Jon Garland - SI.com

Where do I start with Game 2.  Awesome, Awesome, Awesome.  I love a good Dodgers beat down.  As I write this, it is 12-1 in the 9th.   Here I thought Brad Penny would pitch like he did last weekend when I was there, and he just didn’t have it. 

Obviously I could have changed the post to wonder if the best Dodger pickup was Ronnie Belliard.  That grand slam in the 1st inning set the whole tone.  Then it was run after run and homeruns galore.  I like Blake DeWitt, so seeing him even get into the action was great fun.

It was great to see Pierre even get a hit with two outs.  I’m convinced that Juan Pierre is going to play a big part in the playoffs for the Dodgers, and it may just be a clutch hit at the right time.

Now to my focus.  Jon Garland pitched great today.  Even more, he has pitched great for the Dodgers.  I don’t know if it is the new team, or just more offense, but he has been a great pick up.  I think he may be a great pick up for years to come.  As they go into the playoffs, its hard to know where he will pitch.  He may not be the #1 this year, but he could be there in years to come.  He’s just solid, and he may be the difference for the rotation.

Well – Happy Birthday to me – the game is final and the Dodgers won 12-1.  My one request today was to watch the whole game.  I have to thank the Dodgers next time I talk to them for working together for a great game and memory.  The best comment I heard from a Giants fan today, “Isn’t there some sort of mercy rule?”  Love it.

Until tomorrow, who do you think is the best Dodgers pickup?

Bengie Molina - Fox Sports.com

Well, so much for predictions. Vincente Padilla just didn’t have it tonight, and the Dodgers couldn’t get it done. I thought Ethier could do his MVP thing in the 7th…but apparently his magic only works when the game is truly on the line. The Giants looked strong and they just looked like they wanted it more.

Tonight was funny though because there were two things in the game that I’ve never seen before. Ironically they both had to do with Bengie Molina.

First, he hit in a double play which wouldn’t have been special except that it was the slowest double play I’ve ever seen. The ball went to third, Blake sent it to second where Hudson had to step away to dodge the sliding runner. You figured the Dodgers would just get one. Then, it was like time slowed down. Hudson stepped out of the way, twirled, and then realized Bengie was still way down the line and then “decided” to throw down to first.  There was seriously a 2-3 second delay.  It was like there was a time warp and then he realized he could still get the second out. Ironically he threw it to first and still beat Bengie by at least 3 or 4 steps. Cool play that will soon be forgotten, but was something I’d never seen.

The second play was not very long after. There was a pitch by the Giants and for whatever reason Bengie was having problems with the pad strap on his catching gear. You figured he would fix it, but it seemed to be taking too long. Then all of a sudden, you saw a bat boy bringing a whole second set of equipment out to Bengie. First off, who knew catchers had a whole second set of equipment ready at all times? Second, why not just change the leg protectors, instead of everything? It was pretty random, but again something I’d never seen before.

Well, not quite what I expected and the Giants gained a game since the Rockies lost. Here’s hoping tomorrow shines a little more blue.

The season seems to take so long, but then the end gets here quickly. After a long good year, the Dodgers and Giants play their last scheduled match up against each other. They may see each other in the playoffs, but this is the last regularly scheduled match.

It’s amazing what a week of baseball brought. The Dodgers gained 2 games on the Rockies and the Giants are still 3.5 games behind them. I like where the Dodgers stand.

I was talking to a Giants fan last night who said, “The Dodgers are in real good shape.” They know they did what they had to do against the Pirates and now if they can play well this weekend, they should definitely go to the playoffs.

Here are the pitching matchups and my take on who has the advantage.

Friday: Vicente Padilla, RHP (11-6, 4.42)  vs. Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (6-12, 4.16)

Advantage Dodgers.  He’s just pitching well right now, and the Dodgers seemed to have Sanchez’s number last weekend.

Saturday: Jon Garland, RHP (10-11, 4.19) vs Brad Penny, RHP (10-8, 5.04)

Having seen Penny first hand on Sunday, definitely advantage Giants.  He wants to win against the Dodgers.  Period.

