Major League Baseball: 1/3 Season Review: The National League

Cafe Society
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Let’s have a look at the Senior Circuit:

EAST

New York 35-20
Atlanta 32-24
Philadelphia 28-28
Florida 27-30
Washington 23-34

The Mets appear to the be unquestioned class of the NL right now, sporting a solid offense and the second best pitching/defense in the league. Extremely worrisome, though, is Carlos Delgado, who is really strugging, is 35 years old, and has a huge contract. As for Atlanta, I’ll just say it right now: If John Schueurholz isn’t elected to the Hall of Fame I’m going to picket Cooperstown. How do you keep a team in contention this long while shedding so many of your core players? Philly and Florida are both disappointments, though different kinds; Florida still has a lot of promise, whereas for Philly it’s shaping up to be another disappointing season for a team that was expected to win right now. And as for the poor, poor Senators, it says a lot about that club that I actually think their 23-34 record isn’t nearly as bad as it might have been.

CENTRAL

Milwaukee 33-24
St. Louis 24-30
Pittsburgh 24-32
Chicago 23-31
Houston 23-33
Cincinnati 22-36

I toyed with the idea of writing the standings as “Milwaukee 33-24 - Everyone Else: Bad.” The Brewers are well ahead of the pack because they’re playing well and the rest of the pack is awful, and the Brewers have fattened themselves on the pack, going 17-8 against them. The Cardinals have desperate problems with their hitting, the worst in the NL after Washington, and even Albert Pujols is off his feed. The rest of the division is hard to discern from one other but it’s worth noting that the Cubs have actually scored more runs than they’ve allowed, so while on one hand I am not one bit surprised they’re not contending (where everyone else thought they would) they probably aren’t really that bad. Pittsburgh, Houston and Cincinnati are so boring and awful that I can’t really say anything interesting; I apologize to their fans and maybe they can add some insight.

WEST

Los Angeles (the real one) 33-23
San Diego 33-23
Arizona 34-24
Colorado 27-30
San Francisco 26-29

Well, here’s a pennant race, huh? This is a pitching-heavy division even with Colorado in it; all five teams have scored essentially the same number of runs but it’s the runs allowed that are interesting. San Diego has allowed only 183 runs, far fewer than any other team in baseball, so if they can plug a few holes in hte lineup you have to think they’re the real thing. The Dodgers have the same record but haven’t really played as well (the pitching isn’t as good) but are the Padres really THAT good? Most surprising is Arizona, tied for first in games, but the numbers suggest a bit of luck there; still, that’s a third awfully solid rotation. Colorado’s behind because they aren’t preventing runs as well but Coors Field is weird, so maybe it’s because they don’t score as well, or did they fix that with the humidor thing? The Giants are pretty much all about the march to the very, very uncomfortable scene when Bonds hits #756, but they’re a better team than the record suggests. Bengie Molina was a good pickup there.

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Arizona is a fluke right now. It’s going to come down to LA vs San Diego in the end, and who has the most pitchers still healthy will determine the outcome. The Dodgers have the edge in sheer depth of pitching, and the depth of their minor league resources. There might be some interesting trades made in the next few weeks, because we still need a power hitter. Kent is slumping, Nomar’s slugging percentage is way down (although he still is producing the RBIs), and as good as our young 3rd basemen are, I’d feel a lot better with some experience at the hot corner.

SF is doomed, because there is no way a merciful and just God would let Bonds break a record set by a decent human being. Expect a meteor strike or earthquake.

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Another nice round-up RickJay.

Mets are looking very good and are still due to get Pedro back. That is the equivalent of a big Mid-season trade to help in the stretch drive. Of course Met fans are a little worried as they cannot shake the Braves. I think if it were any other team the Met fans would already be celebrating, but they are still gun shy about the Braves.

I do think the Mets will finish with the best record in the NL.

I am astounded by the Brewers and I was dead wrong in my early predictions about them only being good on paper.

NL West looks like fun. I will be following it from afar. I am not looking forward to a post season with **Silenus’ ** team in and my team out. So, I guess I am rooting for San Diego to take the division. :wink:

Jim

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:stuck_out_tongue:

5

My Cards are improving, but I don’t see them getting out of the hole they dug for themselves. I keep telling myself they get a five year grace period after last season. :slight_smile:

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Absolutely right. The Braves are a ridiculously well run team, right down to (but not including) their minor league affiliate manager who recreated 20 minutes of Caddyshack in the middle of a tantrum last week. I’d like to hear from some Red Sox fans if they’re still looking over their shoulder at the Yankees. The Bombers can’t seem to catch a break and would have to have an incredible run to catch up, but I’m sure there’s a few Sox fans worried that Steinbrenner will sell a bunch of other people’s souls to the Devil and field a team of zombie Yankee All-Stars of the past.

