good sportsline.com article with a couple points of interest.

http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9551237

4. Is the NL West as bad as it was last year?

Webb (AP) No. Nobody's saying it's Farrah Fawcett to last year's Phyllis Diller, but we don't expect the NL West winner to clinch in late September simply by reaching .500, as the Padres did last year when they popped champagne by pulling even for the season at 79-79 (they won the division with an 82-80 record).
The first-place Padres closed the first half by winning five of six and improving to 38-30. The Dodgers are better and should improve even more at the July trade deadline if they land a hitter like Alfonso Soriano or a pitcher like Greg Maddux or Livan Hernandez. San Diego isn't expected to do much in July other than add a marginal hitter, and maybe bullpen help, as owner John Moores is holding the payroll steady and the club will not add much more than $700,000 or $800,000 in salary.
At the break, all five NL West teams were within five games of each other, with last-place Arizona even harboring illusions of erasing the ugly stretch in which it lost 18 of 20 games.
"As bad as we were going, as bad a June as we had (8-20) when we were losing every game, being five out definitely gives us confidence that we can try to get back in it if we do what we did the first couple of months," Diamondbacks ace Brandon Webb says.


9. Will Trevor Hoffman become the saves leader?

Hoffman (AP) The prediction here is yes. With 24 saves in 25 chances at the All-Star break, including a run last week of four in four days, Hoffman, 38, is on pace. He currently checks in with 460, just 19 short of passing all-time leader Lee Smith (478). He has converted 63 of his past 65 save opportunities dating back to April 2005, and he's packing a solid 1.06 ERA.