BEATen LA!

The wood and the nails have been purchased. The better team took 2 of 3. The Dads are for real and the Blue are fakers. This is the worst Dodger team I've seen since 1993. Except that '92 team at least had some nice role players. Unless they can make an unlikely blockbuster deal, this campaign is as good as over. I mean, come on! They stink. They can't hit. They don't have enough pitching. They don't have enough heart. But, more importantly, as evidenced by his performance today, they kind of have no manager. Joe Torre has been mailing it in all year and his bizarre non-move today against the Dads in what was the most important game of the year, proved startlingly idiotic. Only complacency could be responsible for such stupidity from a man who's been around baseball as long as Torre. He just doesn't really care. How else could you explain using your all-time worst with the game on the line, with Jonathan Broxton loose in the pen and ready to go? What was he saving him for?

George Sherrill needs to be given his unconditional release. It's the only way to keep him from causing any further damage.

As far as good ol' Joe, so many bad calls at first base not going the Dodgers' way, so many times Joe sits on his ass in the dugout not saying a word. The call last week when the umps charged replacement manager, Donny Baseball with a second trip to the mound and removed Broxton from the game went unchallenged. The umps blew the ruling. Broxton should've been made to pitch to that batter - can't even remember who it was - THEN, he was supposed to be removed. Could've changed the outcome of the game, which turned out to be a Dodger loss. Unprotested. What manager who's actually been given a chance to pull a win out of the loss column doesn't even lodge a protest?

So, now to the trade deadline. Lee is a Ranger, Haren is a Halo and now, Oswalt is one of the Phillies, (who I believe are going back to the World Series.) The Dodgers acquired Scott Podsednik from KC yesterday. A good move by Colletti given his employer's tightfisted policy. Pod is a fine, hard-nosed ballplayer with speed, a little power and a lot of fundamentals. I was hoping they landed him so they can move Kemp somewhere. Anywhere. Kemp is awful, but some team may not think he's as bad as he is. Ok, so Oswalt's out. Greinke? I really doubt it.

Once again, it comes down to the weakness of what we used to affectionately call the "kiddie corps." The corps has become their "core" and they're just not enough. Andre Ethier is a fine ballplayer, but let's face it, he's so bad against lefties you almost want to platoon him. Loney homered today - his 8th, which means he has one more than Furcal - then proceeded to look like Hell the rest of his at bats. Loney is not the kind of first baseman that can lead the team to a division title or pennant. Kemp cannot stop pulling off the ball. He just doesn't get it. Kemp and Loney, both, take many at bats off and I have no idea why Torre puts up with it. Russell Martin, simply put, has become one of the worst hitters I've ever seen. Broxton is good, not great, certainly not a lights out closer. In fact, he shouldn't even be there closer. Let's give it to Kuo and Jansen. (I like the look of this Kelly Jansen, although, in spite of my disdain for Broxton, I still think he was a far better choice than Sherrill in the 9th.) Billingsley has turned out to be a sometimes solid middle of the rotation guy, not so much the difference-maker he was touted to be. Kershaw could be the real deal, but he's not quite there yet. There's your core. Not much without a vital Manny hitting somewhere in the middle. Not much without another starter to anchor a slightly better-than-average staff.

Casey Blake? Take him off the grill. He's done. Blake DeWitt? Not good enough, not yet, anyway. But more importantly, the owner has no passion for winning and will not open his wallet to give the fans what they deserve and have deserved for many, many years. He's a greedy, miserly SOB and I hope the divorce ruins him. This team has no chance.

For next year, my dream is for McCheap to sell to someone with a beating heart who knows what the Dodgers once meant to baseball. I hope this owner installs either Bobby Valentine or Dusty Baker, someone with blue in his blood, as their new manager.