"Daddy, Why Won't the Bad Man Go Away?"

Well, son, because he's bad. And bad people don't know when to go away. They're mean and greedy and selfish and they stay as long as they can, no matter how much they're not wanted, no matter how much they're hated, no matter how many millions of people want them to leave. The only thing we can hope for is that good prevails over evil and a hero emerges.

Eventually, in spite of all his tactics and attorneys, in spite of all the legal types who think McCourt may wind up hanging onto to the team through his latest strategy - the bankruptcy filing - don't believe for a minute that Frank McCourt will continue to be the owner of the Dodgers much longer. May take a little more time than I initially predicted once the Commish assigned a trustee to oversee operations of the club in April, but it will happen. Maybe he'll get to keep the parking lot for awhile, but sooner or later, Frank McCourt will be ousted as the owner of the Dodgers and the team and it's fans will finally be free. Long live Bud Selig for his attempts to restore our beloved Blue to the fans. I want a Dodger Dog. Maybe one day soon when he's long gone.

The team? Sorry hopefuls and wishfuls. Those 25 hits and 15 runs against the Siblings Who Were Born At The Same Time And Look Exactly Alike were nothing more than a history-making aberration. A fluke. A mirage. An oasis in a hot, dry, endless Sahara. I was wrong in my earlier blog. This team DOES stink. Matt Kemp is great. MVP material for sure. Andre Ethier is very good, but his pop has left the ballpark. Kershaw, as it turns out, is finally looking like the real deal. I like what I'm seeing from The Thin Man and who doesn't like Mattingly's "Mighty Mites," Carroll and Miles? That's it. Six very good players. Even though Loney is coming out of his funk, the rest of the team is mediocre to lousy. (Though I'm curious to see what Tony Gwynn can do if he plays every day and what Kuroda could do if his team had an offense.) But, they just can't put it together for any length of time and, in spite of the general weakness of the division, they won't. Their pitching actually sucks from the starting rotation through the bullpen. Kemp can't do it all by himself and Kershaw can't pitch every day. Gordon is still too young to have the responsibility of the team's fortunes heaped on his rather unsubstantial shoulders and Ethier is just a singles hitter now. Thames stinks. Totally clueless. Loney is weak. Uribe and Blake are engaged in a stinking contest. Uribe is winning. They have no catcher. Billingsley is extremely inconsistent, usually bad. Lilly is having a terrible year. De La Rosa isn't the answer, at least not yet. (He pitched great today) Their awful bullpen rests on the young arms of Javvy Guerra and Kenley Jansen. Mattingly looks in over his head. They're just terrible.

Barring a miracle, I expect them to be sellers instead of buyers before the deadline and that could mean we could be saying good-bye to some of the bigger contracts. Kuroda, maybe Billingsley, maybe Loney, and hopefully, Uribe and Thames. I don't know if anyone would want Blake, but you never know. However, we want to root for them because of the predicament they're in. These Dodgers are the product of greed. What? Isn't that moniker reserved for the Yankees and Red Sox? No. In fact, it's more apt when used to reference the Dodgers. They're the product of McCourt's greed and avarice. Had he actually cared about the team and spent money to improve them, the Dodgers would have a pretty good shot at the division. Fans would come to the ballpark. It would be a completely different summer. Why does McCourt not seem to realize that Selig turning down the Fox deal is NOT the reason he and the Dodgers are in this position. It's his greed, mismanagement and overall eely slipperiness. It's that he's a horrible jackass and everybody truly despises him. This is indeed why Selig and every Dodger fan in LA wants him gone. Now. Please. What would Albert Pujols look like in a Dodger uniform? We'll probably never find out. By the time this is all resolved, the Dodgers may be taking a shot at signing Mike Moustakis in his first year of free agency. ... in 2018. Here's hoping it happens much, much sooner.

Things Are Looking Thin a 3rd of the Way Through

"Thin." 'Paper thin." What other words could you use to describe Dodgers unripe shortstop, Dee Gordon? I can actually think of a few. "Amazing" comes to mind. "Grease-lightning" is another one. "Great" may also be in his future. Poor Rafael Furcal? Not really. I think he can read the handwriting on the wall. Though Furcal is a fine player when he actually plays, when your body is made of fine, delicate Japanese porcelain, baseball is a little too rough to play on a nightly basis. So, Dee Gordon's time has come.

