West there for the taking
Asked about the standings in the National League West, Mark Sweeney shook his head and recalled the 2005 season.
That was the year the Dodgers’ pinch-hitting specialist played for the division champion San Diego Padres -- the 82-80 division champion Padres.
“We almost had to apologize for it,” Sweeney said. “That’s what this feels like.”
The second-place Dodgers will open a three-game series tonight at first-place Arizona with the top spot in the division at stake.
Both teams are under .500 and could still be that way by the end of the weekend.
The defending division champion Diamondbacks, who were 17-6 and had a seven-game lead over the Dodgers on April 25, hold only a one-game margin, their record a humble 47-48. The Dodgers are 46-49.
“We’ve climbed up a very winnable division,” Dodgers pitcher Derek Lowe said.
Winnable enough that San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean essentially counted his team out of contention at the start of the season but finds it in third place coming out of the All-Star break. At 40-55, the Giants trail the Diamondbacks by seven games.
Reigning NL champion Colorado, which reached the postseason last year as the wild-card team, is in fourth at 39-57. A visit to the Rockies is next on the Dodgers’ schedule.
“I thought the division was going to be much better than this,” Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa said. “Looking at the first half, out of the three divisions, I have to think it’s the weakest division.”
The Diamondbacks are 21-10 within the division but 26-38 against everyone else. The Dodgers are 31-35 outside the NL West.
The five teams in the NL West are a combined 56 games under .500 against teams outside of their division.
Sabean and Dodgers Manager Joe Torre acknowledged thinking that Arizona would run away with the division, only to see the Diamondbacks let themselves be swallowed up by the chase pack.
“The more we see the National League, I think the more we see that there a few really good teams, a few not-so-good teams, and most of the teams in the middle,” Sabean said.
Chicago, St. Louis and Milwaukee of the Central and, perhaps, Philadelphia and New York in the East fit in the first category.
Of the teams in the West, Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said, “Everybody has players that don’t have a lot of major league experience and they’re going to have ups and downs.”
Like the Dodgers, Arizona has a young lineup. And like the Dodgers, the Diamondbacks have been inconsistent, perhaps even more so.
The Dodgers’ .253 average ranks 12th in the NL and the Diamondbacks’ .249 is 13th.
The Diamondbacks’ bullpen, which was a major strength last season, has had moments of vulnerability. The seventh-, eighth-, and ninth-inning pitchers in 2007, Tony Pena, Brandon Lyon and Jose Valverde, combined to lose only 12 games. Valverde was traded to Houston over the winter, and the pitchers designated to pitch the last three innings -- Chad Qualls, Pena and Lyon -- have already lost a combined 11 games.
“I think it’s kind of a blessing that it’s really out there for the taking,” Diamondbacks pitcher Brandon Webb said. “As bad as we’ve played, you can still look at it and take away some positive. Nobody’s run away with it.”
Diamondbacks outfielder Chris Young said that could change. “Everybody thinks the West is weak and this and that, but we’re not weak,” he said. “Everybody’s been struggling a bit. I really believe that.”
Torre said he liked the idea of facing the Diamondbacks coming out of the break.
“You’ve got to measure yourself on a regular basis,” Torre said. “I don’t think it’s as much the wins and losses than it is about how you play each other. You don’t want to go out there, have somebody manhandle you and try to recover from that.”
Ultimately, Bowa said, a team’s ability relative to the others in the division is what matters.
“Somebody from the West,” Bowa said, “will be in the playoffs.”
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NL West games
The Dodgers have four series in the next two weeks against National League West teams (number of games in parentheses):
at Arizona (3): Today-Sunday.
at Colorado (3): Monday-Wednesday.
vs. San Francisco (3): July 28-30.
vs. Arizona (4): July 31-Aug. 3.
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DODGERS AT ARIZONA
Tonight 6:30, Ch. 9
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