N. L. West: Dodgers Still On the Move

For the first time in a long while, the Los Angeles Dodgers are not in last place in the N. L. West going into the weekend series. Not only are they not in last, they’ve jumped up all the way to third place, and are only one game from being in second and 3.5 games out of the division lead. Yasuel Puig must get most of the credit for this as the Dodgers have been on fire since his arrival. In 29 games he is batting .430 with 8 homers and 19 RBIs.

And what has happened to the San Francisco Giants. Winners of two of the last three World Series, the Giants are now in the division cellar at 39-45. One of the main problems is with Tim Lincecum. He is no longer the dominant pitcher he was just a couple of years ago. He is 4-9 with an ERA of 4.66. Lincecum had some success working out of the bullpen in last year’s postseason. Maybe the Giants should consider putting him back there again. Or maybe he should grow his hair back again.

The Dodgers are at the Giants for three this weekend. Is it just our imagination or do these teams seem to play every other series? The very beatable New York Mets come in after the Dodgers for three, so this is a big week for the defending champs.

The San Diego Padres worked so get over .500 and into contention. It all fell apart in one road trip. The Padres have lost six in a row and are now 40-46. They were beaten three of four at the Miami Marlins, then three in a row at the Boston Red Sox. Further bad news is that the trip is not over yet. The Padres begin a three game series at the Washington Nationals tonight.

The Colorado Rockies are hanging on to second place, a game up on the Dodgers. They stayed in second place by salvaging the last game of the series on Thursday with the Dodgers after dropping the previous two. The Rockies start a three-game series at the first place Arizona Diamondbacks tonight. An interesting stat. Should the Rockies win tonight, they will be the only team in the division with more runs scored than allowed. That is unless the Giants beat the Dodgers 33-0 tonight. The Rockies are +20 in run differential and the Diamondbacks are +1, yet the D-Backs are up by 2.5 games.

Oddsmaker has odds on tonight’s NL West games:

Padres at Nationals– Padres are +1.5 -165 and Nationals are -1.5 +145 ATS. Moneyline is Padres +140 and Nats -155. Over/Under is 7.5 with over EVEN and under -120

Dodgers at Giants– no odds on this game

Rockies at Diamondbacks– no odds on this game