E-Mail This Article to a Friend First-half looks: The National League BY CHRISTOPHER YOUNG

Earlier in the week, we recapped the American League doings at the halfway point of the season. Today, the National League.

When you live in a city like LA, New York, or Chicago, you can’t help but at least be aware of what’s going on in the other league, since the sports pages keep tabs on both hardball entities within your city. When you’re in an American League city like Boston, which hasn’t seen an NL-based team on the premises since 1952, you tend to have blinders on, and only really pay attention to the other league during the All-Star game or at playoff time.

Actually, though, baseball’s more intriguing developments are taking place on the NL side. While the AL has certainly seen some surprises — the improvement of Tampa Bay and Detroit, the demise of Seattle and Toronto — there’s been a lot more topsy-turviness in the Senior Circuit.

In the East, it’s not necessarily a surprise to see the Phillies leading the division, since most folks picked them to reign supreme. A year ago, the Phils were 52-40 at the break — and were eight and a half games behind the Braves. This year, Philly’s 46-41 record is good enough for a one-game lead. Go figure. They’ve got the league HR leader in Jim Thome (28), the wins leaders (Eric Milton, 11), and three of the best relievers in the game (Todd Worrell, rookie Ryan Madson, and Billy Wagner), yet they’re only a game up in this rough-’n’-tumble division. Still, it’s not the defending champion Marlins or the resurgent Mets who reside in second place, but the left-for-dead Braves. In spite of losing Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Kevin Millwood, and Javy Lopez in the last few years and being so desperate for offense that 45-year-old Julio Franco is a regular, the Braves have won 13 of 17 heading into the break and are solidly back in the hunt in an effort to win their 10th-straight NL East crown. The solid pitching’s somehow still there, the offensive heroics of J.D. Drew and catcher Johnny Estrada have offset off-years from veterans Chipper and Andruw Jones, and the Tomahawkers have refused to go quietly into the sunset. Another half-game back but still waiting for some kind of spark are the champion Marlins, who at 45-43 look nothing like the team that stunned the Yanks last October. They’ve lost Series hero Josh Beckett to various injuries for a good part of the season, but their team batting average of just .260 is a far cry from what they did down the stretch last year, and Mike Lowell is the sole Fish-erman to find himself clouting over .300 (and he’s only at .305). The Mets are in fourth, but what a turnaround at Shea this season. The team is 24-16 at home, and its 44-43 record, while nothing stupendous, is still good enough for two games out of first. The Mets haven’t been within hollerin’ distance of that spot since their World Series year of 2000. How are they doing it? Believe it or not, it’s on the arms of the majors’ best staff, whose 3.73 team ERA has been bolstered by the back-from-the-grave efforts of Glavine, Al Leiter, and Steve Trachsel. It ain’t Seaver, Koosman, and Matlack, but it’s effective despite the current trio’s combined ages (109). Pulling up the rear — and this is certainly not a revelation — are the vagabond Expos, who at 31-56 are mercifully finishing up their final season north (and south) of the border. Neither of the team’s international homes — Montreal and San Juan — will shed any tears when the squad pulls up its stakes for good and heads for who-knows-where.

Even more craziness is going on in the NL Central, where one team is dominating, but it’s neither of the anticipated ones — the Cubs and Astros. Instead, the Cardinals are inexplicably running away with things, and their 54-33 record is second-best in the majors, good for a whopping seven-game lead. At the plate, Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, Jim Edmonds, and Edgar Renteria have delivered consistently for the NL’s top offense, but it’s the starting rotation that’s propelled the consensus third-place Redbirds to the catbird seat. Starters one through five have not missed a start, and have contributed 41 of the team’s 54 wins (three of those starters have nine wins, and ex-Soxer Jeff Suppan has eight out of the five spot). Mired seven games back sit the Cubs, who have fought to stay in contention during Mark Prior and Kerry Wood’s injury-related absences. Now that the dynamic duo’s back on the hill, the team should hang around, if only for a wild-card spot. Next up, strangely enough, are two teams that many felt would be fighting it out for a cot in the basement, not for the penthouse suite. But here they are: your Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers — two teams whose combined payrolls are $110 million less than the Pinstripers’. On June 10, the Reds actually led the division, but their 13-16 output since then has dropped them back to third place, 7.5 games back. The Redlegs have had pretty good pitching (and the league’s most-productive closer in Danny Graves, who’s saved 33 of the team’s 47 wins), but their offense — despite Ken Griffey Jr.’s frequent presence — is sputtering along at a .250 clip. The Brewers, with the majors’ smallest payroll at $27.5 million, also are struggling with the sticks (.256), but their pitching staff is sixth-best in baseball (3.89), anchored by nine-game winners Ben Sheets and Doug Davis. Never thought we’d find our predicted NL pennant-winner, the Astros, buried in fifth place with a 44-44 record, and neither did the Houston brass, who cleaned up Minute Maid Park after the All-Star game and tossed out manager Jimy Williams along with the rest of the trash. Phil Garner will attempt to right the ship for a team that has some great stars — Jeff Kent, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, Carlos Beltran — but still has underachieved at a mind-boggling rate. Pulling up the rear are the Pirates, who despite their 39-47 log had won 13 of 19 heading into the respite, and may be playing more than spoiler as the second half unfolds.

