I can’t explain … anything that is going on.
For the past week, I have been sitting on the sidelines. Watching. Not writing.
There’s more going on right now with my compulsion to write about the Dodgers than I can articulate right now. None of it is bad. It’s just complicated. Like trying to jump on to a spinout ride, not knowing how to jump … and realizing you don’t have to jump. That maybe you’re not supposed to jump.
It has never seemed less necessary to offer my two cents. I’ve never felt less qualified. There’s nothing I’m seeing that you’re not seeing. The only thing I can tell you about the Dodgers is what I’m feeling … and you’re already feeling it.
Maybe someday, there will be a baseball team that I’ll write about again. But this is a thrill ride. Right now, I’m a passenger, just like you.
pattern recognition
well put.
Linkmeister
Van Slyke, DeJesus Jr., Lindblom, Gordon, Sands et. al. — Diaper Dandies, Baby! ;)
Scott Griffee
Not only the minor league call ups, but look at Dee Gordon today. After sitting out a few games, he goes 2-4 and turns a fantastic DP. This is the most remarkable stretch of games since the 1988 postseason.
Anonymous
LAT’d: Let’s not overlook Elian Herrera’s AB in the ninth, which got it all
started. For a guy with no major league experience, he’s proved both
versatile and selective.
Patrick Hawkins
Crazy thing is the minor league contingency that’s come to the rescue consists of bats and gloves, not arms. And you have to give Donnie a ton of credit, too (sitting Gordon, putting guys in positions to succeed like SVS on the 3-0 count).
Anonymous
Ivan the Terrible! (for the d-Backs) – wow what a fantastic run we are seeing. Agree with Jons’ sentiments above. This team is playing with a ton of confidence, expecting to win when they take the field, and it shows. Here’s to the strength of the bottle that the Dodgers have found a way to get that tricky lightning trapped in.
Anonymous
Speaking of DeJesus — and forgive me if someone else has addressed this already this season, I’m sure they have — but does anyone know the major league record for second-generation ballplayers on a single team?
With Hairston, Gwynn, Gordon, Van Slyke, and now DeJesus, 20% of the Dodgers’ roster grew up with a Major League dad. That’s got to be a record, right? Timmermann?
Anonymous
Okay, took me all of a minute to find Jon’s post about it from three days ago. And I missed Sellers, too. Well then, never mind!
Evan Moore
Can we start calling this team the Wonder Boys?
Michael Fish
deffentley will put. Just sit back and enjoy this wild ride
Anonymous
It’s not exactly original, but these are the new “Cardiac Kids.” And it isn’t a spinout ride, Jon – it’s a time machine back to 1981 and I’m lovin’ it!
Who will tomorrow’s Hero de Jour be?
Anonymous
I predict back to AJ (he has been quiet lately)
Jordan Pratty
I’m glad you’re ok Jon. I was worried you weren’t posting much because you had more important things to do, haha.
Great win for the Dodgers. Each game offers new and exciting things and players to cheer for.
Anonymous
Cue TV commercial from the 80’s-there’s no Magic to it!!!
Lamont is Hair
Those of you on the left coast are missing the part where you turn the tv off around 1 am but are too giddy to fall asleep. It is the extreme opposite of turning the tv off at 1 am after giving up a pinch hit playoff crushing HR to AARP member Matt Stairs. My wife thinks I am nuts watching these late night games but I can’t turn this team off even down 6-1 at 12 am. Granted Sunday night it was only around 11 here when our rookie pinch hitter on 3-0 count homers against the defending champs. Couple that with improbable rallies to storm back from 6-1 deficits in late innings only to give up the go ahead run and then come back again. All with a bunch of players most MLB fans would ask “who” upon hearing their names in the lineup. Are you kidding me with this group? My six year old asked this morning upon seeing the highlights why can’t he stay up late to watch them too. Maybe I should let him.
Terry Pruett
I was at a wine bar in Redondo with a lady friend last night. Somebody mentioned that the Dodgers were behind 5-1. I looked at my companion and told her, “they’re going to win”. When we got home it was tied at 6, and I had no doubts. I’m trying not to go overboard here…this is a flawed offensive team, and we have starting pitchers who will regress. I know these things intellectually…but baseball, like love, is not primarily or necessarily an intellectual matter. And I’m in love with this team…
Terry Austin
Same thing happened to me last night, only it was at a Burger King with Jamie McCourt, and when I told her they were gonna win, she said, “I know. Shpunt already told me.”
