It wasn’t so long ago, folks, that the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies were facing each other in the NLCS for the right to play the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.  In fact, just seven months ago, these two teams (along with the Phillies) were being hailed the prizes of the National League, full of youth, talent, and excitement.  As the 2008 season has unfolded, however, both these teams have stumbled.  But the struggles haven’t remained within the two organizations; the Dodgers and Padres have both played well below expectations and the San Francisco Giants are, by my considerations, the only team exceeding expectations.  So why is this?

Arizona Diamondbacks. Lets start with the division leaders (barely), the Diamondbacks.  Floating at an even .500 mark of 40-40, the Diamondbacks lead the piss-poor division despite winning just 9 of their last 24 games in the month of June.  Brandon Webb and Dan Haren have both been fantastic, leading 11-4 and 8-4 records respectively and captaining the rotation ahead of the Big Unit, Micah Owings, and Doug Davis.  Everyone has been on Micah Owings jock for his ability to hit…but I’m on his ass for his lackluster pitching performance this year.  Owings ERA is north of five and you have to go back to May 25th for a start in which he allowed less than three runs, May 14th for a start in which he didn’t allow a run.

The essence of their success last year, timely hitting, has been lacking this season.  Super-talent Justin Upton has struggled since his incredible start to the year.  Eric Byrnes, the catalyst for much of the Diamondbacks offense, has struggled this year, having his average dip to .210 since coming off an injury in which he tore both of his quad muscles.  How is that even possible?  Anyways, Byrnes was hitting a whopping 100 points higher last season at this point.  Don’t get too caught up in Chris Young’s power numbers; he’s hitting a dismal .230 and his OBP of .300 is concerning, especially for a leadoff hitter.

Los Angeles Dodgers. After the Dodgers acquired Joe Torre from the Yankees, many people (a few of our writers included) were anxious to print playoff tickets and even World Series tickets for this team.  Torre is a proven winner!!11  Well as it turns out, Torre doesn’t do the pitching or the hitting.  That responsibility belongs to disappointments such as Brad Penny and Andruw Jones, among others.  Before going on the DL with a strained ego mild tendonitis, Penny was an incredible 5-9 with an ERA of 5.88.  This is the same guy who was lights out for the first half in both 2006 and 2007.  Someone apparently turned the light on for Penny in 2008, and it’s blinding his ability to pitch.  Derek Lowe is turning in his usual performance, a mediocre record with a surprisingly good ERA.  The youth movement of arms has been hit and miss, Hiroki Kuroda has looked brilliant at times but has also been tagged a few times.  Clayton Kershaw is still looking for his first major league win and Chad Billingsley, at 6-7, has been the best of the young arms.

How about that Andruw Jones?  Boy, isn’t he worth that two year $36 million contract?  The MVP of the Dodgers season so far has been the meniscus tear in Jones knee.  When a guy who makes that much money hits just .165 with 2 home runs, theres a problem.  The youth movement of Ethier, Kemp, and Loney has been mildly successful with all three putting together nice seasons.  The Dodgers problem has been the abundance of position players log-jamming the lineup and making it difficult for Torre to play all three in the same lineup at the same time.  Thus, having guys such as Nomar and Andruw on the DL is a blessing for the Azul.

Colorado Rockies. Rocktober!  Remember?  No?  Remember how the Rockies were drawing 25,000 fans a game in mid July last year?  Remember when they were a mediocre team before they got as hot as I’ve ever seen a baseball team get?  Remember when everyone in the media and in the baseball world forgot about that during their run in September and it took a beat down from the Boston Red Sox to bring everyone back to reality?  I do.  Here’s a surprise for you, the Rockies can’t pitch.  Not like that’s ever been a problem for their organization in the past or anything, right?  Jeff Francis has been garbage this year, “leading” the Rockies staff despite having a 3-7 record with an ERA over five.  Aaron Cook has been the lone bright spot in the Rockies rotation, winning 10 games thus far and maintaining an ERA under four despite pitching in a band box.  Go ahead and throw Manny Corpas’ name into the bag of pitchers who have been flashes in the pan in the closers role.  It didn’t take him long to surrender his closers role this year, but then again when you have an ERA close to 6 and your walks to strikeouts ratio is close to 1:1, that happens.

At the plate, the Rockies have been devastated with injuries.  Signing Troy Tulowitzki to a lucrative contract was a mistake after one good year and the Rockies, who just got Tulowitzki back from an injury that sidelined him for the better part of two months, have learned that.  It’s not like he was being productive even when he wasn’t hurt; Tulo is hitting just .148 in his 128 at-bats this season.  Superstar Matt Holliday has also had his issues with injuries, missing a week or two at the beginning of the month.  Holliday is still raking the ball, but his power numbers and RBI’s are both down this year after his phenomenal 2007 campaign.

San Diego Padres. Quite possibly the biggest disappointment of them all, the Swinging Friars are currently 17 games under .500 and in dead last in the NL West.  Some people might point at the injuries this team has suffered in the starting rotation with Peavy missing several starts and Chris Young still not recovered after taking a ball to the face off the bat of Albert Pujols.  With this team, pitching isn’t the problem.  Jake Peavy is still putting up Cy Young-esque numbers and Josh Banks has been a nice surprise after coming over from Toronto in a deal nobody knew about.  With this team, it’s the hitting.

It’s tough to win games when you roll out five or six black holes in your lineup each and every night.  That’s what the 2008 Padres are all about.  It starts with their outfield, undoubtedly the worst in baseball.  Jody Gerut was somewhere in the minors last year and, by default, has earned a starting job in center.  In left, rookie Chase Headley was finally called up after two months of Padres brass cock-teasing fans with his numbers in the minors and an unwillingness to bring him up.  Before Headley, it was a collection of misfits (Scott Hairston and Paul McAnulty) who couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat.  Say goodbye to Khalil Greene’s trade value; Spicoli’s average is at a dismal .226 and, even after a week in which he found his “power stroke”, his numbers aren’t close to productive.  Michael Barrett is hitting .179 and making four million dollars; a ray of hope to a lot of people in the world and an example that you don’t have to be good at what you do to make a bunch of money.  The lone bright spot in this lineup is Adrian Gonzalez who leads the NL in RBI’s and has 21 home runs.  I’ll go ahead and do the advanced scouting on the Padres for all the other NL opponents right now, don’t pitch to Adrian Gonzalez.

Well, there you go.  A handful of reasons why the four teams who were supposed to win this division have zero interest in doing it in 2008.  You’ll notice I didn’t run down the Giants; like I mentioned earlier, the Giants have been mildly successful this year given their expectations.  Right now, Frisco is playing with house money and they’ve done quite well so far.