OFFICIAL 2009 DODGERS SEASON THREAD : Season Over. Congratulations Phillies.

[sinser13]

i wonder if there's going to be alot of dodgers fan in petco tonight.

 

[cincoseisdos]

Im more excited about seeing Ramos at this point. Dude with Weaver and Vargas as dirtbags, going to catch these cats at blair field with my bro was

 

[in yo nostril]

better win tonight.

 

[p mac one]

any of you guys gamble on sports online?

 

[mr jordan04]

What's wrong with belliard and casey?

 

[p mac one]

Belliard hurt his leg on the turn at first I think it was Saturday. Blake still has the hammy issue.

September 29, 2009
[h1]Possibility and limitation[/h1]
September 29, 2009 | 5:36 pm

It has to be heartening to the Dodgers community, if scary for me on a personal level, that I can take two days with my family at Legoland and find that online Dodgers coverage has not suffered in the slightest. I like to think I've done some good work over the years, but it's pretty clear that Dodgers blogging's MVB for 2009 is True Blue L.A. Smart, thoughtful, relentless and fun (and without the weight of my personal anxieties) -- the site has simply become a powerhouse.

I have a couple more weekend trips planned for 2009, and will otherwise be trying to maintain my relevance and justify The Times' investment in me. But with Eric Stephen, Phil Gurnee and Brendan Scolari around, supplemented by the several other Dodgers sites that have flowered, Dodgers fans never have to worry about being abandoned.

* * *

With the Dodgers poised ... and poised ... and poised to clinch the National League West during my Carlsbad caravan, I had some time to reflect on the rapidly concluding season and the imminent NL playoffs.

I allowed myself infrequent updates on the games Sunday and Monday, and in both cases was shocked by how quickly each contest went south. I was eager to see the team clinch -- though at this point, not out of fear that they wouldn't. I brooded over the Dodgers' defeats for about 30 seconds, and brooded about how people would react to the defeats for much longer.

Contrary to some popular opinion, I don't live to see the Dodgers blindly supported. My mission here, from the blog's earliest days, has been to contribute toward a search for truth about the Dodgers. Earlier in the decade, that involved a lot more pointing out flaws than it does now.

Day in and day out, there's a real imbalance in Dodgers postgame reaction. I addressed that in my only comment on Dodger Thoughts in the past 48 hours:

Dodgers winning: "Hey, that's great. Don't know what's gonna happen next, but this is cool."
Dodgers losing: "Pathetic. They're not even trying. They're hopeless. They have no chance of winning (in the postseason)."

After a season of this, does it really need to be pointed out that one of these reactions is over the top?

The upbeat crowd never makes guarantees. And yet the cynics claim they're the realists.


You can say this bugs me more than it should, but it sure does bug me.

During spring training, one of my main arguments about the Dodgers was that many people were downgrading the Dodgers starting rotation without looking at it in context. They would say the Dodgers rotation had holes that would undermine the team, without acknowledging the holes that other teams had.

Since then, I feel like more than anything else this season, I've been in a season-long quest to ask people to look at the Dodgers in a big-picture fashion. To note that their use of relievers, while tops in the league, was only of a marginal difference compared with other teams. To note that they weren't the only team that left runners on base, that they weren't the only team to lose to bad teams. And so on.

I wasn't asking people to put on blinders when evaluating the Dodgers; I was asking them to take them off with regards to the other teams in baseball, at least in the National League.

I feel, for the most part, that I've failed. There are some people who consistently get what I'm saying, and others who disagree with me on one point or another -- but with whom I'm generally having a healthy debate. For example, Gurnee and I are passionate fans who disagree every so often, but I always feel we're more interested in learning than in being right.

But there are others (I'm talking both inside and outside the Dodger Thoughts comments and have no single person specifically in mind) who implicitly or explicitly rebel against my philosophy. Their approach is ignore context, latch onto one or more easily accessible fears, assume the worst and wait to see if they'll be surprised.

