglier you are and the worse it’s going to be. Of course, that’s in my second job, prostution (I am pretty high priced myself). In baseball however, there is not really a correlation. There are some great players making peanuts for cash, and these players are mostly pre-arbitration players.

Jorge Cantu

C Russell Martin – LA Dodgers

This was a tossup between two very good catchers in Brian McCann of the Braves and Russell Martin, in everything. There’s also Geovany Soto, who is very good. But I would go with Martin just because he’s dating Alyssa Milano now, I think, in a trade with Brad Penny. Both are great catchers.

1B Conor Jackson – Arizona Diamondbacks

There are some great, cheap first basemen, like the unhappy Prince Fielder, Joey Votto and James Loney but I’m going with Conor Jackson, as he’s getting on base at a .401 clip, and has always provided consistent play, even though his fielding is somewhat suspect, but the other guys I considered, their fielding is suspect too, and in the case of Loney, his fielding has not developed yet, although I have to admit, I’m not good at analyzing defense. I think CoJack would be my choice though.

Piazza retires, Houston (kind of) fixes their outfield, and a visit to Cincy

Mike Piazza has retired after 16 seasons in the majors. Piazza was an elite player for a majority of his career, most notably with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. A lock for the Hall of Fame (definitely first ballot), Piazza batted .308 with 427 home runs over his career. He is definitely the best player ever picked in the 62nd round of the draft.

The Houston Astros fixed their outfield home run lines that tricked their outfield into thinking the Cubs’ Geovany Soto hit it out. Soto ended up with an inside-the-park homer instead of a real one. While they’re at it, maybe they can flatten that hill in center that is bound to end a career sooner or later. Stadium quirks are only cool when they aren’t intentional. Houston, you’re trying too hard.

I was in Ohio last weekend to visit Dayton and catch a Reds game (Brandon Phillips 30/30 Bobblehead Day) with Phil and some friends. I like Great American Ball Park. It was a good place to watch a game because though we were in the 500s and our noses were bleeding profusely, we were behind home plate where you get a visually pleasing view of the Ohio River and Kentucky. Enough talk of aesthetics though. The Reds beat the Indians in interleague play with a walkoff homer by Adam Dunn that almost left the park. Dunn is still striking out a lot, but he is keeping those homers (11) and BB totals high. He is combating a weak .231 BA with a productive .373 OBP.

And on an irrelevant note, I ate Skyline and Sonic for the first time and it was delicious.

Astros change yellow line in outfield (Yahoo!)

Piazza retires from baseball (Yahoo!)

Josh Hamilton pwns J.J. Putz so much that Putz goes on DL (and other happenings)

Josh Hamiltowned!

After last night’s go-ahead two-run home run by Josh Hamilton that put the Rangers ahead of the Mariners 5-4, [va]J.J. Putz is headed to the disabled list with a ribcage injury (Yahoo). Putz, one of the best closers last year, is not having a good start to the 2008 season. Josh Hamilton meanwhile, has more strength than most Greek and Roman Gods.

Larry Bowa suspended

Looks like Larry Bowa, the third base coach for the Dodgers, got suspended three games for coloring outside the lines being out of the coaching boundaries, and promptly arguing. You know it is baseball season when Bowa gets pissed at something.

Joel Zumaya still plays Guitar Hero well, does other things pretty good too

A recent Deadspin article a couple hours ago shows a Facebook photo of everyone’s favorite Guitar-Hero playin’ Detroit Tiger Joel Zumaya still playing his axe, even if he injured himself in a dunebuggy wildfire accident. No comment.

Juan Pierre Isn’t Happy

Dodgers OF Juan Pierre is disappointed with a lack of playing time this spring. He has expressed his frustration to new manager Joe Torre and has demanded an explanation. Torre says he wants to let things play out with the remaining spring games. The Dodgers have a real logjam in the outfield after the off season acquisition of former Braves OF Andruw Jones. Jones coming to town meant that Pierre had to change from his natural center field to left, and also, compete with some young talent, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier. The Dodgers are excited about these two guys and both are having far better springs than Pierre. Ethier is batting .352 with six homers and Kemp is batting .304 with three homers. Pierre however, is batting an uncharacteristic .200. Of course it is only spring, but these two are making the case for increased, if not full playing time.

Garciaparra out, in other news, water is wet, Chan Ho Park sucks

Nomar is injured again. So who are the Dodgers going to start at 3rd base now? Andy Laroche is also injured. And so is utility guy Tony Abreu. Blake Dewitt? Joe Crede? Lenny Harris? Dave Hansen? Todd Zeile? Adrian Beltre? Morgan Ensberg? Chase Headley?

Nomar out with fractired wrist (LA Times)

Dodgertown Just Got Castrated

“The employee said a group of teenaged boys had approached him about using the balls, which filled two large crates. The employee told them no, closed the storage unit and walked away. When he returned, the balls were gone, the report said. The employee contacted police at 2:46 p.m. Sunday about the burglary.”

150 balls stolen.

That’s what she said. (It also sucks that the Dodgers are out of Dodgertown now.) Watch out though, Jon Papelbon’s dog might have already eaten them.

150 Balls Missing From Dodgertown (TC Palm)

Division Preview: NL West

What an awesome division, with three of the top four Cy Young finishers (Penny, Webb, and Peavy), and many other talented players, like the guy who should have won rookie of the year (Troy Tulowitzki, not 25 errors per year Ryan Braun). This division will be fun to watch. This is not the NL West of a few years ago where the Padres won with an 81-81 record.