NL West

A month changes everything.

With the official halfway point of the season having already passed on July 4, the Los Angeles Dodgers find themselves amidst another tight race in the always competitive NL West division.

At the 81-game mark, the Dodgers were sitting in second place, trailing the surprising San Diego Padres by 3.5 games; however, the journey thus far hasn't been easy.

The entire Los Angeles squad has been plagued by injuries during the first half of the season, and the pitching staff has been hit especially hard.

The Dodgers marched a total of 19 different pitchers to the mound before the halfway mark&mdas

Last Night Rewind

Just 24 hours after the Colorado Rockies set a franchise record with a nine-run ninth inning that was capped off by a Seth Smith three-run blast—the Rockies did it again.

In fact, when Chris Iannetta bombed the game-winning solo homer in the bottom of the ninth, it was the third straight game in a row Colorado won with a walk-off.

What a difference a month makes.

It's the same conversation, just a different year.

Every season, virtually every Major League roster has players deserving of All-Star selections that get left on their sofas for the weekend.

This year, the Padres pitching staff may be the most distinguished of the All-Star snubs.

The Padres have the best record (49-34) in the National League and boast the best team ERA (3.05) in the NL by a long shot (St. Louis is next at 3.28), yet couldn't command enough respect to land a pitcher on the roster.

When pinch-hitter Rusty Ryal struck out to end last night’s game, it seemed rather appropriate. After all, the Arizona Diamondbacks lead the planet in strike outs. Looking at the latest season statistics on MLB.com, the Diamondbacks have five position players in the top 20 for strikeouts in the National League.

Coming into the series with the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Chicago Cubs had lost seven of their last ten games. They had not been losing close games either, they were getting blown out. The pitching staff had struggled and the drama of the Carlos Zambrano saga was obviously a distraction to a team that was struggling.

The Colorado Rockies are used to it. They are the lone team that plays in the Mountain Time zone. Therefore, games on the east coast are wrapping up when they start, and games on the west coast are underway shortly after the Rockies start.

Giants beat writer Henry Schulman wrote a piece suggesting that an Aaron Rowand for Carlos Zambrano trade with the Cubs would make sense for both clubs if the future contract obligations could be worked out.  It sounds like a textbook case of wishful thinking to me, because the Cubs would be damned fools to trade Zambrano for Rowand.