After three hours and 20 minutes of watching the Red Sox blow an early lead, strand base runners, and let the opposing pitcher off the hook; after another late night of cursing as Nomar swung at the first pitch nearly every time and went zero-for-five, while manager Grady Little again eschewed the bunt in a crucial situation; on the heels of another evening of enduring a three-run ninth-inning rally by the Yankees in their win in Kansas City while the Sox in Seattle again failed to mount a late-inning comeback and managed to drop their 18th one-run game in the last 22 such close games; after all this late-night calamity followed up by an 8:05 a.m. telemarketing call, it’s time to boycott the local nine’s attempts to drive their fandom bonkers and look elsewhere for a satisfying diversion. Perhaps it can be found on the National League’s side of the ledger, as several interesting pennant races are beginning to take shape in the Senior Circuit.

Unless you are a well-rounded baseball fan, most people around here have little use for the NL. Who cares what’s going on over there, other than during interleague match-ups in June or the Fall Classic in October? If your baseball focus is merely on the Red Sox’ struggles and the ongoing labor negotiations, then perhaps you’ll want to skip today’s column. Otherwise, let’s take a stroll over to the flip side of MLB’s leaderboard and see what’s going on.

NL East. Not surprisingly, the Atlanta Braves are coasting along en route to another NL East title. After an off-season trade with LA to acquire hard-hitting outfielder Gary Sheffield, the Braves are the team to beat in the whole league, if not the majors. It helps that Atlanta has a bunch of clubs either strapped for payroll or underachieving in their division, but the Braves are nonetheless loaded with talent, and their nearly 20-game lead in the division can only be dissolved at this point by a labor stoppage. With Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine providing a potent one-two punch on the hill, and John Smoltz on a record-setting saves pace out of the ’pen, the Braves’ road to the NLCS would appear to be unimpeded. In second place are the surprising Montreal Expos, who expect to be eliminated from the league or possibly relocated during the upcoming off-season. Despite a paltry payroll, nobody in the stands, and all the aforementioned questions swirling around their future, Les Expos are just two games below .500 entering the weekend and are actually ahead of the monumentally disappointing New York Mets, whose payroll is nearly three times that of the Expos. Despite a roster full of potential All-Stars, including Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar, Mike Piazza, Rey Ordonez, and Al Leiter, the Mets are more than 20 games behind the Braves and are in the midst of an eight-game home losing streak. If you think Sox fans are frustrated, imagine being a Mets fan right now. They’re probably praying for a strike to end their suffering. The Philadelphia Phillies are continuing their road toward irrelevancy, as they remain tied with New York and have few marquee players on the roster after trading third baseman Scott Rolen to St. Louis. Pat Burrell leads the Phillies in nearly every offensive category and could win the league’s RBI crown, but lately he’s struck out once in every three at-bats. The Phillies’ fans finally get to take their frustrations out on a team other than their own this weekend when the Cardinals, with Rolen and ex-Philly draft choice (but never signed) J.D. Drew coming to town. Finally, the Florida Marlins pull up the rear in this pathetic division. The Marlins are a team that truly deserves to be contracted, since they routinely draw 5000 fans a game to beautiful Pro Player Stadium to watch a team just five years removed from a World Series championship. This Marlins team, though, like the four editions before, has been thoroughly depleted of talent because of cost-cutting measures, and while fans in South Florida continue to clamor for a new stadium, the fact is that nobody really wants to see this team play until some big names come to town and teach the youngsters how to win again.

