NL West

Let's get it out there right up front—there is very little one can do to sugar-coat a San Francisco Giants loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers sealed by a Manny Ramirez pinch-hit, two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Especially when you consider Major League Baseball's most tiresome clown conspired with a hanging slider from Sergio Romo (in a 1-2 count no less) to deliver the rubber match and series to his fellow Bums.

Nope, that's one of those moments you simply have to wear as a baseball fan.

No one wants to be that guy.

No one wants to be the person who claims that a team lost because of an umpire or an official. It comes across as a petty excuse for a team not getting the job done.

What a day it was in Major League Baseball yesterday. Not only did we see a 20-inning, six hour and 53 minute game (the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees usually go that long in a nine-inning game) between the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals, but we also saw a no-hitter.

It is a headline that five years ago most baseball people never thought they would see. A Colorado Rockies pitcher has indeed thrown a no-hitter.

That pitcher is Ubaldo Jimenez. The 26-year-old Dominican shut out the Braves 4-0 in Atlanta on Saturday night.

Jimenez mixed an upper-90's fastball along with effective off-speed pitches and kept Braves hitters on their toes all night long.

Someone needs to tell the Rockies that it isn't spring training anymore. These games count.

If you ask any San Diego Padre fan on the streets of San Diego, most would tell you they don't want to see the last of their fan favorites leave their city. They don't want the team to trade an All-Star, their leading offensive player, and a Gold Glove first baseman.

But, the San Diego Padres may not have much of a choice but to do just that, especially if that aforementioned first baseman is looking for the kind of money that one Mark Teixeira got from the Yankees. I'm speaking of course about long time Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

San Francisco Giant uniforms do not like Los Angeles Dodger uniforms and vice versa. However, the hatred is only cotton-deep. Put the ballplayer in street clothes, stick 'em in a room, and most of the exchanges would be cordial.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ LHP Clayton Kershaw has a ton of talent. There is no doubt about that. It’s that talent that made him the seventh overall pick in the 2006 Draft.

Kershaw is entering his third year now in the major leagues and if he wants to get to the next level in his career, he is going to have to learn how to throw strikes. I don’t care how much talent you have as a pitcher, if you can’t throw strikes on a consistent basis, your career won’t last long.

The Colorado Rockies spent six weeks in Tucson stressing fundamentals. Through the first nine games of the season they look like they spent their time in Tucson at the golf course.

A win is a win.