[SCUDSBROTHER]

Well, I know this Dodger team pretty well. I wouldn't freak out about the fact that ya got shut down after ya got 6 off our troubled has-been starter(BTW don't get too excited about getting 6 off him, because he has been this bad for a while now, and nobody knows what to do with him.) We often give up a lot of runs early, and try the rest of the game to fight back. Our pitchers can hold a team down as we do this(so don't be too distressed about "hanging around doing nothing" as the DODGERS COME BACK.) This is why this team is the biggest tease in sports history. They are just good enough to be Entertaining. It was 6-4 thru 7 1/2 innings. The Diamondbacks had lost. We didn't have to win this game. We would have easily taken the loss, and stayed 1 game back in the standings. This ain't about the Dodgers. This is about Charlie Manuel's decision to take a guy out that owned us in 2 innings of work. He didn't want to use him for 3 more outs. I'll never understand that. The guy was on a sick roll. For God sakes man, he threw a fantastic pitch to strike Manny out in the 7th. Vin Scully was amazed that Manuel took Matson out.."The Dodgers must feel thoroughly grateful to see Matson taken out." See, the Dodgers can't hit good pitching very much at all. Manny and Eithier can slap something in a hole or something. The rest are gunna make outs. I know we can't hit the duck n' dive float like bird stuff that Matson/ Lidge have. You think Kent could knock those 2 runs in the 8th in against that stuff? Nope. Nomar can't hit good pitching at all. So, let me know (when you listen to local sports shows etc. today) if you find out Charlie's reasoning for what he did. 2 out of the 3 guys he used in the 8th -9th were somehat beaten by us the night before. Sometimes these managers get into trouble by trying to give guys a quick chance to redeem themselves. I've never understood that reasoning, but it appears to be a very popular way that managers fck up with(Torre has done it repeatedly with Andruw in big clutch situations etc.)