NL Central. One of the more interesting division races is shaping up in the NL Central, as the Cardinals, Astros, and Reds vie for a chance at postseason glory. St. Louis deserves its reputation as the favorite, with stars like Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, Drew, Albert Pujols, Tino Martinez, and Rolen on board, along with a solid rotation and bullpen to back the offense. Nonetheless, the Cards have had plenty of off-field distractions, none more devastating than the death of starting pitcher Darryl Kile back in June. In addition, baseball’s best baseball town has also endured the passing of broadcast legend Jack Buck and former catcher Darrell Porter in recent months. St. Louis has struggled at times this season, but the team has Tony La Russa at the reins and a battle-tested roster to lead it down the stretch, so the Cards should expect to reach the playoffs (although they will ultimately have a difficult time matching up with either Arizona or Atlanta). The Houston Astros, led by former Sox skipper Jimy Williams, got off to a dreadful start this season. As recently as July 26, they were a .500 club, but they got hot, went 27-13, and are now just four games behind the Cards. It would appear that the Astros’ only chance to make the postseason would be with a division title, since they otherwise remain five games behind the Dodgers and Giants in the wild-card race. Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Lance Berkman are the big bats in the Houston line-up, but the pitching staff comprises mostly no-names. The Cincinnati Reds, like the Astros, have some decent hitters in their line-up, but they have an anonymous set of pitchers taking the hill on a nightly basis. The Reds are 61-58, five-and-a-half games behind St. Louis, and will need greater production out of guys like Ken Griffey Jr. (.269, five HRs in just 45 games), Sean Casey, and Aaron Dunn if they are to contend for the division crown. The Pittsburgh Pirates have a beautiful new stadium, a solid .300 hitter in Brian Giles, and a proud tradition, but not much else; the Bucs remain 17 games under .500 and nearly 16 games out. Kevin Young, Jack Wilson, Jason Kendall, Rob Mackowiak, and Pokey Reese are the supporting cast in the Pirates’ offense, and that alone should tell you plenty, although Kip Wells and Josh Fogg are 11-game winners for the Bucs. The Chicago Cubs, picked by many prognosticators as wild-card challengers this season, continue to disappoint their long-suffering fans as they muddle through a 51-68 season. Sammy Sosa leads the team in nearly every batting category, but he too is getting frustrated and has hinted that next season may be his last patrolling the ivy-covered walls at Wrigley. With starting pitcher Jon Lieber, a 20-game winner last year, done for the year as he faces reconstructive elbow surgery, and righty Jason Bere also on the DL with a groin injury, the Cubbies have been forced to throw three rookies into their starting rotation. Luckily, the Cubs still have Kerry Wood along with Sosa to give their fans at least a glimmer of hope for the future. But it’s a pretty faint glimmer. Pulling up the rear in the NL Central are the Milwaukee Brewers, a franchise which is overseen by commissioner Bud Selig’s daughter, Wendy. The Brewers could very well be the worst team in the NL right now, with just 42 wins in 120 games and a position 25 games behind the Redbirds. Luckily for Brewers fans, they live in a town where a cold beer in which to cry ain’t hard to find.

NL West. Behind their potent one-two punch of Curt Schilling (19 wins) and Randy Johnson (17 wins), the Arizona Diamondbacks are proving that last year’s World Series title was no fluke. If the D-Backs can get Todd Stottlemyre back from elbow-surgery rehab for the stretch run, they have a chance of overtaking the Braves in the NLCS to advance to their second straight Fall Classic. The rest of Arizona’s rotation is merely 37-37, although closer Byung-Hyun Kim puts any close game into the bag. The D-Backs (76-45) have an eight-game lead heading into the weekend, and because of the off-days in their upcoming schedule, it is possible that Arizona could start Schilling or Johnson in half of its remaining games, a prospect that doesn’t bode well for the Snakes’ challengers in the West. Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Dodgers are optimistic that welcoming Kevin Brown back to the staff will be enough to push the team into the playoffs, if only as a wild card. The Dodgers have a solid team and a high payroll; 12-game winner Kauhisa Ishii and former Soxer Hideo Nomo (11-6) provide a solid pitching nucleus, along with closer extraordinaire Eric Gagne. The offense, anchored by Shaun Green, Marquis Grissom, and Mark Grudzielanek (gesundheit!) is top-notch, and should get LA back into the postseason picture. The San Francisco Giants may have something to say about that, though, as the team has proved it’s more than just Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent. With Bonds’ 600-HR quest complete and no chance for a record-breaking 74-dinger season to distract him, the Giants, behind trusted manager Dusty Baker, should give it a game effort in the season’s final six weeks. The Giants are nine games behind the D-Backs but just one game behind LA in the wild-card chase, so San Francisco’s efforts will be determined by the status of their walking wounded: Bonds, Kenny Lofton, Reggie Sanders, Tsuyoshi Shinjo, and catcher Benito Santiago. The remaining two teams in the division, Colorado (56-64, 19.5 games out) and San Diego (51-69, 24.5 games out) are obviously non-factors and can only play spoilers as the division race and wild-card competition play out in September.

Now, wasn’t that a nice diversion before resuming the gnashing of teeth over the Sox’ upcoming fortunes? Didn’t think so. Anyway, the NL is shaping up thusly: Atlanta will clinch the Eastern Division in early September and be able to rest their veterans in advance of the postseason. The Braves will most likely meet the wild-card winner, either LA or SF, where only a complete breakdown of Atlanta’s pitching staff will prevent it from reaching the League Championship Series. Arizona and St. Louis will most likely meet in the other semifinal, with the D-Backs’ starting pitching being the obvious difference. In this scenario, Atlanta and Arizona would meet for the chance to advance to the World Series, and right now, that is the match-up that everyone wants to see, just as a Yankee–Red Sox ALCS would be a head-turner over in the Junior Circuit.

Again, labor stoppages could mar everything, but let’s keep our fingers crossed and assume that reasonable men can act in a conscientious and mature manner, and that the only thing that will continue to drive us to the precipice will be the Red Sox’ inability to rally from behind, bunt, be patient at the plate, avoid costly errors, get Manny to hustle and avoid sliding head-first, get solid middle relief, get a win out of anyone but Pedro and Lowe, get a clutch hit ...

Sporting Eye appears every Monday and Friday on BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung.com.