It is time again for those of you who gave up on the baseball season right about the time the Giants did (June 22, 12-11 loss at Atlanta) to take up arms again because an interesting thing is threatening to happen to the National League.
Namely, the scaring of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Now this is not the way to bet, I grant you, since the Dodgers lead their closest divisional pursuers, Arizona, by 12 ½ games, and the second-best team, Washington, by nine. But 11 days ago, it was 21 and 14 ½, and in a season in which the only real race left is Red Sox-Yankees (a tedious battle in any year), you'll take anything.
Especially, as it happens, if the Dodgers are on the gagging end.
They have lost nine of 10, including Monday's 13-0 loss at home to Arizona in which the labor on Labor Day was provided by J.D. Martinez' four home runs. Martinez, a big-bat rental from Detroit, has been all the Cody Rosses in one body (Giants reference there), hitting 18 homers in 40 games, an average of one every eight at-bats, and his overall numbers are not out of line with his career, which means THIS IS NOT A FLUKE.
Indeed, the Diamondbacks are impressively good this year across the board. Well, okay, closer Fernando Rodney can scare the hell out of you at any moment, but setup man Archie Bradley might be the best relief pitcher in baseball. And Martinez might be able to hide Paul Goldschmidt's elbow problem long enough to scare the Dodgers a bit more.
But 12 ½ games with 25 to go is a lot to ask, because if you count what's already been done, it would be 21 in 35, and life just doesn't work like that.
Sports
Ask UCLA.
