And Now, The End is Near...

Jon Weisman's morning sedatives notwithstanding, this has been a tough week for Dodger fans. That mighty 6-game lead in the standings that already had us plotting the playoff rotation has shrunk to a measly 2.5 games, and the performance of the starting pitchers has been heartburn-inducing. I'm finding it's not worth staying up until 1 am to deal with this kind of aggravation.

Earlier this week, I was going to post something about how even if the Dodgers played .500 ball the rest of the season (and right now, they don't look much better than a .500 team), the Giants would have to put up a record of something like 14-5 in their final 19 games to catch them. That bit of info is comforting on the surface, but I decided against posting for two reasons. One, lots of people have written similar stuff, and two, it's not really that comforting when you look at it more closely. The Giants are perfectly capable of playing .700 ball from here on out, and the Dodgers could very easily go under .500 the rest of the way. And whaddaya know, the Giants have won six in a row and 10 of their last 12, while the Dodgers just coughed up three out of four to the Padres. I guess I should've been more specific with the last sentence of my post directly below.

The Dodgers have been struggling since August to find some kind of rhythm and consistency on all fronts. If it's not the offense, it's the bullpen. If it's not the bullpen, it's the rotation, etc., etc. Ross Porter mentioned on the radio last night that the Dodgers have not led a game from start-to-finish since a 7-4 win over the Braves on August 21. The up-and-down performance of the starters have been the primary culprit for this, I feel. Wilson Alvarez, Kaz Ishii, and Hideo Nomo do not deserve to be starting games anymore, although Alvarez will get at least one more turn on the mound. Odalis Perez' recent troubles are coming at a most inopportune time, and now Jose Lima will miss a start thanks to a fractured finger. It makes you wonder how much good Brad Penny can really do when he finally returns, as it looks he will probably do next week. He can't just alternate starts with Weaver every other game.

I've also been mentioning that the schedule in September was not advantageous to the Dodgers, who had to face the Cardinals and tough division foes, while the Giants got a relative breather. We've been seeing that in action recently, with the Dodgers going 2-4 on successive weekends against the Cardinals and then dropping that home series with the Padres, while the Giants have been mopping up against the Diamondbacks and Brewers. Regardless of the patsies they've been facing, the Giants have been playing very well lately. We knew they had the run-scoring offense, but their pitching has not allowed more than three runs in a game in more than a week. The schedule normalizes a bit this week, as the Giants follow the San Diego series with a tough set against the Astros, setting up next weekend's big showdown. (Congratulations, of course, are in order for BALCO Labs, on the occasion of their 700th chemically-assisted homerun last night.)

The Dodgers really needed to pull that game out last night. They've had a couple of painful games recently (9/5 at St. Louis, 8/23 at Montreal) where they staged big comebacks only to fall short in the end. After falling behind by five last night, and with the knowledge that the Giants were winning, they managed to pull out a huge win in extra innings and salvage a Nomo start. That was an amazing performance by the bullpen, six relievers throwing 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball. Too bad the relief staff had to be so extensively used in the first game of a Coors Field series, but we needed that win.

A word on Hideo Nomo. Last night was more than likely his last appearance on the field in a Dodger uniform, and quite possibly his last appearance in major league baseball altogether. (Fitting, indeed, that it came on the 8-year anniversary of his career peak: his no-hitter in the very same ballpark.) I gave Hideo his due props back in June, so all I can say is, again, merushi Nomo-san.

And a final word on this blog. Well, no, not a final word, exactly. I'd just like to echo the sentiments of Kurt over at Arrive in the Third, Leave After Seven. I find lately I've been firing up blogger not because I want to post something, but because I feel I have to in order to keep this blog from falling into neglect and decay. However, the events and circumstances of my life have picked up warp speed in the past few weeks, and it shows no signs of slowing down. As happy as I am with what I've produced on this blog, I cannot be a slave to it. If that means that a week or more goes by without a new post, then that's the way it's got to be.

I appreciate every hit I get here, more than 4,000 since I started On the DL back in April, and I thank everyone who's taken the time to read my little contribution to the online literary world. Posting won't stop around here. The pennant race is too exciting, and football season is just getting interesting, so I'll definitely be back to ramble on some more. But the daily and even semi-daily updates that I was getting off over the summer have come to an end.

I'd love to blog every day, if I could. Damn this intrusion of real-life.