The season is over, the Phillies have won it all, and now every free agent in the league is free to field offers from every interested team.  That means Manny Ramirez will be doing some visiting in the next few weeks.  I don't think anybody should be surprised that Manny is fielding offers from other teams, there's no way the Dodgers were going to put down an initial offer and Manny was going to immediately accept and decline listening to anybody else.  Who is really interested in Manny's services is the other question.  One of the factors that should help Manny in returning to L.A. is the fact that only a handful of teams can afford him.  Manny's not about to go to the Kansas City Royals or Minnesota Twins.  Who can afford him other than the Dodgers.  Boston can, he's not going back there.  The Yankees are an interesting choice, but they need pitching desperately and even the Yankees can't afford A-Rod, Manny, and CC or other high-priced starter of their liking.  The Mets could also potentially go after him, but the direction that team is heading, Manny doesn't really seem to fit what they're doing.  Would the World Champion Phillies go after Manny, from what I've heard, they're not really interested, same goes for San Francisco (and AT&T is a left-handed hitters park anyway).  The Cubs, too many big long-term deals already in place.  The White Sox, kind of like the Mets I think, I just don't see Manny really fitting their scheme there.  And what about the Angels, they could pony up the money, but I don't see Manny staying in Southern California all to move down the road and play for a team that didn't do as well as the Dodgers in the playoffs.  That seems to make the most logical choice for Manny, the Dodgers.
I'm not trying to sound like a homer here, but the entire country saw the difference Manny made for the Dodgers.  With him in the lineup, they're pretty much the best team in the National League, without him, they're just kind of average.  This is going to be a huge off-season for talent moving across the league, not only through signings, but via trades, as well.  Colorado has already shipped Matt Holliday off to Oakland.  I'll certainly miss seeing a player of Holliday's caliber in the division, but it'll definitely make it easier to beat the Rockies too.  Who lands where remains to be seen, but I'll be keeping an eye on some key moves over the off season.  And, of course, we'll all be waiting to see what Manny does.

The Dodgers' season is over.  They lost to the Phillies 5-1 last night, ending the NLCS, and ending 2008 for the Dodgers.  The Phillies will wait for the winner of the Boston-Tampa Bay series, and the Dodgers will start their vacations.  I'm not going to say anything more about the series.  The Dodgers lost to a better team, the young guys inexperience showed, and the Phillies have been there before and were just a little hungrier, I guess.  That's Ok, though.  I feel the future will be bright for the Dodgers.
Provided the team brings Manny Ramirez back, they're already assured of being one of, if not the best team in the National League last year.  It appears the team also wants to bring back Rafael Furcal.  Furcal has been very oft-injured during his three years here, but when he's healthy, Furcal is one of the most dynamic players in the league, with his game-changing speed and aggressiveness with the bat.  Most importantly, though, the young core of the team, Russell Martin, Andre Ethier, James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Blake DeWitt should all be back, with a full-year more of experience under their belts and a wealth more of knowledge.  And the club will be stable too with Joe Torre and his staff also returning.  The main questions in the offseason for the Dodgers will be the pitching staff.  The only two starters assured of returning are Chad Billingsley and Hiroki Kuroda.  The team may or may not exercise its option on Brad Penny, who was pretty much of a non-factor this year, but has also been an all-star the past two years, as well.  Derek Lowe's four years with the Dodgers is probably up as he will most likely depart for free agency, and probably return to the East Coast or his hometown Detroit Tigers.  Lowe was always reliable and effective during his tenure here, but never got the run support to put up the near Cy Young numbers he had in Boston.  His high-mark in wins in L.A. was 16 when the Dodgers won the wildcard in '06.  But, before we can have some free agent moves, there's a World Series to play.  For the first time in their history, the Tampa Bay Rays will be in the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Tampa has the momentum, as the Phils have been off for about a week now after dropping the Dodgers 4-1.  Despite being one of baseball's original teams, the Phillies have only one World Series win, in 1980.  We've seen first hand how quickly the Phillies high powered offense can score.  But, Tampa Bay's pitchers pretty much shut down the vaunted Boston Red Sox offense other than one game.  However, the whole country got to see that Boston is not a better team without Manny Ramirez.  Will the cinderella Rays taste glory for the first time, or will the Phillies bring a championship to a city that's gone 100 combined years without a major sports victory.  Game 1 is tonight. 
   

