NL West Roundup: Seriously, The Dodgers Are Rolling

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The Colorado Rockies just put the finishing touches on their equivalent of a huge winning streak this season by sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates. All the Los Angeles Dodgers did was follow a series win against the St. Louis Cardinals with a sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, arguably the class of the American League. That just begins to explain why the Rockies, once within a handful of games of first place, are now over 12 games out.

Here’s what else happened in the NL West on Sunday.

Reds 3, Padres 2

In the bottom of the 13th Joey Votto came to the plate in a 2-2 game with one out and the bases loaded. This prompted yet another discussion of whether or not Votto “walks too much,” but in this case it led to the whimsical aside that “a walk would be just fine here, amirite?” Either way, Votto proved that he is, in fact, great at baseball (whether you think he is “too selective” or not) by banging a walk-off sacrifice fly to left field. In the loss, the Padres spoiled an outstanding outing by the recently acquired Ian Kennedy (8 IP, 3 H, 2 ER).

Orioles 10, Giants 2

Entering the 6th inning of this game, the Giants were ahead of the Orioles 2-0 in what was seemingly a typical AT&T Park kind of game. Then it became an atypical AT&T Park game as the Orioles ran off 10 unanswered runs from that point on. It’s still hard to even get your head around it, but the fact is that this represents the Giants’ season more than their success in low-scoring games in the past. That’s why, shockingly, they are in last place in the division.

Two other things happened in this game. Barry Zito pitched the 9th inning, further confusing the already confusing arc of his Giants career. And then a fan did something that is probably offensive and that prompted Adam Jones to set the Twitter world abuzz. See for yourself.

Not good. Not good at all.

Mets 9, Diamondbacks 5

The Diamondbacks lost two out of three, at home, to the New York Mets. In the process on Sunday they lost outfielder Cody Ross to a nasty hip injury. They are going the wrong way while the Dodgers storm the other direction. Former Rockies’ great Andrew Brown knocked a key home run in this one.

Dodgers 8, Rays 2

Speaking of former Rockies, Mark Ellis went ballistic in this one (and on a national stage, no less). The second baseman went 3-for-5 with a home run and three driven in. Oh, and Clayton Kershaw went eight innings and struck out eight. His season ERA now sits at 1.88.

Monday’s Probables

Padres at Rockies – Edinson Volquez (8-9, 5.44 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (10-6, 3.30 ERA)

Mets at Dodgers – Jenrry Mejia (1-1, 1.96 ERA) vs. Ricky Nolasco (8-9, 3.65 ERA)

Orioles at Diamondbacks – Scott Feldman (9-9, 4.10 ERA) vs. Wade Miley (3.56 ERA)

Giants – OFF

The Standings

Dodgers – 67-50

Diamondbacks – 59-57 (7.5 GB)

Rockies – 55-64 (13 GB)

Padres – 53-64 (14 GB)

Giants – 52-65 (15 GB)