Annual September Slump comes early

Well, I was pretty pleased with progress after the Brewers series, as I think we all were. Most of the hard games were over record wise, and a lot of away games notwithstanding things looked hopeful. And that's about when the hopefulness went down.
I'm sure this team will put another winning streak together, we're streaky like that, but I don't have the confidence that we'll be playing significant games into the final week of the season, maybe mathematically significant games, but not truly, realistically hopeful significant games. And who's to blame? Well, blame doesn't get us anywhere, now does it? I blame Frank McCourt. I just don't like the guy, don't think I ever will. But this time I blame him for firing Paul DePodesta. Was never a huge DP fan, but what are his two biggest acquisitions? Probably Penny and Ethier. Ned's? Schmidt and Andruw. The thing is Schmidt and Andruw both looked like good acquisions before any games were played. That's some tough luck in addition to whatever else it might be.
Barring an unlikely run I don't expect us to be playing in October this year. Sigh. And what do we need to be playing in October next year? Well, I think we need to shore up the bullpen. I think we need to groom a true 9th inning guy to replace Saito, not rushing Saito out the door, but we just can't expect him to play forever. I think we ought to stick with Ethier and Kemp in the outfield, and try to trade Pierre for possibly another bad contract that won't cripple us further, maybe a bullpen guy? Loney and Martin are the only sure things in the infield, which is scary, but we have DeWitt, who will likely play Second or Third next year. I'd like Furcal back, but I'd feel better about the idea if Hu proved he could play everyday if called upon. What was with his eye or something? Starting pitching is the bright spot. We lose Lowe (sad) and possibly even Penny (sad but not as sad), but we have Kershaw, and quite a few capable swingmen sitting around AAA at this point.
While I love what Logan has done, I'm dissapointed that we don't sign more sluggers in the earlygoing. Is it a great wonder that Jeff Kent has been leading the team in Homers? Not this year of course, but how many Rangers have more homeruns than any Dodger? Of course, when it comes to sluggers first round doesn't do as much as top 10, which we haven't had for some time. Heck, if we keep losing we may land one this year.