Somehow, I just knew it would happen. I had a feeling the Dodgers were gonna come back, and they did just that. After Noah Lowry shut them down for six innings, J. D. Drew came up in the 7th down 3-0 with a man on and bombed his 20th home run of the season out of the park in right. So that's how it went in to the 9th, 3-2 Giants and only Mike Stanton standing between the Dodgers and a tie for first place.

Like I've been saying all season, the Giants seem to pick their relievers out of the California Penal League, and Stanton backed that up. He gave up a single to Jeff Kent, struck out Drew, then walked Russell Martin to put two on with one out. Grady Little then inexplicably pinch hit Olmedo Saenz for Marlon Anderson, who coming into the game had an OPS of 1.291 since joining the Dodgers. Well, it turned out well as Saenz singled in the tying run. Julio Lugo, who I can't remember ever getting a hit for the Dodgers, came up next and was not pinch hit for. Grady's logic often makes me want to tear my hair out, but he seems to get lucky. Lugo grounded into a force play, of course (he was lucky he wasn't doubled up). Stanton then threw a wild pitch and Martin came in to score the winning run. Comeback complete. Saito shut the door in the bottom of the 9th.

So now the Dodgers are tied for first with San Diego in the West, and 2 up on Philly in the Wild Card. The magic number is now down to 1. Any Dodgers win or Phillies loss will clinch us a playoff spot. The division however, will not be as easy to win. We must have a better record than the Padres because they own the tie-breaker after slaughtering us in the regular season. Do I smell a clinch tonight?

The Colorado Rockies are our bitches. We pimp-slapped 'em around again today, winning 6-4 at Coors. The Dodgers have now won 12 of the 16 matchups against Colorado this season. We own them like ... well ... how the Padres own us. Wilson Betemit decided to not suck long enough to hit a monstrous home run in the third. Then Derek "ADD" Lowe lost his concentration and gave up 4 runs and the lead. But luckily, this is the Rockies we're talking about here. J. D. Drew came up in the 6th and hit a two run triple (Sidenote: That was Drew's 95th RBI of the year, a career high for him. How the flying fuck did this guy rack up 95 RBI's? Wasn't this the same guy who had a 100+ AB homer drought earlier in the season? Must be the quietest 95 in history). Later in the 7th, the Dodgers scored three more, one of which on a Jeff Kent double to left which Neil Everett attributed to "the power of the moustache." Now, Everett might be my least favorite Sportscenter anchor, but I've gotta agree with him on this one. That 'stache is the only thing keeping Jeff Kent's career going. That and his motorcross magazines (his version of Popeye's spinach?).

So, 4 games left. We're down 1 game in the division and up 1 game in the wild-card. While it's true that Philadelphia is one troubled sports town, you just don't know about these Phillies. They seem to be pulling wins out of Ryan Howard's ass. And that's one big ass. The Dodgers still have a chance to choke the playoffs away. Brad Penny goes tomorrow to try to complete the sweep. He's dominated the Rocks this year, but lately he's been about as effective as Jae Seo on acid. Better cross your fingers for the stretch run.

NOOOOOOMMMMAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Wow, two walk-off homers in one week for NOOOOMMAAAAHHHHHH!!! Papi who? Who's Big Papi? Never heard of 'em. I only know NOOMMAMAAAHHHHHHHHH!!! He's definitely been the NL's Papi this season. Remember his first homer of the year? The grand salami off Brad Lidge that won the game for the Dodgers in Houston? NOOOOOOOMAAAHHHH!!!

Alright, back to sanity. Let's not forget the other hero of the game. Once again doing the family name proud, Hong-Chih Kuo pitched 7 great innings of what should have been shutout ball had Wilson Betemit not muffed a double play ball in the third. But, I'm glad he did, since it allowed for Nomar to come in and get the big knock. It's amazing the chain reactions that happen in baseball. Another example: In the bottom of the 7th, Grady Little put in Julio Lugo to pinch hit for Kuo against a righty, when he still had Andre Ethier and James Loney on the bench. Lugo, of course, flied out (like he's done so well all year). Then in the top of the 9th, he subbed Oscar Robles in for Betemit at 3rd as a late-inning defensive replacement. Of course, Robles was due up third in the bottom of the inning, and there's nobody you'd rather have up there with the game on the line than Oscar Fucking Robles. While I was screaming for Olmedo Saenz, I realized that Grady had left himself without a defenseive third base option should the game go into extras (by stupidly using up Lugo in the 7th), so it had to be Robles. Good going Grady, you bastard. Robles, of course, grounded out. Buuut, it all seemed to work out. It seems Nomar can even make up for dumbass managerial decisions.

