NL West

San Francisco Giants center fielder Angel Pagan has right patella tendinitis. 

Continue for updates.

Pagan To Miss Time Again

Tuesday, August 11

The Giants reported on Tuesday that Pagan has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with right patella tendinitis.    

The shortstop originally signed for $375,000, and now he might be the best in the league. The third baseman signed for $50,000, and now he might be the Rookie of the Year.

These are the kinds of stories baseball people love, and the San Francisco Giants have an infield full of them. They have four homegrown starters that cost them not even $2 million in combined bonuses, and they may well have the best four-man unit in the game.

The sport of baseball has three true outcomes, a concept that's unfolded as the era of advanced metrics has gained mainstream popularity within the game and amongst its fans.

These outcomes, based on the fact that defense has zero effect on them, are the home run, the walk and the strikeout. These are the only results determined by the batter and pitcher alone, not counting for things like pitch framing or floating strike zones, of course.

Hall of Famer Randy Johnson played in the league for 22 years, eight of which for the Arizona Diamondbacks. He won a World Series with the club in 2001.

On Saturday, the Diamondbacks retired his No. 51, and they made the Big Unit a 51-inch corndog. That's a lot of calories, but he deserves it after an epic career. Eat up, Randy!

Two of the National League’s best teams will duke it out Friday in the first of three games at PNC Park as the Pittsburgh Pirates host the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are road favorites for the contest at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Two teams that haven't won the World Series in more than two decades went all in at the July 31 trade deadline.

One team with a $230 million payroll and a 27-year drought did not.

The Kansas City Royals and Toronto Blue Jays acted as if they were desperate to win this year. The Los Angeles Dodgers did not.

You could call it a comeback.

Except Clayton Kershaw never went anywhere. 

The best pitcher on the planet still is and has been for most of this season. It's fair to say he hasn't been as good as he was a year ago, but you would just barely be correct in that assessment.

First, let's get this out of the way: The San Diego Padres aren't sunk.

Yes, they enter the second half of the season at 41-49, 10 games back in the National League West and 7.5 games off the wild-card pace.

But if this parity-filled 2015 campaign has taught us anything, it's that every club is a decent hot streak away from contention.

Still, this isn't how the script was supposed to play out in San Diego.

The Los Angeles Dodgers have had a moderately successful 2015 thus far. They sit in first place in the National League West even though half of their Opening Day rotation is out for the year, Joc Pederson has been a breakout star and new additions Yasmani Grandal and Howie Kendrick have been valuable members of the lineup.

The hype machine is out of service.

Disappointment has surpassed hope as the overwhelming emotion. 

A scapegoat has already been unfairly blamed because it was the easiest, most predictable target.