Jun 30 2008
Dodgers Report: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Interesting weekend for the Dodgers. What it means might depend on your point of view. Are you an optimist? A pessimist? Or are you a realist?The good: The pitching held a division leader to just one run over three games and the Dodgers won a series.The bad: The offense scored six earned runs in three games. Two earned runs per game. And they all came in one game. So from the offensive perspective, the Dodgers should have lost two of the three games.
The ugly? Or maybe the lucky: Dodgers win a game without getting a hit.
Let’s go back to the good. Two shutouts and a one-run game against a team that has at times been the best in its respective league. Granted, the Angels were without Chone Figgins for most of the weekend, but the Dodgers did tame Vladimir Guererro, one of the hottest hitters in the majors over the month of June.
I’m an optimist. And based on this weekend my optimism makes me strongly believes that the Dodgers have the pitching to take the wide open National League West. My optimism also tells me that the offense will rise to a respectable level with the return of Rafael Furcal, Andruw Jones and Nomar Garciaparra.
But I want to be objective so I need to be a realist. And realistically, the N.L. West is so wide open that from here on out, with about 80 games to go for most teams, every game the Dodgers play, and even every game their division rivals play, takes on extra importance. And in a race this tight among so many teams, you can’t just count on pitching, no matter how good it is.
You need an offense. You don’t need to be the Boston Red Sox, but you need to be able to put runs on the board when you need them. Sometimes that might mean an offensive explosion when your starter struggles. But it also means a one or two-run ninth-inning rally from your 7th and 8th hitters to win a 1-0 or 2-1 game.
Thinking as a realist, I realize that the Dodgers have not had a respectable offense for some time. And Jones is too out of shape, Garciaparra is too old and worn down and Furcal is just one man. Is he going to get on base four times a game and even if he does can anyone on the Dodgers drive him in four times?
The answer’s no, and you don’t have to be a pessimist, or even a realist, to know that. But you don’t have to be an optimist to know that the Dodgers do have a good chance to win their division. It won’t be easy and they’ll need help, either from returning players or through a trade, but the N.L. West crown is there for the taking.
Other variant is possible also