Crazy game tonight, but at least Kershaw somehow got the win and might still be the first 20 game winner for the Dodgers since Ramon Martinez in 90.

I've loved the way the Dodgers have been playing of late. Juan Rivera turned out to be a pretty good addition, Janson is impressive, Gordon and Sellers are fun to watch. Meanwhile, Kershaw and Kemp have made a bad season still enjoyable to watch.

The pipe-dream-optimist in me notices that the Dodger's magic number is 12

Huh? Only a team leading a division can have a magic number.

Their elimination # is 1. Meaning if they lose 1 game or the D-backs win 1 game, they cannot possibly win the division. Elimination # from the wildcard is 2.

It was mostly in jest, but...

I took it from the Wild Card Games Behind stat here. Since the post was meant to be silly, I didn't go into the explanation that it was for securring the wild card spot.

Sheesh

Erm, okay I guess. Magic number and games behind are 2 very different things, so I didn't understand at all what you meant.

Oh, and that ejection was bee ess.

Welke's been around long enough. That pitch in no way looked like an intentional bean ball. Dude's throwin a 1-hitter with 52 pitches, he's looking to get the guy out, not put him on base. Yeah, there was sh*t yesterday, but there's no way that he should have been tossed for that.

Good for Mattingly for letting Welke have it (and judging from how little Welke was responding, I think he knew pretty immediately that he blew it).

Well, I guess Colonel Muttonchops, suh, deserves it.

By Colonel Muttonchops, of course, I mean Balkton Balkshaw.

By "it," I mean the Cybalk Youngbalk award.

I like my pitchers to just throw the damn ball. Like that brute from the eighth inning, for instance. Somebody give that guy a cup to p*ss in.

Fudge.

I'm comforted by the fact that I can once again root for a National League team in the World Series this year.

Well, I think that should solidify Kershaw's Cy Young. Tied for first in wins, first in strikeouts, ERA, batting average against, and WHIP. Short by one out of first in innings pitched. There has never been a pitcher that got the triple crown (first in wins, Ks, and ERA) that DIDN'T win the award.

It's been a frustrating but hopeful couple of months. Frustrating to see a winning percentage of 65.7% since 8/21 (when Loney warmed up as an emergency reliever). Where was that all season? Of course, possibly more relevant to the improvement than Loney's bullpen session was Dave Hansen taking over as hitting coach in late July. He certainly looks like a genius (he definitely knows about hitting, nice that he seems to be able to translate that into effective coaching).

There's finally a legitimate ace to anchor the pitching staff. The bullpen got its act together in a big way. Solid veteran role players in Miles and Carroll. Impressive rookie play. And, even with financial uncertainty, Prince Fielder's name is being seriously kicked around (aided by friendships with Kemp and Gwynn).

It would be a miracle to get Fielder AND keep Loney, but Loney's said he'd be willing to play left in that situation. That's a tantalizing thought. Loney (assuming continuation of his late-season success), Ethier (assuming successful rehab), Kemp, Fielder. Damn.

Is it april?