Ramblings, Baseball, Etc.

What I'm looking forward to this week:

-Dodgers v.s. Cardinals. I should be worried, but I'm not. As long as we don't get swept, I'll be happy. With 44 games left in the season, we need to play .500 ball in order to get to 90 wins. If we get to 90, we'll be ok.

Tonight, it'll be Chris Carpenter against Charlie Haeger, whose debut with the Dodgers will be...tonight. He was promoted from the Isotopes last week. He's 11-6 with a 3.55 ERA and has pitched four complete games. Hopefully he'll be able to keep us in the game today, and that our offense has enough punch to get us the W. Tomorrow Billingsley starts after being on the DL with his hammie, and Kershaw gets Wednesday's start against Adam Wainwright. I think it'll be a true test for the Dodgers if they can handle a first place team like the Cards who have been playing very good baseball lately.

-Giants v.s. Rockies. I love watching wildcard rivalries because they're the only games around August where teams play like it's October. The Giants and Rockies have been sharing the first place spot for the wildcard, so it'll be interesting to watch these two teams go head to head. They'll be playing 4 games against each other in Colorado. With the Rockie's explosive offense (especially in Coors Field) and the Giant's shutout pitching, who knows what to expect from this series. One thing is for sure, I am going to be rooting for both teams to split.

Many people are saying the NL Wildcard is going to come from the West. Although it's safe to say it's too soon, it looks likely. The Marlins have been struggling, so have the Brewers and Cubs. The Marlins are the closest behind the Giants and Rockies by 5 games. Unless the Central or East comes up with a string of wins in September, there's no way any of the teams can get through the Giants or Rockies.

Needless to say, as a Dodger fan, I'm hoping this tug of war for Wildcard continues with SF and COL. The last thing the Dodgers want is to have to contend for the division because SF or Colorado picked up momentum from a sweep in this series.