Well, It Was Nice While it Lasted

We knew it couldn’t last forever right?  Things looked splendid as late as Sunday in Atlanta in the 7th inning.  A Dodger 3-0 lead, Kershaw on the mound, 11 out of 12 games won, and then, the wheels fell off the rally train.

Hiroki Kuroda took the loss today against Washington

The Dodgers, with two consecutive losses will face Steven Strasburg on Tuesday night in a game that the entire nation will probably be watching.  Here’s hoping the they are able to break out of their mini slump and right the ship.

So with the season essentially done,  it is my hope that the Dodgers can key in on reaching some goals.  

1st, finishing over .500.  In order for them to do that, the Dodgers need to finish with a record of 13-9 or better.  This is completely doable if they don’t let this little losing skid affect them in a big way.

2nd, finishing ahead of the San Francisco Giants for second place in the division.  This will require the Dodgers to take the head to head series’ against the defending champs, who have performed horribly in the stretch.

3rd, get Clayton Kershaw his 20 wins this year.  Kershaw has 4 starts left and will need to win three of them to reach that win total.

4th, set the table for Matt Kemp in helping him bolster all of his offensive stats.  Batters before Kemp are going to need to get on base.  A lot comes into play to assist Kemp in this quest, but I’m hopeful that they can work some magic in these final three weeks.  Kemp certainly deserves the award in my opinion.  The claim that he shouldn’t win it because of the Dodgers record is ridiculous.  Can you imagine that their record would be if he wasn’t in the lineup?

The Manager Wants a Big Bat

Don Mattingly stated to Dylan Hernandez that the Dodgers will need a big bat for next years lineup.  I’m hoping that he knows something we all don’t.  There are two first basemen that will be on the market next season that would look great in Dodger blue, Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder.  Both will demand salaries outside of the Dodger budget, but one can dream, right?  Perhaps the friendship of Kemp and Fielder will play a role in such a dream becoming reality.