World Champions?! I can't believe it! World Champions! You say "you had the best record in the league - what do you mean 'I can't believe it'" - I just...(shakes head)
(Whoa - 1 blog post the day after another, what is this, the 2000s?)
OK, well let's go back to the 2000s. As you watched that decade end, and if you watched the Dodgers into the next decade, one with a team slowly getting better and then oh so close in the playoffs, and woeful managers, losing more 1-run games than you can remember, you'll just have to believe me: I NEVER and I repeat NEVER thought in my life I'd hear the phrase "the strength of the Dodgers is their bullpen." The very phrase "thank Christ it's over" replaced the baseball phrase "save" for this very reason. If you are winning by 5 runs in the 9th and win the game by 1, that should not be listed as a "save." That is "thank Christ it's over" because of the clown car in the outfield that seemingly would get dizzy for 7 innings and then show up to serve balloons to the other team.
And I said woeful managers because we'd get so close to the World Series and then just...but then that hurdle was crossed. And once we were cheated, yes, we all know that. But the following year we returned, and we were playing a better team, but we had a chance to even things and said manager gave it all away. But 2020 comes around, a weirdo baseball season, and a championship is won! It might have been won because the other manager was worse but that's not our fault, is it?
Anyone who is a Dodger fan celebrated and remembered that 2020 championship. Then there's the brainworm crowd, who labeled that "a Mickey Mouse championship" (don't know what that means, but OK) "didn't count" (like your last weigh-in, I'm sure), "fraud" (you're thinking of something else you got wrong in 2020) and on the list goes. We swatted these comments away like one would a fly, and even when we went back to a "regular" season (one with "vaccinated sections") it was a good run, no complaints. Besides, we just won it all last year.
2022 was a return to the ground with the same "curious" managing calls while San Diego (a team that's 80% mouth, 20% skill) won and wouldn't shut up about doing so. The next year followed with a sensational diaper-filling against Arizona, grim faces abound. "He doesn't know how to get the team ready for the playoffs" was the refrain. It was smiles and dances in August as you beat Colorado in a meaningless game. As seasons wear on, and the costs to watch the regular season games prohibitive, I looked from afar. Again, working on dialing it back...why go all in, especially if the diaper will be filled so quickly? We'll see, sure, but...
A-Roid said last night "can you believe some people wanted Dave Robers fired?" Yeah, I can. Do you watch Captain Hook? "If we have that many pitchers on our roster, why not use 'em all? I mean, every game, why not?" Dave thought. That's one reason, Roid Freak. Another would be just a few weeks ago we faced an elimination game and because nearly all starters were burned out or injured (Mark Prior, pitching coach, someone who should abso-fucking-lutely know about saving your arm from injury and not overdoing it and pacing yourself, I'm fucking looking at you) Dave said "well, ok, Bullpen Game." What the hell?!
The Dodgers won that game 8-0. Here's how the Bullpen Game went:
That's 8 pitchers in 9 innings, 7 hits, no runs, 8 strikeouts. That went perfectly. That's a word that is used often, maybe too much, but it was perfect. Again, you've watched a team for years and years have a shit bullpen, no one you ever really felt you could count on, and...my god man.
The series clincher, a 2-0 grinder, got the shit monkey off of Dave's (and everyone else's) back. Once that happened, well, bring it on. The bullpen is winning games, at least 1 star play is showing up each game and Tommy Edman out of nowhere is Babe Ruth. And then here it is - a World Series? Against the Yankees?!
It's clinched in the Bronx, like in '81. When we had Nando. The tale is written in history, and its future is so done.
San Fernando, we do this for you. We look skyward as you used to when you pitched. Coming together, fighting back, for you. Freddie Freeman and his Paul Bunyan Balls, he sends pitches screaming out of the yard. Otani can damn near tear his shoulder, but he's not sitting anything out. The team turns at-bats into marathons. They leg out ground balls because who knows, someone might forget to cover 1st base. They run out fly balls because someone just might drop the thing.
For myself, and to the world, I need to let something go. I need to accept something and just get it out, and that is that.
(Begins playing "Chariots of Pumpkins" from the Halloween III soundtrack)
Dave Roberts, manager, has won 2 World Series for the Dodgers. Could and should the team have won more? Probably, but shoulda, coulda, woulda. This ends the talk, at least from me. He's shut me up. He went to the mound last night and put his chips in on the bullpen, specifically Blake Treinen. It worked again. I exalted. Last night, the team, the organization, its fans all celebrated a championship. Dave, however, was the winner. My worn-out Dodger cap is tipped to him. My mouth, for you Dave, forever closed.
I can open it to finish the champagne with OJ this morning, right? Why waste it?