Depression Smession. It's Playoff Time!

My apologies to those few of you who art faithful to my little blog. I missed a couple of days because I was out buying my new house and work supplies – a used tent and a tin cup. But, at least for now, I still have a TV and a roof over my head. I can probably get home in time for Game 1 tomorrow and my heart is beating rapidly. If the Dodgers are done partying and congratulating themselves, they just may have a chance. A little bitty, teeny weeny, miniscule chance. But, they have to be serious. That means all the jubilance and warm fuzzies about winning the division with a dismal 84 and 78 record will have to have dissipated in time for the first pitch at Wrigley from Ryan Dempster. Hopefully, it’ll be Rafael Furcal in the box to see that first pitch and not Matt Kemp or Russell Martin.

I hear Jeff Kent may even be starting at 2nd. You know, for all the crap Jeff Kent takes about being grumpy and sullen and distant, I couldn’t help noticing his conspicuous absence during the clubhouse shindig last Thursday night. Ya think it was because his kids were in town for the game and he wanted to be with his family? Yeah, that’s part of it. But ten’ll get ya twenty the main reason was he wanted no part of making a fool out of himself when the team accomplished so little and still had so much work to do. He’s a professional and no one can argue that. Now, let’s get down to cases:

There’s little doubt in my mind the Dodgers will lose this series. The Cubs, as I said a few times, were a hundred times better than the Dodger without Manny and are ten times better than them with Manny. They have 4 great starting pitchers to our 2. Edge: Cubs. They have a Marmol and a Wood in the pen. We have a Broxton and a Saito. Gimme Marmol and Wood every time. Their middle relief is far superior. Edge: Cubs. At first base, they have the great Derrek Lee. We have Loney. Edge: Cubs. At second base, they have Mark DeRosa and his 21 HRs, 87 RBIs and we have 40 year-old Jeff Kent and his 12 HR’s and his injuries. Edge: Cubs. At short, Furcal, if he’s healthy, can trump Ryan Theriot, but Theriot had a great year, hitting .307. Edge: Even. At 3rd base, the Cubs have the great Aramis Ramirez, 29 HR, 111 RBI’s. We have Casey Blake. Enough said. Edge: Cubs. In left field, we have Manny. However, the Cubbies’ Alfonso Soriano, 29 HR’s and 75 RBI’s as a leadoff hitter, Wow. Edge: Even with Manny getting a slight nod. In center, they have old reliable Jim Edmonds, tons of post season experience and smarts. We have Matt Kemp. Edge: Cubs. In right, they have Kosuke Fukodome, who’s been a bit of a disappointment, while we have Andre Ethier, who’s been a rather pleasant surprise. Edge: Dodgers. Behind the dish, it’s rookie Geovany Soto vs. our Russell Martin. Gimme Soto. His numbers are better all the way across the board. Edge: Cubs. The bench. The Cubs have Reed Johnson,, very solid lefty killer and outfielder, we have Juan Pierre. Call it even. They have this kid, Hofpauir who can hit the crap out of the ball, but he didn’t make the roster. They took light hitting outfielder, Felix Pie instead. They also have utility infielders Ronny Cedeno and Mike Fontenot. We have Berroa, Nomar and Blake DeWitt. Edge: Dodgers. Defense. The Cubs defense is almost flawless. The Dodgers defense, with Manny in left and an injured and slowed down Furcal and Kent and a sometimes confused Kemp, are not. Edge: Cubs. Manager: The Cubs have the great Lou Piniella, my favorite hothead. The Dodgers have the venerable Joe Torre, my favorite softie. Piniella won with the 1990 Cincinnati Reds. Torre won what seems like a hundred times with the Pins. Piniella is the better manager. Edge: Cubs. History. The Cubs and their fans have waited 63 years to get back to the World Series and 100 years to win a World Series. That exactly 100 years since they last won thing can be huge. The fans want it badly. They feel this is their year and Steve Bartman will not be in attendance. Edge: Cubs.

In short, there’s a chance the Dodgers could win this thing based solely on intangibles. In 1988, the New York Mets were a hundred times better than the Dodgers. But the Dodgers had heart out the yin yang and a guy named Orel Hershiser who did one hell of a Moses imitation. They magically won in 7 games. This Dodger team hasn’t nearly as much heart, but they do have Manny who posseses a lot of mojo. Manny is capable of so much that I couldn’t see any reason for the Cubs to pitch to him very often. He’ll walk a lot, if the Cubs are smart. And you don’t win 97 games being dumb. However, the Dodgers are indeed a much better team than they were when they first played the Cubs in May. It’s a best of 5 series in the first round rather than a best of 7 series and pretty much anything can happen. Lowe can pitch a gem and Manny can hit a 2 run shot. They can win tomorrow. Billingsley can pitch really well and who knows which Hiroki Kuroda you’ll get on Saturday? Yes. THE DODGERS CAN WIN THIS THING. It IS possible. Doubtful, but possible. They have to play smart and they have to get some breaks. I will say this: Not to underestimate the Brewers or the Phillies, but the winner of the Cubs/Dodger series wins the pennant. You read it here first.

The Chisox nip the Twinkies 1-zip in a tie breaker and they head to Tampa and, as a result of Bobby Jenks’ save, I win my fantasy baseball championship in a HUGE upset. So, maybe I have some of that mojo the Dodgers need so desperately. They can have it for the price of a Playoff ticket. I could use the million bucks.

I read today that the Comeback Players of the Year were announced. Cliff Lee in the AL, as I predicted and Brad Lidge in the NL, not as I predicted. I mentioned Lidge should be considered, but I picked Carlos Delgado. Guess they didn’t think Delgado was really coming back from anything other than a crappy 2007. I neglected, however, to give you my Manager of the Year picks. Here they be:

NL Manager of the Year – Houston Astros Manager, Cecil Cooper. (Over Torre and Jerry Manual) He guided the ‘Stros from nowhere to a Wild Card contender without Carlos Lee. Torre may end up getting it, but Cooper really deserves it.)

AL Manager of the Year – Tampa Bay Manager, Joe Maddon. (Over, Joe Maddon, Joe Maddon and Joe Maddon. There’s no other choice in my opinion.)

My Post Season Predictions are as follows:

AL:
The Angels will sweep Boston.
The Rays will beat Chicago in 4.
The Angels will beat the Rays in 4.

NL:
The Cubs will beat the Dodgers in 4
The Brewers will beat Philly in 5
The Cubs will sweep the Brewers.

The Cubs will beat the Angels in 7 in extra innings. Maybe…

Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong about a couple of these. GO DODGERS!!!!!!!!!!!