It is easy to give up hope after suffering losses to a lineup of Hairston's, Gywnn's, and the myriad of third world players that make up the Padre lineup. I mean if you can't beat them who can you beat? Sure the Padres are 20 games over 500 but it is still the weakest lineup I've seen all year. Will that and the lineup the Dodgers have been using since the All-Star break.
Ned is going to do what he can to help the beleaguered team but many of us think no matter what he does it will be to little to late. The odds are very high against the Dodgers being able to overcome all their problems to win their 3rd straight Division title. The wild card may be even higher odds with additions the Phillies just made of not only Oswalt but having a Dominic Brown to add to their arsenal.
You can make a very strong case that this team is simply not built to compete this year. The hopes and expectations of the Dodger offensive core has simply disintegrated like a fractured pinky. Other then Rafy Furcal no one is meeting/beating expectations. Our offense is laughable in the way we made fun of the Padre, and Giant offenses. Yet they are having the last laugh. While Bumgarner worked his way through his minor league troubles to help the Giant rotation, our number one prospect for rotation help took his glove and went home.
This Dodger team is deeply flawed, and even my rose colored glasses are having a tough time finding some sunshine.
Dodger Dejection:
- Six games out of first
- Three 1/2 games out of the Wild Card but with seven teams fighting for that spot.
- An offense that has scored 28 runs since the all star game (13 games)
- Monk going against Lincecum tomorrow/today depending on when you read this
- Joe Torre
- Blake DeWitt has the second best OPS on the team in July and he has ONE home run for the season
- The worst defense in baseball
- No money to acquire impact players
- No major league ready prospects to acquire the impact players we can't afford
- Mannywood has become termite ridden
- Huge hole in the 5th spot in the rotation
Dodger Delusion:
- Incredible Starting pitching from Kershaw, Billingsley, Kuroda, and yes, Padilla
- Maybe the best three at the back end of any bullpen in Jansen, Kuo, and Broxton
- We have seen these offensive woes before, and lived through them
- Joe Torre
- Belief in the core that they are not mediocre millionaires
- Manny can't go out on a stretcher
- Andre can't be this bad much longer
- Someday Kemp will get hot for more then two weeks at a time
- Podman is here