Keith's Sports Journal: Baseball Update: NL West

The Baseball Update is the happenings around Major League Baseball. Sorry for not posting the Links and Foul Ball today, computer problems.

San Diego, Arizona, and Colorado are each stumbling the past couple of days. San Diego was swept by Houston and Arizona and Colorado each lost two out of three games in their respective weekend series. This division in my opinion will come down to both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The Giants took two out of three in Los Angeles over the weekend. Without Manny, the Dodgers are vulnerable and the Giants have to take advantage of that. The Giants pitching staff is better than the Dodgers. But they are having problems scoring runs. The Giants don't really need a home run hitter, but they do need someone who can drive in runs. That's the Giants biggest problem, they can get people on base but they can't drive in runs. If the Giants want to continue to contend for the division, someone on that team needs to step up and start producing some runs.

Stumbling: The Los Angeles Dodgers have stumbled ever since Manny Ramirez was suspended for trying to get pregnant. They have gone 1-4 since the suspension and blew a six-run lead to the Natinals. Then to make matters worse, they lost two games out of three to the powerless Giants in Los Angeles. The Dodgers just had a different swagger with Manny. When he was doing his thing, the rest of the team could relax and they would produce. They guy who had to step up was Andre Ethier, struggled batting cleanup during the weekend. Ethier, Matt Kemp, and Casey Blake have to produce in the absence of Manny.

Rising?: Not exactly but the Giants are only 4.5 games behind the Dodgers and first place. Their pitching staff, except Jonathon Sanchez, has been at the top of their game. Barry Zito is experiencing a Renaissance, Randy Johnson can still win, Matt Cain in improving, and Tim Lincecum looks like a Cy Young contender again.

It's their lineup that stinks. They are dead last in runs scored and it is not even close. They are 11 runs behind Arizona for second-to-last in the majors. There lineup has to start improving. And one thing they must not do, is swing at the first pitch. Every hitter in this lineup does not work a pitcher into a hitters count. Usually they get worked into a 1-2 count or a 2-2 count before they strikeout or hit a ground ball. And each hitter can't lay off a breaking ball. You could throw Aaron Rowand a breaking ball in the dirt each time and he will swing at it. Same thing applies to Travis Ishikawa. They need to lay off pitches, if they want to start producing runs.

The Giants will stay in contention all year ,because of their starting pitching. They also have deep bullpen and an All-Star closer in Brian Wilson. But they have to start scoring. They will wear down quickly, trying to win games 1-0 or 3-2.

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