Anybody got a coin going into this week? Should be a good series. The Giants are slightly ahead in the standings, but the Giants just lost 2 of 3 to the Red Sox and the Dodgers lost 2 of 3 to the Yankees.

My gut says the Dodgers should still take 2 of 3, because they seem to come alive against the Giants. But…and it’s a big but…the Dodgers lost last night to the Yankees with Jonathan Broxton.

If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I personally believe the Dodgers should sit Broxton against the Giants. He has done decent this year against them, but in years past he has truly been the weak link. If he blew one yesterday (which he did), and he is overworked (which he is), then this could be the receipe for disaster.

Game 1 – Zito vs Billingsley.
Zito has slipped of late and Billingsley is coming fresh off the DL, so I give this one to Billingsley.

Game 2 – Ely vs Cain
I give this one to Cain. John Ely has been slipping of late and Cain always plays the Dodgers hard.

Game 3 – Padilla vs Sanchez
Padilla also is coming off the DL and did good against the Yankees. I give this one to Padilla.

So there you have it. I lean towards the Dodgers…unless they give the ball to Broxton. We’ll see. Go Blue

This has been a good week for the Dodgers. They went on the road, rolled into Cincinnati, and easily won the first two games. They lost last night (it seems John Ely’s luck is fading), but they still sit in first place.

So why am I concerned? The Angels. That’s right, the Angels. The Dodgers haven’t done well in inter-league play for the last few years, but with the Angels it is different. They play the Angels many times during the year, and they are two good teams, that seem to be well matched.

Theory though, never seems to match reality. I don’t know if it is the Mike Scioscia factor in that he just loves beating the Dodgers, or that the Angels just always have better pitching, but the Angels just always seem to take the series or the sweep.

The reason I’m concerned is that in my mind the Angels seem to serve as a litmus test of how the Dodgers are really doing. The Padres are the same way. In the last few years, if the Dodgers are going strong, they can beat the Padres and Angels. If there not doing very well, then they get beat, usually badly. Even when the Padres were horrible a few years ago, the Dodgers still couldn’t beat them.  Sure enough, the Dodgers didn’t finish as well in the standings.

So in my mind, if the Angels are a litmus test, they failed miserably this last weekend. Don’t get me wrong, the Angels and Dodgers may never face each other in the World Series, but still the Angels are a strong team, with good pitching, and a good representation of a high quality playoff team.  If they can’t beat them now, how will they beat anyone in the later rounds of the playoffs?

So are the Dodgers fine? Right now. Would I bet on them deep into the playoffs? Not right now. Not until they can beat the Angels.

We’ll see. I’ll take what I can get because they’re still better than the Giants…but I have some concerns.

Any thoughts? Do the Angels serve as a good litmus test of the overall team?