Marty Farmer has been talking all season about how great the Dodgers are. Let’s just say he loves their “young talent.” Part of “Code of Silence”, starring Chuck Norris, was shot at his house in Oak Park. That’s awesome.
BY MARTY FARMER Sports Pros(e) Contributor
When I heard the bizarre news that Cubs chairman Crane Kenney enlisted the sacerdotal services of Rev. James L. Greanias to “bless” the apparently demonic confines of Chicago’s dugout, I thought, ‘wow, that’s really weird and arguably creepier than Bartman’s Cubs hat-Walkman ensemble.
For some odd reason, it also reminded me of one of my favorite yarns about Tommy Lasorda.
One weekend when Tommy’s Dodgers were in Cincinnati for a three-game set, Lasorda ran into Reds skipper John McNamara at church.
I’ll let the Prince of Pasta pick up the story:
“Now, I know why John’s in church, he knows why I’m there. When Mass is over, as we are leaving through the center aisle, Mc says to me, ‘Wait for me outside, I’ll be right out.’ I began wondering what he was going to do and I stopped and watched him. He went over to the right side of the church and he knelt down and lit a candle. When I saw that, I walked up the left aisle, and when he left I went over to the right side and blew out his candle. And all during the game, I kept hollering to McNamara, ‘It ain’t gonna work, John, I blew out the candle.’”
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With the Dodgers heading back to Chavez Ravine leading the Cubs 2-0, things clearly aren’t working for the Cubs. I offer two obvious observations about Chicago’s National League ballclub: I think they are a good baseball team that enjoyed a fantastic, historical regular season. More importantly, they are playing terrible in the NLDS.
For their part, the Dodgers have helped fuel the Cubs’ collapse courtesy of solid pitching from D-Lowe and “Bills”; timely hitting from Manny Ramirez, James Loney and Russ Martin; and Joe Torre pushing all the right buttons. Unless the Cubs rip off three straight wins (possible but not probable), consider another season lost in Baseball’s Bermuda Triangle of Addison, Clark and Sheffield.
I’ve felt all season long that LA is a dangerous team on the rise despite skeptical “looks” from some of my Cubs buddies. Western Division jokes aside, the Dodgers are loaded with young talent.
Sure, the additions of Ramirez and Casey Blake have been huge, but the best ERA in the NL coupled with players like Martin, Matty Kemp, Jonathon Broxton, Blake Dewitt, Clayton Kershaw, James McDonald (another young stud pitcher) and Andre Ethier (all under 26) bodes well for the future. As a Dodger fan, I’ve haven’t been this geeked since Gibby went yard on Eckersely in ’88. Crank up some Randy Newman!
Of course, there’s still an important game to win, so no guarantees are in order. I certainly don’t believe in jinxes, let alone billy goats and black cats, but I also know the Dodgers haven’t won a postseason series in 20 years.
