Three Weeks of Dodger Death

Three weeks ago, I declared the Dodgers dead. Today, I believe it was the right move and I am satisfied that I didn't string myself along any longer than I did. At that time, the Dodgers chances looked poor and I didn't see THAT TEAM getting hot and getting back into the playoff race. There are times where a team with the same record would seemingly inspire more confidence because they are more capable of gaining ground.

On July 22, the Dodgers were 51-45 and the Phillies were 49-46. From that day, the Phillies would go onto win 16 of the next 20 games, the sixteenth being the rubber game of the LA series where the Phillies came back from a seven-run deficit in the last two innings. During that streak of games, they lost Ryan Howard and Shane Victorino while being without Chase Utley the entire time. That is the kind of team that I would hitch my wagon to and I would give them a chance of making the playoffs.

The Dodgers on the other hand inspire much less confidence. They had and continue to have their injuries too but trading away Blake DeWitt made the Dodgers worse in half of the positions. I didn't buy the effort to compete by shuffling players around and it ended up being the laughing stock that it seemed it would be. The fan has a write to keep up the hope as long as the team has a chance but a fan also has the right to write off his or her team no matter what the chances that the team will make the playoffs.

The Dodgers have managed to capture my interest despite my declaration and my unfortunate night at the ballpark on August 12th. I lacked belief in the team but I was still watching because I could have been wrong and I am a fan of the team. This last month is going to be harder to watch when there will be other meaningful baseball games. It's easy to get used to going to the playoffs but it's not happening this season.

I will be watching the teams that are vying for and those that are going to make the playoffs. The great part about baseball is being in the playoffs and it's unwise to forget what it's like to be there. Some of the September call-ups should be interesting to watch as well. The Dodgers probably won't have much going on in that department but if they get at least one prospect up to the bigs, that might be worth viewing. The McCourt Divorce might actually be the most crucial contest to follow at this point. There are always reasons to watch but it won't be the same with the Dodgers not playing in the postseason.