Climbing the Ladder with the National League 5/4/2008

Dodgers climb to second place

When Rafael Furcal broke into the Atlanta Braves’ lineup in 2000, he joined fellow 22-year-old Andruw Jones.

For six years the two manned the key positions of shortstop and center field, and the Braves won the division each year. They were supposed to be fixtures in that lineup for years to come.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, though, had other ideas. After the 2005 season, the Dodgers signed Furcal, perhaps overpaying him at $39 million over three years.

The Braves, meanwhile, haven’t won the division since, and Andruw Jones was reunited with Furcal in Los Angeles after a disappointing 2007 campaign, signing for a second-guessed $36.2 million over two years.

This year Furcal is performing up to his salary, leading MLB in hits at the top of the Dodgers’ lineup. The past week was no exception. He went 13-for-28 , scoring 12 runs and swiping two bags.

Jones, however, has yet to break out of his year-plus slump. He finished his final season with the Braves batting .222 and stands at an even more woeful .161 heading into today’s action.

The star outfielder has been Matt Kemp, who went 12-for-27 this past week, driving in 11 runs and swiping six bags.

On the strength of their leadoff and no. 3 hitters, the Dodgers won eight straight games, including five against the Colorado Rockies and three against the Florida Marlins.

Now the Rockies are at the bottom of the NL West, 10 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks, whose surge has continued.

The St. Louis Cardinals host the Chicago Cubs tonight on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball. The winner of today’s rubber game will hold the lead in the NL Central.

The Cubs’ potent offense put up 19 runs against the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday but lost the series, the second series they’ve dropped to the Crew this season.

The Houston Astros took advantage of a mediocre week by the other teams, climbing back into the picture, a game under .500. The closer they brought in from Arizona, Jose Valverde, rebounded from a poor start to convert four straight saves.

Dropping in the standings were the Cincinnati Reds, rookie sensation Johnny Cueto, who got worse with each start. Replacing him is fellow youngster Edinson Volquez, who has not allowed more than one earned run in any of his six starts.

At the top of the NL East, the Philadelphia Phillies surpassed the Marlins on the strength of continued production from Chase Utley, who hit three home runs in four games to push his league-leading total to 13.

New Phillies closer Brad Lidge has been sublime, converting all of his seven save opportunities without allowing an earned run in 14 innings of work. A change of scenery seems to have helped the man who couldn’t recover after Albert Pujols’ 2005 NLCS moon shot.

The Braves’ woes are continuing as they now have only one more win than the last-place Washington Nationals, despite scoring 20 more runs and allowing 47 fewer. They have lost all nine one-run games, including all three extra-inning contests.

John Smoltz’s trip to the DL won’t help their cause, and he said he’ll return to the bullpen, rather than the rotation. This is good news for the ninth inning – the Braves couldn’t find an adequate replacement for Rafael Soriano – but not for what was a top starting rotation.

The New York Mets lurk even with the Marlins, just a half game behind the Phillies. The division has the makings of a good race if only because the Phillies have a worse record than four teams in the Central and the West.