Pizza and pitching
In today’s Orange County Register, Takashi Saito tells Bill Plunkett that he’s amazed at the strength American players get from eating pizza and bread. It’s safe to say he’d be flabbergasted if he saw my daily diet during the season and appalled at the Fox Sports Net employee who finished off eight Dodger Dogs in the press box on Saturday night, setting a new media record. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting off-day read about our newfound closer in the OCR.
Another very cool article is the long feature by Steve Henson in today’s L.A. Times about Ned Colletti’s upbringing. Steve went all around Ned’s hometown with him when we were in Chicago and the result is a great read. Check it out if you need to pass the time before tonight’s game.
We traveled yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to point it out, but I’m really impressed with the Monday sports section of the Daily News. They have done an awesome job of creating a tabloid-style section that really gives readers a lot of bang for their buck. Check it out if you live around LA.
As for us, our office will be hard at work preparing the postseason media guide, which every team that is in contention must do. It’s about a 125-page book of information that the media uses to cover the playoffs and their respective teams during the offseason. It’s quite an undertaking, as is the credential process and all the other planning for potential playoff games, but it’s all a part of our daily jobs. Six teams are currently doing it and only four of us will be playing a week from today. Let’s hope we’re one of them.
Here at the Westin in Denver, there’s a huge clock tower outside my window and it just chimed 11 times, reminding me that I’ve got a lot left to do before I leave for the yard in a bit.
Six games. Four wins. That’s my prediction for what it will take to make it. And I believe we’ll do it.
For a set of four baseline tickets to a game next April, here’s something fun to do. Post your predictions on how this will play out (only us, SD and PHI). You can just give each team’s record in the final six games and who will make the postseason. Or if you have more time to spare, break it down day by day. But most of all, enjoy this. There are a lot of teams in baseball whose fans would love to be in our shoes today and it’d be a shame if we didn’t all enjoy this final week.
Inside the Dodgers 
Oh I’m in for the contest — I’ll go with:
LA 5-1 (wins division at the Phone Booth)
SD 2-4
PHI 3-3
Thanks for the blog!
L.A 5-1 (87-75) They’ll drop one in Colorado and sweep S.F!
S.D 3-3 (87-75) They’ll lose to Carpenter tonight and drop two in Arizona!
Phily 4-2 (86-76) They’ll get shocked by Washington for one game and Florida will get to Moyer.
I believe my scenario would tie the Dodgers and Padres, but S.D would win the division on a tiebreaker and L.A would take the Wildcard by default.
LA 5-1 (nothing sweeter than clinching in SF)
SD 3-3
PHI 3-3
Go Blue!
Dodgers: 5-1 (Sweep Colorado; Lose Friday, Win Saturday and Sunday)
Padres: 4-2 (Lose tonight, win Wednesday; Win Thursday, Lose Friday, Win Saturday and Sunday)
Phillies: 4-2 (Lose tonight, Win Wednesday, Win Thursday; Win Friday, Lose Saturday, Win Sunday)
Padres win NL West
Dodgers win Wild Card
Dodgers will make the postseason, so I expect plenty of entries in this blog next week!
Dodgers 3-3 (win 2 in Colo, 1 in SF)
Pads 4-2 (win 1 in SL, 3 in Az)
Phils 3-3 (win 2 in DC, 1 in Fla)
Blue beats Phils in one-game playoff for WC.
Dodgers 4-2 (Lose one in CO on Thursday and one in SF on Sunday)
San Diego 3-3 (Lose first two in STL and the first one in AZ)
Phillies 3-3 (Lose the first one in DC and the last two in FL)
I take that back after looking at the schedule:
SD loses the next two in STL, and still the first in AZ.
SD wins division
LA wins WC
PHI goes home empty handed.
Oh Josh… forever the eternal optimist! Thanks for your positive attitude. I truly hope this doesn’t happen… but it seems most logical:
Dodgers: 3-3
Padres: 3-3
Phillies: 4-2
Here’s my scenario:
Dodgers 6-0 (sweeping 2 series on the road)
Padres 4-2 (St. Louis in a must-win situation)
Philly 6-0 (forcing a 1 game playoff with LA; Dodgers win the playoff and limp into post-season)
Of course with my scenario, the Padres win the division with the Phillies taking the wild-card. Sorry guys… like I said, I hope it doesn’t happen this way… it just seems most logical to me.
