Gut Check Time

Two down to the DBacks. It is funny, but the Dodgers played a brilliant series against the Giants, but can’t seem to take care of the Diamondbacks. Danny Haren shut 'em down last night, but he’s one of the top five pitchers in baseball. Guffaws about his rough second half were held off for at least the next five days. Hiroki Kuroda (before the scary beaning- more about that later) pitched a strong five innings, and McDonald, Kuo, and Sherrill held Arizona scoreless for three innings. Then came Jonathan Broxton.

He struck out Gerardo Parra, than gave up back to back bombs to Mark Reynolds and Miguel Montero. Tie game. The Dodgers did nothing in the top of the tenth, than Ramon Troncoso came on. Troncoso has an ERA well over 10.00 in August, and he didn’t disappoint. Augie Ojeda singled to center, Haren, hitting for Chad Qualls, sacrificed, Stephen Drew was walked intentionally, and Parra singled Parra home, turning a ninth inning lead into a heartbreaker.

The Dodger bullpen is a disaster, primarily Gulliermo Mota and Troncoso. Both of their ERA’s are sky-high, and they are completely unable to keep the Dodgers in the game. The Bar Debating Society disagrees, but although Broxton has been a little scary with as many blown saves in August as successful ones, he hasn’t been too bad. Sherrill has been solid, not giving up a run since he was acquired, and hopefully, Hong Chih Kuo is shaking off the rust, there may be hope.

The Big Dilemma is this. Kuroda’s scare (at this posting, he was awake and not bleeding), Billingsley’s hamstring woes, and a lack of a true fifth starter means lots of work for the bullpen. This is trouble, my friends. Big trouble.

Well, The Rockies are 4.5 back and the Giants are 5.5 back. It is a race my friends, and as dismal as the year is for teams like the DBacks, they have big, big pride, and will play the Dodgers tough. The Dodgers need to be ready. The Debating Society says the Dodgers will sail by on an easy schedule; the DBacks are out to prove them wrong. The Dodgers have work to do on Sunday.

Scott Boras laughing his ASS off- Seems like negotiations between phenom Stephen Strasburg and The Nationals are not going so well. Strasburg’s agent is Scott Boras, and you know he is licking his chops over this one. The Nationals need to sign this guy to show their suffering fans that they are not a mere extension of the MLB-owned Expos. Boras knows this and will extort them for all they got.

Nothing against Boras, he knows he can extort the owners, and the owners know they can extort the fans. That’s capitalism for ya.

Here Come The Cards- If getting spanked by the lowly DBacks wasn’t enough, the Cards are just around the corner, and they just won their fifth straight. It is gut check time, people. Let’s see if the Dodgers