The Mild Mild West

One of my temps has the profound misfortune right now of being a Padre fan. After a wildly entertaining 2007 which saw the Pads and the Rockies tie for the NL Wild Card (with the D-Backs winning the division by a half-game!) things were really looking up for the NL West in 2008, especially when you considered the Dodgers were bringing in (cue sinister music) Andruw Jones Corpse. Yep, the ol' NL West really looked like it was on the way up, maybe it didn't boast the star power of the AL East but it projected as a four-horse race that wouldn't be settled until the final week of the season.

And then they started playing. Nearly one-third of the way through the season it looks like the D-Backs are the class of the division but even they are only 5 games over the break-even mark and have struggled since their blistering start. The three West Coast teams have been a colossal disappointment, primarily from an offensive standpoint; below is your all-California team based on the highest VORP per position, courtesy of baseballprospectus.com.

C-Russell Martin (LA)
1B-Adrian Gonzalez (SD)
2B-Ray Durham (SF)
3B-Blake DeWitt (LA)
SS-Rafael Furcal (LA)* Currently on DL
LF- Brian Giles (SD)
CF-Aaron Rowand (SF)
RF-Matt Kemp (LA)

That's not exactly Murder's Row, is it? By way of comparison, the Philadelphia Phillies infield (plus Catcher) ALONE has more HRs. The West has had the well deserved rep as a pitcher's league for the past 5 years and this year has been no different with Webb, Haren, Lincecum and Peavy all putting up excellent numbers but where are the sticks? The fact that Ray Durham is best second baseman of the bunch is flat out terrifying.