He's Back, But ...

With all the falderol and fiddle dee dee, all the hooplah surrounding Manny's triumphant return to the cleanup spot in the Dodgers lineup tonight in San Diego, no one's talking about the giant white elephant in the room: This team really isn't very good anymore. Take their last series against the Rockies where they won 4-2 in the bottom of the 13th in Game 1 thanks to HR heroics by Andre , who's hitting around .260. Then they made Jason Marquis look like Bob Feller and got shut down in a little over 2 hours. No runs. Then, they barely beat the Rockies 1-0 on Wednesday night. Manny had better come back like he hasn't missed a beat because this team can't hit. No one. Not anymore. Even Casey Blake, the O Dog and the great Juan Pierre are stone cold. They can't score runs, they have no power, they strike out with runners on and they stink. Russell Martin sucks. Rafael Furcal, in spite of his game winning hit the other night, is terrible. Loney stinks. Kemp is patently unreliable. Blake looks weak. Ethier is streaky, but most of the time, is not so good. Even their once touted bench, Loretta, Castro and Ausmus have left their bats at home. Pound for pound, right now, anyway, the Rockies are the better team. Helton is better than Loney, O Dog is a little better than Barmes, Tulo is better than Raffy, Blake is better than Stewart & Atkins, but not by much. Ian Stewart just hit his 15th dong and he is definitely a 3rd baseman on the rise. Look for the Mountains to try to deal Atkins before the break. As he starts heating up, he could really help out a contender. Their outfield of Spillborghs/Smith, Fowler and Hawpe is every bit as good, if not better than the Dodgers outfield, even with Ramirez back. Ianetta catches circles around Martin and is a better hitter. As far as starting pitching, right now I'd have to say the first four of the starting rotation of the Rockies - Marquis, Jiminez, Cook and Hammels are better than Billingsley, Wolf, Kuroda and Kershaw. The Rockies are a better team than the Dodgers right now. Their bullpen matches the Blue's except for the closer role, but Street is no slouch. They've picked up 8 games in the standings since the end of May and they're just a better team right now. Unless they fade, they can catch the Dodgers by early August. And the Giants? If the Giants add a bat to Sandoval's and Cain, Lincecum, Zito and Johnson keep dealing, unless the Blue can get back on track soon, they actually SHOULD catch the Dodgers. The recent trends do not look good.

That's why they play 162 games, people. The Dodgers being 21 games over .500 and temporarily having the best record in baseball is great, but they're getting weaker and I'm not sure getting Manny back will be enough to guarantee them the division or even a playoff spot. He's going to have to make Ethier, Loney and Kemp better in a big hurry. Let's face it. The National League just sucks. There simply aren't any great teams. Every team - the Phillies, the Mets, the Braves, the Cards, the Cubs, the Brewers, the 'Stros, they all have flaws. I think, ultimately, when the Cubs get healthy, they could have a great 2nd half. So can the Mets. If the Phils can add an arm and get Ibanez back, they could be tough again as well.

And forget about the American League. The Red Sox, Yankees, Rays and Angels are all better than the Blue pound for pound. The Orioles, the Jays, the Tigers, the Twins and the Rangers all feature a better offense. I'm just sayin', when you have great pitching stats but you're not sure why, and you're winning games but you're not sure why, eventually, the smoke and mirrors are going to fade.

Somehow, the Dodgers are going to need to start hitting. Like I said, maybe Manny can be that catalyst, but it's doubtful he can have that profound an effect follwoing a 50 day layoff and no more juice in his system. Russell Martin needs to play better and Raffy needs to hit. Loney and Kemp need to smarten up. Excuse the negativity but I have my doubts. In the meantime ....

Uh ... go, Manny.