People tend to lie to themselves. They tend to tell themselves that things are better than they really are, that those things they fear aren't really there, that everything is gonna be okay.

   Most of the time, it isn't true.

   And for the Dodgers, it's time to wake up. Guys, you don't have enough pitching!

   It's a truism in baseball that you can never have enough pitching. But the Dodgers have only two pitchers who are really capable of starting games and pitching enough innings to be meaningful: Chad Billingsley and Randy Wolf. Kuroda is still on the DL (ribcage strain), and Kershaw, Stults and McDonald are, at best, erratic. Kershaw struggled – no, let's say disappointed – in his last two starts. The boy is only 21, I know, but he's pitched a lot of ball games in his 21 years. If he doesn't know he has to throw strikes, and good ones that don't get hit out of the park, then he doesn't belong in the starting rotation of a major league team.

   The Dodgers lead the National League West right now. But if the pitchers don't step up and do the job, they won't lead it for long. And if the current roster of pitchers can't do the job, well...

   Don't lie to yourselves, Dodgers. And don't lie to us fans. You have a problem. Fix it!

The game of baseball is bigger than any one person can see, even one who is playing the game. Two cases in point: Sunday's game, Dodgers @ Diamondbacks, and Monday's game, Giants @ Dodgers.

Sunday: top of the second, Dodgers batting, one out, runners at second and third. Batter slaps the ball back toward the pitcher. Runner at third, leading off, breaks for home at the crack of the bat. Pitcher catches the ball on the fly for the second out and throws to the second baseman, who misses the base. Runner from third steps on home plate; second baseman tags the runner at second before he can get back to the base. That's the third out. Diamondbacks congratulate themselves on making the double play and leave the field. Dodgers bench coach Bob Schaefer told manager Joe Torre that the run should count, because the Diamondbacks didn't make an appeal play to third. Torre went out and talked to the umpires, who ruled that the run counted.

If the Diamondbacks had made the appeal play – pitcher gets the ball, steps on the pitcher's plate, steps off and throws the ball to the third baseman, who then touches the base, the runner would have been called out for not tagging up. It would have been the fourth out of the inning, technically a triple play since all three of the final outs resulted from a single swing of the bat. But when the Diamondbacks left the field they lost the opportunity to make the appeal. The run counted.

Hardly anybody in the park – players, fans, broadcasters, writers – knew what had happened. Some of 'em still don't know, I'm sure.

Monday: Dodgers vs. Giants, the Dodgers home opener. Orlando Hudson hits for the cycle: a single, double, triple and homerun all in the same game. First time a Dodger has done it since 1970.

"I had no idea," Hudson said. "I didn't know until the other guys in the dugout told me!"

"It's not a game for kids, is it?" asked Cecilia.

"The Dodgers lost three of their first five games?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah," I said. "They still haven't resolved the starting pitcher situation."

"Who pitched tonight?"

"Some kid named James McDonald. Pitched two perfect innings, then gave up a homerun, three walks and hit a batter. Didn't finish the third inning."

"So..."

"So the Dodgers lost again." I huffed and puffed. "They tried to come back, but the bullpen couldn't hold on. NIne to four, Diamondbacks." 

"Oh," Cecilia said.

"And Kuroda went on the seven day disabled list because of a strained muscle in his rib cage. They call that an oblique injury, just so you won't know what it is. He pulled a muscle on his left side."

"Wasn't he scheduled to pitch tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but he won't. They brought up Stultz from the minors. He'll pitch tomorrow."

"Charley!"

"Yeah, I know."

Some people think the games played in the first month of the baseball season aren't important. "Oh," those people say. "The team is just getting itself organized. It takes time. It's still very early."

Okay, I say. Yes, it is still very early, and yes, the team is still getting itself organized. But the games you win early in the season count just as much as the games you win later. In some ways I think they count for more, because if you can win games before you know what you're doing, think how well you can do later!

Opening Day

The Dodgers open the season with twelve, count 'em, twelve pitchers. Okay, Joe Torre, I'll accept that.

"Why do they need so many?" asks Cecilia.

"Because they all have potential but none of them have really proven themselves."

"So...."

"So Joe and all the rest of us are waiting for somebody to step up."

"Dodgers won their first game of the season."

"Yep. Kuroda did a good job, and the bullpen did a good job, too. But it's only the first game."

"And?"

"Teams are only allowed to have 25 players. And if you have 12 pitchers you only get 13 more to fill the other 8 positions on the field."

"The Dodgers have a good starting lineup. But I have a bad feeling about this."

Cecilia laughed.

"You're funny, Charley," she said.

Spring Training

"When does baseball season start? my wife Cecilia asked.

"Next Monday, april 6," I replied.

"How are the Dodgers this year?"

"They need more pitching. They need a fifth starter.

Cecilia looked blank.

"A fifth starting pitcher," I said.

"Five starting pitchers seems like a lot," Cecilia said.

"Teams play five, six, sometimes seven games a week," I told her. "Current thinking is that a starting pitcher needs four days off between starts."

"I know you listen to baseball everyday during the season...."

I do. Living in Southern California, I can hear the Dodgers, Angels, Padres and sometimes the Giants on the radio, and of course I can hear every game on MLB.com.

"Was it always like that?" Cecilia asked. "Five starting pitchers on a team?"

"No." Spahn and Sain and pray for rain, I thought. "Most teams had two or three good starting pitchers and did the best they could the other days. But that was the old days. Now there are twice as many teams, the season is eight games longer and they have two series of playoffs before the World Series.

Cecilia said "So if there's twice as many teams and more games – are there enough good pitchers to go around?"

"No," I told her. "Each team needs five starters. Plus, you have to assume or at least allow for the possibility that one of your starters is going to get hurt for at least a few weeks during the season. So you need to have someone available, either in the bullpen or in the minor leagues, who can step up. Between the major league team and the AAA minor league team, you need six or seven pitchers who can start major league games."

"So that means...."

"Baseball needs 224 major league-quality starting pitchers each season. Or more."

"Two hundred and twenty-four boys who can throw fastballs...."

I smiled. "And curves and sliders and slurves and split-fingers and change-ups and knuckleballs and anything else that will get by a good hitter or make him hit it foul or hit it right into a fielder's glove."

"Oh," Cecilia said.

"And the boy has to be able to field his position: catch a line drive coming right back at him, stop a hot grounder up the middle, charge in for a bunt in front of home plate, back up a throw in from the outfield, cover first base when the first baseman gets pulled off."

"Oh."

I put my hands up, palms facing my wife. "I'm sorry," I said. "Too much information."

Cecilia smiled. "It's okay, Charley," she said. "I enjoy seeing you get enthusiastic about baseball. Maybe you should write a blog."

So maybe I will. Haha!

But it won't be just a baseball blog. It'll be a life blog. Cooking (recipes and experiences), music, romance (ha!), stamps, travel and opinion.

All told for our own entertainment, Cecilia.

Cecilia giggled when I told her that.

"Charley," she said. She grinned at me and flashed her pretty eyes. I grinned back at her.

And for your entertainment too.