NL West

The San Francisco Giants will rely on strong starting pitching, a struggling Padres team, and an easy September schedule to overtake the San Diego Padres and win the 2010 National League West.

The Schedule:

The Giants are currently three games back of the Padres with 28 games to play. 12 of the remaining games are against teams with sub .500 records, and another seven of those games are against the division leading Padres. The other games are against the struggling Cubs and the hated Dodgers.

That was a difficult series to take. With the win on Monday, the Rockies were riding high—3.5 games out of the wild card and gaining ground with a rare road win.

Two games later, and two close losses later...well, it's not as happy times. There is no joy in D-ville.

The Rockies continue to be a tale of two teams with extremes I’ve never seen before. Home, they are a smooth team, with the best hitting numbers in the National League. On the road, they are one of the worst teams in the league.

Although September 1 marks the day that all MLB teams may expand their rosters up to 40 players, the Los Angeles Dodgers are passing on the opportunity—at least temporarily.

It’s time to continue our journey around the league, looking at each team’s closer situation. The National League West is home to one of, if not the, worst bullpens in the league, but also a few of the elite closers.  Let’s take a look at all the updated situations:

For as much hope as Monday night's win against the Giants brought to the Rockies' playoff chances, Tuesday and Wednesday felt like an anvil to the head.

The Giants won 2-1 on Wednesday and after a disastrous month of August, Tim Lincecum has rebounded. It took several starts to rediscover his rhythm, but he did his job on Wednesday night. His line: 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 K. The nine strikeouts are certainly a promising sign, as well as the one walk. The lone run came on an opposite-field solo shot by Carlos Gonzalez. With a Cy Young Lincecum on the mound, the Giants are a force to be reckoned with.

The San Francisco Giants did everything most fans insist that they never do and came away with an important win on Thursday night, beating the Colorado Rockies 2-1, to gain a game on the NL West-leading San Diego Padres.

For the second year in a row, the Arizona Diamondbacks have endured a miserable season. The Diamondbacks sit in last place in the NL West, 24 games behind the first place San Diego Padres.

Due to their poor season, it’s very rare they get any love here at The Ghost of Moonlight Graham. Well today, I am going to give them some love.

If the San Francisco Giants do make the 2010 postseason, it will be the result of an honest-to-baseball good team effort.

There have been (and will be) major and minor players in the drama, but the days of Barry Bonds clubbing the opposition into retreat with only minimal contribution from his lilliputian mates have been dead so long, there's almost nothing left to decompose. We're well into a new era of ball at AT&T Park and smacks of classical Marxism on cleats.

Hindsight is 20/20.