They're not necessarily wrong. There's certainly no rule that you have to bring an evenhanded mind to sports, and there is something to be said for managing expectations. And though I don't do this with the Dodgers, I do it in other areas of my life. I dread some things that I'm facing that I've tried to talk myself out of, to no avail.

But I do find there's a difference about being worried inside my own head and being worried in a public forum. If I were to write something's going to go wrong when I take my next weekend trip, you'd expect someone to step in and say, "Well, maybe you're being too negative." And if I were to write the same thing over and over again, you'd expect someone to step in and say, "You're definitely being too negative."

(And, of course, if I were an Internet troll who only wrote negative things for no other reason than to piss people off, you'd expect someone to delete the comment and wonder how I could possibly not have anything better to do with my life.)

I bring to Dodger Thoughts a certain bias, but that bias is not "Think positive about the Dodgers at all costs." The bias is this: Life can be so hard -- why let baseball make it worse?

It's one thing to be realistic about the Dodgers' chances -- they'll be in a dogfight in every playoff game, whoever the opponent is, home-field advantage or not. It's another to go out of your way, consciously or not, and suggest that this team cannot win. When you look at other teams and see their flaws and slumps, and factor in how much chance is involved in the game, there's simply no reason to give up on the Dodgers (or any playoff team) at this point. There is no objective basis for it.

If you want to lower expectations so you'll only be relieved or excited rather than disappointed, that's a legitimate personal choice. But arguing artificially lowered expectations as gospel isn't. Not here, anyway.

The Dodgers have clinched a playoff spot and are about to clinch a division title. Life is hard, and they've done the hard part. The NL pennant or the World Series would be more memorable achievements, but neither is a greater test of talent or will.

As things stand now, there is nothing this Dodgers team can't do. Whether they'll do it is another matter that nobody -- nobody -- has an answer for. But it is not optimistic to say they will contend for a title. It is realistic.

And so I just find myself with very little stomach for those who act like they know the Dodgers' fate better than the rest. Not once have I guaranteed what the Dodgers would do in 2009. I've only talked about what they're capable of. And I don't mean "capable" like we're all capable of winning the lottery -- I mean sincerely qualified.

I can't stop people from feeling otherwise, but I sure was hoping I'd be better at persuading folks this year. But as much as I've enjoyed 2009, in no year have I felt my limitations on this blog more acutely.

Tonight, Chad Billingsley takes the hill for the Dodgers, capable of greatness, performance to be determined in this ever-evolving world that never fails to surprise.

 

[Los Angeles]

Ramos from Pico?

 

[Los Angeles]

Still in pittsburgh?

 

[cincoseisdos]

same thing I was thinking BN

Nice piece by Weisman. But I can't help feel what I feel when I feel it or HOW I feel it. I see where he -- and you PMAC are coming from, buti'm too emotional to sit down like a good boy.

I've got a bark, and i'll be howling at the moon until I see the endless videos of "gibby" end. That clip has long since ran its course.

Time for a new piece of Dodgers mystique.

 

[Los Angeles]

pmac stays postin these articles like its gonna change our position on how we should feel bout the squad.

The weather is finally gettin a bit nippy outside, hope oct 7 brings out jackets at night

 

[ooiron manoo]

I'm a big fan of Weisman. To be honest I didn't really read his stuff until the Times bought him out and put him on their site.

I feel wouldn't say I am in line with his philosophy all the time, however, a lot of times he puts my feelings/emotions into his words. It has me going

"that is what I am feeling, this dude just put it intowords.".

Once Tony Jackson got let go by the Daily News, I started going more frequently to Dodger Thoughts (sans the Comments) and it has become a daily read (LATimes, Dodger Thoughts, True Blue LA). Other blogs just don't match up with DT and TBLA. I still read Dodger Blues as their front page is always good fora few laughs, but the Forum has fallen off to a bunch of negative nancy's (plus the profanity and racism is absurd

).

