3

and a congratulations to my Titans for executing the win against the Texans, which combined with the frustrations for Indianapolis lowers the magic number in Tennessee to 12.

Dodgers with significant playoff experience? Off the top of my head there's Lowe and Manny who have rings, oh, don't forget Juan Pierre in the ring category. Brad Penny became mister irrelevant though he has a ring as well. But seriously, guys on our everyday roster with serious playoff experience, pretty much Lowe and Manny. I believe Saito pitched for Yokohama which hasn't had a whiff of October glory for a very long time if ever. Same goes for Kuroda's former Hiroshima Carp. Ishii on the other hand is already on a guaranteed playoff team here in Japan, for those who are interested. But back to the Dodgers. Here's a quick projection of what we look like

D. Lowe (04 ring)
C. Billingsley
H. Kuroda
C. Kershaw
G. Maddux (95 ring, too many playoffs to remember)

R. Martin
J. Loney
B. DeWitt (I feel like he has the presence of a veteran)
Angel Berroa
Casey Blake (Indians what, maybe two playoff years?)
A. Ethier
M. Kemp
Manny Ramirez (04, 07 rings, 07 WSMVP)

Dodgers Lose, doesn't matter

Magic Number drops to 6. Tennessee plays some crap team on Sunday. And by that I mean the Texans. Little story about the Texans. My parents went to Houston about 4 years ago for a funeral, I was about 6 months out of college and spent the week babysitting 5 of my 6 younger siblings (youngest was 6 at the time). Whenever I work a job that involves children (like my stint at the Y) I wear that hat, I figure the bullhorns are a symbol of authority. I have recently stopped wearing it in such cases because the kids are ruthless and rip it off my head any chance they get, little monsters. I have since switched to a Lions hat (Dice-K and Kaz Matsui's old team, Kaz Ishii's new team). Man, I almost envy the D-Backs, it feels good losing and not losing ground, doesn't it? I didn't even check the scores of todays game (played in the morning since I live in Tokyo) until after 11pm. Well, I would like to carry a little momentum and confidence into the playoffs, looks like we'll play anyone but the Brewers at this point, but I'm going to say most likely the Mets, as they'll choke but not as hard as the Crew, though I like the Crew a lot better.

Magic Numbers and award predictions, for what it's worth

Dodgers magic Number is down to 7, before the game I figured to myself if we won 5 of our last 10 we would be fine. I counted on the D-Backs to go no better than 7-3 the rest of the way. After today that means we need to go 4-5 while the Snakes can't do better than 6-3, as both teams won. Also of note, though unpardonably late, my Titans won again lowering their magic number to 14 over the second place Colts. Go K. Collins.

Award predictions: starting with the Junior circuit, I go Cliff Lee for Cy Young, Evan Longoria (3 hrs today?!) for ROY, Joe Maddon for Manager of the year, Justin Morneau for MVP (I had to look at stats for that one), and Comeback player of the year...Oh, Cliff Lee again. Now for the stuff that matters the NL awards... Cy Young, I hate to say it but has anyone pitched better over the course of the season than Brandon Webb? Though I expect big Z to get a few votes. Oh, ok so I checked, and the answer is yes, Tim Lincecum has pitched better over the course of the season, and I therefore give him my vote. Darn Giants, I'm glad they suck this year and it doesn't matter how good Lincecum was. ROY...Geovany Soto, though I personally have been impressed with Jair Jurrgens, is he even a rookie? No, ok forget it. Sorry Blake DeWitt. Manager of the year: I read someone say you have to give it to Charlie Manuel, do you? I'm tempted to go Lou Piniella in spite of the deeply talented roster he has. Joe Torre? I honestly don't like the guy, I think he's overrated and I think his success comes from managing a team with Manny Ramirez on it rather than his own genius, but the fact is we're running away with the West, right? Final say...Charlie Manuel, since Manny Ramirez is ineligible. Comeback player of the year? Carlos Delgado. I had to think about it but come on is there really any question here? Of course guys like Chan Ho Park have made very nice comebacks, but 7th inning pitcher > slugging first baseman is a tough sell. MVP: Albert Pujols. Also unpopular to go with a guy not in a pennant race, but don't Wright and Delgado take votes from each other? Manny would need more time to really be considered, even in a week year. None of the Cubs stand out as a single force, and Ryan Howard strikes out too much and hits too close to the Mendoza line.

11

Magic Number for the Dodgers, 11. Magic number for the Titans, still 15. Tennessee are 1 point underdogs at Cincy (Troy, we both want Tennessee to win after that whole Cincinnati incident).

Andruw Jones is done for the year. Ned even trashed him a bit it seems (rightfully so, though I don't see it improving his possible performance for next year, which I'm more optimistic than most about).

Saito is back, with the 4.5 game lead I'd give him a chance to find his groove as closer again before getting to the playoffs.

Grats to Andre, come back soon. Juan Pierre, you get trashed more than you deserve, but you handle it like a professional. Of course, I don't believe you should be starting over Andre, Manny, or Kemp, you have done nothing less than expected of you when you signed, and any and all frustration aimed at you should be taken out on Ned. I hope for your sake you are traded because you deserve to start on a smaller market and you don't deserve to be trashed for delivering less than what you were advertised to do. But for now, please do well in Andre's absence.

16

Thanks Tony Jackson for setting me straight on this one.

I hate losing. But after the weekend series and the Diamondbacks loss all today means to the Dodgers is that our magic number drops one thanks to Lincecum. I think that makes it unofficially like 17? Good enough, better than 18.

Losses and Wins

Hey gang,

I like this 5 game win streak, don't you? It's nice. I'm still mad about the 8 game losing streak, but hey, we're in a playoff race. If we were the Yankees, Astros, Cardinals, or Blue Jays we wouldn't be. But we're the Dodgers, and we are. Remember the 06 Cards only won 83 games before winning the choke artist Tigers for a championship. I really want to say this series means everything, but let's face it, as long as we don't get swept the drama will continue. None of us particularly wants drama as much as we want security, like women who date rich, older men, but isn't this more exciting? Besides, they're the Dodgers, if you want security shouldn't you be a Yankees fan? No, we're Dodger fans because we love the Dodgers, thanks to Dodgerdugout for reminding me of that.

Having said that, I was thinking about the NL West, and which players really are the faces of their franchises. Peavy seems to embody the overperforming Padres (most years) with his grit, Helton seems to be the wise scraggly chief of the Rockies, with Matt Holliday the clan champion, for now. Do we as the Dodgers say that Russell Martin is our icon? Or has it actually been veteran Jeff Kent's prickliness and mustache that have defined us in the McCourt era? Has Barry Zito stolen the hearts of San Francisco the way Barry stole the hearts of every other city in America? But most importantly, concerning this year's race, I'm sad to see so little of Eric Byrnes. While Byrnes isn't the MVP of his club by a long shot he talks a lot. He brings his dog to the all-star game while kayaking in McCovey Cove, and he gets grass stains on his cheekbones. I think it's safe to say the most talented D'Back right now is Brandon Webb, who we get the privilege of facing again this weekend, but he's anything but the most colorful. Well, here's to September, and the final 20 some odd games we have left. Go blue!