West Has a Dream Team, It’s Just on the DL

If one were to build a team to win the National League West, one would start, undoubtedly, with Barry Bonds. A healthy Bonds.

Then Eric Gagne. Healthy, of course.

Staying in the West, how about J.D. Drew and Moises Alou to Bonds’ left? Phil Nevin at first, Mark Loretta at second, Cesar Izturis at shortstop, Edgardo Alfonzo at third, Ramon Hernandez at catcher. Milton Bradley, Khalil Greene, Marquis Grissom on the bench.

Adam Eaton, Brad Penny, Jason Schmidt, Woody Williams and Odalis Perez as starters. Armando Benitez and Brandon Lyon as set-up men.

All healthy, or reasonably so, all year.

They’d be five games ahead of the San Diego Padres today. Just saying.

Sure the West is a mess. But, it’s the Padres’ mess, for now. And there is a decent explanation; every player from our division winner is or was on the disabled list, some for a very long time. Bonds hasn’t so much as lifted a bat.

So, the West limps along, keeping everyone but the Colorado Rockies somewhat involved, freezing the trade market, spreading optimism, pushing ticket sales.

It is a dismal year for a division whose, uh, contenders rank Nos. 7 (Giants), 11 (Dodgers), 16 (Diamondbacks) and 17 (Padres) in the league in payroll. It leaves us with the Dodgers’ first 14 games (12-2), the Padres’ May (22-5), and the Diamondbacks’ steady mediocrity as the division’s enduring personality, and the Padres as the franchise with the most to gain. One solid, healthy month, four months before the playoffs, could do it.

“We’re going to be healthy and I know we’re going to be a better team,” Padre ace Jake Peavy said Tuesday night before pitching an inning in the All-Star game. “We can make things tough if we play the best ball we can play.... We know what we’re capable of doing.”

Then the Padres opened the second half by getting shut out at home, and by the Diamondbacks at that. Peavy started Saturday, with the Padres still waiting on Eaton to get healthy and Loretta to return while keeping everyone else away from sharp objects and comebackers.

“Especially with Adam Eaton out, I’m going to try to put that load on me,” said Peavy, who, not surprisingly, missed a start and was sick in several others because of an upper respiratory infection and strep throat.

All we’d need for our All-NL West disabled team is a manager. We’ll take Glenn Hoffman.

Bats and Pieces

It escapes no one that this is Mike Piazza’s last season in Flushing. His seven years are three months from up, and the Mets are nearing the final payment on that $91-million contract, much of which was well spent.

The question remains, though: What’s next for Mike? He won’t say, in part because he doesn’t know. But it seems clear he’d like to play a few more seasons, in the American League as a designated hitter, and the Angels would fit best. What is unclear is how much hitting Piazza, who is going on 37, has left in him. He reached the All-Star break batting .260 with nine home runs and 36 runs batted in in 273 at-bats, and while the large majority of those at-bats came in the fourth and fifth places in the order, he batted .219 with runners in scoring position and .171 with runners in scoring position and two out. In five games as a designated hitter, he batted .238 and hit one home run.

“I’ve tried to get used to it and I’ve enjoyed the DH experience,” Piazza said. “We’ll see. It’s all sort of touch and go. I can’t really speculate on how my future might go.”

Major League Baseball and the players’ association have had a handful of conversations recently regarding Commissioner Bud Selig’s ramped-up steroids policy -- 50 games, 100 games, lifetime ban -- but little progress has been made.

Both sides are watching Congress, which is building support for a uniform policy for all American professional sports. If legislation appears close, expect a new urgency in those discussions. Until then, utility infielders remain at risk for 10-day suspensions.

If Monday night’s Home Run Derby lasted any longer, Selig would have gone home alone. He said his wife turned to him at 8:45 p.m. and said, “Buddy, how long are we going to sit here?” That was 40 minutes in.

“Frankly,” Selig said, “I think there are things we can do to maybe shorten it up a little bit.”

The last out was made more than three hours after the derby began. So, cut the outs to five or six.

And maybe we can do without the interviews after each hitter’s round. And any player who runs to the plate to dab his buddy’s forehead with a towel is made to go sit next to Buddy, who next year probably will be attending alone.