Here’s my prayer (hopefully wishing will make it so!):
LA 6-0
SD 3-3 (lose 3 in StL)
Pha 4-2 (Lose 2 in FL)
From my keyboard to G-d’s ear!!!
I think all three teams will go 4 and 2 in the remaining 6 games. Giving SD the NL West and leaving LA and PHI tied for the wild card.
SD 88-74
LA 86-76
PHI 86-76
I hate to say it, but I think PHI would win the one game playoff. I hope not, but that seems most likely to me.
Not what I want, but what I think:
Dodgers 4-2 (2 losses in SF)
Padres 4-2 (Lose to Carpenter today, Webb on last day of season after already clinching)
Phillies 4-2 (2-1 against both Nats and Fish)
Dodgers win play-in game in Philly.
Dodgers (5-1, sweeping Colorado, losing one in SF)
Padres (3-3, losing series in STL, but taking it in AZ)
Phil. (3-3, losing series to WASH, taking it against FLA)
Of course, this all assumes that Houston doesn’t swoop in and make STL the wildcard.
This season might come down to Penny. Penny needs to step up in Colorado on Thursday and be ready for the one-game playoff on Monday. It’s going to be tough to play three games better than the Padres over the next six and win the division outright. The season is then going to come down to a one-game playoff with San Diego for the division (if Philly is tied with or has a better record than the Dodgers & Padres) or Philly for the Wild Card (hopefully the Dodgers would not have to play two tiebreaker games). The pitching match-ups favor the Phillies in the three-game series with the Nats and the Marlins are scheduled to throw out Moehler and Olsen in the first two games of the weekend series.
The Blue Crew needs to sweep Colorado and take two of three from San Fran (besting either Cain on Sat. or Schmidt on Sun.) in order to have a shot.
Padres 3-3 (lose to Carpenter, Gonzalez, Webb)
Phillies 5-1 (lose to Willis)
Dodgers 5-1 (my heart says they can do this by only losing once over the weekend)
Penny needs to win the playoff with the Padres on Monday and send them off to Philly.
Even though I’m far too superstitious to give a prediction, I just want to say thanks for this blog and for calming my nerves before every game.
GO DODGERS!
(As for the person who ate 8 Dodger Dogs – that is both disgusting AND completely awesome…very impressive)
Dodgers go 4-2 (2 of 3 in colorado and san francisco)
Phillies go 4-2
Padres go 4-2
Padres win division
Dodgers win one game playoff with phillies and get the wildcard.
Nothing ever seems to come easy to our team but we seem to pull through in the end.
Ok, Josh, here’s my call on it. And it will be bold.
THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS OF LOS ANGELES
Maddux vs Jennings (W, game will not last 2 1/2 hours, classic Maddux, not classic Coors)
Lowe vs Cook (W, Lowe is sharp, Coors light game)
Penny vs Kim (W, high scoring game, Matt Kemp hits home run #8 on the season off BH)
Kuo vs Lowry (W, Kuo strikes out Bonds)
Maddog vs ??? (L, at age 40 Maddux needs more than 3 days rest)
Lowe vs ??? (W, Giants can’t get anything on Lowe)
Total: 5-1
TOMMY LASORDA’S OLD ARCH-ENEMY MASCOT
Myers vs Ortiz
Hammels vs Astacio
Lieber vs O’Connor (L, O’Connor will make it through 2006 without giving up a homer to Philly)
Moyer vs Moehler (L, Moyer is OLD!)
Wolf vs Olsen (L, Ross has 5 home runs this month, and will get at least one in this game)
Myers vs Willis (L, Willis strikes out at least 7)
Total: 2-4
SAN DIEGO PADRES
Williams vs Carpenter (L, duh)
Young vs Reyes (L, Pujols)
Peavy vs Batista (W, by 1 run)
Hensley vs Hernandez (W, snap the skid and make things interesting)
Wells vs Gonzalez (L, Wells does not show strength from Pizza)
Williams vs Webb (L, Webb takes out the trash)
Total: 2-4
Final results
NL West – Dodgers (87-75)
NL Wildcard – Padres (86-76)
Really mad at JD Drew – Phillies (84-78)
Dodgers go 5-1
Phillies go 2-4
Padres go 1-5
Dodgers win the divison
Padres get the wild card
No need to break it down day by day. Grady Little wins wherever he goes and this year will be no different. He creates an atmosphere that people start to feel comfortable with and believe in themselves. This will not only be a one year sprint, but a marathon over several years that will bring glory back to the Big Blue. Go Dodgers!