I couldn't help but laugh, that Weisman pointed out a couple of negative people on our board/thread

.

People want to bash the rotation and the bullpen, yet both have been on top of the NL/MLB the entire year.

Sit back and enjoy. The Cardinals just lost, the Phillies won. Start rooting for the Braves (they lost too

). It looks like St. Louis or Philly at this point.

Bottom line is that we will have to go through the best in order to be the best.

Friends and people in general tend to drop the "Who would you prefer to play in the NLDS?" Does it really matter.

 

[Los Angeles]

Ramos is gettin outta some jams.

Its time to start puttin some wins together, its one thing to go into the post-season with 90+ wins and its another to go into the post season with momentum onour side.

negative people, sorry I'm not a positive pansy.

 

[ooiron manoo]

pmac stays postin these articles like its gonna change our position on how we should feel bout the squad.

negative people, sorry I'm not a positive pansy.

I think it has to do more with adding some perspective. Just because we don't slide with the negative side doesn't mean we have blinders on.

I usually just step in when people go on these hollow rants about nothing, with no stats or info to back it up. Your gut feeling will not be the same as mineand vice versa. It just becomes repetitive, "damn, this dude going off again over nothing"

Dodgers winning: "Hey, that's great. Don't know what's gonna happen next, but this is cool."
Dodgers losing: "Pathetic. They're not even trying. They're hopeless. They have no chance of winning (in the postseason)."

After a season of this, does it really need to be pointed out that one of these reactions is over the top?

The upbeat crowd never makes guarantees. And yet the cynics claim they're the realists.


Just because you have seen Dodgers teams of the past fail time and time again, doesn't make the daily rant after a loss meaningful. It is the last weekof the season. The Dodgers are going to the playoffs where a new season will begin. This team has not failed.

I can't say this enough. Best record in the NL, we still got it.

Ya'll are shook at the thought of the Phillies and Cardinals, when they have their holes too. If they were that much better than us, wouldn't theyhave taken over the best record in the NL by now, you know, since our team is "pathetic" with a "fat, sissy, shook closer".

 

[Los Angeles]

bro we get it, you're a homer and that's ok.

& we also get the bond you and PMAC share and sorry some of us see different.

Just saw a dodger fantasy cruise commercial, wonder what that's about.

 

[cincoseisdos]

GO BREW CREW!

 

[cincoseisdos]

Me personally, bring whoever the #%@@ it is on. Get to business.

Bring on the Phillies. Bring on the Cards. Bring on the Bravos if they pull it out.

Let's advance.

Time for these dudes to put up or shut up.

 

[Los Angeles]

What you guys want if we tailgait?

for some reason my girl said shes gonna make enchilidas but iunno how they'd stay warm, and be kinda random

jason kendall!!

 

[cincoseisdos]

really?

I'll ave to ditch my people to drop by and join BNs festivities haha

BN you're messing it up though, cuz you're beefing with Ironman. He's got some pull, dodger security is gonna be out on the prowl sniffing the lotfor melting queso

Mannn i'll never forget that dirtbag squad.

$6 front row tix watching them annihilate other schools the whole season was more fun than being at theravine spring 2004

 

[cincoseisdos]

Vin Scully

This man is god in a broadcast booth.

 

[sinser13]

tie game

 

[cincoseisdos]

BRING IN THE O-DOG

 

[cincoseisdos]

Great job Ramos

 

[bigmike23]

SPEED IT UP MANNY GOD DAMN

 

[Los Angeles]

Originally Posted by CincoSeisDos

Great job Ramos

agreed,

 

[in yo nostril]

Originally Posted by bright nikes

What you guys want if we tailgait?

for some reason my girl said shes gonna make enchilidas but iunno how they'd stay warm, and be kinda random

jason kendall!!

ill keep your girlfriends enchilada warm