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?

Joe Torre - LA Times.com

I’ve got quite the delimma.  See, I recently had my birthday and I got some birthday money.   For a long time I’ve wanted an Iphone, because I love the apps and the phone/camera option.  My company pays for my work phone through Verizon, so it doesn’t make sense to spend extra money on an AT&T contract so I can get a phone.

So here’s my delimma.  I can get an out of contract Iphone, or I can save my money for a Dodgers playoff game.  As an out of town fan, I long for playoff games because I know I can go to the stadium with all the other crazy fans, wear all my Dodger gear and be part of the fan nation…not just an out of town fan who only gets to see so many games.  You become part of the special games, not just the regular season games.

Today the Dodgers swept the Cardinals to get into the next round of the playoffs.  Epic game and man oh man, the Dodgers look good.  The pitching is working and the offense is firing on all cylinders.  Either and Kemp are here to stay and Manny even joined in the fun today.  Padilla may be the best pick up of the year.

Of course, if I get the Iphone, I’ll have it for a good amount of time and the value can’t really be measured.  On the other hand, I could use all my savings to go to one game (seriously just one), and go to a game where the Dodgers lose.  Obviously the later option would stink.  If the Dodgers win, I have a memory I will never lose.  All this assumes I’m not going to charge the trip and go into debt.  I could…but I’m not there yet.

For a long time I could say that I went to the only playoff game the Dodgers had won in 20 years.  (Go Shawn Green and Jose Lima)  They’ve improved now, but it was a memory I will still never forget.  It’s hard to put a value on memories you can tell your kids and share with baseball fans.  The phone on the other hand…there will be a better one in a couple of years.

So, there lies my delimma.  The Dodgers are really good this year and I think they’ll go to the World Series against the Yankees or Angels.  There’s no guarentee that the Dodgers will get back to the World Series, so this may be the year to go after a game.  Such is the delimma of being a Dodger fan in Giants territory.

What’s your call?  Game or phone?  Help me out with this one…but trust me, I’ve got a good idea of what I would do if I had to make the decision tonight.  Yep, the game.

It’s a good thing I’m not a real betting man. I would have lost a lot of money this weekend. I thought the Giants would take 2 of 3 and thought the Dodgers would win the first game.

The exact opposite happened. It’s all good for the Dodgers, but obviously my hunches were better when they played in SF, rather than L.A.

I watched most of the game and was very impressed with the boys in blue.  Randy Wolf looked shaky at first, but then hit a groove.  What impressed me though was that the Dodgers just took apart Tim Lincecum.  He is the reigning Cy Young winner and they just were patient and found the holes.  It was just good baseball and the better team won.

I was thinking about the decisions the Dodgers have made it the last few years to “wait on the kids.”  There is a general question of “how long do you wait for players to develop?”

There was a lot of pressure to wait for Kemp, Ethier, Loney and Martin to produce, but pressure to dump some of them too (especially Kemp).  The Dodgers are now reaping the fruit of their waiting.  Kemp and Ethier will both have over 100 RBI’s by the end of the season and are pulling the team, even over Manny.  The Dodgers should have a solid core for a few years to come, and the fans will really come to expect and enjoy it.

If the Dodgers can keep going strong, they should make a long run into the playoffs.  The pitching will be the gamble…but it’s been that way all year, and look where they are.  Go Blue.  Thanks for beating the Giants good this year.