It's Aliiiive!! Magic 7... and Then What?

It's been awhile since my last post as I've been busy with things like trying to obtain food stamps for myself so I can continue to keep some weight on. Yes, it's true, my past posts for a year in which the Blue have managed to win 91 games with 11 still to play, have been markedly negative. My reason for my cynicism and negativity has been, quite simply, that regardless of their impressive record, I just haven't believed in them. I feel that for most of the season, they've been doing it with smoke and mirrors, no real ace and only 3 big bats, none of them ever productive at the same time. Over the last couple of weeks, however, the Dodgers have been rejuvenated. True, Manny has still not been Manny, but Ethier and Kemp have become Manny and that's even better. Like Frankenstein's monster, with a bolt of lightgning, the team has suddenly come alive, once again making me look like an idiot and Torre look like a genius mad doctor. Some factors in the regeneration of dead blue cells:

- James Loney has surrepticiously returned to form and looks like he did last year. He's hitting for power and driving in runs.
- Ronnie Belliard has, for all intents and purposes, replaced the missing bat of the O Dog. (Forget about Hudson's .280's average, he's killed us for the last 2 and 1/2 months)
- Sure, they've been beating up on teams like the lowley Buccaneers and the awful D.C. Nats, but they also have been playing well against Colorado and San Fran and they even beat Tim Lincecum.
- They've even been getting a little bat play from long lost Rafael Furcal and Casey Blake.
- And most importantly, they've been getting quality starts from Wolf, Kuroda and newcomers Padilla and Garland.

And, reasons for some hope - Kershaw looked good in his 2 innings of relief last night, coming off his stupid right shoulder injury and, as I type this, even the woeful Chad Billingsley has retired the first 9 Nationals he's faced. So, 7 is the magic number to win the West and win the West the Dodgers will definitely do, making this blogger happily wrong once again. But then what?

... Well ... anything can happen in a short series and, as I said, the Blue have been getting excellent picthing of late, both from their supersized starting staff and their pen. BUT, the Redbirds still have a formidable starting staff with the 2009 Cy Young Award winner in either Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainright. The Phils have the great Cliff Lee who suffered only a minor hiccup in his prowess, and the resurgent Cole Hamels. And has anyone looked at Joe Blanton's numbers since July? Quietly unhittable. I'm sorry, but I still don't like our chances in a short series with either of these teams. We have no number one starter nor do we have a true number 2. In fact, one can argue that ALL of the Blue's starting staff would be number 3 guys on many teams. (Randy Wolf, Kershaw and Kuroda, however, have pitched like aces for the last month and a half.) The question is, can they continue to behave like aces once the Playoffs start? This is a huge question because I fully expect the Cards' and Phils' aces to pitch according to their status. I'm fairly certain the top starters on both the Cards and the Phils will stifle the Dodgers offense. For the Dodgers to win, they're going to have to get home field advantage and they're going to have to match those arms.

It's a foregone conclusion the once tumbling Rockies will be the Wild Card team and will lose in the first round. So, assuming the Dodgers somehow survive the first round Division Series, they'll have to play both the Phils and the Cards whether they finish with the NL's best record or not. Anything can happen. Maybe Juan Pierre can get another ring and make this whole fiasco worth his while. In order for that to happen, 3 of the Dodgers 6 starters (which 3 will Joe use?) need to channel Koufax, Drydsdale and Sutton.