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This has been a shitty night.
I watched the first couple of innings of the Padres-Dodgers game to watch newly acquired hack Esteban Loaiza completely stink it up. He game up four earned runs in those two innings and couldn’t find the strike zone for the life of him.
I then went to play some tennis with my new tennis partner. I couldn’t serve for the life of me, and my normally strong forehand kept on failing me. After losing the first set 6-0, I made a more respectable showing in the second set by going to the net losing 6-4. There hasn’t been more expletives hurled on a tennis court since John McEnroe last played on the tour.
I go back to my car, and I hear that the Dodgers are down 9-2 in the eighth inning.
The only positive part of the game was seeing Chin-Lung Hu go yard in his second major league at-bat against Brett Tomko. Does it make me a bad person that I started saying, “Fuck you Tomko,” over and over again when that happened? I didn’t think so.
The Dodgers made it interesting in the end, and the memory of last year’s September 18th game against Jake Peavy and the Padres percolated through my mind. But honestly I had no expectation that the Dodgers would have a night in the same area code as that game. Nothing the Dodgers had done recently would lend me to believe they can erase a two-run deficit much less a seven-run deficit.
Listening to the Dodgers Live crew after the game, they kept on stressing that the Dodgers still have a chance to make the postseason. They're not wrong on that count. But I have about the same chance of being able to afford these pairs of Junya Watanabe pants and Prada pants without blinking an eye.
The Dodgers have squandered every chance they have had to gain some ground in the postseason chase. The scheduling gods smiled upon the Dodgers when they scheduled them to play the Giants in San Francisco before these crucial series against the Padres and D-Backs. The Dodgers had won 11 consecutive games there, so it would be a terrific opportunity!
Au contraire, mon frere. They completely tanked it missing the opportunity to come into this game only ½ a game behind the Padres.
So it's done. I'm going to officially call it. After being uncharacteristically optimistic most of the season, I'm done with the charade. The Dodgers will not make the postseason. Even if by some miracle of Allah they make it, does anyone want to see them get swept yet again in the NLDS? I didn't think so.
AP Photo by Gus Ruelas
