They're Heeeere... (the losses, I mean)

I'm afraid I was right. After watching the weekend series against their friends from Anaheim, I've come to the conclusion that the problem with the '09 Dodgers, still the owners of the best record in baseball - is that they're really not a very good team. Given their record, I'm sure that will come as a surprise to most of you, but the fact is, the losing has just begun. Consider that all 3 starters in the series looked like crap: Kershaw was back to being Kershaw, throwing almost 100 pitches to the 2nd batter of the game. Randy Wolf looked like his typical, passive, mediocre self, allowing a bomb to Torii Hunter. Luckily, they were able to generate enough offense - even from Andre Ethier who may be snapping out of his funk - to bounce back. Today's loss to the Halos was ugly and the aspect of it that sends shivers down my spine is that Chad Billingsley looked mucho terrible'. Billingsley is a solid pitcher and clearly, he's their ace and they need to win his starts. When they don't they set themselves up for a losing streak. The Dodgers do not have any real dominating pitchers. They can all be beat. You cannot win without at least 1 or 2 dominating starters. Now they must away to the horrifying confines of Coors and the what will prve to be not-so-friendly confines of Wrigley. I see them losing 5 of 7 on this trip. I hope I'm wrong.

Defensively, there's something terribly wrong with Rafael Furcal. He looks tentative in the field, (and he can't really hit anymore, either.) He's simply no longer a dependable shortstop. Scary. Matt Kemp is still an adventure, and Russell Martin is a pretty awful defensive catcher. He can't move his body and he can't catch the ball. (I'm tired of hearing how he won a Gold Glove a couple of years ago. HOW did he win a Gold Glove??) So much for being strong up the middle.

At least Torre had the common sense to bat Casey Blake 4th in today's loss, and it was nice to see young Jaimie Hoffman hit his first big league homer, but the team has lost almost all its power. No more home runs from Ethier, Kemp, Loney, Hudson, none at all from Martin. To say they need Manny back is an understatement. The suddenly powerless Matt Kemp, as clueless as he ever was, is on pace to top the Bigs in K's this year. And someone who knows something - Joe Torre - finally acknowledges what I've been saying about Russell Martin for 2 years running: He tries to pull the ball too damn much and it's killing him and the team. James Loney had some key hits but his at bat against Arredondo looked like he was trying to play cricket. So, I'm being negative when there so many positives. I know, I know. The team is in first place. Best record in the whole MLB. Don't worry about the fact that Manny is out for another 34 or 35 games, that their pitching looks terrible, that they're going on a difficult road trip, and that the San Diego Daddies have WON 9 GAMES IN A ROW. Pretty scary. I submit that by the second week of June, the Dodgers will not have the best record in baseball anymore and their lead in the lowly NL West will be cut in half. Like I've been saying, this team has been doing it with smoke and mirrors up til now and, without Manny, without strong starting pitching, without key bats like Furcal's and Martin's, without power, and without a reliable bullpen, the wheels are due to come off the cart. Hope I'm wrong.