Sunday: Randy Wolf, LHP (10-6, 3.24)  vs. Tim Lincecum, RHP (14-5, 2.30)

Wow.  Wolf is sharp right now, but Lincecum is still Cy Young level.  Advantage Giants.  If the Dodgers can get to him late, they have a chance, but that should be a great game.

Well – hopefully we can take 2 of 3 and keep the lead we have.  We’ll see.  Then again the bats seemed to jump out last weekend, so hopefully it will be the same this weekend.  At least if we lose 2 of 3 we can go back to playing the Pirates.  Go Blue.

Andre Ethier - L.A. Times.com

I would have never put Andre Ethier in this category as the season started, but after 6 walk-off hits and 4 walk-off home runs, he should be up there.  How do I figure?  The Dodgers are 5 games ahead of the Rockies.  If the Dodgers lose all those games that he helped them win…suddenly this is a very different season.  That’s definitely a reason to consider him for the MVP. 

Honestly I think Albert Pujols will get it because he’s just freaking awesome…but Ethier definitely has moved ahead of Manny for this years MVP.  (It does help when you play 50 more games too…..)

I found an interesting article on the history of the phrase “walk-off.”  (Click Here)  Who knew that it all started with Dennis Eckersley, and that Kirk Gibson’s home run was definitely tied to it.   Great stuff.  Anyway, there’s no real way to tabulate who is close to Either, but he definitely sets the record for this year.  Even just 4 walk-off home runs is unreal.  I love the fact that he hit the first pitch from the Pirates.  He went up there ready, and knew he could do it again.  That’s some kind of confidence to realize the game is in your hands, but to know you can win it.  Great stuff.

High Points Andre.  All Dodger fans and especially those up here, tip our hats to you.

Vin Scully - 9/13/09

Went to the game and saw the Dodgers get their little behinds beat….bad. At one point I said to my wife, “wow, what an exiting game…” not.  It was fun being there…but not so fun being killed.

Let’s just say Chad Billingsley is not ready for the playoffs.  I talked to another fan who felt that he hasn’t been the same since the All-Star game.  I would agree.  Something is off.  The thing I noticed today wasn’t that he was wild – it was that they were crushing his pitches.  I don’t know if it was his velocity down, or that they knew what was coming, but those balls were just flying off the bats.  Jon Weisman thinks he’s been worked to hard this year (click here).

Weaver and Belisario didn’t seem much better.  Weaver got hit from the first pitch and Belisario just kept bringing them in.

Here were the real highlights of the day, since the Dodgers didn’t bring too many.

• Even in the parking lot at the train station I had a fan stop, roll down his window and “boo” at me in my Dodger gear.  Got to love living up here.
• We had really nice seats in the club level and still had a lot of Dodger fans around.  There were over 40k people at the game, but the blue was out.  As you can see in the above picture, we were really close to Vin Scully too, which was very fun.
• Russell Martin has figured something out.  He hit 2 homeruns over the weekend, and even when he got out today, he was hitting the ball well.  Not sure what happened, but here’s hoping he has a good September.  He seems to have gotten his grove back.
• There was a pretty funny situation near the end of the game.  They put up the Padres/Rockies score and that the Padres had won.  It was funny because both sets of fans started cheering.  Both the Dodgers and Giants want to see the Rockies lose, so it was funny to finally have something that both sides could cheer about.
• Special thanks to Dave and Kevin on the train ride home.  You guys are the epitome of good Giants fans.  You were great to talk to, up on your sports, and had lots of good things to say about the Dodgers, with just enough taunting too.  If we’re ever at a game again together, I’ll gladly buy you both a beer.

Well – there goes the series.  Time to play the Pirates briefly, then more Giants.  I’m glad we took 2 of 3, I just wish we could have finished strong today.

Funny Scoreboard

Finally, here’s a fun game to end the post.  Can you find what’s wrong with the picture here?  Let’s just say the scoreboard was having some technical difficulties at one point in the game.  It’s a little small, but hopefully you can see what happened.  Post your thoughts below.