I am worried about my good buddy Gary Miller, KCNC’s intrepid sports anchor and Broncos “insider.”
I fear Gary’s got a bad case of the Dodger blues, and I fear it’s only going to get worse.
When the Dodgers traded for Manny Ramirez last month, Gary and the rest of Dodger Nation reacted as if Manny had rained down from heaven (pun intended). But things aren’t looking so heavenly right now for the team from the City of Angels.
In his first dozen games with his new team, Manny hit .466 with five home runs and 16 RBIs. Then Manny trimmed his locks at the behest of manager Joe Torre. It was only about an inch or so, but in the next 11 games, Manny hit just one home run and had just five RBIs.
The Dodgers just got swept in Philly, dropping four straight and getting outscored 27-5. Monday, the Dodgers banged out 13 hits but still got shut out 5-0. No major-league team had been shut out on more hits in a nine-inning game since 1928.
Dodgers third-base coach Larry Bowa was livid.
“If you can’t get up emotionally and mentally when you’re two or three games out of first place, you need to find another job, another occupation,” Bowa told the Los Angeles Times. “That’s what I see. I’ve seen teams play like this when they’re 30 games out. There’s no excuse for it.”
Monday night, the Dodgers fell below .500 for the first time since July 26 and lost four consecutive games for the first time since June 12-15.
Manny or no Manny, the parts just don’t seem to mesh in La-La Land. Greg Maddux is going into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot, but he has not helped the Dodgers since coming from San Diego. Nomar Garcia- parra, 35, and Jeff Kent, 40, are showing their age and fragility.
Rockies killer Brad Penny is on the disabled list, and if he returns at all this season, it will likely be as a reliever.
In short, things aren’t looking good for the Dodgers, whose opening-day payroll was $118.5 million. Compare that with the Rockies’ $68.7 million, or the NL West-leading Diamondbacks’ $66.2 million.
The moral of the story: Money doesn’t automatically buy baseball happiness (See: New York Yankees, $209 million on opening day).
Year in and year out, the Dodgers should own the NL West, but they haven’t won it since 2004. Before that, their last division title was in 1995. The last time the Dodgers went to the World Series was 1988.
Sorry, Gary, but those are the facts.
