This Week In The West: Arizona in a tailspin

With seven weeks of the MLB season in the books, let’s break down the week that was for the NL West and the seven days coming up.

Arizona Diamondbacks: 1st Place (25-21, – GB)

Last 10 Games: 1-9

This Week: MIL (3), @NYM (3), 1-5

Arizona lost two of three at home to Milwaukee before traveling to New York and getting swept by the struggling Mets.

Just when the Diamondbacks were set to get back one of their stars from the disabled list, another one goes down with an injury.

After six weeks without their All-Star third baseman, the DBacks welcomed Jake Lamb to the lineup on Friday night just days after losing their most productive hitter, A.J. Pollock, to a left thumb fracture for 4-8 weeks. Steven Souza was also snake-bitten by an injury this week, going down with a strained pectoral on Friday night; he’s currently day-to-day.

Paul Goldschmidt continues to underperform as his strikeout rate has increased by nearly 40% this season over his career average. 

Pitching has been carrying the club, largely due to their outstanding bullpen. As of Sunday morning, their relievers rank tops in the majors in ERA and WHIP, and 2nd in H/9 and HR/9. Led by closer Brad Boxberger, five of their firemen have an ERA of 2.63 or better.

The Week Ahead: @MIL (3), @OAK (3)

Arizona will visit Milwaukee to play a Brewers team that is 8-2 against NL West teams, then log even more frequent flyer miles by traveling to Oakland, who are three games over .500 and enter the week with a four-game winning streak.

Colorado Rockies: 2nd Place (25-22, 0.5 GB)

Last 10 Games: 4-6

This Week: @SD (2), SF (4), 3-3

Nine months after getting released by the Rockies, starting pitcher Jordan Lyles nearly threw a perfect game against his former team. Colorado responded by winning their next 2 games against San Francisco before dropping the next two in the city by the bay. On Sunday, the Rockies sat tied for the NL West lead when the DBacks lost to the Mets; looking poised to take the top with a 2-1 lead in the fourth, the bullpen blew numerous opportunities to close the door on the Giants.

Colorado continues to simultaneously play well on the road and frustrate its fanbase. Gerardo Parra had another productive week, going 6-for-19 and helping the Rockies pull ahead in the sixth inning against the Padres on Monday with a 3-run homer.

D.J. LeMahieu hit the DL with a left thumb sprain on Monday and the second base replacements were serviceable in his stead, going 5-for-21 with 3 RBI between Daniel Castro and Pat Valaika.

Charlie Blackmon has slowly emerged from a brief slump and Ian Desmond provided four RBI in Friday’s victory.

Trevor Story had another solid week and continues to lead NL shortstops in home runs, runs batted in, slugging percentage and OPS.

Kyle Freeland had another great start and won his 3rd straight, compiling a 1.35 ERA, 0.95 WHIP and a better than 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio over the past two weeks. Adam Ottavino (10 holds, 2nd in NL) and Wade Davis (16 saves, 1st in NL) continue to provide lockdown performances at the back end of Rockies’ wins.

The Week Ahead: @LAD (3), CIN (3)

The Dodgers are just 8-13 at home and the Rockies are 18-11 on the road. The Reds have been much improved as late, winning 7 of 9 games between May 8-16 after winning only 7 games in the months of March and April combined.

San Francisco Giants: 3rd Place (24-24, 2.0 GB)

Last 10 Games: 5-5

This Week: CIN (3), COL (4), 4-3

San Francisco started their seven-game homestand with two wins against Cincinnati until Colorado came to AT&T Park and took the first two games. The Giants bounced back to grab the last two and kept themselves in the race for the NL West lead.

The Giants continue to get contributions from Spring Training non-roster invitee Derek Holland, who made two starts this week and went 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA in 12.1 IP. Chris Stratton pitched poorly (6.30 ERA), but went the minimum 5 innings twice to go 2-0 in his two starts at home. Hunter Strickland continues to look good closing games while Golden High School’s Mark Melancon recovers from a right elbow strain.

Brandon Crawford went 13-for-25 (.520) this week, raising his average from .263 to .302. Brandon Belt had another strong week, batting 12-for-27 with five homers and 11 RBI. He’s on pace to have his best season since his lone All-Star Game appearance in 2016.

The Week Ahead: @HOU (2), @CHC (3)

San Francisco is in the midst of a 21-game stretch against teams with winning records: Colorado, Houston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Arizona and Washington. They’ll face Gerrit Cole and Justin Verlander to start the week in Houston.

If the Giants can’t play close to .500 baseball during this span, their season could go into a tailspin before Bumgarner and Cueto get a chance to return from the DL and salvage the season for them.

Los Angeles Dodgers: 4th Place (20-26, 5.0 GB)

Last 10 Games: 4-6

This Week: @MIA (3), @WAS (3), 4-2

When the Dodgers lost the second game of their series against the Marlins, they dropped to 1-8 since Walker Buehler and company’s no-hitter in Monterrey, Mexico. In true NL West fashion, they went on to win the next 4 games, including both ends of a doubleheader against Washington.

On Saturday morning, the Dodgers sat 8.5 games out of first place and had gone 2-8 in their previous 10 games; less than 48 hours later, they had themselves a four-game winning streak were only 5.0 games out of first.

Much like Arizona, Los Angeles welcomed back an injured third baseman and placed another key player on the disabled list. Justin Turner made his 2018 debut on Tuesday after missing the first six weeks of the season with a left wrist fracture. Rich Hill threw two pitches Saturday night before leaving the game and hitting the DL due to his ongoing blister issue.

Yasiel Puig hit his first homer of the season last Sunday and proceeded to hit three more during the week. Max Muncy, the 2018 version of Chris Taylor, drove in six runs while playing first base, third base and left field.

The starting pitching has continued to be effective in the absence of Clayton Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu. Alex Wood gave up three earned runs over 12 innings against Miami and Washington and went 1-1 in the process.

The Week Ahead: COL (3), SD (3)

Los Angeles is just 11-19 against right-handed starters, but have won their last three against the likes of Scherzer and Strasburg. Due to Friday’s rainout against Washington, Wednesday’s starter is undetermined against LHP Kyle Freeland and may need to be called up from their Triple-A affiliate in Oklahoma City.

San Diego Padres: 5th Place (20-28, 6.0 GB)

Last 10 Games: 6-4

This Week: COL (2), @PIT (4), 4-2

Lyles gave the last place Padres a jolt of life this week, coming five outs away from the franchise’s first perfect game or no-hitter. They flew cross-country to Pittsburgh and took three of four from the Pirates, coming from behind to win twice.

The Padres have won six of their last eight behind some solid run production and quality innings from their bullpen. Christian Villanueva hit for three homers and 6 RBI while Eric Hosmer drove in seven. Since getting called up from El Paso on April 29, leadoff hitter Travis Jankowski is hitting .359/.438/.469 with seven stolen bases in his 19 games with San Diego.

Brad Hand saved three games this week and Craig Stammen’s two holds pushed him into the Top 5 in the NL.

The Week Ahead: @WAS (3), @LAD (3)

If the Padres can climb out of the NL West basement with a solid week, they could stay there for an extended period as their next seven games are against the worst teams in the National League (Marlins and Reds) while the Dodgers have 13 straight against teams playing over .500.