The Giants are finally hitting that rough patch of the schedule, and so far, things aren't looking good for the guys in the halloween colored duds. Look at this brutal slate of games:
@Cubs (2 more, after having lost the first two), Astros (2) at home, Nationals (4) at home, @Cardinals (3), @Pirates (4), followed by a home stand with the Cubs (3) and then the Cardinals (3).
This stretch is against all playoffs contenders and in the dog days of August. Following those 22 games they travel to Los Angeles and face the Dodgers for four.
Now if the Giants survive this stretch, September may be their month as they only face the NL West and A's, plus three home games with the hapless Reds.
So the Dodgers really need to take advantage of this month and stretch out the lead. On the scheduling front, the Dodgers have their share of tough opponents too, (Nats, Astros, Pirates and Cubs), but the A's and Reds are mixed in there too. If the Dodgers enter September with a 7 game lead, they should be in good shape. They do have eight remaining contests with the Giants, who have pretty much owned them all season.
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So I made it up to Philadelphia for yesterday's afternoon matinee. Fact is, I traveled up to New York two weeks ago and caught the series opener there too, (which was Kershaw's masterpiece), but this piece is on Philadelphia's Citizen Bank Park, which was inundated by Dodger fans.
Who would have thought that Philadelphia would ever be accepting of a situation like that? The city that may have one of the toughest fan bases in the all of sports. Booers of Santa Claus, battery throwers at J.D. Drew and their own hometown star Richie Allen, fighters of opposing hockey players in the penalty box. There's little doubt that Philadelphia fans have a reputation of being a tough group.
I'd never think that visiting fans from a team over 3,000 miles away could openly cheer in such a place without receiving any hostility or any fights breaking out. But such was the case yesterday. The Dodgers had quite a contingent of fans, with many dressed up in jersey, caps and more. I saw friendly banter between them and Phillies fans, as things should be.
So I give my props to Phillies fans. They were great hosts. The fans I interacted with were actually very complimentary towards the Dodgers, and as I departed, one even wished us luck in the playoffs. I'm sure if the Phils didn't have the worst record in the league that things would have been different, but that's neither here nor there. What I witnessed was a knowledgeable fan base that was respectful.
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Watching the blue crew lace out five hits while plating three runs in the first inning made me think that with Zack Greinke on the mound, the game was over. How were we to know that Greinke would give up more runs in the first inning as he had in the previous two months? It was one of those games.
With an 1 1/3 innings in the books, both teams had already combined for 11 runs and 13 hits. There was no doubt that CB Park is a launching pad, as no lead appeared safe, even up to the final outs as the Phillies rallied from a four run deficit to having the potential winning run at the plate.
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Props to CB Park's Bull's BBQ, where I had an amazing BBQ beef sandwich.
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I met up with True Blue Will from New York. A great friend and acquaintance from the Think Blue LA forum. I've met up with Will at CBR as well as Citi Field a few weeks ago. Will caught Amtrak from NYC and is about as loyal and knowledgable as Dodger fan as there is, dating back to his days when he followed the Boys of Summer in Brooklyn.
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