Never fear, Dodger fans. Frank McCourt went out of his way recently to assure some of his veterans that he is not tapped out, and that Paul DePodesta is working on plans to upgrade around them.

While DePodesta appears to have his heart set on a hitter who could play one of the corner infield or outfield positions, there are those in the organization who insist DePodesta still has eyes for Barry Zito, a longshot.

DePodesta mentor Billy Beane is unlikely to trade Zito, particularly now that his A’s have righted themselves. Oakland conceivably could make a run at Minnesota, Baltimore, Texas, Cleveland and the Yankees in the wild-card race, but probably not without Zito, or a good big-league pitcher in his place.

It is possible that Beane acquired Jay Payton (for reliever Chad Bradford) from the Boston Red Sox to move him to another organization. And who needs an outfielder right now more than the Dodgers?

Alex Rodriguez said Tuesday he would play under the Dominican Republic’s flag at the World Baseball Classic, confusing many Red Sox players, who now can’t decide if A-Rod is a “real” Dominican or a “real” American.

Rodriguez considers himself both, and hasn’t decided for whom he will play.

In the case of dual citizenship as it relates to international competition, MLB generally will allow the player to choose his team.

If Rodriguez is selected and elects to play in the WBC, and if George Steinbrenner allows any Yankees to participate (another potential issue), and Rodriguez is conflicted, MLB might step in with a recommendation, thereby clearing Rodriguez with whatever fan base believes it has been jilted.

MLB and the players’ association are awaiting bid packages for the final two rounds of the WBC. The semifinals and finals will be played in one venue. And while that probably will be in one of the three Southern California big-league ballparks (San Diego, Anaheim, Los Angeles), other sites -- in Arizona, Florida and Houston, for example -- have also been asked to submit bids.

Jim Bowden 101: Washington’s general manager sometimes moves in mysterious ways, but his acquisition of Preston Wilson will enliven an offense that had little to do with the Nationals’ unlikely first half, and Wilson comes at a fairly reasonable price.

Wilson will play center field and Brad Wilkerson will play first base as Nick Johnson recovers from a heel injury. When Johnson returns, Wilkerson will go to left field and the platoon of rookie Ryan Church and Marlon Byrd will be benched.

Among other issues, the Nationals are last in the league in runs and home runs. This, as Bowden understands, is no way to hold off the Braves, who are expected to have Chipper Jones healthy for the second half. Jones has been on the disabled list since June 7 because of a foot injury.

The National offense had been reliant upon Jose Guillen, which would be fine if he weren’t capable of a Capitol-sized meltdown at any moment.

While the Rockies’ management continues its search for a winning formula at Coors Field, all on a dime, it has momentarily chosen ground-baller Zach Day (from the Nationals) over Joe Kennedy and Jay Witasick (to the A’s), and outfielder Eric Byrnes (from the A’s) over outfielder Wilson (to the Nationals).

But, that could change. It always seems to.

As Kennedy told the Denver Post: “I was part of the youth movement, then I wasn’t part of any movement, unless you count getting traded.”

Selig is leaning toward switching the interleague-play format for next season, so that games played in National League parks will be played under American League rules, and vice versa.

Selig hopes the modification adds interest to the interleague schedule, which has become somewhat mundane outside of the few marquee series.

Cesar Izturis and Felipe Lopez bumped into each other in the Detroit airport on Sunday night, both of them on their way to the All-Star game.

“Look at us, we’re together again,” Izturis said he told Lopez.

They spent 2 1/2 years as shortstops in the Blue Jay farm system. The Blue Jays traded Izturis (with Paul Quantrill) to the Dodgers on Dec. 13, 2001, for Luke Prokopec and Chad Ricketts. A year and two days later, they traded Lopez to the Cincinnati Reds in a four-way deal and received pitcher Jason Arnold in return. The Blue Jays don’t have an All-Star shortstop.

Since he gave up six runs (two earned) in consecutive appearances against the Boston Red Sox April 5 and 6, Yankee closer Mariano Rivera has given up two earned runs in 35 innings over 33 appearances. In that span, he has 40 strikeouts and eight walks, including a three-strikeout, no-walk, no-hit save Thursday night. In Boston.