Dodgers Retrospective - Week 23

Last week, in the recap, which I wrote before the game that day, I made some mention of the fact that if the Dodgers were really serious about trying to make the playoffs, it was really all in their hands. (In fairness to me, I did say there was only about a 2% chance of any of this happening.)

Anyway, that blog post was written before the Dodgers decided to roll over and die this week.

First, they lost the rubber match Sunday and the series as a whole to the Giants.

Then, and this is the really fun one: they went into San Diego to face a reeling, dying Padres team. A team that had lost ten straight games. And what happened? The Dodgers got swept by the Padres. Swept. They couldn't eke out one win in three? They couldn't, I dunno, continue the Padres anti-momentum and win the first game before dropping the next two? Nope. Guess not.

Oh, and then to finish it off, the Dodgers rode their losing streak to six games by losing the first game of four in Houston.

They did win the next two games, but it was too little, too late.

Put it like this. Coming into this week, the season's heart monitor was going "Beep ... beep ... beep ..." It was faint, but it was still alive. After the Padres series, it was more like "Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep..." And any win at this point is like the doctor who won't give up trying to hit the dead patient with more volts. "Clear!" Zap. "Clear!" Zap. The nurse comes running in. "Doctor! Stop it! Stop it! He's dead!"

Dramatic, I know. But inaccurate? I think not.

The Dodgers losing the fourth game of the series with the Astros, thus splitting the set, was like rigor mortis setting in.

Anyway, couple more things.


Good Decisions

Quickly want to make this point (again): how great is it that Ted Lilly, Hiroki Kuroda, Scott Podsednik, etc. are still on this team? Podsednik didn't even play in the last three games of the Astros series.

Pictured: A meaningful start.

Consider this, too: if Ned Colletti doesn't offer Lilly arbitration this offseason, then he'll hit the trifecta of bad decisions with him: trading for him, keeping him past August, and not offering him arbitration.

This could be fun.


Actual Good Decisions

This was something I was going to promote this week because, frankly, I didn't expect that this would actually happen.

I was going to say that, with the season dead, you have got to play the call-ups and see what you got.

And what happens this series against the Astros? John Ely gets back into the rotation to see if he can make a few quality big league starts. Russ Mitchell gets some starts. Jay Gibbons gets some starts. Trent Oeltjen and John Lindsey get some starts (and Lindsey gets his first career hit in the majors, which, by the way, is one of the few good things to happen for this team in the last several weeks).

Credit to Joe Torre for being smart and playing these guys instead of just running the regulars out there day after day. It's not like it hasn't been rewarding. Ely went 6.0 innings on Saturday giving up just three runs. Plus, it turns out Mitchell can't do much but fly out and Gibbons still has some power. Also, he's horrible defensively. See? We're learning.

Pictured: the Dodgers' 2011 4th outfielder

Anyway, I'd like to keep it up. I want to see more of these guys and start building toward next year. And if we lose, we lose. I'm not suggesting tanking for a better draft slot next year, but if we keep starting whoever and just let nature take its course, then I'm not going to complain.