With the news that Obama is now behind in the polls to McCan’t and that horrible, evil, nasty, Machavellian, kinda sexy, corrupt, Katherine Harris-like, Nazi bitch from Hell, and the lack of any assurances that my pilot will get picked up, along with the fact that I’m much closer to living in the streets than to buying my own home, and the AC in my car no longer functions, a new life in the Yukon is becoming more and more palatable. Until then, at least my team is in first place for the 3rd consecutive day and is guaranteed to still be in 1st at day’s end. The one and a half game lead is tenuous, but let’s face it: The D’backs looks like crap.
The Snakes are free falling and it’s no one’s fault but their own. True, their great 1-2 punch of Webb and Haren has stunk for a month, and one can easily point to that as the reason for their downfall. But if you’re a first place team and the team behind you loses 8 freakin’ games in a row and you can’t take advantage and run away with it, you simply don’t deserve to be in first place. With the addition of Adam Dunn, they’ve increased their power potential, but they have way too many strikeouts in their lineup. All their main power guys – Dunn, Reynolds, Young and Upton strike out more times in a week than I chew and swallow. I see the Rockies passing them, but you’ve heard that inane crap from me all year long.
The Dodgers, on the other hand, looked bad yesterday in their 5-3 win over their rivals, against whom they now hold the all-important head-to-head season advantage having won 9 of the 17 games. However, 11 strikeouts against rookie Max Scherzer is a bad sign before going out on another long road trip. These 10 games should certainly determine the winner of the lowly NL West, but we’ll see. The Blue are a dismal 12 game below .500 on the road, and they’re just plain bad when they have to go to Dad’s House and to the thin and rarified air of mile high Coors Field. Now matter how bad they are, the Padres have a tendency to subdue and taunt the Dodgers down in SD, the annoying "Beat LA" chants and all those Marines somehow making the Dodgers feel guilty about beating their adopted team. We all know about what a nightmare Denver can be and, to be truthful, I still think the Rockies are a little better than the Dodgers pound for pound. They’re missing a Manny, a Billingsley and a Lowe, but the latter two should be neutralized in the thin air anyway. Matt Holliday, Garret Atkins and Brad Hawpe are hot and Ian Stewart is doing quite well in place of the injured Todd Helton, while Sunnyvale native, Troy Tulowitsky is coming on. Jiminez, Cook & Francis have been pitching well. I don’t like it at all. Luckily, the late week series will be the last time the Dodgers have to face Colorado this year unless, of course, there’s a one game playoff to determine the NL West champ. The Snakes, meanwhile, have 2 series remaining against the Mountain Range.
If losing 8 in a row, then winning 8 in a row isn’t the mark of a streaky team, then I don’t know what is. Sorry I’m not a true believer yet, but this team hasn’t given me enough reason to be yet. As always, tonight’s game is a must win. Dr. Maddux must be at his best. Matt Kemp needs to climb out of this horrible slump and Andre needs to continue making a huge impact. Needless to say, a rather important road trip for a team that lost 8 of 10 on their last trip. In the event the Dodgers make the playoffs, one must wonder how the Wunderkind – Kemp, Ethier, Loney, Martin, DeWitt, Billingsley & Broxton will perform under post season pressure. Martin showed some pluck in the All Star game so maybe he’ll come through. Somehow, I think Ethier and Billingsley will also be ready for that spotlight. DeWitt may or may not be a factor depending on Kent's recovery time. (By the way, not to take anything away from DeWItt's contributions since returning to the lineup as a 2nd baseman, but anyone who attributes the Dodgers recent success to Kent's absence is an idiot) If the Dodgers are to be taken seriously by anyone in the National League, they need to keep winning. They're 3 games over .500, they need to get to 7 to 10 games over. There are 19 games left and so much can happen in the interim. All things being equal, do I now believe the Dodgers will win the West? … …
… yes.
An Angel/Dodger World Series? Hope not. The Halos'll kill 'em.
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