Projects on the go & random thoughts

* Darn, Manny Ramirez homered twice and collected 4 hits for the second straight game (4-for-5 after going 4-for-4 a night earlier) and the Dodgers ended their 8-game losing streak, beating Dan Haren and the Diamondbacks. Ramirez is hitting a cool .419 in the NL after being acquired one month ago. I was hoping the Dodgers would never win another game this year, however unlikely that would be. (I recall a quote from Paul Beeston in one of Stephen Brunt's book where the former Blue Jays executive hoped Al Leiter lost every game he pitched for the Marlins in 1996. So, one could hope... And of course, this stemmed from the fact the Jays basically carried Leiter during his injury-plagued seasons, gave him a couple of WS rings and cheques, and he bolted after becoming a free agent.)

* Seeing the Tampa Bay Rays' success and the New York Yankees' collapse this year just reminds us all that the AL East is not just about Boston and New York. It could have been Toronto, couldn't it? Had they kept Frank Thomas, if Scott Rolen knew how to hit, if they didn't blow all those bases-loaded opportunities, the Jays might well be a wild card contender this year. Great pitching in the first half this year, but no offense. Completely the opposite in 2000, when the Jays had a shot with all that offense like Delgardo, Batista, Cruz, Mondesi, Fullmer, and Fletcher, but future Cy Young winners Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter faltered. In fact, Halladay was sent to the minors and had the worst ever ERA by a starter over a whole season (over 10.00). What if Halladay and Carpenter pitched well then? What if the Jays had sluggers like those in 2008?

* TSN finally launched TSN2 yesterday, which surprised me, because they are a decade behind ESPN2. I was just looking at the TSN2 schedule over the next week, and it's just tennis, golf, SportsCentre, Off The Record, and other programming similar to TSN. Yawn. Yes, I know the purpose is so they could show different live events simultaneously, but still, the opening week lineup looked weak.

* "Showing Their Scales" by KP Wee is finally on Amazon.com, so what's next for me? Well, I don't intend to retire, which no doubt irritates Trout ( :P ) and others, but anyway, life goes on, and writing goes on. And I'm doing all this without ever taking a break from my busy work schedule. Next on the agenda:
-Wait for the status of "Replacement Pitcher", a sports novel about a Canadian pitcher trying to make it to the big league. (Yes, I know, odd that it took me my fourth novel before I finally penned a fiction on sports.) In this novel, I have the Toronto Blue Jays winning the AL East. Not sure if the story will be accepted, but I'd give it a 70-30 chance.
-Continue working on "Fess Up, Jessup", a story on Jesse Jessup (a fictional character) who is obsessed with a girl who only says "Oh my God." If you've seen my previous work, well, it's a series I'm working on, with 'lies, lust, and deception' as the theme. This time, no mention of Trout. And I even included a fictional pub called "House & Wings" as one of the secondary settings (no, not "House of Wings"--never been there).
-Start working on a book outline for a children's novel. Idea so far: Trout.

Haha to Dodgers, Torre, and ex-Sox

In the off-season, I mentioned when the Los Angeles Dodgers hired Joe Torre, they would lose 90 games. Well, it looks like they won't, but I doubt they'll make the playoffs.

Thanks to yet another loss on Friday night, 9-3 in Arizona, the Dodgers have lost eight straight and now trail the NL West-leading Diamondbacks 4 1/2 games in the division.

So, now Torre isn't a genius anymore, is he?

After all, the Dodgers were picked to run away with the division one month ago. They supposedly had better pitching than the D-Backs. They'd just added slugger Manny Ramirez and third baseman Casey Blake. Greg Maddux was added in August.

And yet they've now lost eight in a row.

Okay, losing four straight in Philadelphia was bad. After all, they were blown out in two of those losses, gave away another one with a one-run lead in the ninth, and were shut out in the finale.

But getting swept in Washington? The Nationals (49-85) are the worst team in baseball, for crying out loud. Two one-run losses followed by an 11-2 defeat to complete the sweep.

And Friday night, the Dodgers had to win. They were facing the D-Backs, the team they're chasing.

Ahead 2-1 in the fifth, the Diamondbacks capitalized when Nomar Garciaparra, back at shortstop, committed an error, an inning in which Arizona scored three times.

When Los Angeles rallied in two innings later to close the deficit to within 4-3, their bullpen--led by Chan Ho Park and Joe Beimel--imploded by immediately surrendering five runs to blow the game wide open.

Not that Ramirez isn't doing his job. In fact, he went 4-for-4 on Friday night after homering in Washington the day before to give the Dodgers an early lead.

Still, it's a tough road for the Dodgers, as they'll have to face the D-Backs' top two hurlers, Dan Haren (14-6, 3.10) and Brandon Webb (19-5, 2.96), in the next two games.

It's certainly great to see L.A. struggle, especially when you look at the Dodgers and you see Torre, Maddux, and ex-Sox like Ramirez, Garciaparra, and Derek Lowe.