The Trolley Dodger

On Twitter:

@MANNYWOOD: THIS IS EMBARRASING! WHAT GOT INTO ANDY LAROCHE TODAY? THE WORST DAY OF THE YEAR FOR THE #DODGERS

@trolleydodger: Umm, no. The worst day of the year for the Dodgers was 5/7/09.

It is often said that the 162-game baseball season is a marathon. By most measures, it would appear that the formerly fleet-footed Dodgers have hit the proverbial runner’s Wall. After their 121st game last night, another loss in the recent 4-6 slide, the metaphorical glycogen has been depleted something fierce.

Being a baseball fan takes a certain amount of long-term commitment. For every marathoner running their 26 miles and 385 yards, there’s a crowd of people waiting around on the sidelines for at best two hours (if their favorite runner is from Kenya ;), but probably more like 4 or 5 hours.

That’s a long time to stand around watching people moaning in pain while they shuffle along the street, leaving behind a wide swath of sweat on the asphalt. The very first guy to run a marathon in 490 BC reportedly died. For the love of Mike your nipples bleed if you don’t take precautions against chafing! Gah!

A baseball game also involves hanging around for a few hours, either in uncomfortable seating at the park or on your couch at home, multiplied by however many games you pay attention to. With the average length of a game at 2:45, you could rack up over 445 hours if you watched every minute of every game. Not to mention achieving the gluteal equivalent of bed sores.

Another baseball axiom is that winning cures all ills. It’s so much easier to keep watching game after game if your team is winning most of them — the same thing is true, even more so, if you’re playing them. Lately, it’s been much harder to want to watch Dodger games. This past Monday’s debut of knuckleballer Charlie Haegar was the first time in a while that I was actually looking forward excitedly to see a Dodger game. Naturally, they lost.

So starting pitchers are dropping like flies, the Rockies and Giants are worryingly not going away, and I issue a plaintive sigh whenever somebody asks how the Dodgers are doing.

There is another baseball truism that applies however, even if the “it’s still early” denial won’t work anymore:

Don’t get too high or too low.

As easy as it would be to descend into the depths of depressive fatalism, the Dodgers are still in first place by a few games. They are not being blown out and are a few breaks one way or another to being undefeated in the last 10 games. While they are struggling against elite pitching, everybody struggles against elite pitching — that’s why they’re elite.

During the halcyon days of pre-Mannygate, not to mention during the suspension when the Dodgers seemingly couldn’t lose, I had to remind myself not too get too elated or too prideful. “It’s still early” swings both ways.

In the best of times, don’t get too high. And in the worst of times, don’t get too low.

It’ll work out somehow. I have faith in this crazily talented team that they will struggle their way out of the doldrums and get hot at exactly the right time — going into the playoffs.

And hey, at least our nipples aren’t bleeding!

Hey, Plaschke — remember when you were saying that Manny didn’t deign to acknowledge his fans on his first game back in Dodger Stadium? You wrote a big article about it, “Manny Ramirez shows little gratitude to his fans”, on July 17th.

Let me refresh your memory:

The citizens showed up early in hopes that the mayor would come out early to greet them.

He didn’t.

The citizens began cheering as he ran out for the start of the game in hopes that the mayor would acknowledge them.

He wouldn’t.

The citizens chanted his name as he finished his first warm-up tosses in hopes that the mayor would at least throw them the ball.

He threw it in the left-field stands instead.

After blowing off honesty, accountability and one-third of the season, Manny Ramirez did something more egregious in his return to Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

He blew off Mannywood.

In the first inning of his first appearance in a left-field corner adorned with the “Mannywood 99″ banner and filled with hundreds of loving fans who paid a premium for their proximity, Ramirez acted as if none of it existed.

Talk about splitting hairs. Of course, you don’t have a bias about this story, do you, Bill?

No, of course you don’t.

Trying to spin his first appearance back in left field like he blew off his fans (the “official” Mannywood or not) is just wrong.

Stick with the mascots, Bill. I think you found your calling in Lake Elsinore.

---

Update: I missed Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness catching this on Friday. I enjoyed their post title: “Bill Plaschke Lies to You and Hates Dodger Stadium”. :)

Considering how much consternation that Manny, Dodger fans, and Dodger Stadium are causing Bill Plaschke, he might be better off just skipping the games. For both his sanity and ours.

The stuff he writes when he does attend has so little to do with what’s going on down on the field that there’s really no point in him being there. (Unless it’s for the free press box Dodger Dogs.) If he insists on “covering” the team, he might well just stay home.

There has been a clamor for Manny to apologize to the fans. He has already done so. See relevant text highlighted below.

From Manny Ramirez’s statement released on May 7th:

“Recently I saw a physician for a personal health issue. He gave me a medication, not a steroid, which he thought was okay to give me. Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I’ve taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons.

“I want to apologize to Mr. McCourt, Mrs. McCourt, Mr. Torre, my teammates, the Dodger organization, and to the Dodger fans. LA is a special place to me and I know everybody is disappointed. So am I. I’m sorry about this whole situation.“

Just sayin’.