I’m disappointed in the Phillies thus far, I was hoping for a 3-way race. I like the team, for the most part, their homegrown guys espoecially, and wish for Utley and Howard and even that naughty Jimmy Rollins to kick ass when they’re not playing the Mets. Don’t know why they can’t seem to get it together.

It sure seems like Omar Minaya has built a pretty deep organization in a short period of time. The Mets have been 2 (sometimes 3) outfielders down lately, been playing AAA guys at second, have completely missed their #1 pitcher and missed a bunch of their #3 pitcher, and have a patched-together bullpen and a mostly invisible Carlos Delgado, and they’re still looking pretty good. Their 2 best pitchers are essentially guys off the scrap heap. John Maine and (what turned out to be) El Duque for Kris and Anna Benson is looking pretty smart right now. I don’t remember it being like this 5 years ago – it’s more like the 80s teams, where there would always be a few worthwhile dudes still lurking on the bench.

Maybe it’s just me being an old fart, but I love seeing El Duque toss those absurd 50-mph eephus pitches, and I love it whenever Julio Franco steals a base. If he’s still around at 50, he should pull his AARP card out of his pocket and wave it around after every steal.

And I’m actually filling out those on-line All-Star game ballots just so I can write in Endy Chavez over and over.

Looking forward to LA next week, haven’t seen them play yet.

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I just stopped by to say

Lets Go, Mets!!

The problem with the Braves is we don’t play them again until August, and a lot can happen between now and then

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I, for one, will feel a lot better about the Dodgers if Schmidt looks the way he’s supposed to look tonight. I’ll also be happier when Takashi Saito gets back; Broxton looked awfully shaky last night. Although, to be fair, I remember Saito’s first save against the Brewers this season, and he was lucky to get out of that game alive.

At any rate, if the Dodgers can continue to get early leads, and the rotation and bullpen get back to normal, I’m not (too) worried. I have a feeling the Wild Card watch will start very early this year, with LA, San Diego and Atlanta bouncing around the top of that list quite a bit. Like others in this thread, I’m having difficulty believing Arizona will be able to keep up their current pace.

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Yes, I picked the Cubs to make the playoffs based on their off-season moves (and RickJay is well aware of this, as we have a friendly wager on this possibility). But even for those of you who know in their hearts the Cubs are a cursed team–that no matter what moves they make they will always end up out of the money–this season is a new curiosity.

As RickJay pointed out, the Cubs have scored more than they’ve allowed. There’s also the fact that the Northsiders are 3rd in the NL in BA (tops with RISP), mid-pack in OPS and SLG on the hitting side; 4th in WHIP and mid-pack in ERA with their pitching (getting more out of Lilly and Marquis than anyone thought they would, though that’s been balanced somewhat by an erratic Zambrano). In fact there’s no one individual stat (or a combination of below-average stats) that leaps out at you to explain their ineptitude (fielding perhaps, but does that really make such a difference?).

To me, the most telling stat is the team’s record in one-run games: 1-11. SABR tells us there’s no such thing as clutch hitting, the Cubs do seem to have a tendency to fold up when the game is on the line

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Interesting… they still play baseball in Philly?!?

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We need to start the countdown. Philly is 15 games from achieving a huge milestone. **First Team to 10,000 Losses. **

Philadelphia Phillies (Philadelphia Blue Jays and Philadelphia Quakers) (1883-2007) 8792-9985

Jim

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They may be starting to get the hitting thing figured out. And their strategy of turning their whole bullpen into starting pitchers is working out better than I might have expected (and certainly better than letting stinky, stinky Kip Wells pitch). If they keep up the good work, and if they get Chris Carpenter (and maybe Mark Mulder) back before the end of the season, and if they don’t go through catchers the way Spinal Tap went through drummers, I have hope for them yet.

The Cubs I’m looking to for comic relief. :slight_smile:

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The Brewers are a fun team to watch, so I’m hopeful they can continue to beat up the competition within their own division and make it to the playoffs. Knock on wood, but so far they’ve shown they can handle a little adversity and the injury bug is staying away from Miller Park. It was a little disappointing to see them fall off the best record in baseball perch when they had that long stretch against quality opponents but they lost a few close games in that stretch and no one else in the Central is showing any signs of life.