Chalk Up Another One For The Cherubim

Congrats once again to the great Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. You look at their roster and they have a couple of superstars in Guerrero and perhaps, Teixeira, but Guerrero's numbers are down. Yet, they play so hard under Mike Scioscia and they know the game so well, they've proven (along with the Rays) that you don't need a team full of superstar free agents to win a pennant. Their pitching staff is great and they have a strong bullpen with K Rod a few days away from breaking Bobby Thigpen's all time saves record for a season. They really do need to maintain their intensity to finish with the best record in the AL. Home field advantage in the Playoffs is a must for them.

The Dodgers appear to have somewhat of a handle on the NL West, such as it is. A 3 and a half game lead guarantees them first place when the weekend ends. By that time, there will be only about 14 games remaining. The Rockies lost again last night and are now 8 games off the pace with around 17 games to play. The Snakes are done ... maybe. Based on how streaky the Dodgers have been and how awful they've been on the road this year and the fact that they have to go to Colorado tomorrow for a three game set, you just never know. The D'backs can get hot again these last 2 weeks and the Dodgers have to go to red hot San Fran for the final weekend of the season. The Giants would like nothing more than to knock the Dodgers out of the race. Giants manager Bruce Bochy would definitely use Tim Lincecum on 3 day's rest if it meant stopping the Dodgers or enhancing Lincecum's shot at the Cy Young.

I'm not worried about the back of Lowe's knee after Kouzmanoff's line drive nailed him in the 6th last night. I think he'll be fine by his next start. The Dodgers really need to make a statement against the bad teams on this road trip. They need to start to run away with the division and they need to establish themselves as a team that's capable of winning on the road.

If Fucal is ready to play next week, I think he should play. Give him at least a couple of starts to see if there's any chance at all he can get anywhere near his April rhythm before his back went out on him. An effective Furcal can mean the difference between a '3 and out' playoff appearance and a World Series. Even more so, can an effective Penny, but he sure looked far away from that last night. Rookie mistake by Loney diving in front of DeWitt on that grounder by Antonelli. DeWitt had it easily and would've thrown him out. Props go out to young relief pitcher Corey Wade. He's really done a fine job this year. In the end, Penny's struggles didn't matter. Manny is just too damn good and way too good for the Fathers. He's the best position player the Dodgers have ever had.

So, barring stupidity and complacency, the Dodgers should hold on and there should be baseball in the Ravine - at least one game, anyway - in October. Likely, they go nowehere in the Playoffs, just like '04 and '06. They have absolutley no chance to beat the Cubs or the Mets right now. The Mets lineup is just plain scary. Wright, Delgado and Beltran all have over 100 RBIs and if Ryan Church hadn't suffered a concussion which cut his season in half, he'd also have a hundred. Both Wright and Delgado are MVP candidates (forget any notion about giving it to Manny for his 2 months in the NL. The award will go to Pujols) and leadoff hitter, Jose Reyes is no slouch. However, they've lost their closer, Billy Wagner for the year and aside from Johann Santana, they have no great starters. Pedro is by no means the Pedro of old and Mike Pelfrey got knocked around pretty good lately, most recently against the lowly Nats last night. The Cubs pitching, if Zambrano and Harden are healthy, will be quite a challenge. Their lineup is solid from top to bottom with Alfonso Soriano, Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, Mark De Rosa, Ryan Theriot and Geovanny Soto. Still, this prognostication could change by season's end. Right now Manny, Ethier, Billingsley and Lowe are, for all intents and purposes, the Dodger team. I like what I've seen from young Blake DeWitt. A surge by Kemp, Blake, Martin (now hitting .278 with only 12 HRs and 61 RBI's) and Loney, along with the effective returns of Furcal, Saito, Kent and Penny and, of course, momentum are key to the team being a true contender for a pennant.