Tim Peterson
It’s the end of June so of course the Dodgers have caught fire again and have moved into a tie for first place in the National League West. When Clayton Kershaw shut out St. Louis Sunday it completed a run in which the Dodgers had erased a 9 ½ game deficit in a three week span to catch the Giants.
It was a repeat of 2013 when the Dodgers got hot, went on an incredible 42-8 streak and caught and passed the Diamondbacks to win the Division. For some reason though this hasn’t had the same impact. There’s no excitement, no buzz -at least not so far. The surge isn’t as impressive as last year, not even close. But still making a nine game deficit disappear in three weeks should have people talking, but nobody is.
It could be because the Dodgers still haven’t won more than three consecutive games. Or maybe people are still on the Kings Stanley Cup hangover. Or it’s because more than 70 percent of people in the Los Angeles area cannot watch the Dodgers. Yeah, that’s probably it.
I have Time Warner so I’m one of the fortunate ones. I sympathize with those who can’t watch. If nothing else it would be a shame for Vin Scully to announce what could be possibly his last season to only 30 percent of the fans.
I’d like to be cool and say to those who don’t have Time Warner that they aren’t missing much but Kershaw has been a terrific show. He just finished maybe the greatest month any pitcher has ever had and his scoreless innings streak is now at 28. They need to get this resolved before the season ends. What if Vinny himself got involved? You don’t think Time Warner or Direct TV would listen?
So word is now that the big three-LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade- have opted out they’re all conspiring to restructure their contracts and return to the Heat. That’s fine but is there a run left? Isn’t Wade done? He aged at least five years in the NBA Finals alone. Doesn’t Bosh need to do more than shoot (and miss) threes? I don’t know what James’ best option is to win another title but it’s not in Miami.
Did you know that Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobli and Tony Parker made less combined last year than Kobe Bryant? Let that I sink in for a minute.
The Lakers could have done a lot worse than Julius Randle at number seven. Now how about hiring a coach? Is it too late for Kobe to take a pay cut?
So Bishop Amat won the Bonita Air Assault. Don’t they always?
Has Nogales hired a coach yet?
That’s my principle.
Tim can be reached at tim@midvalleysports.com or on Twitter @tspeterson40
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