It was as inevitable as death and taxes, but when it came today, it still hurt. The Dodgers were finally eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Mets in a three game sweep. It marks the end to a season that had more ups and downs than every roller coaster in Magic Mountain combined. The Dodgers were bad, then good, then terrible, then great, then god awful, then unbeatable, and at the end, ultimately shitty. It's amazing we were able to survive as fans.

Since the Dodgers won the World Series in 1988, we've made the playoffs four times. We've been swept three of those times, and have come out in total with a 1-12 record. The only win? Lima time, baby! That's sad, no matter how you look at it. It's as if the baseball gods said, "OK, we'll give you Gibson, but after that you will suck for the next 20 years." I mean good lord, you'd think we could win a fucking game once in a while. Of all the veterans that we stocked up on who were supposed to "help" us in the playoffs, only Jeff Kent performed up to par with the power of the moustache. Nomar? Hurt. Again. Kenny Lofton? 1-13. Rafael Furcal? 2-11. J. D. Drew? 2-13. Greg Maddux? Sup-par performance today. For the most part, our veterans with postseason experience ended up being our undoing. That and the bonehead play in game 1.

A lot has to be said about Joe Beimel cutting his hand and not being able to pitch in this series. He would have definitely helped out in game 1, when Grady Little had to bring in Brad Penny in the 7th, and today as well when he brought Jonathan Broxton in to pitch the 6th. Beimel is usually the guy we throw out there in those spots, but too bad he had to be hurt. Worse is that he tried to play it off like he hurt it in his hotel room late at night getting a drink of water out of the sink when multiple people reported seeing him get the cut at a bar that night. Sure Joe, we believe you. Like anyone really drinks out of a hotel sink.

So now we look toward a long offseason. Like recent offseasons, a shitload of changes are sure to be made. Do we resign Nomar with James Loney having such a torrid finish? Does Eric Gagne take a huge pay cut to stay with the Dodgers and make one last go at it? Do we let Lofton go off to join the 348th team of his career? Does Wilson Betemit keep his third base job with Andy LaRoche breathing down his neck? Will Greg Maddux put off retirement for one more season? Will Oscar Robles be back? Only time will tell. The only sure thing is the Dodgers need to get a power bat. We can't afford to be second to last in the league in home runs like we were this year. The bullpen and rotation also need help. Barry Zito, anyone? Alfonso Soriano? Carlos Lee? We can only dream, and, as Dodger fans, be eventually disappointed.

So with the season over, I probably wont be posting much here until the NBA season starts at the end of the month. That is, unless something worth writing about happens like Grady Little gets fired (please?) or something like that. Until then, it's been fun.