Not Enough. ... Sorry.

Nice job by Ned Colletti, while tied down by the tight reins of McCheap. Although I'm EXTREMELY disappointed Matt Kemp is still a Dodger. Thought maybe that was why they got Podsednik. I predicted Manny would be gone by the deadline, and many inquiries were made about him, but it seems he'll remain a Dodger at least 'til the August 31st waiver deadline. As I have always said, I really, really like Blake DeWitt, and he may wind up becoming a fine second baseman with the Cubbies, (or third baseman, the way Aramis Ramirez is looking) but Colletti made a good deal. Ryan Theriot is a notch better. Slightly better defensively, quicker, faster, hIgher BA. And, of course, Ted Lilly, the centerpiece of the deal, is no Cliff Lee. But he's a starter with an ERA under 4.00 who can eat innings. Also, we finally said bye-bye to the awful James McDonald. At one time very promising, maybe one day he will be again ... with Pittsburgh? From what I've heard about young Andrew Lambo, I'm also not too upset about parting ways with him. Once a #1 prospect for the Blue, the kid is a real nasty jerk who can't stop makin' with the marijuana. Octavio Dotel may make a nice segue to Kuo and/or Jansen, before Broxton comes in and blows the game. But, alas, these have all been pretty much lateral moves. Podsednik is an improvement, but if Kemp still plays, what good is he sitting on the bench when Manny comes back? None of the players acquired are difference-makers and they're still strapped with the mediocre offensive core of Kemp, Loney, Martin and Ethier. Meanwhile, the Fathers have greatly improved themselves with the acquisitions of Miguel Tejada - though he's not the steroid-enhanced Tejada of old - and Ryan Ludwick. Now, Adrian Gonzalez has real hitters batting around him. If Matt Latos, Richard and Garland continue to pitch as well as they have been, you can forget about it. It'll be the Dads and The Giants battling it out for the West with the ever-improving Rockies still looming (can you BELIEVE how good Carlos Gonzalez is??) and the offensively impotent Dodgers, in spite of their recently GREAT starting pitching, falling into the abyss currently occupied by the Dbacks.

Casey Blake homered yesterday for the Dodgers' only run. Still, he's TERRIBLE. Russell Martin is still their catcher and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. Why? Matt Kemp still has his head somewhere in or around Rheanna instead of on the field. He still plays. Why? (Ethier's wife is giving birth again and Manny's still on the DL are 2 good reasons) James Loney still isn't a hundred percent focused. Why not? So, Don Mattingly is going to be their next manager? Why? He hasn't been able to get through to any of the core hitters. Thus, he's not a good hitting coach. What has Mattingly done to make us think he's going to be an effective manager? Only a handful of ex-superstars have made good managers. I don't necessarily believe Donnie Baseball will be one of them.

Normally I agree with LA Times columnist, Bill Shaikin, but in today's paper, he says he hopes Fox will return as part owners of the Dodgers and help finance McCourt. MCCOURT DOES NOT CARE WHETHER OR NOT THE TEAM WINS. And neither does Fox. I sure hope Fox doesn't come back in. LA needs to get the tastes of Fox AND the McCourts out of our mouths. We need to get an owner who's going to spend money in the draft and get the team back to the Dominican.

Plaschke was right today. The LA teams are done.