Terry Pruett
I saw Jamie McCourt drinking a pina colada at Trader Vics. Her hair was perfect.
Anonymous
Draw blood.
Frank Jones
It’s true. Sometimes you just know these things. I had the same feeling, and wasn’t even particularly worried when I looked up from something else to see Overbay’s HR had made it 7-6 heading into the ninth. When they scored two to go ahead, my reaction was almost “oh, see, there you go.”
In other years it’s been the exact opposite, knowing that getting down by a run or two was a death sentence. Or that going up by three or four was no guarantee. There is nothing in any sport like a baseball team on a hot streak, during a hot year. It defies all logic and everything you know about how the world works.
Anonymous
I credit the reduced parking prices. Even for road games.
KT
^_^
Anonymous
As an Eastcoaster at the witching hour I had to decide whether the lack of sleep would be worth it. Looked at our record when we were behind after the fifth (1-8) by any number, let alone 5 runs, and decided to bag it.
Our 2009 dream team, during the early going when we thought we might have the best in the NL, if not the mlb, never achieved a 30-13 record. Wow!
Champ Kind
I will savor these days for a long time. My oldest son is 4 soon to be 5, he’s at the point where he actually wants to watch Dodger games with his daddy, especially since he knows I might forget to look at the clock and let him stay up a little bit past his bedtime if the Dodgers are up to bat. His favorite player is Dee Gordon cause he believes he’s the fastest man in the world, that nothing can catch him. He doesn’t yet know that the good guys don’t always win, he hasn’t had to learn the heartbreak that you can’t always have what you want in the world. But right now, in this time, the school is getting out (well pre-school for him), the weather is nice in Southern California, we are just on the cusp of summer, and the Dodgers are winning. Treasure these days!
Frank Jones
When I was a kid growing up in LA (San Fernando Valley, just like Jon, I believe), the Dodgers certainly were the good guys. Mid-70s. They wore the whitest uniforms. They had the best pitchers. They drew the most fans. They had the best announcer. They didn’t have to win the World Series every year to continue being the Best Franchise in Baseball, and they didn’t: they just were the best somehow. It didn’t need to be explained, it’s just how things worked. It’s also why fans in other cities, especially up north, started chanting Beat LA. We felt no particular need to Beat San Francisco; it seemed self-evident that we’d end up on the right side of the ledger one way or the other.
I pine for those days again, and maybe and almost certainly it’s asking for too much. But just to have a franchise you can be proud of again, that you can show to your kid. That would be worth vast sums of emotional treasure. They don’t need to win everything, every year: they just need to be the Dodgers we remember.
Jon Weisman
NPUT
underdog
It’s funny, a lot of the outsider comments about the Dodgers (more from fans than pundits) keep talking about how the Dodgers have just been “lucky,” and will regress. Well, we know they’ll regress a bit because I’m not expecting this team to win 120+ games, and they have no doubt had some luck, but while it’s hard to quantify luck (other than with things like BABIP) that seems unfairly dismissive of other things that are going on here. They have a good coaching staff (including Lopes and Hansen), they have some smart pitchers on their staff (like Capuano), they had some players in the minors who may have been a tad underrated. And they have good team chemistry (again, hard to quantify that, just a feeling you get from seeing them — of course winning makes for better, happier chemistry but these guys seem to genuinely like each other which helps). Some under the radar additions have helped, too, especially Bobby Abreu. Now just imagine Kemp back, Hairston back, maybe Uribe…
Dave Alden
Agreed. Regression is inevitable, but there is something semi-mystical going on that seems beyond the leveling reach of regression. Last evening’s rally was jaw-droppingly improbable. Please, nobody wake me up.
bcmaiden
Speechless! Totally mind-blowing! Been a fan for 50 years… been waiting sooooo long…a year to rival ’88…can 2012 be true?
Anonymous
you had 1963
bcmaiden
The roster comparison between ’63 and ’88 reflect the difference between a title bound team and a team with an unexpected title journey. To me the current roster would rival ’88 if they were to win it all.
Emilio Romo
Think blue! Go dodgers!
Christopher Staaf
Enjoy the ride guys. Time for these Dodgers to make their own history. So far, so good.