TAPS should be playing right now

ITS OVER FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2007 is in the can and now we can start looking towards 08. The Colorado Rockies made this early vacation possible by kicking our teeth in during a day-night doubleheader yesterday. I guess there is a .0000000035% chance we can still make the playoffs but it requires winning every single game for the rest of the season. For a team that has not won more than 5 in a row, a 10+ streak seems a TAD unrealistic.

So, what to do now? I'm going to assume against Frank's better judgment he keeps Ned and Grady around for yet another year of quality moves in the front office and on the field. Why upgrade when both guys have totally proved they can out-think a rock.

The infield can welcome back Martin, Furcal and Loney and I'm pretty sure we're stuck with Kent another year. No clue what we do at 3B with Nomar, LaRoche or Shea Hillencancer. Any luck, we dump Kent on some contender and let Abreu play somewhere. What would I do at 3B next year? PAY AROD 35 MILLION DOLLARS OVER 7 years and bring him here. I don't care if it sounds crazy, I'd do it. I think he could thrive here in a lower pressure environment but with a lot of talent still around him.

In the OF we're stuck with Noodle Armed Pierre for another 4 GREAT years. Nothing like a CF that needs the LF to cut-off his throws from shallow CF. I'd probably keep Ethier in LF and Kemp in RF. They have too much potential so just let them play full time and quit platooning. Say goodbye to Gonzo unless he wants to be OF4.

The rotation should be ok once everyone is healthy.*** Penny, Lowe and Billingsly are a solid 3. If**************** Schmidt can bounce back, he'd join that group too. Our #5 looks to be Loseriaza but I'd also pick up Wolf's option or try to bring him back. He was solid at the beginning and you can never have too many starting pitchers. Anything to avoid using Hendrickson or signing Tomko clones.

For the bully I'm ok with Saito/Brox or Brox/Saito finishing games. I would upgrade the rest though because Seanez is a GAS CAN and Proctor's arm is due to fall off.

So basically we're looking at the same team, another year older, with the hope of ARod. Even with no ARod, this team should hopefully progress and pickup a few more wins next year. With ARod, we're a World Series eligible team, without a big pickup, we're playing for the wild card, AGAIN. Can't wait for March huh?

Total Nonsense

Bill Plaschke of the LA Times wrote today that there should be NO talk of replacing Grady Little this offseason if we do not make the playoffs. For starters, if LA loses 2 of 3 to AZ this weekend and misses the playoffs, I'll bet you its Plaschke writing the Fire Grady article in October. He's such a hack sometimes. The Steve Hartman of print journalism.

Grady Little is not a great manager. He may be ok at keeping a team together and doing something with a whole lot of crap but he's not this baseball genius. He either leaves pitchers in too long, not long enough or makes other mistakes. Its not like after ANY win we're saying, "Damn, Grady really managed that game well and won it for us!"

Anyway this is of note now because he pulled Penny last weekend and cost us. He left in Loaiza too long this week and cost us. He almost left Wells in too long last night yet we got lucky. Now I hear on Tuesday in the thin air of Colorado, we're starting Wells in a doubleheader and then bringing him back on 3 days rest vs. AZ??????????????? Jake Peavy, the probable NL Cy Young got destroyed on 3 days rest and didn't have one of those starts in COL. Yet we're going to throw out a fat, 44 yr old with diabetes, after pitching in COL on 3 days rest in what could be the biggest series of the season? COME ON! Don't be stupid! If I had a bookie I'd wager 10k on this game if it happens.

Nice 2 of 3 vs. SD but if we don't sweep AZ, its not going to matter. CLUTCH UP!

Looking towards 2008

Well, after this weekend's choke job in SF and last night's loss, or should I say, butt kicking by the Padres, I think its safe to say this season is probably over. About our only hope is to beat SD in the next 2 (surrrrrrrrrrrrre) and then to sweep AZ this weekend (highly unlikely). Its time to sit down Gonzo and Nomar, to give LaRoche, Lu, Ethier and Kemp more ABs. Also, based on the last week, maybe Broxton needs the rest of the season off because his arm is as dead as Tomko's. We could of and should have beat SF 3 times.

I am going to write Webster's Dictionary to see if "pulling a Dodgers" can be added to the vernacular. The definition would be: when one team in baseball gets players on base, in scoring position, with favorable counts and yet never, ever, ever scores those runs. We left 24 guys on base yesterday. The bases were loaded or we at least had 2 guys on several times with the batter then doing nothing. Weak popouts, strikeouts, just total failure to do anything productive. One other note on this point, can we just electrocute any player from here on out that SLIDES into First Base?!?!?! There have been scientific studies that PROVE this slows you down and makes it MORE likely you will be out and not SAFE!!! (Andre, you're first!!!!)

And finally, here's another F U to McCourt and MLB. I just received my email to "register" for the chance to buy playoff tickets. Ah, register? You mean I cannot line up with 200 other Doyers fans at my local ticketbastard or the stadium to buy the tickets? This is ridiculous. MLB has pretty much killed any chance for Joe Fan to get tickets to games for face value. We used to be able to line up or call or maybe be the first through the internet but now its all luck. I'm sure preference is given to season ticket holders and other groups that buy many tickets in bulk so the rest of us get to pay double on Ebay or Stub Hub to watch us lose yet another playoff game. OH WAIT, we're not playing in the playoffs this year (thanks to the last 6 days) so who cares!

I'll take credit for the current streak

After watching LA lose two to SD, I took the wife and some friends down to SD to will Chad Billingsly to a victory over my wife's beloved Padres. Tough luck honey, I win again!

They followed that big Sunday win up with 2 more wins in Chi-town (so far) with Loaiza looking good and Peso bouncing back nicely! For us to have any chance, the hitting needs to get red hot, Lowe, Loaiza, Penny and Billingsly have to keep up the good pitching and keep us in the games. A few HRs or some more SBs wouldn't hurt either. We have 2 more in Chicago (hoping for a split) and then 3 in SF (hoping for 2 of 3). On that note, does Bonds still play? I haven't heard much from him in weeks. LOVE IT!