Things are looking pretty bleak for the Dodgers right now.  They let the game slip away last night with only 5 outs left to even up the series.  Many in town are questioning some of Joe Torre's decisions last night, but the fact is, the bullpen has been one of the Dodgers strengths all year long.  They had been flawless in the playoffs up until last night.  Apparently, something had to give.  Chan Ho Park couldn't get the job done, Cory Wade couldn't get the job done, and then Jonathan Broxton couldn't get the job done.  There's not really much else to say about last night.   For the second time in four games the Dodgers had a lead and let it slip away in heartbreaking fashion.  The Dodgers can win the last game at Dodger Stadium.  So long as Chad Billingsley has his stuff together, there's no reason the Dodgers can't win tomorrow.  As far as winning in Philadelphia, this blogger's just taking it one day at a time.  For some type of solace, I look to the Boston-Tampa Bay series and try to lessen the sting of the Dodgers losing.  The Dodgers won the first game at home, and played a tight game up until the 8th inning last night.  The Boston Red Sox on the other hand, have been getting embarassed the past two nights at home by the Tampa Bay Rays.  They lost 9-1 on Monday night, and got drubbed again tonight 13-4.  What is happening to the Red Sox is inexlpicable.  Their ace, Jon Lester, who was 11-1 this year at Fenway Park, got hit hard by the Rays last night, giving up four runs in only 5 2/3 innings last night.  Tim Wakefield suffered a similar fate tonight giving up five runs in only 2 2/3 innings.  So I ask, which is worse, playing a tight game, and letting it slip away at the end like the Dodgers, or getting spanked at home like the Red Sox?  This is now a tale of two cities,  because I'm sure most people wer hoping for a Dodgers-Red Sox World Series.  That may not come to be, of course anything is possible.  Both teams need to win their remaining three games to stay alive.  Things look better for the Dodgers who will most likely be in a low scoring game tomorrow.  Botson has been outscored 22-5 so far, so anything would be good for them.  Will the Dodgers October ride continue?  Chad Billingsley will be leading the charge tomorrow.  Let's go Dodgers.

The Dodgers are right back in the NLCS after last night's 7-2 thumping of the Philadelphia Phillies.  The game was essentially over after the first inning when the Dodgers scored six runs off 45-year old Jamie Moyer.  The Dodgers did exactly what they needed to do by coming out and establishing the tone by scoring early and often against a team that still hasn't won at Dodger Stadium all year.  No doubt the Dodgers needed to win this game after let game 1 slip away in heartbreaking fashion, and then getting drubbed in game 2.  Who would have thought that it would be Hiroki Kuroda's shoulders the team would be riding to victory?  Especially after Derek Lowe imploded in the 6th innning of game 1 and Chad Billingsley just didn't have it in game 2.  But Kuroda delivered in a way that Lowe and Billingsley couldn't.  Not only did he shut down the Phillies lineup, but he put them on warning too, that the Dodgers were ready for them if they wanted to play hardball.  Other than the 6-run first, the highlight of the night was in the 3rd inning when Kurdo sailed a fastball above Shane Victorino's head.  A very upset Victorino gestured toward the mound, that it was okay to throw at his body, but not at his head.  However, as Russell Martin said in the post game interview they threw well above his head.  Victorino grounded out to first, but many words were exchanged in between and the benches cleared as Kuroda was walking off the mound.  Manny had to be restrained from going after a few Phillies player as tempers were hot.  It appeared as though Pat Burrell was being restrained on the Phillies side.  Tensions were so high, the old timers were even getting into it as first base coach Mariano Duncan was getting into it with his Phillies counterpart Davey Lopes.  The game cooled off considerably from there, as Kuroda shut down the Phillies until the 7th, when Corey Wade and Jonathan Broxton finished off the job.  The Dodgers now have all the momentum headed into tonight's game, and Philadelphia still has not won at Dodger Stadium this year.  Derek Lowe will have his first home start of the postseason, and he brings with him a 9-5 record and a 2.30 ERA this year at home.  Opponents are hitting only .206 off Lowe at Dodger Stadium this year.  The Phillies will counter with Joe Blanton, who went six strong innings against Milwaukee in the Divisional Series.  Blanton does walk a lot of batters.  So long as the Dodgers are patient and play their game, they should be able to carry over the momentum and turn it into a win tonight, and even up the series 2-2.  Let's go Dodgers!

