Not out of the woods yet: it ain't over 'till it's over!!

Hi Kari:

The Dodgers were on nobody's list to make the playoffs. Nobody would pick an NL West team to be in contention for the wildcard.

But that is where things are right now.

The Dodgers left for dead on the road many times this season, and with good reason, are now 2 1/2 games ahead in the NL West. Yahoo!!

But the starting staff that pretty much has been falling apart the whole month of September will have to find a few more good starts to bring the team across the finish line atop the heap of beaten up exhausted teams.

Look at the pitching probables for the final week...

Monday: Edwin Jackson, the young hard thrower who was injured most of the season and who has exhibited control problems in AAA rehab starts, will have to set down the always pesky Rockies.

UPDATE: Yup, it isn't looking good. Jackson lasted 3 1/3 and gave up six runs. The only hope is that eventually the Colorado bullpen ignites a Dodger rally.

UPDATE: UNBELIEVABLE. Dodgers get two to tie in the bottom of the eighth and the winning run in the bottom of the ninth off the hapless Rockies bullpen. The magic number is now FOUR.

UPDATE: Great page 2 article at espn.com about the rivelry between the Giants and the Dodgers.

Tuesday: Kaz Ishii who has a walk to strikeout ratio that is scary and rarely gets past the 5th inning because of high pitch counts has to find the wicked curve ball and the control that can make him make hitters look bad flailing away.

UPDATE: Ishii gave the team seven good innings but leaves down 1-0.

UPDATE:UNBELIEVABLE. Dodgers get FIVE runs in the bottom of the ninth to win 5-4. The magic number is now THREE. Meanwhile, the Angels are now TIED for first in the AL West.

UPDATE: The bad news from the Tuesday game was the incident involving Milton Bradley and some fans. After he made an error which eventually allowed 3-runs in, some fans began to taunt him and one birdbrain tossed a container of beer onto the field at Bradley. It didn't hit him but the enraged Bradley emptied the container, stalked over to the field box, screamed at the fans and eventually tossed the container into the ground. At this point, security, Dodger players and coaches, and umpires were sprinting to the scene and Bradley was ejected from the game. He probably will be suspended and fined. The Dodgers have a bigger decision: what to do about the volitile Bradley? The Dodgers picked him up at the beginning of the season because he was cut loose from Cleveland for his anger management issues.

Wednesday: O. Perez who had a brilliant 8-inning outing against the Giants is one of the Dodger's more reliable starters but often has no run support needs another top notch performance.

UPDATE: Perez more than held up his end of the bargain with 8 innings giving up only one run. But unfortunately, the Dodgers only scored one run the whole game. As the top of the ninth inning came to an end, this time it was the Dodger bullpen that ignited a rally. Brazoban got one out but then gave up a walk and a hit. Tracy, the "robo-manager," went with the situational lefty who gave up a single making the deficit 2-1. The side-arming lefty Venafro faced another batter only to yield a double and thus the game was further out of hand, 4-1. This time there was no last minute rally as the Dodgers went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth. Fortunately, for the Dodgers, the Padres came through in the bottom of the tenth knocking off the Giants 4-3. Thus, the magic number is TWO.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Angels defeated the Rangers and Seattle beat Oakland; thus the ANGELS now lead the AL West by ONE game!

UPDATE: On a worrisome note for the Dodgers, Gagne had an MRI which revealed mild shoulder tendonitis. He received a cortizone shot for it and should be available for Thursday's game. But I'm guessing that Tracy is not going to use him unless he absolutely has to.

Thursday: Jose Lima is one of those cotton ball throwing location pitchers who leads the team in surrendering home runs (yet has 13 wins) has a fractured thumb but because the Dodgers have no better option will be trotted out there to bring the NL West championship home if the Dodgers win Wednesday night and the Giants lose Wednesday night.

UPDATE: UNBELIEVABLE. The Dodgers win 4-2 in the bottom of the 11th when Dave Ross (batting .169) hit a two-run homer. Another key moment was in the bottom of the 10th when Hee Seop Choi (.254 average overall but only .158 since joining the Dodgers) got a double. Antonio Perez was sent into pinch run for Choi and scored when Jason Werth got an RBI on a fielder's choice to tie the game at 2-2 to set the stage for Ross the next inning. The magic number is now ONE.

UPDATE: Lima gave the Dodgers seven innings. He gave up eight hits but only one run. Thus, in the last four games, the starting staff has done better than expected. Now, three games against the Giants...

UPDATE: Angels and Oakland are tied for the AL West.

Meanwhile, down the Interstate-5, the Angels who also have been rightly been considered baked and done for the season are in a dogfight for the AL West title.

Go Angels! Go Dodgers!

Laters,
Rene

P.S. I'll be in Seattle for a business trip and have gone on the internet to buy a ticket to a game. Maybe I'll get to see Ichero break the hit record? Stay tuned for an audioblog from Safeco field if there is signal strength to my cell phone!

UPDATE: Ichero is now one hit short of tying Sisler's hit record. If all goes well, I may be audioblogging the historic moment when Ichero ties and then breaks the record?!