MLB Weekly Review

Don’t look now but the defending National League Champions are well on their way to teaching the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers a very important lesson.The Colorado Rockies are blazing a trail to the top on the NL West and the Dodgers and Diamondbacks are kicking themselves for letting them hang around.The Rockies have won 9 of their last 10 games, including 5 in a row. Colorado is averaging 7.6 runs per game during that stretch and they scored 10 in their lone loss. In a 16-10 loss to the Dodgers, Kip Wells was tagged for 8 runs in one-third of an inning and the Rockies couldn’t overcome an 11 run deficit. Matt Holliday, Brad Hawpe and Troy Tulowitzki were all visitors to the DL this season and Tulowitzki just returned from his 2nd stint. He has provided the team with a spark since his return going 13 for 26.The Rockies aren’t the only streaking team, as the New York Yankees have also been playing inspired ball since the All-Star Break.New York was riding as 8-game winning streak before suffering a 9-2 setback on Sunday in the series finale at Boston.During the winning streak, the Yankees held their opponents to just 15 runs and used their defense to lead them to 2-1 and 1-0 victories. They now sit just 3 games back in the division.Players like Matt Holliday(.565 average), Jeff Baker(.579), Alex Rodriguez(.476) and Robinson Cano(.480) have contributed to their teams success recently, but they aren’t the hottest hitters of the past week.Alex Rios takes top honors as the best hitter of the week with his .344 average, 7 Runs, 4 HR, 8 RBI and 4 SB. Ryan Braun is a close 2nd with a .414 average, 4 Runs, 4 HR and 12 RBI.Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee turned in the top pitching performances this week as they each collected 2 wins. Pettitte went 14 innings while scattering 9 hits, allowing 2 ER and striking out 16. He won a 10-3 blowout and a 2-1 pitchers duel.Lee pitched 17 innings while giving up 17 hits, 4 ER and struck out 14 batters.Rich Harden was also lights out this week, but has an 0-1 record to show for it because the Cubs provided just 2 runs of support in 2 games.Harden pitched 12 solid innings while giving up just 3 hits. Two of the 3 hits were solo homeruns and the only runs he allowed. He struck out 10 in each outing, giving him 30 in 3 games as a Cub.We haven’t seen any major deals since Harden joined the Cubs, but there were a couple trades of interest this week.The New York Yankees added Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady from the Pirates in exchange for prospects and Casey Blake was sent from Cleveland to the Dodgers.With only a few days remaining before the deadline, things could get interesting.Will the Rockies be buyers or sellers? Will the Yankees add Jared Washburn or Adam Dunn? Will Mark Teixeira remain in Atlanta? Will Manny keep being Manny in Boston?Some many questions and so little time remaining to answer them.