The season is over and the playoffs are set.  The Mets choked again this year, and the second biggest trade of the year payed off for the Brewers as they made the playoffs for the first time in my life, since 1982 to be exact. Since Milwaukee won the wild card, that means the Dodgers have the daunting task of facing the #1 seed Chicago Cubs, the National League's best team all year long.  Most everyone is favoring the Cubs, but I feel the Dodgers can take on anybody in the Naitonal League, even though the Cubs were the best team all year, no one team dominated the league.   In fact, the only person of any relevance who I've heard say the Dodgers can beat the Cubs is ESPN's Peter Gammons.  He brought up a good point, with Russell Martin leading off for the Dodgers, they have a guy who can get on base 40% of the time.  With Ethier, Manny, Loney, Kemp, and maybe even Kent behind him, with runners on the Dodgers are a very dangerous team.  Since the arrival of Manny the Dodgers have become a power team.  The Dodgers have hit only 5 less homeruns than the Cubs since the all-star break (77-72).  Also, the Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano has been struggling.  He is only 4-3 since the all-star break with a 5.80 ERA.  And I think what will be Zambrano's main failing is he is a hot head, and he has consistently shown he can't control his emotions.  Should the Dodgers manage to breakthrough against the Cubs, they would have to face either Philly or Milwaukee.  Both teams have more potent offenses than the Cubs, but both teams also have much weaker pitching staffs too.  The Brew crew has their ace CC, but now that co-ace Ben Sheets is out, they have nobody after that.  Dave Bush and Seth McClung, who???  Jeff Suppan, he was good about 4 years ago.  Same goes for Philly, Cole Hamels is a great pitcher who gives you a great start every time out.  After that you have Brett "Retard" Myers who's temperament makes Zambrano look like the Dalai Lama, and the ageless wonder Jamie Moyer, not that intimidating.  Game 1 is Wednesday at Wrigley, Derek Lowe will take the hill against Ryan Dempster.    The Dodgers got swept by the Cubbies at Wrigley, but that was back in May long before Manny Ramirez came to town, and the games were 3-1, 3-1, and 2-1.  The Blue Crew split four with the Cubs at Dodger Stadium back in June.  Also long before the Ramirez trade.  This is a new season, and a new day, this is October baseball, this is where anything is possible.  And in my recent memory, the player who seems to show up the most in October is Manny Ramirez.  Let's go blue!!

   

The Dodgers had an off day yesterday.  Off in the respect that the final home game against the Padres was basically Dodger garbage time and most of the regulars sat.  San Diego still struggled to win against the Dodger's second string last night, a 7-5 loss.  With a little help from the St. Louis Cardinals (when does that ever happen), the Dodgers clinched the NL West title early in the afternoon.
I went the past two nights to the game, and as I previously mentioned, it was basically garbage time for the Dodgers with a lineup featuring Danny Ardoin, Pablo Ozuna, Chin-Lung Hu, and Delwyn Young.  The night before was a great game as the Dodgers and Pads went back and forth until the Dodgers went off for six runs in the 8th inning.  As I discussed the day before, Chad Billingsley threw a great game for his 16th win of the year.  Both games featured great crowds, and last night showed, the Dodgers are ready for the playoffs.  They definitely weren't ready in '06.  This year though, the young guys on the team are a lot more comfortable and now a year more experienced, and most importantly, the Dodgers now have Manny in the lineup. 
 
More than likely, the Dodgers will wind up playing Philadelphia in the playoffs.  They swept them here at Dodger Stadium, but got swept over at Citizen's Bank Ballpark in Philly.  The pitching matches up  very well.  Other than Cole Hamels, the Phillies have Brett Myers, who could be here or there, and then Jamie Moyer, who's about the same age as my dad.  If somehow the Mets don't choke and both Philly and the Mets make the playoffs, the Dodgers would play the Cubs, which would be formidable, but doable for the Dodgers.  The pitching can match up, and as I said before, the Dodgers now have the most dangerous hitter in the playoffs on their team.  For now, the Blue Crew simply needs to handle business against the Giants up north.  They can't be the spoiler now, the Dodgers' ticket is secure.

I would like to thank correajason@yahoo.com for that comment, that gave me a little kick in the pants and got me back to the keyboard.  It's been more than a full season since I posted this blog, a lot's changed since last year, new manager, new star.  I really have no explanation why, I guess I just put it on the backburner as the Dodgers fell off last season.  However, it's now a new year.  Tonight's match up with the Padres does not have the usual fighting atmosphere that most LA-San Diego games have.  Over the past couple of years, it has been the Padres, not the Giants who have been the thorn in the Dodgers side.  But this year, the Padres are pretty hapless.  Although he's coming off a tough start, Chad Billingsley has been the Dodgers ace this year, and I fully expect him to shut down the Padres tonight inside the friendly confines of Dodger Stadium where he is 9-4 and opposing teams are hitting just .227 against him.  That's what the Dodgers seemed to be hitting against the Giants Friday and Sunday.  However, the Giants play pretty equally at home and on the road.  The Padres are considerably worse on the road.  Hopefully the off day and some rest will rejuvenate our boys in blue.   So long as they handle their business tonight, they should have no problems with the Friars tonight.  Let's go Dodgers!

