If you read my last post, you know I predicted that the Dodgers would lose last night. Madison Bumgarner just seemed better and proved it last night. The Dodgers had two chances to change it near the end, but they couldn’t come through.

I was hoping Mr. Clutch Andre Ethier would hit a grand slam…but alas, I guess that only works in the bottom of the ninth for him.

Also, again in the ninth, I knew that unless Andre Ethier hit a homerun to tie it, that Casey Blake probably wasn’t going to get it done. I like Casey a lot, but he is way streaky and he definitely isn’t in a streak right now.  Andre Ethier walked, Casey Blake struck out and the game was over.

The one bright spot I noticed last night was Matt Kemp. I have a hunch he is going to turn things around and the fact that he had 3 singles really said something. Similarly on the Giants side, Pablo Sandoval finally seems to have found his swing back. Both of those players should be fun to watch for the next 2 games.

Tonight Tim Lincecum versus Clayton Kershaw.  I’m not holding my breath for the Dodgers, but it should be a good pitchers match up.  It will most likely come down to the bullpen, so here’s hoping it doesn’t come down to George Sherrill.  I found it ironic for him that he battled at the end and got the out, but he still gave up an early walk that came around to score.  If he does pull this season out, give full credit to Joe Torre to sticking with him.  He definitely has been a different guy than last year.

Anybody seen Manny lately?  Yeah, me neither.  I wondered if he would put something together this summer since this is a contract year for him…but injuries just keep getting him.  The Dodgers definitely have lost money on him at this point.

Go Blue.

The best part of a sweep in San Francisco is that all your friends down in L.A. start to call you to say congratulations. We are all part of the same club, I’m just a remote ambassador. It’s fun when everyone is united and they know it was a big deal to sweep the Giants in their own park.

The great thing about yesterday was that it was the Giants fans who kept telling me the score. They knew they had lost the series, and as the score kept going up, they felt inclined to see if I knew about it. It was like they were trying to soften the blow of me coming to them and bragging about the score. Either way it was fun.

Bring out the brooms. Good stuff.

I’m going to have to call out Matt Kemp in these posts more often.  He tore it up yesterday.  Here’s hoping that can continue.

Go Blue!

Just like last year, there are few things better than doing some “silent bragging” via the use of a whiteboard at work. I started with the “Go Dodgers” before the series, but today added the brooms. The best part is the reactions.

Yesterday, the Giant fans were in arms that I even had the audacity to root for the Dodgers rather than the Giants. Today, ahh today, they just lower their head and walk on.

It’s such a funny thing it cracks me up. I knew it was coming too. There’s been a few times now that the Dodgers have taken the first two games of the series. The Giants fans know they are beaten, they lost the series, and now they just hope they don’t have to take too much crow from us Dodger Fans. I on the other hand take great joy coming to work and talking with anyone I can about how “good” the game was last night and how “bad” the Giants are.

The talk shows were all abuzz again this morning, some feeling that the Giants will never turn it around (fine with me), and those who feel it is just a long season and this will pass.  The thing interesting this morning is that there really is a feeling now that the Giants are free falling.  They have lost 4 series in a row, aren’t getting the production out of their veterans, and don’t trust their General Manager to help them at the trade deadline.  It’s looking bad with no real hope of change.  Again, that’s fine with me.  Get the Dodgers the sweep, and then Giant fans can continue to wallow in self pity.

On another note, I need to talk about Matt Kemp.  I haven’t touched on him a lot this year, but I now believe he is the key to the end of the Dodgers season.  Manny Ramirez went down yesterday which I don’t think will be that bad, but Kemp has been benched the last few games.  He fell apart after Ned Colletti called him out earlier this season, and now Joe Torre had a closed door meeting with him.  The expectation is that he will put it all together at some point, but he certainly doesn’t seem to be doing it after his new 10 million salary this last off season.  On one hand I consider putting him on my fantasy team because now he should figure this out.  On the other hand, if Joe Torre is benching him, there are fundamental work ethic questions involved.  Here’s hoping this can all be resolved as the Dodgers need him and he can bring great offense.  If the Dodgers have truly soured on him, I wonder if he could be trade bait.  We’ll see.

Go Blue and bring on the brooms!

Not too much to say about this game. The Dodgers stunk. The Giants have an Ace who is a stud.

It’s interesting up living up here, I don’t like the Giants, but Tim Lincecum is incredible to watch. He’s just this little guy on the mound with a funky delivery, and yet he blew Matt Kemp away today in one at bat. It wasn’t even close. Matt Kemp is a star these days, but “The Freak” make him look really bad.  With already two Cy Youngs in his belt, I really think I’m watching history in the making with him.

Tough Luck for Charlie Haeger. I love seeing knucleballers do well, and still miss Tom Candiotti. The defense didn’t help him any, and then the Giants just teed off on him.

I would have liked to see the triple play on the dropped ball by Garrett Anderson.  The umps did get that wrong, but it didn’t hurt anything.

I was glad to see the Dodgers bullpen rebound a little, but pretty ugly loss.

Tomorrow should be a good game. Barry Zito seems like a different pitcher, and it’s time to see Clayton Kershaw show that he is the next Tim Lincecum.  Hopefully the Dodgers can take the series.

Go Blue

Well, it all started well, and then the bullpen showed that they still need more work. I had a hunch that it would get closer as the game went on, but what a way to start.  The Dodgers were killing the Giants.

Andre Ethier’s grandslam was epic to see. I literally yelled in my house with joy, as I just wasn’t expecting it and it really blew the game open. He is definitely in the zone right now. To win the game on Thursday night, then hit two homeruns last night, he really must just believe that he can be the difference maker. What a cool feeling.

I give Vincente Padilla credit last night.  He finally looked strong.  Still not the ace, but getting closer if he keeps that up.  I keep pulling for Russ Ortiz to get out of his funk, but it just doesn’t seem to be happening.

If you didn’t see the game in the Bay Area last night, you probably missed some of the “added” commentary by the Giants announcers.  Matt Kemp got one high and tight.  Aaron Rowand got hit by a pitch and it ends up got a concussion and two broken bones in his cheek.  Matt Kemp tried to steal a base with a 9-3 lead.  All those things added up to a lot of tension brewing between the teams.  The announcers were convinced that there will continue to be tension, and I think they may be right.  Who knows, my prediction last year that Casey Blake will start a brawl (click here) may actually come true.  (I lean towards towards Matt Kemp starting it at this point).

The added commentary really came though with the hit on Rowand and the steal by Kemp.  Padilla has a history of “head hunting,” so there was no way to know if the hit was purposeful or not.  In reading the SF Chronicle today, even Bruce Bochy didn’t think it was intentional, but we’ll never know.  With the attempted steal by Kemp, they felt just seemed like poor sportsmanship given the lead by the Dodgers at that point of 9-3.  Again, it was probably a little cheap, but as the end of the game showed, the Dodgers gave up 5 runs in 1 inning, so no lead is truly safe.

The best part of the game for me though was that the Giants finally got knocked around a little.  They have been playing really well, but they showed that even they have weaknesses…ironically in their starting pitching.

Today’s game should be good to watch.  What do you think, is there a brawl brewing?