Down The Stretch : NL

Its taken me a while to post this but here are my thoughts on who the movers and shakers in the NL are.

NL EAST

New York Mets

Well, I doubt anyone thinks they won't make the playoffs or win the East. The line-up has been superb with Jose Reyes looking the business at the top of the order, David Wright coming of age and my pick for NL MVP, Carlos Beltran, just looking like the most complete player in the game, but then we knew that anyway.

The problem for the Mets have almost come out of nowhere and its the rotation where Pedro has suddenly taken his customary sabatical to the DL and Tom Glavine's season (and career) looking under threat with a possible blood clot in his pitching arm.

The pen looks solid but would you be happy going into the playoffs with Steve Trachsel as your ace? If Pedro and Glavine are good for the playoffs then this lot are a good bet to go to the Series but without them they could get consumed by the likes of LA and St Lou.

Philadelphia Phillies

The line-up is still great, even without Abreu, and you can be sure Ryan Howard will get the odd vote on MVP ballots but the pitching is still Brett 'the wife beater' Myers and a bunch of guys held together by old chewing gum and damp twigs. It says a lot about the depth of the NL this year that this team is playing to the form of a .500 team but could still make the playoffs.

The Rest

Even the great John Schuerholtz and Bobby Cox have been able to keep the Braves in the race this year. The pen has been awful most of the year but has improved with Wickman and Baez coming in but even they can't help the rotation which has been Smoltz and a bunch of so-so guys. Chuck James has been ok in his rookie year but how disappointed am I in Tim Hudson? A 4.77 ERA is not good enough for a player of his ability.

Joe Girardi should easily be the NL manager of the year after his efforts with the best AAA club in the country. Dan Uggla and Hanley Ramirez look like being a very productive middle infield for years to come and both will be in voters minds for Rookie of the Year and what does it say about Scott Olsen, Ricky Nolasco and Josh Johnson that they've been able to keep the Fish close to .500 in their rookie seasons with Dontrelle Willis having a down year?

Poor Frank Robinson has had a tough year in Washington with almost all his set-up guys in the pen injured most of the year. With even a few of the likes of Ayala and Eischen available things might have been different and lets not even talk about John Patterson and how his absense has effected the rotation.

Alfonso Soriano has had an amazing year and if he were A-Rod he might have a chance at winning the MVP this year (wink wink) but Ryan Zimmerman was my pick for the RoY before the year started and he still gets my nod now. He's up there in most offensive catergories amongst rookies and there are few players who can compare to him defensively at third base. If it weren't for Scott Rolen, Zimmerman would be a lock to win Gold Gloves for the next decade.

NL CENTRAL

St Louis Cardinals

Albert Pujols was on pace to shatter every record in the book until he got injured and while he was on the DL no one could claw the Cards back so its hard to see anyone doing that now. There are still issues with regards to the rotation with only Carpenter really showing anything. Anthony Reyes is doing well but they need their veterans to start producing.

Trust me, the pen is getting better after a horrible start to the year for Izzy.

Cincinatti Reds

Props to rookie GM Wayne Krivsky who has found himself inexplicably at the front of the Wild Card race and has made a whole bunch of great pick ups to boost the bullpen and hasn't really given up much (lets face it, they didn't have much to give away anyway). And as for picking up Brandon Phillips...

Even with Bronson Arroyo coming back down to Earth, he and Harang look a very good one-two punch in the rotation and you know exactly what you're going to get with Junior and Dunn in your line-up. This team could well have more surprises in them.

The Rest

Yes, I am writing off Houston. Yes, even with Jason Hirsh joining an already great rotation and the addition of Aubrey Huff and the red hot Luke Scott and the incredible mediocrity in the Wild Card race. I just don't see who is going to step up and be the guy who takes them to the next level.

The Brewers still seem to have the guys to actually make the push and finally being able to call on Ben Sheets every fifth day should help (once he gets into the swing of things) but with Weeks done for the year and J.J. Hardy on the DL it takes much of the dynamic of the line-up and they probably have too much to do.

Hey everyone, guess what? Thats right Kerry Wood and Mark Prior have been injured most of the year and Juan Pierre has been a disappointment and the Cubs are nowhere me once again!! Who'd have seen that coming?

The Pirates pitching hasn't been that bad this year with Zach Duke and Ian Snell doing well and Paul Maholm rebounding from a truly wretched start to the year and its a shame that the D has been very bad and even Jason Bay hasn't been able to kick start an anaemic offence.

NL WEST

Los Angeles Dodgers

I thought this team were a year away but right now they are my favourites to go all the way to the Series in the NL.

The depth is incredible with the vast array of strong veterans and talented youngsters throughout and even Nomar and J.D. Drew actually healthy. Andre Ethier is a good shout as RoY and I've said for a couple of years that Russell Martin is the future of this organisation.

What a pick up Greg Maddux is looking too. You know he'll be of tremendous benefit to Chad Billingsley.

The only possible weakness could be the bullpen which has suffered some injuries to key guys but thats not to say they aren't a solid group.

Arizona Diamondbacks

There is no more compelling team in baseball right now for me than Arizona as they have set loose a whole bunch of their blue chippers. Carlos Quentin has FINALLY got the call up and along with Stephen Drew and Alberto Callapso who could be THE double play combo in the NL for a while (I apologise for liberal use of capital letters).

Alas I don't think they will make the playoffs with Brandon Webb a good bet right now for the NL Cy and he's all alone, more or less, in that pitching staff. Livan Hernandez seems to be looking more like himself of late but the bullpen is less than inspiring.

San Diego Padres

What has happened to Jake Peavy this year? He and his chums in the rotation have looked very average this year, even with the Petco effect in place. Of course Linebrink and Hoffman continue to nail it down in the pen but you'd expect more from the front end of that staff.

Offence? We no need no stinking offence. Of course Mike Piazza has had a bit of a renaisance offensively and Josh Barfield has really added a spark but they are never going to light it up with half the games in that cavernous park of theirs.

Colorado Rockies

At the beginning of the year I said there was a lot of pitching talent on this team but because of the Coors effect it would all come to nought. Right now Colorado has given up fewer earned runs than any team in the NL and even with sub-.500 records, both Jeff Francis and Jason Jennings deserve Cy Young considerations for what they've done in that uniform as they both have ERA's easily under 4.00. Now if only they could get some consistent offence...

San Francisco Giants

The defence and pitching has been solid but the only reason you can really say they are still in contention is because you never can tell if Barry Bonds will explode or not. Admittedly he looks a shadow of his former self this year and has a whole lotta stuff hanging over him off the field but he's still one of the few guys who can win games by himself. Right now there are plenty better teams than San Francisco.