NL West Overreactions After Two Weeks

            Well, we’retwo weeks into the baseball season, so we might as well just take the currentprojections and multiply them over a 162-game season to get your finalstanding. That makes sense, right? I mean, do you really think the 11-1 AtlantaBraves will lose more than 15 games this season? That’d be straight ridiculous.No, it would be blasphemy.

            Alright,maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but that’s all we can really takeout of the first 13 games of the regular season for most teams, generalizationsand overreactions.

            As far asyour beloved National League West goes, because this is the Pitiful Padres’blog and that’s what we care about, I can just sum it up for you in a fewwords: it’s going to be redonkulous.

            Through thefirst two weeks, the San Francisco Giants stand atop the division with a 9-4record, which they’ve accumulated through doing what they’ve been able to dofor the last few years, pitch well and let their offense generate runs…howeverthey can get them. A solid home record accompanied with a solid road recordequals a winning team that will most likely walk into the playoffs like theyhave been doing recently, but, I could be getting ahead of myself. I mean,Barry Zito is bound to keep his 0.00 ERA throughout the rest of the season.

Hey Barry, what's your ERA going to be this year?

            JustinUpton, who? Who needs him? Certainly not the Arizona Diamondbacks, as theyjumped out to an 8-4 record with an offense that has been putting up runs atmore than five per game without their “cornerstone” player, who took histalents to the dirty south. With Martin Prado getting on base, Paul Goldschmidthitting him in and youngster Patrick Corbin keeping balls on the ground, lifeis good in the desert. Also, for what it’s worth, they have the only manager inbaseball who could probably still pitch-hit and hit a ball to right field on abum knee.

Kirk Gibson still has "the look"

             Followingbehind them are the Colorado Rockies whom have an 8-4 record mainly because noone on their team has been hit by their typical injury plague yet. It willhappen, it can’t NOT happen. Troy Tulowitzki will find a way to miss more than50 games this season and if he’s looking stronger than ever, manager Walt Weisswill find a way to stick Mad Cow Disease under Tulo’s pillow when he’s sleepingto prevent that from happening. It’s what the Rockies do. Score runs at home,pitch poorly on the road and have superstars in Cargo and Tulo who will find away to get hurt, one way or another. Nothing new here folks. Oh, and somehowDexter Fowler has six home runs already, as I said, nothing to see here.

Stay healthy and there will be consequences...

             In fourthplace in the NL West is your…favorite team to hate, Los Angeles Dodgers whom at7-5 are one of the most pathetic teams in the league right now despite theirrecord. They have scored a total of 34 runs through 12 games (2.8/game) andtheir offense has been just…weird. They’re getting players on base with thefifth best OBS in the league, but aren’t driving the runs home at the rate theyshould be. Which is the 2013 Dodgers? The team that can’t score runs or theteam that is just getting unlucky with poorly timed ground balls and willexplode offensively once Matt Kemp finds his groove? Losing Zach Grienke foreight weeks hurts, but you never know, maybe it’ll allow someone else in therotation to step up.

"It's okay Zach, you'll still get your money."

            In lastplace with a 2-9 record is your San Diego Padres…*single clap* who just haven’tbeen able to get it together thus far. With the worst run differential in allof baseball (-28), not much has gone their way as the other writers on thisblog can speak to their issues more accurately than me, but if you’re worsethan my 4-8 Houston Astros…you’re having some issues. The only real publicitythe Padres have received thus far to maintain relevancy is theirbenches-clearing brawl with the Dodgers a few days ago that left one of theirbest hitters in Carlos Quentin suspended for eight games. There are better dayscoming in San Diego, but at least the weather has been decent on the WestCoast, so there’s that.

San Diego Padres' new logo.
              Although theseason is young, this divisional race will be tighter than Bob Barker’s 30-year-oldface and it will excrete entertainment and drama for another 150 games. I swearthough, if Troy Tulowitzki plays more than 150 games this season, I willpersonally eat a sock or give him West Nile myself.