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I was off this weekend at a wedding, in which I was best man. As with most weddings, the groom got his groomsmen gifts, and one of mine (in addition to a most excellent official 1988 World Series Program and hat) happened to be a gag gift.
Wait for it…
Wait for it…
Of course. What else could it have been?
Well, that just really screwed up plans, today. Here I was, getting ready to celebrate the 2nd 
straight divisional crown and already looking forward to it, and thinking of the champagne drenched celebrations…
Unfortunately, by the looks of the bottom of the 9th inning, so were the Dodgers. I’m not sure there’s much to say about today’s game that hasn’t already been said. What looked to be another nice comeback by the Dodgers in late innings ended in a total nightmare, as Jonathan Broxton came in and helped cough up four runs to the freaking Pirates, who came back to win 6-5, after trailing 5-2 to begin the bottom of the ninth.
As can be the case when Broxton loses a lead, he had some big help in this, and today he was assisted by a botched double play attempt by Rafael Furcal and then Andre Ethier capped off the whole thing by missing the ball on the single by Lastings Miledge, which enabled the winning run to score. Quite an ugly inning and just about everything that you could imagine going wrong, well, just about did.
Despite the magic number still remaining one and the Dodgers still probably winning the NL West (and can still do it today, if Colorado loses, by the way), it’s still anything but a meaningless loss. It counts, folks, and precisely due to the Dodgers trying to still hold on to home field advantage in the playoffs. As things look right now, Philadelphia has just beaten Milwaukee 6-5 to narrow in on the Dodgers by 2.5 games, with the Rockies currently leading the Cardinals 4-3 in the 7th.
For as nice as it would be to wrap up the division as soon as possible and just have Colorado lose today, it would be in the Dodgers’ best interest if the Rockies beat St. Louis, today. If St. Louis wins, they will then be 2 behind the Dodgers in the home field advantage race. It’s a bit of a tough spot, which is why the Dodgers needed this win: on one hand, you want the Rockies to lose to just end this, on the other hand, you need them to win to keep St. Louis off your back, but wait, no, you also want the Braves to surpass the Rockies and… ARGH!!
So, either way, the Dodgers will be back out there tomorrow, although remember: it’s a 9:35 A.M., PST, start time.
- Vin 
Sorry for the delay here, guys. MSTI has been busy this weekend, leaving the ship to me, and 
you know how that goes (just Vin Being Vin). But I’m here now, albeit a tad late, as I got back from the Coliseum pretty late last night and just dropped. But I did notice something notable happen, last night.
I noted that the Dodgers have clinched their 4th playoff berth in their last 6 seasons. They did it in interesting style last night, leading the Pirates 3-1 for most of the game before the bullpen coughed up three runs in the 7th, only for the Pirates to cough up four runs right after that, and then an additional one in the 9th off a solo HR by Ronnie Belliard, who continues to impress.
From the pitching side of things, Randy Wolf was great, as usual, going 6.1 IP, giving up 2 ER, while walking 1 and striking out 5, before the bullpen had a bit of issues in the 7th. But fortunately the Pirates bullpen also had issues, walking everyone and their mother, until Jim Thome broke it open with a single to make it 7-4 and then Ronnie Belliard capping it off in the 9th with a solo HR to give the Dodgers the victory and a playoff berth.
So here’s the way things sit, right now:
The Dodgers have now clinched a playoff berth. That’s done. So now the magic number to clinch the division is actually 1, not 2 as some might think. The reason is because the Dodgers have won the season series against the Rockies, 12-3. So if the Dodgers can pull it out today, then guess what? We win the division! As I type this, it’s 2-2 in the 7th, although even if the Dodgers do clinch the division today, the work isn’t over yet, as they still have to fight off Philadelphia and St. Louis for the best record in the NL, for home field advantage in the playoffs. Should be fun!
- Vin