The win is huge because San Diego and Philadelphia both won, again (since when did they both become the '27 Yankees?). So instead of 2.5 and 1.5 back in the division and wild-card respectively, the Dodgers are only down 1.5 and .5 games. We now head for Colorado and San Francisco to finish out the season. I'd say we'd have to go 5-1 in the last 6 games to guarantee ourselves a playoff spot. It's not gonna be easy. And knowing the Dodgers, they'll stay in it until the last game of the season when they'll be inevitably eliminated by a Juiceman home run to crush the hearts of all Dodger fans out there. I hate baseball.

I'll have to apologize for not posting anything after Monday night. I was so emotionally drained, nothing could have come out of me. Go figure though, after the greatest Dodger game I can remember in my lifetime, the team was the talk of the town. All the sports radio and TV stations throughout the nation were screaming the praises of the team and how this win would propel them to the postseason and beyond. Well, it's time to come back down to Earth, fellas.

This is what the Dodgers seem to do a lot of. They get your hopes up with some good things, then they get kicked in the balls the next day, like they did yesterday. Losing to the Pirates is like getting beat up by a first grader who picks his nose and pisses his pants. Yet, the Dodgers seemed to just bend over and take it. A bases loaded jam in the 6th, and Grady Little brings in ... Elmer Dessens. Now I know a lotta guys pitched last night, but 1st place is still on the line here. You've gotta have your best guys out there when it matters most. And then Brett Tomko, who for some reason is a Major League pitcher when he should be bagging groceries at Ralphs, comes in and is shitty again (big surprise).

So now we're back in second place, .5 back of the Padres in the West, and only 1 game up on the Phils in the Wild Card. It's possible that we'll miss the playoffs altogether. So much for momentum.

It happened again. Unbelieveable? Not really. But terribly shameful. After blowing a 7 run lead on Tuesday, the Dodgers again blew a lead to the Cubs. Yes, the Cubs; possibly the worst team in the league. J.D. Drew hit a 3 run homer (now there's something I don't get the pleasure of saying very often) to put the Dodgers up 5-2. But of course, Brett "I suck nuts" Tomko came out of the bullpen in the 7th and was shitty for the second time in as many appearances. He gave up a 3 run homer to Aramis Ramirez (sound familiar?) to give the cubs a 6-5 lead, and that's how the game ended. Fucking Brett Tomko... Please excuse me while I vomit.

So now the lead over San Diego is down to just .5 games as we head into this four game series. With the way the Padres have owned us up this year and throughout history, the future doensn't look too promising. Assuming we choke it away and lose the division lead, we'll still have the wild-card, but that'd mean the Mets in the NLDS. This is the defining series of the season right here. It's what September baseball is all about. Pressure's on, fellas. So don't suck.

So much for Derek Lowe carrying the Dodgers. Given a 7-0 lead yesterday, Lowe gave up 5 runs to the Cubs in the 5th to let them back in the game. Of course, Grady Little waited until the inning was over to take Lowe out, even though he was clearly finished halfway through the inning, once again conjuring up images of Pedro in 2003. Then in the 7th, with the score now 7-5, reliever Brett Tomko came in and reverted back to starting pitcher Brett Tomko. You remember, the one that sucked hard? After walking the bases loaded, Grady took him out (for a change) and put in Jonathan Broxton, who predictably gave up the game-tying single to Aramis Ramirez. The Cubs then took the lead 8-7 going into the 9th.

