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After Saturday night’s spectacle at the Coliseum, I came away hearing the best joke. The public announcer said, “Now batting DH, Juan Pierre.” That was an even better joke than waiting a total of five hours in line for the charter buses from and to Dodger Stadium with my severely sciatica-afflicted left leg.
I may be a little grumpy today since I didn’t get home from that game until 1 am, but there are a lot of concerns for the Dodgers leading up to Opening Day.
“I’ve never been this close to the end [of spring training] and not knowing the makeup of the club,” manager Joe Torre said a couple of days ago according to the LA Times. As early as Sunday morning, it was unknown as who would be the starting left fielder: Slappy McPopUp or Andre Ethier.
A fan who sat behind me said that Juan Pierre brings a lot to the team with his speed. I agreed with the guy that Slappy does have a lot of speed, but with the way he’s hitting he’d be using all that speed in the dugout. He conceded.
Well by Sunday afternoon, the Times reported that Ethier will indeed be the starting left fielder. Thank heavens for small miracles.
The other very worrisome position is third base. With NoMore out indefinitely with a microfracture in his wrist, Andy LaRoche out until May with a surgically repaired ligament in his right thumb and Tony Abreu out with the mysterious abdominal injury, that leaves Blake DeWitt as the everyday third baseman. Blake De Who? Exactly. DeWitt has never played above AA ball, so he’ll be prone to all the rookie mistakes.
I won’t even get into the fact that Andruw Jones looks like he’s rejected every salad that has come near him and has had declining production the last two seasons. And Jeff Kent’s pulled hammy, Takashi Saito’s injured calf, Jason Schmidt’s shoulder, etc. And which set of pitchers will show up?
I really do want to be optimistic about the Dodger season, but it’s really hard. Yeah the Dodgers led the National League in homers this spring, but it’s spring training. I am really excited seeing James Loney, Matt Kemp and Russell Martin, but that’s about it.
With this said, here are my post-season predictions.
NL East: NY Mets
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
NL West: Arizona Diamondback
NL Wild Card: Atlanta Braves
AL East: Boston Red Sox
AL Central: Detroit Tigers
AL West: Angels
AL Wild Card: Tampa Bay Rays
World Series: Chicago Cubs over Detroit Tigers 4-2. The Cubs fans will then become unbearable like the Red Sox fans and will not win another title for another 100 years.
Where do the Dodgers fit in this? Third in the NL West behind the San Diego Padres.
Sorry. But that’s about as much faith as I can put in this team.
AP Photo by Lenny Ignelzi
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the last time joe torre started on a new team, they won the world series. the last time grady little left a team, that team won the world series.
fuck the cubs and their 100 years. how about the dodgers and our 20 years. cub fans are fine being loveable-losers. it gives them something to talk about. dodger fans need another title.
I'm now more excited than ever for the pessimistic posts to come about the LA team, being reported on the LA blog.
Pitching wins championships.
Dodgers over Tigers in the World Series.
Yes pitching does win championships, but I don't know about the Dodger pitching staff. It's easy to be overjoyed about today's victory over the Giants, but we have to remember that it's the Giants.
I agree its only the lowly giants, but the whole point of opening day is HAVING faith, if not for only one day.
The D-Backs have a lot of potential in their lineup made of uber-prospects, but more questions at pitching (besides a solid 1-2, they let go a 30-40 save guy and their best hitter may be their #4 started in Micah Owings), where as the Rockies have a picture perfect lineup, but only one certainty in the rotation (Francis) and as proven in the world series.
The Dodgers have proven durability in the rotation in Penny and Lowe, an Ace in waiting in Billingsly, an innings eater in Kuroda, and I don't even think about a win in the 5th spot so if we do its pure glory. Plus a 1-7 lineup that has the proven ability to score more runs than we did last year - which is what we really need to get us over that hump.
Even the giants had faith until the 1st inning.