Climbing the Ladder with the National League 7/6/2008

All-star rosters to be announced today

The Arizona Diamondbacks kept losing, and now they’re two games under .500 – but still lead the NL West.

Lurking half a game back are the Los Angeles Dodgers, who have won four of five July games.

The Diamondbacks’ tailspin, including a 1-4 record to start July, has opened the door for three teams that each found themselves 12 games back in May.

One of those teams, the Colorado Rockies, has won their first five July games, including two over the San Diego Padres on the strength of dominant pitching performances by Aaron Cook and Ubaldo Jimenez.

Then Friday the Florida Marlins lit up Colorado pitching to the tune of 17 runs. The Marlins led from the start, when Hanley Ramirez belted the first pitch he saw over the center field wall.

It wasn’t until the very end of the game that the Rockies managed to put together a rally to score two runs and top the Marlins, 18-17.

After dropping two to Colorado, the Padres took two from the D’backs thanks to Cha Seung Baek’s and Jake Peavy’s combined 13 scoreless innings.

With that the Padres are eight games back despite losing 14 of their last 18 games.

The NL Central leaders have struggled as well. Coming off their worst swoon of the season, the Chicago Cubs played just .500 ball this week.

Setup man Carlos Marmol has really struggled. Before nailing down an important hold against rival St. Louis Cardinals tonight, he had given up a home run in three straight appearances.

After Marmol nailed down that hold, the recently reliable Kerry Wood blew his first save after 12 straight successful conversions.

The Cubs and the Cards will meet for the rubber game Sunday. A Cardinals win would bring them within a game and a half of the lead.

The Milwaukee Brewers have also gained on the Cubs, thanks to a 16-10 record in June. Corey Hart has continued to swing the bat, and J.J. Hardy has picked it up offensively.

While the three leaders are separated by 3.5 games, only half a game separates the three teams at the bottom. But seven games separate the third-place Brewers from the fourth-place Cincinnati Reds.

However, no team in the NL is as far out of first place as the Washington Nationals, currently on pace for 100 losses this season.

Maintaining the NL East lead are the Philadelphia Phillies, their second-best offense and their third-best defense in the NL.

The Phillies could have their third straight unique MVP if Chase Utley keeps it up. His most likely challenger is Ramirez, who carried the Marlins past their low expectations.

Utley’s name will be announced this afternoon as the starting second baseman for the NL. At last update, he led all NL all-star balloting.

The starting NL shortstop, on the other hand, has yet to be determined. Ramirez leads a tight race of Miguel Tejada.

The only tighter race is an NL Central battle between the Cubs’ Kosuke Fukudome and the Brewers’ Ryan Braun. Braun is the more qualified candidate, with an OPS of .851.

If the voting ended with the last balloting update, the NL lineup would consist of C Geovany Soto, 1B Lance Berkman, 2B Chase Utley, 3B Chipper Jones, SS Hanley Ramirez, OF Alfonso Soriano, OF Ken Griffey Jr. and OF Kosuke Fukudome.

The NL starter is harder to predict, with a number of good candidates. Perhaps the most deserving is the Freak, Tim Lincecum, the triple crown threat who was on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated. He holds a 10-1 record for the 39-49 San Francisco Giants.