Showdown: Who’s going to win the National League West?

Sportswriters Thomas Gase and Stephen Dorman debate which team will claim the pennant


Gase

Gase


It won’t make Acorn sports editor Stephen Dorman as angry as mentioning a certain Mark Langston-to-Tino Martinez pitch from the 1998 World Series that ended up in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, but rest assured our San Diego Padres-loving sports guy will be fuming this September when the Los Angeles Dodgers win the National League West.

But since Dorman and his wife gave me a nice poker table for free, I’m letting him off the hook this time. Besides, it’s not Dorman’s fault his beloved Padres are having a fire sale and will finish dead last.

Instead of bagging on a ragtag bunch like the Padres, I’m calling out Red Sox fans who keep telling me the Dodgers’ signing of Manny Ramirez was a mistake because he’s a “problem.”

By “problem” do they mean an average of 36 home runs and 114 RBI in seven full seasons with the Red Sox? Or do Red Sox fans resent the two World Series titles Ramirez helped bring Boston following an 86-year championship drought?

Those are nice problems to have.

I’m sure Dodger manager Joe Torre, who dealt with numerous bigname personalities in New York, can handle any off-field shenanigans by Ramirez.

You can trust me on that or take the word of a Red Sox organization that was the last to integrate African American athletes and that sold Babe Ruth to put on a play that 99 percent of people don’t know the name of—it was called “My Lady Friends,” if you care.

Although Ramirez is unbelievable, he alone can’t deliver a pennant. Knowing this, L.A.’s front office went to work to make the team’s lineup more potent.

The resigning of shortstop Rafael Furcal, coupled with the acquisition of former Arizona second baseman Orlando Hudson, gives the Dodgers a quality middle infield.

L.A. also re-signed Casey Blake and added super-utility veteran Mark Loretta. They’ll mesh well with young sluggers James Loney, Russell Martin, Blake DeWitt, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.

The Dodgers’ pitching staff isn’t as strong as Arizona’s or San Francisco’s, but it will suffice.

Jason Schmidt is garbage, but young guns Chad Billingsley, Clayton Kershaw and James McDonald have bright futures, while Hiroki Kuroda is solid when he controls his breaking pitches.

Plus, the Dodgers will likely acquire another top-shelf pitcher before the trade deadline. It could be Padres right-hander Jake Peavy. That would really make Dorman happy, the poor sap.

NLCS: Dodgers over Mets ALCS: Yankees over Red Sox

World Series: Yankees over Dodgers Contact Thomas Gase at tgase@theacorn.com.

Brian Giles’ thunderous bat, Mark Prior’s powerful right arm, the all-around grit of little, tiny David Eckstein and some nobody pitcher named Walter Silva will lead the San Diego Padres to the National League West pennant, and perhaps even a World Series title.

Sike!

Listen, I’ve done and said a lot of incredibly stupid things in my life. You are all witnesses to that. But the good news is I still know how to use a razor, which is more than I can say for the man opposite me in this particular showdown.

So what if I was the guy who proclaimed the Padres would win last year’s N.L. West championship only to see my hometown boys lose 99 games? And how the heck did they win 63, anyway? It’s a miracle.

If you think I’m going to cater to local Dodger fans by writing a puff piece on how great Joe Torre’s team looks then, well, like Judas Priest sings, “You’ve got another thing comin’.”

Lost in the excitement of beating the thorax-gripping Chicago Cubs in last year’s National League Division Series was the fact that the Dodgers were just 84-78 during the regular season, good for a .519 winning percentage. That was the worst record for any division winner in the major leagues. Congrats, Los Angeles, you won the lottery. It won’t happen again.

This year’s Dodger group will hit far better than the ’08 ballclub, but the pitching staff has taken a serious step backward.

Staff ace Derek Lowe has departed to Atlanta. He’s been replaced by—hold your breath—Randy Wolf. Yikes. Takashi Saito went to Boston, leaving the closer job to Jonathan Broxton.

Broxton, as we know, is the guy who gave up an 894foot home run to journeyman Matt Stairs in the National League Championship Series. Those things can stay with a closer for a long time, and Stairs’ ball, according to my sources at NASA, remains somewhere deep in orbit.

Smart baseball people—like me—understand that pitching and defense win championships. That being said, I’m handing the pennant to the San Francisco Giants, a team built around power pitchers Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain and Randy Johnson. Barry Zito isn’t a bad No. 4 starter, either.

Those lovable Giants will struggle to score runs, but they’ll have enough to take down the Dodgers in a tight division race. Arizona should finish a close third, with Colorado in fourth. If my Padres lose less than 110 games, San Diegans will riot in the Gaslamp Quarter.

NLCS: Cubs over Braves ALCS: Red Sox over Angels

World Series: Red Sox over Cubs Contact Stephen Dorman at sdorman@theacorn.com.

Dorman

Dorman

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