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.

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

What a difference a year makes. Last year the Dodgers were flying high during the first series. This year, the Giants are the ones flying high. If anything the Dodgers pitching looks really bad, and the Giants pitching looks really good. This could go real bad for the Dodgers unless they find a way to fix their leaky bullpen. (Hint to Joe Torre…George Sherrill just doesn’t seem to have it right now.)

Here are the pitching matches and my predictions:

Friday, April 16  – 7:20 pm

Todd Wellemeyer, RHP (0-1, 5.68)  vs. Vicente Padilla, RHP (0-1, 11.42)

My pick -   The Dodgers.  Both pitchers are bad.  The Dodgers will have the home crowd to cheer them on.

Saturday, April 17 – 1:10 pm

Tim Lincecum, RHP (2-0, 1.29)  vs. Charlie Haeger, RHP (0-0, 3.86)

My pick – The Giants.  I can’t not choose Tim Lincecum and Haeger is pitching well, but you never know with a knucleballer.

Sunday, April 18 – 1:10 pm

Barry Zito, LHP (2-0, 2.25) vs. To be announced

My pick – The Giants.  If the Dodgers don’t even know who is pitching, how can I root for them.  Zito is hot right now, so hopefully the Dodgers can knock him around a little.

Well, honestly, the way the Dodgers bullpen is playing right now, if we only lose one against a hot Giants team, it won’t be that surprising.  Who knows though, my predictions weren’t very accurate last year, so maybe the Dodgers will surprise people.  Here’s a link to a full breakdown of the matchups from Dodgers.com (click here).

Either way, if the Giants do end up sweeping…it could be a long week of people rubbing it in next week.  As I write this, Casey Blake just drove in the tying run against the D-backs in the 9th.  Maybe there is hope for this weekend.  Man I love that guy.

Go Blue.

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.

Here’s the pitching match ups for the 3 games:

Friday
Hiroki Kuroda, RHP (5-6, 4.15)
Matt Cain, RHP (13-4, 2.51)

Saturday
Vicente Padilla, RHP (10-6, 4.63)
Jonathan Sanchez, LHP (6-11, 4.03)

Sunday
Chad Billingsley, RHP (12-9, 3.93)
Brad Penny, RHP (9-8, 5.15)

Learned something new tonight – The Dodgers have a great probable pitchers write up that gives a great comparison of each of these pitchers.  (Click Here)  It’s a good write up on their recent performance, but it stays nuetral on who will win….

I won’t stay neutral.  Here’s my picks.

Friday – Advantage Dodgers.  Matt Cain will out pitch Kuroda, but as always, the Dodgers will break it open against the bullpen.

Saturday – Advantage Dodgers.  I think Padilla can beat out Sanchez.  Sanchez is pitching well of late though.

Sunday – I hate to say it since I’ll be there, but Advantage Giants.  Billingsley just doesn’t seem to have it right now, and Penny is a man on a mission to stick it to the Dodgers.

Bottom line – they will be close…especially if Broxton does the closing.  The Dodgers again need to take 2 of 3 to stay on top and show who should take the division.  The Dodgers were fortunate not to face Lincecum this series.  That is the big concern up here is whether his back will be ok.  He is their Ace and they want him back.  There were even conspiracy theories up here that he was kept out a game to set him up against the Rockies on Monday.  It doesn’t ring true though because they need him to win every game he can…not sit on the bench.

I was hoping for a Padilla/Penny matchup to see if my brawl prediction comes through, but it could still happen.  If Padilla brushes someone back, Penny may try to finish it off the next day.  I should have plenty to write about if their is a brawl when I’m there on Sunday.

Keep coming back – more to come each day of the series.