NL West

What do you think of when you read or hear "Every Four Years?" The Presidential elections?  The Olympics?  World Cup Soccer?

Nope, not if you are a fan of the San Diego Padres' infielder David Eckstein.

"Every Four Years" means David Eckstein wins a World Series.

After dropping two of three from the Giants in Colorado, the Rockies are likely out of playoff contention.

Frankly, after the season the Rockies had, they are lucky to still be in playoff conversation. At the All-Star Break, they were 49-39. Just 15 days later, on July 28, they were 51-50.

From then until late August and early September, they were simply a mediocre team. They then went on a conveniently placed 10-game winning streak which put them right back into playoff contention.

The lesson was nothing new for the Rockies. Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are very tough to hit. They are huge reasons why the Giants are leading the National League West despite having nothing more than an average Major League lineup.

It seems as if the NL West teams want to make the end of the MLB regular season interesting. Although the Colorado Rockies are falling behind and are now 4.5 games behind first place, the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants do not seem to want full rights to that first place position.

If the Colorado Rockies are out of the race, someone forgot to tell the players.

The saying goes good pitching beats good hitting. It's actually more than a saying. It's a reality. If you have a dominant pitcher on his game, there is not a hitter on the planet that can hit him.

Painting the black. Hitting your spots. Changing speeds.

It is something the Giants pitching staff has done very well for the past 18 games. They have not allowed more than three runs in a game since September 4.

Let's face it. They did this to themselves.

What could be more frightening than the fake, plastic smile Jamie McCourt puts on every time there's a camera on her? How about the likely source of this whole catastrophe?

It is possible somewhere long ago, before reports of a bitter divorce began to surface, before the future of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization came into question, and before Dodgers fans realized their team may be in a struggle for the long haul, Frank McCourt had the chance to say two simple words: "I'm sorry."

The San Francisco Giants' pitching staff has been on an unprecedented tear in the last three weeks. The Giants have pitched in 17 consecutive games in which they've held an opponent to 3 runs or fewer, and 12 consecutive games in which they've limited them to 2 runs or fewer.

Both of these streaks are records.

Where does this feat place San Fran's rotation amongst the greatest pitching staffs of all time?

Are they even the best staff in Giants' history? In honor of their feat, here are the 20 greatest pitching staffs of all time. 

Miguel Tejada is playing grown man baseball at a grown-up time for the San Diego Padres.

Tejada became the 129^th player in MLB history to reach 300 homers Wednesday evening against the Los Angeles Dodgers. But that isn't the only milestone the 36-year-old veteran is looking to accomplish this season. 

It has been seven years since Tejada has played in the postseason. Both he and the Padres are in search of their first World Series ring.