NL West Year In Review

Off Base will take a look back at the 2010 season season with our own brand of science nonsense. Today we'll look at the NL West.

1. San Francisco Giants
Highlights: Let's see, where should we start? The Giants won the West with a 92-70 record. Buster Posey emerged as a budding superstar when he was finally called up. Brian Wilson turned out to be quite the weirdo colorful personality. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be one of his "loser friends." Madison Bumgarner looks like he'll be a front of the rotation starter again. Oh, and uh, they won their first World Series.

Lowlights: Well, Tim Lincecum won't win his third straight Cy Young. Kung Fu Panda wasn't good at the plate and might have actually eaten a few Panda Express franchises. I lost a slap bet because Cody Ross hit a home run in the World Series. That was more of a lowlight for me, I suppose.

Hot Stove Outlook: Try to convince Aubrey Huff to sign a one year deal. Maybe try to get another outfielder. Try to trade Barry Zito and Aaron Rowand. Haha, good one. Figure out how long to leave Brandon Belt in Triple A before calling him up next year.

2. San Diego Padres
Highlights: The Pads finished second in the West with a 90-72 instead of finishing last like most people projected. Mat Latos looks like an ace in the making despite, tragically, only having one "T" in his name. There is a secret underground factory where quality bullpen arms are manufactured. They play in SAN DIEGO.

Lowlights: A September collapse left them looking in from the outside of the playoff window. They employ and play David Eckstein.

Hot Stove Outlook: Brace yourselves, Pads fans. Trade Adrian Gonzalez for a boatload of high quality prospects from the Red Sox.

3. Colorado Rockies
Highlights: Troy Tulowitski is really freaking good. Ubaldo Jimenez through the first no-hitter in Rockies history. Carlos Gonzalez became a monster hitter (at home) and contended for the NL Triple Crown for a while. The Rox got off to another one of their hot September runs toward the playoffs.

Lowlights: The Rox stumbled their way through the end of September and missed the playoffs by nine games. It was partially due to Jim Tracy, who mismanaged the team all over the place. They're still paying Todd Helton a ton of cash.

Hot Stove Outlook: Well, they declined the option on Miguel Olivo and seemingly have zero interest in giving Chris Ianetta the full time job. So a catcher is probably a priority and I've heard (on Twitter) that they like Mike Napoli who the Angels might be looking to move. The Rox will also try to extend Jorge de la Rosa.

4. Los Angeles Dodgers
Highlights: They managed to somehow lure Zach Lee away from LSU.

Lowlights: The McCourt divorce was the biggest story of their season. Kemp hit 28 home runs but his .249/.310/.450 was a disappointment. The catcher formerly known as Russell Martin had a .306 wOBA.

Hot Stove Outlook: I'm sure they'll bid on some big names with money they aren't allowed to spend. Crazy Matt Kemp rumors will be floated around. I will continue to be angry with the Dodgers while watching Jordan Jefferson and Jarrett Lee play quarterback for LSU.

5. Arizona Diamondbacks
Highlights: They led the world in strikeouts. Oh, batters' strikeouts. Perhaps more of a lowlight then?

Lowlights: Everybody underperformed and Mark Reynolds had over three times as many strikeouts than the team had wins. They finished with the third worst record in baseball at 65-97.

Hot Stove Outlook: Part ways with Brandon Webb. Then blow everything up? Figure out who to draft with the third pick next year.

BBA NL Connie Mack Award Ballot

Baseball's award season is upon us and we finally have a vote that counts for something this year. We're proud members of the Baseball Blogger Alliance and they've been kind enough to give us ballots. The only thing the BBWAA ever gave us was food poisoning that time they had us over for a dinner party. Today we'll be unveiling our NL Connie Mack Ballot for manager of the year.

1. Bud Black
The Padres unraveled at the end of the season to finish 2 games out of the NL West. It was still quite the feat considering the Padres were widely predicted to finish last. Black, Mike Scioscia's former pitching coach with the Angels, keeps producing quality relief pitchers from the secret underground factory under Petco. Black also got tremendous innings from youngsters Mat Latos and Clayton Richards. He won 90 games with just one offensive player, Adrian Gonzalez. The rest of the lineup was filled with David Ecksteins. Let's see you win 90 games with that.

