Time to Put This One Deep in the Memory Banks and Move On

It’s never ideal to leave for a difficult road trip coming off a loss, but maybe the defeat to the Yankees tonight isn’t quite as disastrous as we are thinking at this moment.

Hiroki Kuroda matched former teammate Clayton Kershaw pitch for pitch, tossing 7 innings of shutout ball against the Dodgers. (photo by Mark J. Terrill/AP Photo)

The Dodgers play in Chicago at 5 PM PST.  They probably get into Chicago at around 5:30 AM PST the earliest.  It’s going to be a short night for them already.  The situation could have been much worse for them had the Dodgers-Yankees gone into extra frames.  On top of that, they would have burned up a few more pitchers as well.

Now I'm not saying it was preferable that they lost, only that the way things turned out may be best in the long run for this 4 game Chicago series.  Now the Dodgers arrive in Chicago where they'll have all day to rest up for game number one, and they have a well rested Kenley Jansen, JP Howell, and Chris Withrow all available to help out in the pen.

It was a tough loss, and something that the team isn’t accustomed to lately, especially coughing up the game in the last inning, but this isn’t the end of the world.  The Dodgers finished a 4-2 homestand.  They started it 0.5 games out of first place and finish it with a 2.5 game lead.  Everyone should be happy with that.

So welcome to the dog days of August.  It’s never  ideal to head into the midwest at this time of year as Chicago in August can be blisteringly hot and humid, but the forecast calls for 77 degrees at game time with a relatively tame 48% humidity.  It could be a lot worse.

The Cubs are coming off losing a series to the lowly Brewers.  After that they head into St. Louis who is reeling after ceding first place in the Central to Pittsburgh, who just swept them at home.  The next eight should be very interesting.