Blue Streaks and Massacres

The big news in baseball this time last week was the history-defying winning streak by an otherwise mediocre Los Angeles Dodger team. Their streak of 16 out of 17 was their best run in over a century, going back to the 1890s, before the franchise was called the Dodgers, perhaps before they even had trolleys in Brooklyn to dodge. Weirdly, this streak followed an equally horrific two weeks following the Al Star Break in which the Blue Crew lost 13 of 14 and was consigned to the ash heap of history by the sport scribes of the Southland. Now they are singing the praises of Grady Little and Greg Maddux and whoever else has been contributing toward what is projected as a rerun of the winning 1988 season, albeit without Kirk Gibson.

Of course the truth falls somewhere in between, though the Dodgers have managed to coast gracefully out of the streak with a series win in San Francisco, a good harbinger that they may have enough to take the division (which is admittedly one of the worst in baseball history). Of course I'm not surprised, since my brilliance had them pegged as division winners as far back as Spring, but that's me--smart in baseball, though dumb in Rotisserie. The extremeness of their two streaks, good and bad, is simply an anomaly of the randomness of results over a 162-game schedule. I guess it's the equivalent of sitting at a blackjack table, getting dealt 15s and 16s for a spate, then recovering with a terrific round of 20s and 21s. I've certainly seen dealers do that, at least! Meanwhile the Dodgers, thanks to a solid pitching core of Brad Penny, Derek Lowe and the rejuvenated Greg Maddux--free from Cubbieland so he can conceivably get into a World Series--should have enough to prevail over the other mediocrities in their sector. And thanks to a weak league, with the Cardinals staggering, and the Mets' pitching falling apart from injuries, the Dodgers have as good a shot as anyone of making Greg's October a very profitable one.

Of course they'd still have to face the American League champion, as well as the away-field disadvantage thanks to the All-Star Game nigth-inning collapse by Trevor Hoffman. And suddenly, to my increasing pleasure, it looks like the Yankees may be a World Series participant again. Putting aside the ultimate Baseball Fantasy of another Yankee/Dodger series, the Bombers have suddenly turned into an extremely good team, though their quality has certainly been magnified by the just-completed amazing five-game sweep of the Red Sox in Boston. This also had historians digging up arcane records, to discover that the Sox hadn't been swept in five games by anyone since 1954. That's fifty-two years, a lot of games.

The satisfactions of Yankee fans from this second Boston Massacre--as unexpected as the first, in that glorious baseball year of 1978--are mitigated by the fact that this is still August, no division has been clinched, the Sox have another go at the Yanks in September, and no freakish regular-season dominance can ever erase the ignominy of the Yankee collapse against Boston in the 2004 ALCS. I bet a lot of demoralized Boston fans have cued up their videotapes of those games as some kind of palliative after this awful performance by their team. They're welcome to that experience, though it can't be very satisfying to watch Johnny Damon demolish the Yanks the pennant-clinching game, only to realize that he absolutely ate up Red Sox pitching while wearing pinstripes this past weekend.

The Yanks are not as good as their juggernaut appeared, nor the Sox as bad, though the weaknesses of Boston's team are apparent now. Questionable starting pitching beyond Schilling, shaky long relief, and a less-than-perfect Jonathan Papelbon, who blew a save with a fluke last-gasp hit by Jeter in last night's marathon. They did not replace their injured players, especially Jason Varitek, with proficient substitutes, as the Yanks did by slotting in Bobby Abreu to make everyone forget Sheffield. Boston is now seven games behind the Yanks in the lost column so it would take practically a reversal of the 1978 season for them to vault back into contention, at least for the divisional title. They can sneak into the playoffs if the three AL Central teams, Detroit, Chicago and Minnesota, beat themselves up in a cannibalistic frenzy and drop two of their numbber farther down into the loss column to award the Wild Card to Boston. But Boston has to play well to earn it, and they seem very tired now. Also, Manny is limping, which is bad for everyone--even my Roto team, who needs a David Ortiz to drive in runs and not get walked every other at bat.

As for the Yankees, my urge to overpraise them must be muted a bit by what happened to the Mets after I composed a paean to them. There are a lot of players who have contributed mightily to their surge, including MVP candidate Jeter; a very pesky and adept Johnny Damon; the Rod Carew-in-the-making Robinson Cano (he even shares his initials); and Jason No-Steroids-Anymore-We-Don't-Think Giambi, who may be having his best power year ever. And of course Mariano Rivera, Scott proctor's reliable set-up work, and the emergence of workhorse Chin-Mien Wang.

Then there's Melky Cabrera, Matsui's replacement, whose speed and batting average make up for much of what was lost with Godzilla's broken wrist, and who also has a terrific arm--something the Yankee outfield has needed. But I certainly hope that if the team does continue its winning ways at least into the play-offs, one man will be recognized above all, and that's Brian Cashman, the General Manager, who pulled magic out of his hat in attaining Bobby Abreu--who has been totally brilliant--and Cory Lidle, who shut out the Red Sox today for six innings--for the price of some disposable minor leaguers.

Okay, it'll raise the absurd payroll even higher, so Yankee fans will pay 10% more next year for their tickets. I'll just stay in L.A. and watch them in High Definition on my set. A much better view, anyway.