I was wrong. This team does not stink. They're a bad team, but they don't stink. Here's where they are about a 3rd of the way in:

THE OFFENSE: Jamey Carroll reminds me of an anime superhero. He does everything that's asked of him in a Brett Butler-like, Astro-Boy-like, dutiful manner. What a find he turned out to be and a feather in the fairly sparse fedora of Ned Colletti. Matt Kemp is the NL MVP in this blogger's mind if the season ends today. Though the Baseball Writer's of America would hand the ward to big fat, Prince Fielder of the 1st place Brewers, (I told ya so about the Brew Crew) Kemp is easily the better player. Somebody or something or some Davey Lopes crawled up into his butt and sent Kemp a strong message. Ethier is fine. Lots of BA, but no pop. O, Wherefore art the Ethier pop? We need some HR's and some doubles from the pouty Andre. Loney is showing signs of life, but Loney has a talent limit that will only take the team so far. Casey Blake offers little. Uribe offers even less. Mattingly has made some odd moves. Why would you take the dynamic duo of Carroll and Miles out of the lineup with all the production they're providing. You really think Blake and Uribe are going to contribute as much as they do? It's like replacing a sporty Toyota with an old pickup truck. I like the way he picks the ball, but I'm not a big Uribe fan. And I've never been a Blake fan. He makes a lot of excuses and he's just not that good. Also, why did the Dodgers designate left-handed hitting Jay Gibbons for assignment and keep the awful Marcus Thames?? Why is Marcus Thames even on the team?? I can see why they sent Jerry Sands back down. He needs a little more seasoning. He'll be a great player, but he's not quite ready.

Both catchers - Barajas and Navarro - are weak but they can play the position. Why is Aussie, Trent Oeltjen out there? Tie me Kangaroo Down, he strikes out too much. Tony Gwynn - like I've said all year - should be their starting left fielder until or unless they acquire a big hitter who can roam the outfield. Maybe they'll finally get the message. Bottom line is, they have four guys who can hit, and only two of them have any real power and only one of THEM is using it. They need Prince Fielder. Think the Brew Crew will give 'im up? Yeah, sure.

THE STARTING PITCHING: Severely overrated. Kershaw has been fairly solid but by no means stellar. He's still not there, or at least where everyone predicted he'd be. He seems to fall apart, quite often, after the 5th inning. Unfortunately for the perennially young Clayton, these games are 9 innings. Dang. Billingsley has been mediocre to decent. Same story with Hiroki Kuroda who is portrayed as a constant victim of lack of run support. And he is. Lilly has been slightly south of decent. Just ok. Garland was terrible before his injury, but his replacement, young Rubby De La Rosa looks might interesting. Keep an eye on him.

THE BULLPEN - PEE-U! Now, THEY stink! What a disaster, injuries or no injuries! Rookie, Javvy Guerra, looks like the only one who can pitch. Guerrier - stinks. Kuo - suddenly neurotic. McDougal - stinks. Troncoso - stinks, but not as badly as he used to. Elbert - stinks, but not as badly as he used to. Jansen - stunk. Let's see what we get when he gets back. Broxton - stinks.

MANAGEMENT - Not sure yet, but I don't think Donnie Baseball is doing too well. It's not all his fault, but he seems somewhat unsure as to who to play sometimes. Or what the hell to do. Lots of odd moves and non-moves, typical of a rookie manager. The jury is still way, way out on him. Suffice it to say, he's been dealt a weak hand. Speaking of hands, Colletti's are manicled by budget constraints. It still remains to be seen whether they'll just call up the farm and call it a year.

OWNERSHIP - All we can do is hope and pray that June 30th will be the McCourt's last day of officially owning the team. If he gets that Fox deal and gets to keep the team, I may never set foot in Dodger Stadium again. He's just an awful dude. And now this latest thing about the clergy coming to his defense in an appeal to Bud Selg. And their assurances that he didn't pay them off? PLEASE. That has got to be the new all-time low since the Black Sox scandal. Yeah, beleaguered Mets owner, Fred Wilpon and one-time Maddoff associate, is also a little filthy and, sure, he's a friend of Selig, so he gets special treatment. But that doesn't mean McCourt should get to stay.

Everything will go as I predicted it would at the beginning of the year. Go back to my blog entitled: 2011 Predictions By Bleaky Bleakington. So far, now that the Tribe is beginning to fold their teepee, the only thing I've been terribly wrong about, it seems, are the Diamondbacks. And even then, I covered my bases. But it's a long season and there's big news coming. See ya all soon.