Summer is Ending for the Dodgers

 

It was a glorious year for baseball in Los Angeles. The Dodgers are an exciting, brash, star-studded group that has prompted me to take interest in them and watch far more of a St. Louis Cardinals NLCS series then I normally would have. I am sure ratings around the country are improved due to intrigued baseball fans that want to see what this team is all about. I spent a number of nights this past summer watching the Dodgers late night on MLB.tv, listening to Vin Scully tell his glorious tales. That will be part of a memory that sticks with me when I think back to MLB season 2013.

But the Dodgers season is likely ending tomorrow in Los Angeles. The Cardinals are the better team, and for the first time in the 2013 postseason, I’m going to be wrong about an end result.

The Dodgers lost tonight 4-2 in Los Angeles. Ricky Nolasco wasn’t nearly good enough, giving up a MONSTER two-run home run to Matt Holliday. The Dodgers continually tried to rally, and every rally was snuffed out by a Juan Uribe double play, or Nick Punto getting picked off second base, or Yasiel Puig getting sawed off on a Trevor Rosenthal fastball.

All night long, the baseball romantic in me kept waiting for something magical to happen in the same vein as Kirk Gibson 25 years ago tonight. When the Cardinals scored their fourth run on a Shane Robinson homer, I knew the score wouldn’t end 4-3 like that fateful Saturday night back in ’88. But I still kept waiting for someone wearing Dodger blue to get into one and tie the game. The innings came and went and it never happened.

Sure, the Dodgers have Greinke and Kershaw going the next two games, if they get by tomorrow. But it looks like Hanley Ramirez is done for the series. The Dodgers haven’t hit a home run in four games. They are completely neutralized right now, and that is why I think my pick for the 2013 World Series winner probably bows out tomorrow in a tight game.

Magical season, a ton of cool memories of a team I unexpectedly fell for a bit; but it likely ends on a Wednesday afternoon in mid-October at the hands of Joe Kelly and the St. Louis Cardinals.