Things were looking a little shaky there last weekend, but the Dodgers have now won four straight and are back on track.  Last week, the Dodgers lost of 5 of 6, came within a walk-off homerun of being swept two series in a row, and had dropped to third place in the NL West.  But, the Blue Crew is looking strong after their bats came alive to sweep the Mets, they outscored them 18-5.  And behind the masterful pitching of Derek Lowe, they took game one of the Freeway Series with the Angels.  Lowe fanned 11 in 7 innings, holding the surging Angels offense to only one run.  The Angels have the second best record in the AL and have torched NL pitching to the tune of more than 7 runs a game the past week.  But, the Dodgers took advantage of the Angels mistakes and Luis Gonzalez came up with a clutch bases-loaded single to drive in the Dodgers only two runs.  Rafael Furcal beat out a slow ground ball and Jeff Kent got hit by a pitch.  Taking advantage of other teams mistakes is what the Dodgers will have to do in order to win close games like this, and prevent horrible complete game losses.  The offense finally gave Derek Lowe something to show for his great start.  The entire weekend series is sold out, so it's great to see Southern California taking an interest in this series.  The crowd was rocking last night, and should be just as wild today.  The Dodgers are now back in sole possesion of first place and have the best record in the National League.  Jason Schmidt will go to the mound this afternoon.  He looked like he might have regained his ace form after pitching six dominant innings against San Diego last week, but looked shaky against Toronto last weekend.  Hopefully, like the rest of the team,  Schmidt will shake off the trouble the Blue Jays gave us and get back on track too.  Let's go blue!!!

The Dodgers are going for the rubber game in their interleague series with the Toronto Blue Jays.  The Dodgers got some late inning heroics from Olmedo Saenz to take game one, much needed after that heartbreaking loss Thursday night in San Diego, and lost in very disappointing fashion yesterday 1-0.  Toronto sends their ace 2003 AL Cy Young Winner Roy Halladay to the hill today.  He is one of the top pitchers in the American League and someone National League fans don’t get to see on a regular basis.  I like interleague play because of the fact that we get to see the teams and players that no one gets to see.  Since the NL West is playing the AL East, naturally a baseball fan would love to see the Dodgers play the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  Especially the Yankees whom the Dodgers have matched up in the World Series with 11 times.  As far as a Dodgers-Red Sox rivalry, they matched up in the World Series in 1916, the last World Series victory the Sox would have for 88 years.  And we all want to let J.D. Drew hear it, too.  But, alas old rivalries will not be renewed, instead the Dodgers will have this series with Toronto, and then visit Toronto and Tampa Bay.  That’s right, the Dodgers, one of the most storied franchises in baseball history will get to play in front of 17,000 semi-interested Floridians in St. Petersburg.  But, I guess we have to be fair and let everyone have their chance to play the top-tier teams.  The Dodgers got to play the Yanks and the Sox a few years ago, and some of the match ups are intriguing.  Arizona will play in Yankee Stadium, a rematch of the 2001 World Series, and the Yankees will visit San Francisco.  The Yankees and Giants do have a fair amount of history, as well.  The Giants also will visit Fenway Park, so I guess the schedule makers do have some sense of history, but come on, Yankees at Coors Field.  The people in Denver won’t relish booing the Evil Empire nearly as much as we would.  Anyway, here’s hoping the Dodgers can string together some offense for today, I’m watching right now and their down 2-5…let’s go blue!!!!!!!! 

We all know that Gary Sheffield is extremely outspoken.  We experienced that for 3 1/2 seasons here in L.A.  A lot of times when Sheffield opens his mouth it's often to speak about his contract, or criticize someone in the front office, but this time Gary touched on a sensitive subject, race.  And I'm going to touch on it too, because this blog is here to cover bigger issues as well, and life, like baseball, is not all about puppy dogs and ice cream.  Anyways, in this month's issue of GQ, Sheffield more or less says there are fewer blacks than Hispanics in baseball, because they are easier to control, and they have more to lose.  We all know the number of black players in the game is at an all-time low.  Hey, how many black players do the Dodgers have...1 1/2 by my count.  Sheffield is not 100% right, but, he is by no means wrong, either.  Teams will go where the talent takes them, and there is no doubt that players from the Dominican, Venezuela, Colombia, are all talented, very talented.  But, Gary makes a good point.  Teams have academies set up in these countries, and I don't see that in urban America, just like Sheffield's not seeing it.  And his teammates are backing him up.  Ivan Rodriguez told the press, leave the guy alone, and Carlos Guillen told reporters he was glad Sheffield said something.  Because it is true, if a Latin player doesn't work out, the team can always just send him back.  If you pay attention in any economics class they tell you the biggest cost of running a business is labor.  And unfortunately, baseball is a business (I'm sorry, that's like telling a kid the Easter Bunny doesn't exist).  A team drafts a talented black player and he's locked up for a few years and $500,000-$3 million.  You hand a 15-year old kid from the Dominican $250 and his family is set for a year.  I have no problem with what Gary Sheffield said, his Hispanic teammates have no problem with it either...do you have a problem with it?