Flip-Floppy Me

Okay, so in spite of my cynicism and deep sense of doubt, the fact of the matter is, it’s that time of year, where, if a team gets hot and the team they’re trailing gets cold, that could be all she wrote. The Dodgers sure as hell made a statement last night. Right now, the Dodgers are hot as hell. They’ve won 6 straight thanks to Andre Ethier, who, while hitting in front of Manny, has suddenly become the greatest hitter of all time, and thanks to solid pitching by Derek Lowe. They find themselves just a half game behind the Snakes and Dan Haren their #2 ace, looks awful. IF Brandon Webb continues to struggle this afternoon, (and I doubt it. I think he’ll beat the Dodgers. Hope I’m wrong) the Dodgers could be well on their way. After all, as I pointed out in the last posting, the Snakes do have a slightly tougher remaining schedule than our Blue.

BUT… I still think the Dodgers will find a way to blow it. They’ve yet to maintain a hot streak for an entire month all year and that’s pretty much what they need to do. September could be the same old routine or it could be magical. I still fear their starting pitching is too inconsistent and too many hitters like Kemp, Loney, Martin & Blake run too hot and cold. Kemp is as cold as ice again and that could hurt. Thank the Lord for Angel Berroa. The Dominican is out of control. Bye bye, Nomar.

Like I’ve said all along, the team needs to gel, like it appears they may be doing, and they need to get angry. They need to say to themselves, “Screw this. We’re the Los Angeles Dodgers, we have a winning tradition, we have Manny Ramirez, one of the greatest hitters of all time, we have solid pitching, we have Joe Torre, we are better than you.” Then, they have to be dumb enough to believe it. It's possible.

So, they’re back from the dead. Now, let’s see if they can make another statement by beating Brandon Webb twice in a row.

Things to watch out for? The Colorado Rockies. Don’t look now, but they’re only 5 back, right around where they were this time last year before going nuts, winning the division and the National League pennant. They could help us and they could also hurt us.