Two weekends ago, the Rockies swept the Giants to take command of the Wild Card and eventually closed within two games of the division lead. This weekend, they got swept by the Giants (for five losses in a row) are now in a tie for the Wild Card and the Dodgers NL West lead seems comfortably safe. So we probably won't be seeing the biggest comeback in pennant chase history and the Rockies need to seriously step it back up if they hope to even make the playoffs. All because people like me had to go and jump the gun.

So did I jinx them? I'm going to go ahead and say that yes, it's my fault, because I need to believe in the importance of my own words. If there are any other teams you would like to see fall from a precipitous height, just give me a reason to write about how awesome they are.

Giants sweep Rockies, tie for wild-card lead [The Denver Post]
Giants 9, Rockies 5: Bullpen hands San Francisco share of wild card lead [Purple Row]
Wild Giants are all over the map [San Jose Mercury News]
Rockies familiar with late-season push [MLB, Friday]
Sports Illustrated gives Giants run support [San Francisco Examiner]

It was the AL West in '94, a season cut short on Aug. 12 when players went on strike. The A's were in the thick of the pennant race that year, one game out of first place. The Rangers were leading the division despite being 10 games below .500 at 52-62, and the rest of the pack included the 49-63 Mariners and 47-68 Angels. The division's winning percentage was .437, the lowest in history. The second-lowest winning percentage is .452, held by your 2008 NL West, barely ahead of the 2002 AL Central (.453), which featured the 106-loss Tigers and 100-loss Royals.

The five worst wining percentages ever:

• .437 - 1994 AL West

• .452 - 2008 NL West

• .453 - 2002 AL Central

• .454 - 1999 AL Central

• .457 - 2003 AL Central

The NL West, which still has two months to right itself, already looks better than it did on July 24, when all five teams were sub-.500. The Diamondbacks won six of seven since then, and the Dodgers reached .500 last weekend for first time since May 30.

Well, we knew the Giants were going to be bad, and the Padres are the Padres. But what's up with the Rockies, and especially the Diamondbacks, the latter whom a certain MSNBC TV host picked to make it to the World Series? Surely you can't blame their spectacular fail on injuries to Troy Tulowitzki and Eric Byrnes.

Westward Woe [SFGate]