But then things started to turn around for the Blue Crew. A ground ball to Cesar Izturis ... muffed. A ground ball to Derek Lee ... muffed. Double play ball to Izturis for one, throw to first for twooo ... and Lee can't pick it. And before you could say 1908, the Cubs had errored their way back into a tied game. At this point, everyone watching the game rolled their eyes and thought, "Well, it's the Cubs. Here we go again." But smart Dodger fans knew better, thinking, "Fuck, wayta get my hopes up just to blow the game next inning. Assholes."

And what do you know? In the bottom of the 11th, who else but former beloved Dodger turned gold glove castoff Cesar Izturis delivered the game winning single off of Tim Hamulack to give the Cubs the victory. When Tim Hamulack comes into the game, you know the Dodgers are desperate. Good things never happen. He's ridiculously crappy. It's as if he thinks he's a Korean pitcher.

So tonight, we try to right the ship. We have Brad Penny going for his NL leading 16th win against some guy I've never heard of with an ERA over 7.00. If we fuck this up, we're in some real deep shit.

Well, it all turned out OK didn't it? I said before the series began that if we got out of NY with a split, I'd be happy. We got out of NY with a split, and I'm happy. Who woulda thunk it though, that the two games the Dodgers won would be started by two first time major league starters? After sucking for the first half of the season as a reliever and shaming the family name, Hong-Chih Kuo went down to AAA and became a starter, finding new life. And Eric Stults, I've never heard of before this, but the kid looks like he can pitch. Both went six innings in their debuts on the way to Dodger wins.

Now we've got a 2 game lead over the Padres in the west, who are leading the Giants 3-0 as I'm writing this. If they win that game, it'll only be a 1.5 game lead. We have a three game series with the god-awful Cubs coming up. We must sweep this series to give us some padding for the upcoming 4 gamer with San Diego this weekend. And we all know how the Pads have owned us up this year. But at least we know after this past series that we can hang with the Mets should we meet them in the playoffs.

Sidenote: Looks like the Madden curse has begun another year. The Seattle Seahawks won 9-6 today in a battle of field goals over Detroit. Shaun Alexander ran for only 51 yards on 19 carries, had two catches for 1 yard, and lost a fumble. If people thought The Madden curse wouldn't rear it's ugly head this year, well it's already begun. It's why I didn't take Alexander first on ANY of my fantasy teams. And it's why you should expect him to have a shitty year.

Ladies and gentlemen, your National League Pitcher of the Month for August: Derek Lowe! Thank goodness that Lowe is going so well right now. After going 4-1 with a 1.69 ERA in August to win him the award, he comes out in September and immediately wins his first two starts. We're gonna need him to stay in tip-top form if we're gonna fend off those pesky Padres for the division crown, especially with Mark Hendrickson sucking so much penis. At least Hendrickson can now say he's been unsuccessful at not one, but two professional sports.

Before tonight's game, the Dodgers had lost their previous three in a row and were laying enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex eggs that the Milwaukee "Dave Chappelle" Brewers were eating up. The Dodgers are so streaky this year that the only time they appear on Baseball Tonight is when they flash up the records of the winning/losing streaks followed by Carl Ravitch saying something like: "Krukky, could you please Dissect the Duplicitous Dichotomy that is the Dodgers?" That much alliteration is never a good thing in sports.

Now comes the series we were all dreading on the schedule. A four game series with the Mets at Shea. If the Dodgers can somehow stay alive and split the four games, I'll be happy. We have Brad Penny going against Tom Glavine in the first game. In this series and next week's four gamer with San Diego, we'll see if the Dodgers are truly contenders, or just a bunch of guys who suck.

The Blue Crew got walloped today, 14-5. Matt Holiday hit a blast in the 5th that actually left the stadium, clearing the bullpen wall in left field. Well, you can't win 'em all. Especially when you rest Nomar, Jeff Kent and Russel Martin all on the same day. Way to cripple the offense with your perfect storm of day-offs, Grady.

I don't have too much to say about the game today. Not on a day when Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter (who I am a big fan of), died today. He was killed by, of all things, a stingray while scuba diving. You just knew that one of these days, he'd bite the big one. You can't expect to have a long life expectancy handling animals with venom and deadly sharp teeth for a living. Still, this is a great loss. RIP mate.