The marathon that is baseball

A baseball season can seem endless – but only if your team is losing and more so if they are miserably out of the race before the All Star break.

That is not the case with the Dodgers, who take a 2.5 game lead in the NL West into this weekend’s series against the Giants, who have dominated the Dodgers so far this season.

A glance around the standings reveals some interesting pennant races going on.

In the AL East, the Yankees are only a game behind Tampa Bay. Alex Rodriguez, written off after health and suspension woes, has found new life at 39.

In the AL Central, the Kansas City Royals are trying to get back to the promised land and have a 3.5 game lead on the Twins. The Tigers are a striking distance 5.5 games back.

The big surprise is in the AL West where the Astros are up 3.5 games on the Rangers in an all-Texas battle with the Angels trailing by 5.5 games.

In the National League, St. Louis leads the NL Central by 4 games over the Pirates and the amazing Cubs are seven games off the pace. Chicago has a lot of young talent so don’t count them out.

In the NL East, the Mets are up 1.5 games on the favored Washington Nationals and baseball is now back in style in the Big Apple with both the Yanks and the Metropolitans sniffing at post-season play.

In the NL West, the Dodgers are trying to make it three straight division titles but the defending World Series champion Giants are staying close. Arizona and San Diego are still in striking distance though the Padres have already jettisoned their manager.

If the season were to end today, Tampa Bay, Kansas City and Houston would be division winners in the AL with the Yankees, Twins, Rangers and possibly Blue Jays fighting for Wild Card berths.

In the NL, the Dodgers, Cardinals and Mets would win division crowns and the Pirates, Giants, Nationals and Cubs would be fighting for the Wild Card.

It’s going to be a long, hot summer.

Dodgers on a historical mission to win the NL West

Historians will tell you that the California cities of Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego were all founded as part of the California mission chain started in 1769 by Father Juniper Serra under the direction of King Charles III of Spain.

The missions were built near the coast to establish towns, trade with sea faring ships and convert the native Indians to Christianity.

There were 21 missions in the chain but the missions in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego produced the largest modern-day cities.

They didn’t play baseball in the 1700s but today’s San Diego Padres get their name from the Franciscan friars who pioneered the state.

Rather than battle for souls, today’s battle between the three cities is for supremacy in the National League West division of major league baseball.

The Dodgers have won the last two division championships but San Francisco owns the biggest prizes, having won three of the last five World Series titles.

Going into Sunday’s games, the Dodgers hold a 2.5 game lead over the Giants and a six-game bulge over the Padres, who they defeated 4-3 on Friday night.

San Diego opened the checkbook to upgrade their squad this season and figure to give the Dodgers and the Giants a run for their money in 2015.

Kershaw has righted his ship

Like Mark Twain, the reports of Clayton Kershaw’s demise were greatly exaggerated.

After winning the NL MVP and Cy Young awards last year, the Dodger southpaw struggled out of the gates in 2015, posting a high ERA and a losing record.

In his last three starts, Kershaw has looked like, well, Kershaw.

On May 26 he beat the Braves, giving up four hits through seven innings and striking out 10.

On June 1 he beat the Rockies in Colorado, no small feat, holding the Rocks to five hits through seven frames and striking out seven.

On June 6, Kershaw exorcised some of the demons from last year’s playoffs, tossing a one-hitter against the Cardinals through eight innings and striking out 11.

Now 5-3, his ERA is still higher than he would like (3.36) but he pitched shutout innings against the Braves and the Cards, surrendering two runs against the Rockies. That’s two runs in 22 innings.

His 101 strikeouts are third in the major leagues behind Cleveland’s Corey Kluber and Tampa Bay’s Chris Archer.

Teammate Zack Greinke is having a strong year and Brett Anderson, Mike Bolsinger and Carlos Frias have put in solid work in the 3-5 spots in the rotation.

The Dodgers go into tonight’s game against Arizona with one game lead in the NL West.