Well, my hope came true. The Dodgers silenced the Giants last night and proved that Tuesday night’s game was just something random.

I like what I saw from the Dodger pitchers of late. Padilla, Kershaw and Billingsley strung together some good outings. My boy Casey Blake couldn’t get it done on Monday, but he sure did it last night. He just does his job quietly, but he was a huge lift to the Dodgers last night.

It was funny today because the talk of Giant fans was still the umpire call from Tuesday night. I didn’t realize it, but there was even some debate in major league baseball as to what should happen. It really seems like Jonathan Broxton should have at least gotten to finish the one batter.  Either that, or Don Mattingly should have been tossed.  Either way, I’m confident that Don Mattingly won’t ever make that mistake again.

The Dodgers now face New York before coming back up here next weekend.  If you’re going to the game on Aug 1, drop me a line at scott@sfdodgerfan.com.  I”ll be there with a whole troop from my company.  They changed the game to 5:05pm so ESPN could pick up the game.  The Dodgers will dominate the weekend as they are on Fox on Saturday and ESPN on Sunday.  They need to come out strong from here as the Padres and Rookies don’t seem to be losing much.

Go Blue.

Nothing like shame, defeat and embarrassment coming from your most hated enemy. Last night is one I hope the Dodgers just chalk up as a weird loss and move on.

I hope this happens because the Giants fans were sure pumped up this morning. I didn’t get a lot of comments at work (I was expecting them), but the talk shows this morning were all about how this was Bruce Bochy’s best game and how this win may change the rest of the season. Wishful thinking can be a horrible thing…

Not sure where to start on this one. My predictions still ring true that the Giants would win the first two…but I wasn’t very accurate on how it came about.

Timmy Lincecum got beat up. Andre Ethier is hot and everything seemed fine. Then, there were some beanings and suddenly Clayton Kershaw and Joe Torre are heading home early.  The talk shows thought Joe Torre was stupid to have Clayton Kershaw bean him, rather than some reliever who wouldn’t matter being tossed.  Could be true, but it does say something that Kershaw stood up for the team.

Then the 9th.  Welcome to management Don Mattingly.  A lot of managers start 0-1, so hopefully you can rebound from this one.  If you didn’t see it Mattingly accidentally stepped on the mound twice while out between the lines, and therefore Jonathan Broxton had to leave.

He had to leave for George Sherrill.  That was Mattingly’s second mistake.  I just wrote yesterday that hopefully it wouldn’t come down to Mr. Sherrill.  He just doesn’t have it right now and definitely shouldn’t be the guy with the game on the line, no matter if the batter is right or left handed.

Sherrill gives up the hit and the Giants walk away with a come from behind victory that they can build on. 

This is one game, but the Dodgers better snap out of this.  Regardless of tonight, they aren’t looking good.  The bullpen is weak and they can’t beat the teams they need to.  I hate to say it, but I don’t see this team (the way they are currently playing right now) making the playoffs.  They may beat out the Giants, but the Padres and Rockies should claim the top two spots.  I”m sure Mad Colletti is working on stuff because he knows the train needs some maintenance.

Tonight Billingsley.  Time to show that last night can be quickly forgotten.  Here’s hoping.

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!

Casey Blake - Jed Jacobsohn - Getty Images

Ahh, the Dodgers. How I do love thee, especially when you beat the Giants and I drive to work hearing the local talk shows whine and cry about how bad the Giants are. It is a beautiful day, no matter what the weather, one full of hope and joy, and great bragging….

Man I love living up here when the Dodgers beat the Giants. It’s hard to sum it up in words. I listened to the Murph and Mack show today, which I have come to really enjoy because they talk good baseball. Today, they were lamenting the loss last night…lamenting a lot. Got to love Manny being involved and then my boy Casey Blake hitting the homerun. Talk about Giant killers. Those guys just seem to come alive against the Giants.

The talk radio shows had quite the comments today. There was a Dodger fan who pointed out that the Giants just can’t beat a very flawed Dodger team. The Dodgers sat four of their starters and still came away with the win.

There was another fan who pointed out that ever since Renteria came back from the DL, that the Giants haven’t played as well. There is many a Giants fan who feels that Rowand, Renteria and Molina should all sit now and let the young guys get it done. It is too bad to see Molina not doing well. I respect a longtime Dodger killer, but he just doesn’t have it these days.

Also, there is great trepidation regarding Pablo Sandoval. He was the Giant Panda killer last year, but this year, he’s just another meal at Panda Express. People are eating him for lunch and he just seems to have lost his groove.

The best part of last night was the Dodgers bouncing back from the Yankees defeat. The Dodgers are now 19 and 5 against the National League West and seem to thrive against these teams.

We’ll see tonight as Cain may stop them cold, but one up is the way to start.

I’ve decided that when watching the Dodgers/Giants that you might as well wait until the 7th inning to really park yourself and watch the game. It doesn’t matter what day, whose pitching, or even the lineup, the score is usually close or tied until the 7th, and then the game is won. As long as the Dodgers do win it after the 7th (like last night), I don’t have any problems with the strategy. Go Blue.