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The Weekend Buzz while you were celebrating Father's Day (you only received a necktie and socks? I scored tickets to see the Drive-By Truckers this Friday!):
1. Can't Anybody Here Play This Game?: Ah, the National League West. Soft as pudding, mushy as tofu.
"Weakest division in the National League by a lot," one longtime scout says. "Not by a little. By a lot.
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| Joe Torre didn't sign up for this: His Dodgers are last in the NL in doubles, home runs and sac flies. (US Presswire) |
"Haven't seen enough of the AL to really judge," the scout says, and I didn't press him on the rest because it could have taken all evening by the time we made it through the land's college and high school leagues and conferences.
Don't worry, some worthy opponent will crack the "Break Only in Event of Emergency" glass and extinguish this division once and for all when we reach the first round of the playoffs in October.
Until then, ugh. ...
• Arizona, on May 1, led the division by five games at 20-8. Since then, the Diamondbacks have gone 17-25 ... and lead the West by 5½ games.
• San Diego lost ace Jake Peavy, last season's unanimous NL Cy Young winner, from May 14-June 12. During that month, the woeful Padres ... actually gained five games on the first-place Diamondbacks, moving from 11½ to 6½ back.
• The Dodgers went 24 consecutive innings without scoring from Wednesday through Saturday. They've lost 17 of their past 23 games, including getting swept this weekend in Detroit, and they've scored zero or one run in 12 of their past 23 games.
"We're certainly capable of better than getting shut down and shut out," Dodgers manager Joe Torre was saying late last week. "It's in there. It's my job -- and it's the job of my coaching staff -- to find the key that helps them be more consistent in the quality of at-bats."
Of course, in this group, the Dodgers continue clinging to second place the way plastic wrap inconveniently folds under itself and won't allow you to untangle it.
"Everybody's amazed," the NL scout says. "A lot of people thought the division would be a lot better than this, but the signature in major league baseball this year is up is down. It's not surprising. It goes right into the way baseball is this year.