2. Bobby Cox
The longtime Braves skipper is sure to get some sentimental love after getting his team into the playoffs in his final year. I'm giving him some love for having the balls to start a 20-year-old from day one. Jason Heyward rewarded his manager with 18 home runs and a .277/.393/.456 line. Heyward was probably the Braves best offensive player too. His other outfielders included the likes of Nate McLouth and Melky Cabrera. Let's see you win 91 games with that.

3. Dusty Baker
*sigh* I don't feel great about this one due to Dusty's poor bullpen management and playing Jonny Gomes in the outfield. True story, Gomes is so bad in the outfield UZR tried to quit FanGraphs instead of measuring him.[citation needed] Despite all of that, Baker did "guide" the Reds to 91 wins and finished 5 games ahead of the Cardinals for first place in the Central. I think I need a shower after putting Baker on this ballot. Something feels so dirty about it.

Shot Of The Night

Shot Of The Night is Off Base Percentage's toast to a player who had an exceptionally good or bad night. There's always a reason to drink.

I apologize for getting the shot of the night up so late. But I did make it in time for happy hour so last night's shot of the night will just kick start tonight's drinking. Last night's shot of the night is a San Diego: 1.5 oz light rum, 1.5 oz orange juice, 1.5 oz cranberry juice. That actually sounds quite refreshing, just like San Diego's weather. It's 209 degrees in Louisiana today. Anyway, the shot of the night is in honor of the Padres but specifically Chris Denorfia.

Yeah, I had to look up Denorfia's position. For some reason, I don't pay much attention to the Padres. The Padres are now 54-37 and 4 games up in the NL West. Bud Black comes from the Mike Scioscia managing tree and just inked an extension with The Fathers. They produce relief pitchers like they have a factory built under Petco. I should pay more attention. But I digress. Chris Denorfia went 4-4 with 2 home runs. The 2 homers doubled his season total which earned him his first and probably last shot of the night.

Honorable Mention: Rickie Weeks
I have a soft spot for Rickie Weeks. Last year, he started to put it all together before getting hurt and missing the rest of the season. Weeks is off to another pretty nice start this year and went 3-4 with 2 home runs last night. The Brew Crew still got manhandled by the Braves 11-6 thanks to All Star extraordinaire Omar Infante's 4-5 night.

Honorable Mention Part Dos: Paul Maholm
A little bonus action. You should know by now that I love strikeouts. I can't explain it but a Golden Sombrero beats a cycle for me every time. That's what makes Maholm's 3-hit shutout so improbable. He only struck out 1 batter. A 3-hit, complete game shut out and he only struck out 1 batter. Weird.

Dexter Fowler's Golden Sombrero

A golden sombrero is awarded to a player who manages to strike out four times in a single game (real golden sombrero not included). It's quite the feat unless you're Ryan Howard or Mark Reynolds. Unfortunately, cycles and no-hitters are all the rage nowadays. Not for me, though. I will pour over the box scores to bring you the finest at swinging and missing.

Five long days between Golden Sombreros. I suppose Dexter Fowler was due too. Last season, Fowler had 2 Golden Sombreros to go along with six 3 strikeout games. So the Rockie put on quite the performance last night (he wasn't the only one, stay tuned) going 0-5 with 4 strikeouts. Since it's a Saturday, I'm breaking out the bottle of Patron, by which I mean Costco tequila, and lining up the shot glasses. We'll drink every time he strikes out swinging.

Bottom 3rd: Fowler struck out looking against northpaw™ Kevin Correia. I never really thought of Correia as a strikeout pitcher but I also don't seem to pay much attention to Padres at all. Fowler lets us down in the shot department.

Bottom 4th: Fowler struck out swinging against Correia. Shots! Fowler comes through in the very next inning. Atta boy.

Bottom 7th: Fowler struck out swinging against Ryan Webb. Drink up. I usually have to look up Padre relievers but their numbers are always good. It's like they have some underground relief pitcher factory under Petco. I'm going to send an I-team out there to investigate.

Bottom 8th: Fowler struck out looking against Tim Stauffer. Sometimes you simply forget to bring your bat with you. Fowler took three straight pitches looking and was asked to please go sit down.

Overall a pretty impressive game. It's generally hard to go 0-5 and strike out 4 times in 8 innings. I'm confident I could do it but I have god forsaken talent.