Dodgers go 3-3 ( Maddux no-decision and eventual team win, Lowe win, Penny lose, 1-2 against Giants losing first two games )
Padres go 3-3 ( win 2-1 against Cardinals, draw 2-2 with the Diamondbacks )
Phillies go 4-2 ( 1-2 against Washington, sweep the Marlins )
Dodgers miss out on the postseason 😦
Dodgers go 5-1 (Prevailing Pitchers-Maddux,Lowe,Penny,Kuo,Maddux,Schmidt)
Padres go 3-3 (Prevailing Pitchers-Carpenter,Young,Peavy,Hernandez,Gonzales,Young)
Phillies go 4-2 (Prevailing Pitchers-Myers,Hamels,Lieber,Moyer,Olsen,Sanchez)
Dodgers win playoff game (Penny) and division.
After this season records against the potential division series matchups, I’d almost rather have the Dodgers play the Mets than the Cardinals, but I’d take home field advantage anyday.
Just to clarify any confusion if the Padres and Dodgers tie for the division and both have secured a playoff spot the Padres would win the N.L West Division because they’ve won the season series over the Dodgers. If the Padres and Dodgers tie and the Phillies win the W.C then there would be an N.L West Divisional Tiebreaker at Dodger Stadium vs. S.D!
is that right?? i dont think if they end with the same record the tie breaker for the NL west is season series? anyone???
How’s this for some wishful thinking:
Dodgers: 6 – 0; We become consistent at the best possible time and sweep both Colorado and SF. Maddux, Lowe, and Penny all get quality starts in Colorado, with Maddux going 7 and giving up three hits. The Dodgers shutout the Rockies 4-0. Lowe pitches a complete game Wednesday, giving up one run (unearned) and winning 2-1. Penny limps through the 6th with 3 runs, but the Dodgers break a 3-3 tie in the top of the 7th with a solo shot by Martin and Beimel, Broxton, and Saito allow one hit over the final 3 innings to get the save. Kuo continues his coming-out party against SF on Friday, going 7 innings with 2 runs. The Dodgers jump out in the 3rd for 5, and the final ends up 5-3. Saturday, Lowe pitches another gem, going 8 and giving up 1 run (home run to Moises Alou). Dodgers win 3-1 on home runs by Kent and Drew. Maddux saves his best for last on Sunday, throwing his first complete game of the season and one-hitting the Giants, losing the no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth, only to come back with a game ending double-play.
The Phillies will also go 6-0, but the Padres will drop two games (to Carpenter and Webb), finding themselves in a three-way tie. The Dodgers will win the playoff game at Dodger Stadium on 10/2, and the Padres will lose the Wild Card playoff against the Phillies on 10/3.
Final predictions:
Dodgers (NL West Champs)
Phillies (Wild Card)
Correction: Maddux on Saturday against SF, Lowe on Sunday.
LA:(5-1)
Tue: W
Wed: W
Th: W
FRI: W
SAT: L
SUN: W
SD:(4-2)
TUE: L
WED: W
TH:W
FRI: W
SAT: W
SUN: L
PHI:(4-2)
TUE: W
WED: L
TH: W
FRI:W
SAT: L
SUN:W
DODGERS 4-2 dodgers get WC
padres 3-3 nl chumps
phils 3-3 go home
then …
Dodgers sweep the mets and play Stl NLCS
LA: 5-1
SD: 4-2
PHI: 4-2
here’s to hoping that we play our best ball of the season.
How is the winner of the tickets determined ? Closest to the actual record or by random draw ?
If the winner is random, then my picks are:
LA 6-0
SD 1-5
PH 3-3
Just to be different from everyone else so far
If the winner is whomever is closest to the actual record, then my picks are: (for what I really think will happen)
LA 4-2
SD 3-3
PH 3-3
LA wins WC !
As my Mom always said, if your going to wish, WISH BIG !!! and work hard !!
Dodgers 5-1 ( 1 loss on Sat. in SF )
Pads 2-4 (Stl is motivated and will take the rest while AZ will take at least 2)
Phils 4-2 (An average team playing above themselves)
All the forecasting aside, lets just worry about today !! Lets get the win today and talk about tomorrow in the morning !!!
It’s time for the Big Bats guys !!
Go Dodgers !!!
SD 4-2 (88-74) DIVISON
LA 5-1 (87-75) WC
PHI 3-3 (85-77) –
I’m going to say…
LA 4-2
SD 3-3
PH 3-3
Let’s go boys!