This weekend the Dodgers announced that Don Mattingly will take over the reigns next year. Rumors were swirling that Tim Wallach would be the next in line, but it seems that the Dodgers have been planning this all year….so much that they already gave Don Mattingly an extension before the season began.

If you read my last post, this wasn’t a big surprise to me.  It’s obvious that the Dodgers are holding to their core players, and Joe Torre didn’t want the job anymore.

Personally, I think it’s a good switch, but we’ll see if it works out. The Dodgers did need change. They counted on the kids and this year the kids went backwards. They either needed new kids, or someone who could better motivate the kids. As much as Larry Bowa and Joe Torre gave old school tough love, it just didn’t seem to be working.  The Dodgers have good talent, but it is obvious now how far down you can go on what you “should” be able to do, rather than what you actually do do.

To be frank, the last two weeks have just stunk up here in the Bay Area.  The Giants and Dodgers have switched roles this year.  The Giants are fighting to get into the playoffs, and the Dodgers are out.  The problem this year is that the Dodgers are so far out, they aren’t even trying to play spoilers.  They honestly look like they have just rolled over and died.  The starting pitching is a gem, but the offense is just pathetic.  That’s my only concern with Don Mattingly.  His job of making sure the offense works, hasn’t worked very well of late.  Hopefully that isn’t a direct translation to managing…which he hasn’t officially done before.

I do give the Giants credit.  When you are heading to the playoffs, you should be able to roll over the weaker teams.  The Giants rolled over the Dodgers in the last two series.  Clayton Kershaw was a one man team last week, but it’s just too bad he can’t pitch everyday.

I saw the Giants play the Brewers on Sunday, and they look good right now.  They picked up good veterans in Jose Guillen and Pat Burrell, and Buster Posey is a stud.  I hope he can play for a long time because he is fun to watch.  He has a sweet swing, and it just seems far to easy for him to drive it to the gaps.  If he can stay healthy, he will help the Giants for a long time.

The Giants look like a team ready for the playoffs.  They have strong pitching, offense and relief pitching, and may very well hold off the Padres.

It’s a funny thing living out of town when your own team stinks.  I have always been a baseball fan, more than even a Dodgers fan, so it is fun to hear about the struggles of the Giants and see them put together a good team.  I’m still not going to root for them, but good baseball is fun to watch, and right now their playing good baseball.  Ironically, hopefully the Dodgers can get back to this level next year.

On a personal note, the title of this post had a deeper meaning.  For now, this is going to be my last post.  I’ll leave the site up for now , but I have some new pursuits to go after, largely music.  I’ve enjoyed writing about the Dodgers, but it’s time for change.  If anyone is interested in taking over the site, please e-mail me at scott@sfdodgerfan.com.  The site will need a new banner though.  I love the picture of Manny at AT&T park, but alas his ship has sailed away. 

Many thanks to all of you who subscribed over the last 2 years.  I don’t know all of you personally, but I definitely appreciated your support. 

Happy Trails All – Go Blue.

Casey Blake - LA Times

Yee Ha!  What a way to start.  Big wins are always fun…especially when you live up here.  Sadly I won’t be at work the next few days for the weekend, because it would have been really fun to talk about this game.

I’m making it official.  Casey Blake is my favorite player on the Dodgers right now.  If you’ve read this blog, you know I’ve been partial for a long time.  I like Manny and Loney and Pierre, but Blake just gets the job done.  He is a good guy and a great player.  Sometimes up, sometimes down, but he is clutch when they need it.  I’m glad to see his body seems to be ok after resting for a bit. 

My prediction rang true that the Dodgers would have the advantage, but it definitely wasn’t what I expected.  Matt Cain is a good pitcher and the Dodgers ate him up.  It’s interesting how Manny is just playing smart these days.  He’s hit a few homeruns of late, but he’s trying to hit to the right side and he was involved in driving in runs tonight.  I agree with people that something seems a little off, but he’s a good enough player that he’s still contributing.

It was great to see Loney playing well too.  He has a sweet swing.  I still think he’ll win the batting title some day, but he when he connects, man does he drive it.

We saw history tonight too.  Buster Posey is the Giants true catching prospect, and he made is major league debut.  They’ve been talking about this guy for weeks as he just tore up the minors this year.  What was interesting was that they’ve had him in the majors for almost a week and he hasn’t been in a game.  Bruce Bochy said he was waiting for the right time, but it was weird that they waited so long.  I guess that being down 7-1 was long enough.  Based on his stats we’ll be seeing a lot of him, and he seems to be the heir apparent for Bengie Molina.

It was real interesting reading the local papers today to see what they said about the series this weekend.  What was interesting was that there wasn’t a lot to read.  The Giants are on the cusp of not making the playoffs and everyone knows the Dodgers are better, they just hope they can stay close to still catch the Rockies.  The Giants are playing the Dodgers this weekend, but the focus is the next series with the Rockies.  As a Dodgerfan, I wanted the big story on how important this series is…but none of that was there.  The focus was Tim Lincecum’s back, Buster Posey being in the bigs, and the hope to catch the Rockies.

Bring on tomorrow and Sunday.  If anyone is going to the game on Sunday, let me know and we can meet up.  The Willie McCovey statue might be a good place before the game.  E-mail me at scott@sfdodgerfan.com.

Go Dodgers.