D-Backs, Dodgers Battle In NL West

If the Arizona Diamondbacks were in either the NL East or the NL Central division they’d currently be in fourth place. However, the struggling D-Backs are in the NL West, which means they sit in first place in a division heading out of this year’s All-Star break.

Arizona looked like the team to beat in the National League early in the season, but things fell off quickly for the franchise to the point that they open up the second half of their schedule one game below the .500 mark. Those doing any baseball betting recently know the D-Backs are just 5-7 in July, and they managed to win only 11 times during June; wagering using Arizona’s baseball odds has not been too lucrative of late.

The Diamondbacks’ most recent series saw them drop two of three games to the Phillies on the road. Starting pitchers Brandon Webb, Randy Johnson, and Doug Davis all turned in decent efforts in that three-game set, but only Johnson managed to earn a win. Those results put Arizona at 47-48 on the season, but they still were in first place.

And that’s because their chief NL West rival, the Dodgers, lost three of four games to the Marlins in their last series before the All-Star break. Los Angeles snapped a three-game skid with a 9-1 win over Florida last Sunday. The Dodgers struggled earlier in the season, but they’ve been coming on lately (8-5 in July) and now sit at 46-49 on the year.

So this weekend’s series pitting the Dodgers against the Diamondbacks in Arizona will decide first place in the NL West – at least for now. Friday’s series opener gets going at 9:40pm ET, with Saturday’s game at 8:10pm, and Sunday’s finale beginning at 4:10pm.

The Diamondbacks and Dodgers have met five times already this season, with Arizona holding a 4-1 series edge. The D-Backs swept all three games at home from April 7 to April 9, and the two teams then split a short set in Los Angeles on April 23 and April 24.

D-Backs starter Dan Haren (8-5, 2.72 ERA) pitched twice against the Dodgers in April, going 1-1 in those games. Haren got the win on April 7 after holding the opposition to a single earned run on six hits over six innings (with five strikeouts), and he was then tagged with a loss on April 23 when he gave up five earned runs over just 4 2-3 innings.

Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (9-8, 3.25 ERA) has already been beaten twice by Arizona this season. The righthander was knocked around for four earned runs over just 2 1-3 innings of work in his start on April 8, and he followed that up by surrendering five earned runs over six innings in a loss on April 24 – although he did fan 12 on that day.

Leading the way on offense for Los Angeles over the first half of the season were outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, and catcher Russell Martin. Shortstop Rafael Furcal and outfielder Juan Pierre are still sitting on the team’s disabled list, while outfielder Andruw Jones has been a complete disaster since heading to the west coast.

Third baseman Mark Reynolds was the Diamondbacks’ surprise home run leader with 19 at the break, but a slump in July has seen his batting average sink to .249. Outfielder Chris Young has frustrated the team with his .228 average, and he’s managed to steal just five bags so far this year (he had 27 last year). Outfielder Eric Byrnes is on the DL.