NL West Round-Up: Second Place Pads

The division race tightened this week, as the Padres leapfrogged the Giants and Rockies to take second in the standings. Only a game separates the three teams.

San Diego Padres

• Record: 38-36
• Previous series: ARI, SF, LAD
• Upcoming series: PHI, MIA
• Standing: 2.5 games behind ARI

Despite their 5-2 record this week, it certainly feels like the Padres haven't lost this week. The Padres won seven games in a row before dropping two games to the Giants - and then rebounded by winning their next two games. The worst news for the Padres was losing Evereth Cabrera to the DL with a hamstring problem on Monday. Cabrera is hitting .305/.382/.418, all above NL average. Cabrera and Yonder Alonso lead the Padres in nearly all offensive categories and they're both injured. Not that the loss showed this week. The Padres scored 32 runs, at 4.57 average per games. The worst offensive performance was a two-run effort against Madison Bumgarner.

On the pitching side, the team allowed 22 runs, a 3.14 average. The Padres pitchers kept opponents to four or fewer runs in six of seven games - and the most allowed was five runs against the Giants. In cyborg!Marquis news, he beat Arizona and then received a no-decision against LA, after allowing only two runs over six innings.

San Francisco Giants

• Record: 37-36
• Previous series: ATL, SD, MIA
• Upcoming series: LAD, COL
• Standing: 3.0 games behind ARI

A terrible, rotten, no good, very bad bad week for the Giants, in which they pretty much did the opposite of San Diego. They went 2-5 over the course of the week. On the injury front, Angel Pagan had to be carted off the field during a rehab start. He may required surgery for a torn tendon. Giants hitting scored 21 runs over the week, an average of only three runs. They were shut out again this week - their third shut out this month.

Giants pitching allowed 28 runs this week for a per-game average of four. Not bad at all, considering the shakiness of the rotation recently. Strongest performance of the week was Bumgarner's, who allowed two earned runs over seven innings with eight strikeouts (and four walks).

Colorado Rockies

• Record: 38-38
• Previous series: PHI, TOR, WAS
• Upcoming series: BOS, NYM, SF
• Standing: 3.5 games behind ARI

Sing along if you know the words: another no good, very bad week for another NL West team. This may be the week fans point to if the projected Rockies drop-off finally arrives. They also went 2-5 over the past seven days (they've already beaten Dan Haren today but since I look at Saturday-Friday's action, that will be for next week).. The offense scored 22 runs, an average of 3.14 runs per game - and that's inflated by a 10-5 drubbing of the Phillies. Toronto handed the Rockies their second shut out this month.

The pitching was better than their hitting but not enough to win. Although the team gave up two runs or fewer three times this week, they gave up five or more runs four times. They gave up an average of 29 runs for a 4.14 per game average. The problem was so much inconsistency as they hitting and pitching couldn't settle in with each other.

Los Angeles Dodgers

• Record: 30-42
• Previous series: PIT, NYY, SD
  
• Upcoming series: SF, PHI
  
• Standing: 9.5 games behind ARI

Eleven days since the last time the Dodgers had to place anyone on the DL. Congratulations, Dodgers! A new record! Too bad that record isn't as encouraging as any of the other records the Dodgers are sitting on. They won one game against the Pirates and the last game of a doubleheader against the Yankees after being rained out the night before to go 2-4 on the week. The offense put up 23 runs for a 3.83 average.

Over on the mound, Dodgers pitching allowed 26 for average of 4.33 runs per game - and that includes shutting out the Yankees. Even the great Clayton Kershaw scuffled, allowing four runs over six innings to the Padres. The Dodgers are now the only team in the division with a losing record and they're doing it with a payroll nearly large enough to fund the next Iron Man movie.

Did you hear about that guy who did that thing?

I couldn't think of anything to talk about this week. Any suggestions?