NL West

Before the 2010 Major League Baseball season began, I really wanted to put the San Francisco Giants atop the division when previewing the National League West .

Instead, I stuck them in second and gave them the NL Wild Card because I figured the more grandiose vision was the product of the fan in me.

Furthermore, I thought granting them a postseason berth was still setting the bar pretty high. Possibly a little too high.

The Rockies have been to the playoffs two of the last three years. They have one of the best lineups in baseball. They have an ace who is 4-0 and has an ERA well below 1.00. They have respect from around the league. Judging by the way the Rockies are playing, it would be easy to guess that these Rockies are less like a playoff team, and more like the Rockies from the "Todd and the toddlers" era.

No, Wade LeBlanc didn't throw his teammate Kyle Blanks on the score board although that actually might help.  This may be a just a glitch in the universe, it may be luck, or it may actually be the real thing.  Wade LeBlanc has been lights out and has helped the Padres actually have a winning record for once. 

Aaron Cook is a good pitcher.

Good is the only word to describe him. He will never be mistaken for great, but there are things that he does very well.

The thing that he does best is pound the strike zone with his sinking fastball. When he is winning, he throws that pitch close to 80 percent of the time. However, for whatever reason, Cook sometimes tries to be someone that he is not.

The Arizona Diamondbacks faced the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field with demonstrators in favor of and against the new immigration laws signed by Jan Brewer (the governor Of Arizona).

It was "singles night" at PETCO Park Thursday night for the San Diego Padres, as they battered the Brewers with 13 singles, with no extra-base hits, to a final score of 9-0.

Who says singles can't have a good time?

Wade LeBlanc continued dishing donuts and combined with Tim Stauffer for a shutout of the normally slugging Brew Crew.

LeBlanc pitched 6.1 shutout innings, continuing his current streak of just one run allowed over his past 17.1 innings pitched

John Maine was supposed to be a big part of the Mets rotation this season. General manager Omar Minaya said as much this offseason as he skipped out on signing any free agent starters and elected to stand pat with what he had. However, after Maine’s second start of the season it was abundantly clear that he might not be the pitcher they thought he was.

Could someone please fix the humidor?

The Rockies lost 12-11 on Wednesday after slamming their way back into a game in which they were down by six runs before they recorded a single out.

Greg Smith pitched all of one inning, giving up six earned runs on four hits and three walks. It was the exactly opposite of what the Rockies needed from him in the rubber match of the three-game series.

Although it was not at the San Diego Marlin Club’s weigh station on Shelter Island, the Padres were all smiles after landing two of three from the Marlins in Miami.

Fueled by a five-run fifth inning, the Friars picked up Kevin Correia and edged out a 6-4 victory. 

After sweeping Arizona and San Francisco at home, Wednesday’s matinee gave the Padres a 4-2 road trip.

Is April too early for a division race?

It used to be that a trip to Denver and Coors Field meant baseballs would leave the stadium like a squadron of F-16 fighter jets. With the introduction of baseballs being stored in a humidor the runs per game dropped dramatically putting the stadium on par with many others in Major League Baseball by negating the effects of dry air at altitude.