Two nights ago I had a dream that the Dodgers had completely collapsed and fell to 4 games out of 1st. It was scary. That's what happens when you get swept by the Padres, then lose a 15 inning nail biter to Arizona. It puts fear into your head and lets the thoughts fester in your dreams. Thankfully, we were able to take the last two in Arizona and escaped with a 2 game lead in the division. Escaped. The exact word that describes how I feel about the team right now. Chad Billingsley looks like he's finally learned how to throw strikes, but Derek Lowe is hurt and Brad Penny, tonight's starter, doesn't seem to be able to stop yelling at people this season. Somehow, we stayed afloat in that road trip and went 4-5.

Now we head back for a 6 game homestand against the Reds and the Rockies. Things feel a lot safer at home, where we've been dominant this season. But if the Dodgers want to win this division, they're gonna need to become a better road team. Half of their remaining 32 games are on the road, where they're 7 games under .500 this year. And, we still have two four game series remaining with the two teams you least want to have a 4 game series with: the Mets and the Padres. If we're gonna win this thing, we gotta dominate the rest of the league to give us some breathing room for those two series. Because it's entirely possible that we'll be completely shellacked during those games.