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2009 MLB National League West Notebook
Not only is Arizona suffering through a miserable season, but the Diamondbacks are really suffering at home.
Before the weekend interleague series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim – the final interleague series for the season – the Diamondbacks are 2-10-1 in home series this year. They have not won a series at Chase Field since they won two out of three against the Chicago Cubs April 27-29. Hence, a 15-25 home record.
“I can't put my finger on why we're not winning more games," first baseman Mark Reynolds told reporters. "We just need things to click, and they're just not clicking. That's the way our whole season's been going."
To make matters worse, the ballclub learned it would be without outfielder Eric Byrnes for the next 4-8 weeks with a broken left hand.
COLORADO
Is there no slowing down the Rockies? Since they changed managers from Clint Hurdle to Jim Tracy, the Rockies went from a team playing out the string to a team that is seriously thinking about the Wild Card.
Prior to their series against Oakland, the Rockies had won 17 of their last 20 games. Many insiders say players are now comfortable with their roles, players trust Tracy to put them in positions to succeed and the pitchers know Tracy has their back.
Obviously, the Rockies cannot keep up this pace. However, they will get a good measure as to how far they have come with a three game series in Los Angeles against the Dodgers early next week.
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SAN DIEGO
Tony Gwynn Jr. made his father, Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn, a proud papa on June 26 when he hit his first major league home run against the Texas Rangers.
Gwynn Jr. delivered a leadoff home run on a 3-2 pitch against Texas right-hander Kevin Millwood at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
The younger Gwynn has a lot to live up because of the extraordinary career his father had. The elder Gwynn is now the head baseball coach at San Diego State.
For the season, junior is holding his own as he is hitting .337. Through his first 104 at bats with the Padres, he has walked 16 times and struck out 20 times.
LOS ANGELES
It’s kind of a given that a team will lose three consecutive games at any point of the season. Well, not the Dodgers.
Through their first 73 contests, the Dodgers have not lost three straight games. They are the only team in the big leagues to avoid such a spell.
However, they were on the edge after dropping the last two in Chicago against the White Sox before opening a home series against Seattle.
The last time the Dodgers went this deep into a season without losing was the 1965 World Championship team.
SAN FRANCISCO
If the Giants had their way, they would like to play all of their games outside of the National League West.
For the season, they are 24-16 outside of their division but 15-16 against their division opponents. Plus, the Giants did pretty well in interleague play as they went 9-6 including a sweep of Texas.
The Wild Card leaders at the start of the weekend were in a stretch of playing 14 of 20 outside of the division.
By Kevin Lonnquist
MLBcenter.com Staff Writer
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