Thursday, August 28, 2008

Post-Game 134 Thread: Nope Still Springs Eternal

Little did I know how much more relevant this two-month-old post would become:

When opportunity knocks, the Dodgers always seem to be out on the back porch frying burgers with the radio on too loud. Observe:

May 9-11: The then-MLB-best D-backs face the Cubs juggernaut and get swept out of the windy city for their first 3-game losing streak of the season. Finally the Dodgers will gain some ground, right? Nope. The Dodgers suffer their own sweep via the jugger-not Astros and actually lose ground after their subsequent loss to Milwaukee.

May 26-30: The mighty Diamondbacks get swept by the lowly Giants and lose the opener to the even-lowly-er Nationals to cap their first 5-game losing streak. At least now the Dodgers will pick up a few games here. Nope. Dodgers get swept by the Cubs after losing 2 of 3 to St Louis, then lose 3 of 4 to the Mets. Again they lose ground.

June 2-4: D-backs get swept by Milwaukee. While it may be too little too late, at least the Dodgers can make a move here, no? Nope. Dodgers match Arizona's 3-game losing streak at the hands of the Rockies and Cubs.

June 13-15: D-backs win the first game (barely) but still manage to lose the series to Kansas City of all teams. Surely the Dodg- Nope. Dodgers get swept by Detroit to cap a 5-game losing streak and lose ground.

Thus has been the Dodgers' 2008. After the D-backs' scorching 27-15 start, they proceeded to go 13-23. But over that same time, the Dodgers went 14-21, picking up a mere 1.5 games. Put another way: since May 22, the D-backs have lost 18 times on a day the Dodgers also played a game. In the Dodgers' corresponding 18 games, they've come away with 4 wins. If we'd just played 0.500 ball during those games, we'd be leading the division by a game. Now, I probably put less stock in the specific timing of wins and losses than anyone I know, but even I find this frustrating.

Well, I assume you know where this is going...

August 24-28: The D-backs lose the rubber game against Florida, then miraculously get swept by the then-48-82 Padres to go 0-4 over that period, just as we go up against the even-worse Nationals. NOPE! NOPE! NOPE! WE CAN'T EVEN STAY EVEN!!! After the Phillies finish their sweep of us, we conveniently remain in the bent-over position on the bus down to DC. 0-5, loss of a half game over that same span (and I'm not even counting the preceding two losses to Philly).

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Was at the Dodger-Nats game Wednesday night. Expected a great game with Maddux pitching, etc. Instead the Bums looked totally inept in the field and impotent at the plate. A real downer for this longtime ( remember Brooklyn?) Dodger fan.

Orel said...

Thanks for the report, Bunten. Sometimes it's hard to believe this organization has six World Series titles. Did you follow the team from Brooklyn to L.A.?