Halfway Home

    Halfway through the season, the Dodgers slip into last place in the National League West.
    They lost two out of three to the Angels and two out of three to the Twins... despite beating the Twins 15 - 0 just two days ago.
    Talk about inconsistent.
    I've managed teams like this, although only on the youth baseball level. But it's funny how, as a manager, you never know which team is gonna show up on a particular day! Is it gonna be the team that hits the ball to all fields and catches everything that comes their way? Or is it gonna be the team that can't get a hit when it needs to and muffs the regular plays?
    The Dodgers have played pretty well in the field; I won't fault them for that. Despite injuries and trips to the disabled list, the Dodgers have managed to put together a pretty good fielding team.
    The hitting is what's hurting. Or rather, the lack of hitting, especially in key situations.
    The Dodgers need some help in the pitching department, too.
    The Dodgers right now consist of Kershaw (starting pitcher, for those of you who don't know), Kemp (center field and terrific hitter), Ethier (right field and ditto) and Carroll (shortstop/second base; made the team as a fill-in utility player but because of injuries plays almost everyday and gets on base a whole lot). They have other players with promise: Billingsley (starting pitcher), Loney (first base), de la Rosa (rookie starting pitcher), Gwynn (left field).
    But the players with promise haven't fulfilled it yet. So the core of the Dodger team is a thin one.
    And with the ownership of the team in question and the issue of bankruptcy still in the air, I don't think this is the year of the Dodgers.
    But last place in the NLW?
    Sheesh!

Kershaw's Game

The Dodgers, with Clayton Kershaw pitching, defeated the Tigers 4 - 0 tonight.
Kershaw struck out 12, batted in two runs and pitched a complete game.
This is what the Dodgers needed, and what Kershaw needed.
Wow!
News today: MLB rejected Frank McCourt's bid for a deal with Fox TV to broadcast Dodger games into the foreseeable future for $3 billion, and McCourt probably won't be able to meet the team payroll June 30, resulting in MLB taking over the team and looking for a new owner. The Dodgers need to respond to that news by just playing good baseball, and tonight they did.
Wow, he looked sharp tonight!
Kershaw is very young, and a lot could happen. But he sure looked like a star tonight!