The Downward Slide to Reality

It's been so boring lately, I haven't really had anything of note to say about the Dodgers and life, in general. Oh, yeah, congrats once again to the Lakers. What a great owner that Dr. Jerry Buss is. What a bad, bad, naughty owner that Frank McCourt is. Once again, Times baseball writer, Bill Shaikin echoed my sentiments. This time in Sunday's column about the upstart, pitching-laden San Diego Daddies, with whom the Dodgers must now compete for a playoff spot, along with the Giants and Rockies. In commenting on how some Dodger fans think the interleague schedule is unfair because the Dodgers have to play Detroit, the Angels, Boston and the Yanks while the Dads get to play Baltimore, Seattle and Toronto (not that Toronto is bad) he writes: "But perhaps it is not fair to Dodgers fans that their team did not leverage its major-market advantage to buy the one or two more pitchers that might have buried the Padres." And the rest of the NL for that matter. Like I've always said, kind of hard when you have an owner who cares more about his own profits than about winning.

The Dodgers were simply outplayed and outclassed by the Boston Red Sox over the weekend. It may not have been evident in all the scores, but it certainly was evident if you watched every inning. The Dodgers were and are pretty terrible. Consider how badly Matt Kemp and Casey Blake have been playing. Remember what a great glove Blake has had at third base the last 2 years? What happened to that? He's been killing us in that corner. He should've been charged with an error on that ball he booted off the bat of (Pedroia?) that led to a run. Balls are going through his legs, off the heel of his glove. He's awful out there. And he can't hit a lick, except for a few 3 or 4 day stretches here and there. Look, Joe, if Casey ain't gonna field, you may as well play Belliard. At least Belliard can rake. They've needed his bat in the lineup all season long.

OverMATTched Kemp has looked like horse manure ever since Colletti opened his yap, like, 7 weeks ago. It was incredibly stupid for Colletti to say what he said at the time he said it, but any ballplayer worth his salt would've responded heroically instead of slumping into a corner and shriveling up. He's clueless. Trying to hit everything to right, no matter where it's pitched, striking out like a mad man and pulling his head all over town. Rhianna should dump his butt. He can't run the bases and he's not much of a glove in center with his misjudgments and bad jumps and all. So, at what point does Torre decide to start Reed Johnson, who can actually be productive, in center? And if we truly are looking to get a Cliff Lee, is Kemp long for this town, rich 2-year deal or not? Xavier Paul may just be the answer. And so much for this great Dodgers outfield being the class of baseball. That distinction now goes to the Detroit Tigers with rookie phenoms Brennan Boesch from Santa Monica and Austin Jackson both having amazing years and Magglio Ordonez in right having a great year. With Kemp stinking, Manny's power down and strikeouts up, and Ethier free-falling since his pinkie injury, the Dodgers outfield is very human. As far as production the last month and a half, I rank it below a host of productive outfields including those of Arizona, (Young, Upton, Parra) Colorado, (Cargo, Hawpe, Smith/Spillborghs) Texas (Cruz and Hamilton are studs) Milwaukee (Braun & Hart) and St Louis (Holliday, Rasmus, Ludwick) Pittsburgh, (McCutheon, Milledge, Jones) Cincy,(Gomes, Stubbs, Bruce) the Angels (Rivera, Hunter, Abreu) the Cubs (Soriano, Byrd, Fukudome/Colvin) the list goes on. And did anyone read Ethier's ridiculous comments in the paper to Dylan Hernandez on Friday? He says he's 'not a very good player and would rather be a .270 hitter than a .390 hitter because he wouldn't be focused on so much.' What kind of an idiot says something like that? You're the 3 hole hitter on a team trying to make the playoffs and you'd rather be mediocre? And HE'S the most passionate guy out there, next to maybe Blake De Witt. (What does that say about the team's passion?) Well, Andre, looks like you're getting your wish. Your average has dropped 70 points in less than a week.

Well, so much for the John Ely - Fernandomania connection. John's ship has sailed, for right now, anyway. I'm afraid he's landed on a very lonely and remote island, far from the cheering crowds of a few weeks ago. He's destined for Albuquerque should the Blue ever get another arm. He never had great stuff to begin with, just lots and lots of poise. I still like the guy, but this is more than just a slump, I fear. The Monasterios hysterios is also over. He's ... not good. But they have to keep him up with the big club or risk losing him. Is it that much of a risk? I think HE'S the guy you trade for Delino DeShields. Also, isn't it time to think about getting rid of Ramon Troncos-ohno!? He's taken "terrible" to a whole new level.

Luckily, for the Dodgers, they could be in this until the end. The Giants, even with Buster Posey and a resurgent Burrell and Huff, can't hit so well and the Rockies have lost Tulo for a couple of months at least. Still, I figure the Dodgers to land down in 4th place unless they add a Lee, Oswalt or Haren and unless overMATTched Kemp can start hitting again. Rest assured, the Dads, Giants and Rockies, whose owners CAN'T use the excuse of a messy divorce, will do something to improve their chances. If somehow the now 3rd place Dodgers manage to eke out a division win , they have absolutely no chance of advancing to the World Series with their current pitching staff. None. Nil. The null set.

By listening to Joe Torre and watching him manage the team, I could swear he had decided in his last year with the Yankees, "I think I'm gonna retire and go manage the Dodgers." He just doesn't seem to care that much and, for that matter, nor does their owner nor the rest of the team. Bring back the good ol' days when Manny did female fertility drugs and the Dodgers had a Russian physicist and supernatural guru on the payroll sending them "V" energy from across the country. Look for the Blue to drop at least 2 of 3 to the Halos in the Heim. This is not a very good team.