The mild mild NL West
It’s June 10th and the Arizona Diamondbacks are 34-30 and lead the NL West by 3.5 games but how?
Lets go back to April 30. The Suns had just been eliminated from the NBA playoffs by the Spurs. Hundred degree heat was still a few weeks away and the NL West leading Arizona Diamondbacks were set to take center stage in the valley.
The start of the Arizona Diamondbacks season had been nothing short of spectacular. The bats were on fire and the pitching staff was as good as advertised.
Through the first month of the season team had done more than lived up to early expectations, they had surpassed them.
| NL West Standings March 31-April 30 | ||||||
| Record | BA | OBP | SLG | SO | Team ERA | |
| Arizona Dimaondbacks | 20-8 | .268 | .345 | .468 | 207 | 3.25 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 14-13 | .281 | .360 | .409 | 164 | 3.56 |
| San Francisco Giants | 13-16 | .245 | .306 | .370 | 200 | 4.14 |
| San Diego Padres | 11-17 | .228 | .299 | .334 | 224 | 4.03 |
| Colorado Rockies | 11-17 | .248 | .324 | .381 | 199 | 4.47 |
Since April 30 though things have been less favorable for the Diamondbacks. With the Valley’s sports focused shifted squarely onto them they’ve floundered.
The bats that once were on fire no longer even have a spark and pitching staff has seemed more like marketing hype than the real deal (granted most of the poor performances can be attributed to the bullpen).
If the first month of the season was removed from the record book, and the Diamondbacks performance in the last month has attempted to at least wipe it from memory, the standings would look as follows:
| NL West Standings April 30-Present | ||||||
| Record | BA | OBP | SLG | SO | Team ERA | |
| San Diego Padres | 17-20 | .253 | .329 | .397 | 288 | 4.14 |
| San Francisco Giants | 16-19 | .276 | .342 | .429 | 234 | 4.20 |
| Los Angeles Dodgers | 16-20 | .250 | .309 | .362 | 216 | 4.01 |
| Arizona Diamondbacks | 14-22 | .236 | .318 | .393 | 281 | 4.10 |
| Colorado Rockies | 13-22 | .260 | .327 | .403 | 238 | 5.13 |
That’s right, the D-Backs are only a game back of the Rockies for worst team in the National League West during the time period. No team in the division has done much though.
Even in the midst of a horrific slide the Diamondbacks remain atop the NL West at 34-30. For how long is the question. Luckily for the Diamondbacks they play in the mild mild NL West so 80 wins might just get it done (although at this pace that might even be a stretch).
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Posted by Greg Esposito
Co-founder of AzSportsHub.com. Greg provides the sometimes serious, sometimes sarcastic and always interesting takes on Arizona sports (at least we hope). Whether it’s on In The Zona with Matt or in his column Greg reports, rants and raves about whatever is in the news for Arizona Sports.
http://www.azsportshub.com/author/espo
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