This Is Bad...

As the constant June gloom hovers over LA and whispers its messages of doom and hopelessness to the already financially hopeless, downtrodden and depressed, I predict the Dodgers will soon begin their mighty collapse. Baseball is the microcosm for life, itself, and within the game, one can find one's summertime, one's hopes, dreams and expectations as if each stadium were encased in a snow globe. Well, the Dodgers little snow globe is leaking badly and The Smoke & Mirrors Tour could be coming to an end.

As I've said many times in this space since the testosterone-challenged Manny's foolish departure, the Dodgers simply don't appear to be that strong a team and they proved it again last night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Texas, where they got outhit, outplayed and outclassed. Hiroki Kuroda got lit up like Tokyo during a Godzilla rampage and the Dodgers were unable to muster any offense, save a couple of hard hit balls that were played into outs by the Rangers impressive infield. And let's face it. Russell Martin just stinks this year. Maybe he needs to take that ridiculous "J" off the back of his jersey. A tribute to his mom. Gimme a break. He's playing like his mom! Not only can he not hit (.249 and plummeting with no HRS and less than 30 RBI) but he can barely catch a pitch. He's a roly poly, walking, talking passed ball who can't hit the ball the other way and can't throw a runner out to save his life. Or his mom's. Rafael Furcal should probably sit in favor of Juan Castro at this point. Furcal looks terrible. He just can't seem to get it going, and he's opening up way too early with his lefthanded swing. Is his back hurting? Sure looks like it. He even looks tentative in the field. Matt Kemp's .300 BA is misleading. He's a decent player, but he's only got 7 homers in mid-June and he still looks clueless at the plate. Even the O Dog is looking weak. He's letting some 3rd pitch strikes go by that would have most hitters foaming at the mouth. Just doesn't seem aggressive and confident anymore. In spite of his 2 hits last night, even the great Pierre's average is plummeting and Casey Blake's power has taken a indefinite leave of absence. Never before, since Manny's suspension began, have the Dodgers looked so desperately in need of his services. 18 more games could end up bringing them back into the pack and them some. They've been getting very lucky with some last minute heroics by Ethier and some poor fielding by opposing teams. At some pint, the Dodgers will use up their cache of luck. Today, we have the reliably undependable Randy Wolfe on the mound and tomorrow, thank God, we have Billingsley again, but no matter who's pitching, the Dodgers are horrific on the road in interleague play.

Don't look now, but Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Brian Wilson and big, fat Pablo Sandoval are leading the Giants back into the hunt. They're only 7 games out and they're 4 games over .500, which is not a bad place to be in June. And to add to the foreboding sound of cleat steps, here come the Rockies, back from the dead, lead by the Ghost of Mediocrity Past, ex-Dodger milquetoast skipper, Jim Tracy. The best record in baseball at 18 over .500? In 2 weeks time, the Red Sox will have that distinction. The Dodgers are falling and failing. Pessimist, you say? Maybe. Hater, you say? Quite the contrary. I love the Dodgers and I believe this team will win the West at least. But right now, until they can get some starting pitching and get Manny back, I just don't think they're that good a team. At least not as good as their record indicates. They need starting pitching and they're gonna need it soon. Here's hoping the upstart Blue Jays tank and Roy Halladay has dreams of the Ravine.

BTW, the umpiring in the Bigs is getting worse every year, as evidenced by the screw up in Philly yesterday when Dobbs hit a game winning dong directly over the foul pole in right field and the umps called it foul and refused to even review it. Why have the review for home runs if you're not going to utilize it? The Phils went on to lose. What a group of idiots. The ball clearly went over the pole.