Casey Blake - Robert Gauthier - LATimes.com

So I’ve been letting the Dodgers loss simmer a little. Honestly, it still stings. So much promise going into the series with the Phillies, and then to absolutely watch the pitching fall part. The offense didn’t totally go away, but it was like the pitching just lost it. Mind you, the Phillies can hit. But it still seemed like the Dodgers just couldn’t pitch. I shared the collective gasp with all other Dodger fans when Broxton walked Matt Stairs and the rest of the game just fell apart.

What strikes me in looking back though is that “THEY” were right.  By “THEY” I mean most typical baseball analysts.  Even in spring training the thought was that the Dodgers couldn’t win it all because they didn’t have big name pitching.  There wasn’t a solid #1 and #2, and therefore they would do well, but eventually they would fall apart.  Well, “THEY” were right.  That’s exactly what happened.  They proved everyone a liar and had the best ERA in the National League, but then it fell apart.  The Dodgers could hit, but in the playoffs it is about big time pitching.  The big Phillie hitters finally found a way to pick away and then destroy the Dodger pitching. 

I didn’t think I would ever think this, but I actually missed Jeff Weaver in the last series.  He was held off the roster, but I think the Dodgers would have used him 2-3 times.  He fell apart at times during the season, but I saw him more than once clean up the mess from a starting pitcher and hold a team scoreless for 3-4 innings.  Billingsley tried to do it, but wasn’t totally successful.

So, if ”They” were right, then we should probably listen to them.  Giants fans have been giving me a hard time for losing, but it’s now time to look ahead.  Ned Colletti is now signed long term, so goal one is a number 1 pitcher.  Kershaw may be #2, but they need a lead horse. 

With the divorce between the owners, who knows what will happen.  They’ve already put on hold the improvements to Dodger stadium, so I bet money will be held up too.  I’ll write more posts on that, but it really smears the Dodgers name through the mud.  The Giants fans are having a field day with the Dodgers collapsing internally.

Well – THEY were right, and now we can watch the Yankees and Phillies in the Ice Bowl.  As for me, I’ll root for the Yankees.  Yes, I know there is a rivalry with the Dodgers, but I don’t have any real reason to root for the Phillies given how they destroyed the Dodgers. 

Any thoughts – is the number one need starting pitching?

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.

Furcal - Alex Gallardo - La Times

I have to admit that being born and raised on the West Coast, that when the Dodgers play the Mets, it just doesn’t have the same draw for me than say a West Coast team. I’m sure most fans are partial to division play, but I just don’t have a real draw to the Mets. I’d still much rather see the Yankees play than the Mets. Having said that, any time the Dodgers sweep any team, it’s a good thing.

The Dodgers just keep rolling. Their pitching is good enough and reclamation project Jeff Weaver is finding his way back to being a strong pitcher. Randy Wolf is lights out right now, so hopefully his body can hold up.

I had to laugh last nigth at the Dodger highlights.  At one point the lone highlight of the game on ESPN was Livan Hernandez striking out Juan Pierre. I wondered if Pierre was sliding back to normalcy. Ahh no. Pierre went two for four and scored the first of only two runs. He truly is on a roll right now.

Russell Martin still makes me scratch my head. He is obviosly great behind the plate with the pitchers, but something is off with his power stroke. He’s driving guys in when he needs to, but not quite with the power he used to. It makes you wonder if he was just hot when he came up, is finding it’s harder to sustain, and hasn’t found his true groove yet. Here’s hoping he can find it. He’s a solid catcher but really has the chance to be one of the Dodger greats.

Sports Illustrated recently did a cover story on what really went down with Manny. Here are two highlights:
1.  The things they really found in Manny are scary. If he was playing with female hormones to increase testosterone to combat previous steroid use…he’s really mucking up his body. Yikes. He’ll have his money, but given 20 more years, it will be real interesting to see what happens with all these athletes who took steriods.
2.  Also, Manny knew for almost 3 weeks that he could get suspended without even telling the Dodgers. Even more, he asked out of the game and quickly left the clubhouse hours before the Dodgers even found out. Shady. Real Shady.

Apparently owner Frank McCourt was furious about the whole incident. Manny may get his money this year and next, but I doubt McCourt will be real quick to sign him. Frank McCourt wanted a role model and class act for the fans and he now has a lot of mud on his face that isn’t going to go away. Manny needs to hit really well, and spend a lot of time helping kids to try and get back on McCourt’s good side.

But, ironically, there’s not a lot of need to keep talking about Manny. The Dodgers are doing fine and their “little engine that could Pierre” keeps running and scoring runs.

What do you think Manny should do to try and save face?