In the West, the Dodgers’ hitting hasn’t been as bad (.268) as expected, but the pitching hasn’t been as good (3.96). Still, that combo’s been good enough for a 48-38 record and a half-game lead in this relatively meek division. Hideo Nomo and Jeff Weaver have combined for 19 losses thus far, but with Eric Gagne still closing games and Adrian Beltre smackin’ 22 home runs, LA has stayed afloat by virtue of its balanced roster. Lurking in second are the two-time defending West champs, the Giants, who have ridden the arms of ace Jason Schmidt (11-2, 2.51 ERA) and closer Matt Herges (22 saves) to get back in it after a woeful 16-24 start. The team’s gone a Yankees-esque 33-16 since the dawn of May 20 found the squad in last place, and Barry Bonds has overcome NL pitchers’ record-setting intentional-walk strategy to once again post MVP numbers (.365, 23 HRs, 48 RBIs). Whether the rest of the no-name offensive roster will be enough to carry the team back to the post-season remains to be seen. The Padres have been another one of baseball’s pleasant surprises, as the club that finished 34 games under .500 last season is 47-41 while enjoying its first season in beautiful PETCO Park. The Sox’ Johnny Damon got in trouble last month when he admitted prior to the teams’ interleague series that he didn’t know many of the Pods’ cast of characters (and most folks concur), but the majors’ third-best pitching staff has relished the anonymity as long as it keeps the team in the thick of things — and at just two games back, it certainly is. Despite only one regular hitting over .300, the Padres have employed a veritable Who’s You rotation (other than David Wells, who’s only 4-5) en route to a solid dark-horse shot in the division. The Rockies, however, despite taking two of three over Boston last month, seem destined for their fourth-straight losing season. The Balboas can swing the bat, but their hurlers are the worst in the game, with a team ERA of almost six. Finally, the Randy Johnson talk is so rampant due to the demise of the Diamondbacks, who have gone 19-44 since May 6 and haven’t transitioned well overall since their world title in 2001. Johnson’s perfect game on May 18 was the team’s sole highlight, and if he departs the D-Backs, you can pencil in the team as the top picker in next spring’s entry draft. Arizona is 26th in fielding, 27th in pitching, and 28th in hitting, and its much-hyped off-season trade to snare Richie Sexson (out for the year) ended up stocking the Brewers instead.

Overall, the races in the East and West are wide open, and the Central will be, too, if the Cubs and Astros bounce back from so-so first halves. Unlike in the AL, where it appears that seven teams will compete for four spots, the NL race for the post-season could very likely include 12 teams, give or take a couple. Only the Expos, Pirates, Rockies, and D-Backs can legitimately be called out of it right now, and any of the teams currently hovering around .500 could potentially surprise. Either way, it appears that baseball will again benefit from some September fireworks, and as mentioned in the AL recap, trade-deadline shenanigans could well tip the scales in the already-tight divisional races. The Braves, Dodgers, Phillies, and Mets each already have $90 million–plus payrolls, and would likely be willing to spend more to add the final critical piece to their rosters; the smaller-budget Giants, Astros, Padres, Reds, Marlins, and Brewers will likely play the hands they’ve been dealt and build for 2005 if their second-half efforts fall short.

As Jon Bon Jovi sang, we’re halfway there, and for a lot of baseball’s dreamers, the balance of the 2004 campaign will likely be spent livin’ on a prayer.

"Sporting Eye" runs Mondays and Fridays at BostonPhoenix.com. Christopher Young can be reached at cyoung[a]phx.com