Alright, forget that nonsense I wrote previously about the National League West race being one of the most intriguing in baseball down the stretch. The entire division has turned even more laughable in the past week, with both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers bumbling on the baseball diamond. The Diamondbacks are 12-13 in the month of August, and have picked up a game and a half since the beginning of the month. In case you’re wondering, no team has ever won a division in the Major Leagues with a losing record. Since the comissioner Bud Selig instituted the 3-division format in each league, the division winners with the worst records are the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals went 83-79 and won the Central (and eventually the World Series) and the 2005 San Diego Padres who won the west by 5 games with an 82-80 record. The 1994 Texas Rangers were 52-62 and in first place in the A.L. West when the strike hit and wiped out the rest of the ‘94 campaign and the beginning of the ‘95 season. I’m just saying, there’s a distinct possibility that a sub-.500 team could win this division.

Here’s a closer look at both teams…

Los Angeles Dodgers (65-69, 2nd place in NL West, 3.5 games behind Arizona)

Manager: Joe Torre (1st year with Dodgers, 65-69)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: James Loney, .300

Runs: Matt Kemp, 75

Hits: Matt Kemp & James Loney, 147

HR: Andre Ethier, 17

RBI: Matt Kemp, 66

SB: Juan Pierre, 38

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Derek Lowe, 174.2

Wins: Chad Billingsley, 12

ERA: Chad Billingsley, 3.15

Strikeouts: Chad Billingsley, 171

Saves: Takashi Saito, 17

Bottom Line: The Dodgers make their last stop on what has become a nightmarish 3-city, 10-game roadie. They are 0-7 to this point on the trip, including a sweep at the hands of the worst team in baseball, the Washington Nationals. They have been outscored 45-12 on the road trip, and had a two-game stretch in Philadelphia where they had 26 hits, and scored a total of 2 runs. Without question, the biggest acquisition at the trade deadline for any team was the Dodgers getting Manny Ramirez from Boston. Ramirez has put up great numbers in Dodger Blue, hitting 7 homers, driving in 23 runs and batting .375 over 96 at bats. But L.A. is just 11-16 since the trade, and are playing their worst baseball of the season. Even more puzzling is that this current losing skid comes on the heels of a stretch where the Dodgers had 3 dramatic walk-off victories in the span of five days that started to make them look like a team of destiny.

Pitching wise, things haven’t been too peachy for the Dodgers lately either. Their staff ERA during the current 7-game losing streak is 6.59. Greg Maddux was acquired from San Diego in hopes of solidifying the rotation, and he’s been bad in his 2 starts, going 0-2 with an ERA of 7.36. Promising rookie left hander Clayton Kershaw was shelled Thursday night in DC, giving up 5 earned runs in just 2 1/3 innings, and was optioned to AAA Las Vegas immediately following the game and AA pitcher Scott Elbert was called up. Normal closer Takashi Saito hasn’t pitched since July 12, but is expected to start throwing off a mound soon in hopes of bolstering the Dodgers’ bullpen for the stretch run. Jonathan Broxton has filled in, but is only 10 of 17 on save opportunities.

Los Angeles’ pitchersvs. Arizona

Tonight: Hiroki Kuroda (2008: 7-9, 3.87 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 1-1, 4.80 ERA)

Saturday: Chad Billingsley (2008: 12-10, 3.15 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 4-4, 3.91 ERA)

Sunday: Derek Lowe (2008: 10-11, 3.81 ERA; career vs. Diamondbacks: 4-7, 4.31 ERA)

Arizona Diamondbacks (68-65, 1st place in NL West, 3.5 games ahead of Los Angeles)

Manager: Bob Melvin (4th year with Diamondbacks, 311-309)

Offensive Leaders:

AVG: Orlando Hudson, .305

Runs: Mark Reynolds, 81

Hits: Stephen Drew, 139

HR: Mark Reynolds, 25

RBI: Mark Reynolds, 88

SB: Chris Young, 10

Pitching Leaders:

INN: Brandon Webb, 188.2

Wins: Brandon Webb, 19

ERA: Brandon Webb, 2.96

Strikeouts: Dan Haren, 171

Saves: Brandon Lyon, 25

Bottom Line: The Diamondbacks just got done losing their second straight series, and again were able to pick up ground on the free-falling Dodgers. That’s really hard to do. Things could not have been worse for Arizona in San Diego. The Diamondbacks had their three best pitchers throwing against a team they led by 20 games in the standings that had also lost 7 in a row going into the series. We all know what happened. All 3 Diamondbacks’ starters lost, and two of them actually pitched well. In the first game of the series, Jon Rauch allowed a 2-run homer to Jody Gerut in the bottom of the 9th, and in the final game on Wednesday, Chad Qualls gave up two runs in the 8th to seal the deal for San Diego.

Hitting has been inconsistent as well. Stephen Drew, who had been red-hot, had an 0 for San Diego trip. Conor Jackson has cooled off substantially, going just 2 for 11 in San Diego, and is hitting only .221 in August. The Diamondbacks’ offense is very streaky, and right now is riding a cold streak into the biggest series of the year. All kidding aside, for as bad as Arizona has been in the last week, if they can take advantage of the struggling Dodgers this weekend, they’ll make their path to a second straight division title that much easier.

Due to the day off on Thursday, Yusmeiro Petit gets skipped in the rotation, and Bob Melvin will go with Doug Davis in the opener. This also means that Brandon Webb will get another crack at his 20th win Sunday in the series finale.

Arizona’s pitchers vs. Los Angeles:

Tonight: Doug Davis (2008: 5-8, 4.63 ERA; career vs. Dodgers: 4-3, 2.98 ERA)

Saturday: Dan Haren (2008: 14-6, 3.10 ERA; career vs. Dodgers: 3-1, 2.96 ERA)

Sunday: Brandon Webb (2008: 19-5, 2.96 ERA; career vs. Dodgers: 10-3, 2.54 ERA)

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