Around the NL West: End of the line for Jered Weaver?

Since the Dodgers are in a stretch of 34 games against opponents outside their division, beginning with this Marlins series, let’s keep tabs on the National League West from afar.

On Friday night, two divisional foes played each other in San Diego, and the Diamondbacks drubbed the Padres 10-1 at Petco Park. At the other end of the beating was Jered Weaver, whose days in San Diego might be numbered.

The veteran right-hander faced nine batters on Friday and only recorded two outs. He allowed seven runs, including home runs by Jake Lamb (three-run shot) and Brandon Drury (two-run shot). Weaver allowed seven runs in all, in the shortest non-injury start of his 12-year career.

Weaver is 0-5 with a 7.44 ERA and has allowed 16 home runs in 42⅓ innings. The Padres have lost all nine of his starts. Whether there will be a 10th remains to be seen. Just last week, Padres chairman Ron Fowler didn’t sound too keen on Weaver’s future in San Diego, per Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“We’ve had several performances from Jered that have been not very good, and Jered owns them,” Fowler said. “He’s very matter-of-fact in his quotes — he’s let the team down, he’s very disappointed in his performance. But are we going to let this continue? I think this is a short leash and we’ve got to make some decisions. He started last year very poorly and ended up (12-12) for a sub-.500 team. We’re hoping there’s something left, but the last several performances don’t give us much cause to be positive.”

Weaver in his last five starts has allowed 30 runs on 32 hits in 19⅓ innings, and has allowed nearly as many home runs (nine) and walks (eight) as he has strikeouts (10). On Friday, he was booed by the home fans as he exited the game. From A.J. Cassavell of MLB.com:

"It's frustrating," said a visably dispirited Weaver after the game. "It's hard to go out there and struggle the way that I have been. It's not easy. I've made 330 starts here in my career. That's the first time I've ever been booed off the mound. It's definitely frustrating. I wish I could give these fans what they want to see, and what they deserve. And not only the fans, but my team and teammates."

The Padres have dropped four straight and 13 of their last 16 games.

It was the fourth straight win and seventh win in nine games for the Diamondbacks, who at 25-18 are tied with the Dodgers for second place in the NL West, two games behind the Rockies.

Arizona at +43 has the second-best run differential in the division, behind the Dodgers (+65).

Colorado kept their hold on first place with their win over the Dodgers in last Sunday’s series finale at Coors Field, and since then have won three of four games to open their 10-game road trip that takes them through Minnesota, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia.

The Rockies are 14-6 away from home this season, the second-best road record in the majors, behind only the Astros (15-6).

The Giants won Friday night against the Cardinals in St. Louis, where Joe Davis will call Saturday’s game for Fox — hence the Charley Steiner and Nomar Garciaparra combination on SportsNet LA this weekend for the Dodgers.

San Francisco is on a seven-game road trip through St. Louis and Chicago, acting as a warm-up comic of sorts for the Dodgers, as both teams will fly to Los Angeles after dealing with the Giants.

The week ahead

(through next Sunday)

Rockies: at Reds, at Phillies, vs. Cardinals

Dodgers: vs. Marlins, vs. Cardinals, vs. Cubs

D-backs: at Padres, vs. White Sox, at Brewers

Giants: at Cardinals, at Cubs, vs. Braves

Padres: vs. D-backs, at Mets, at Nationals