Los Angeles Dodgers

In 1964 the Philadelphia Phillies, under manager Gene Mauch, were having their best season in nearly 15 years.

Led by pitching ace Jim Bunning, who threw a perfect game that year, and slugger Richie Allen, they had a six game lead in the National League with ten games to go; the pennant and a World Series date with the New York Yankees seemed safely theirs.

The Phillies then proceeded to lose ten straight games and the N.L. crown to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was an epic collapse that Philadelphia fans bitterly remember to this day.

With the Los Angeles Times reporting that the Dodgers are in contract extension talks with Ned Colletti, now is as good a time as any to briefly address the elephant in the room before returning to your regularly scheduled playoff talk.

On Sept. 16, 2009, the New York Yankees and several other Major League teams released their preliminary 2010 season schedules. When looking at the Yankees' schedule there are several series that stand out.

Two of those are the season-opening and closing series against the rivaled Red Sox. Series against the Red Sox are always highly anticipated because of the long grudge that these two teams hold for each other.

But the countdown has begun for the series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Six walk-off hits—four of which have been long balls.

That’s what Andre Ethier has done this season for the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers.

The six walk-off winners are an all-time high for a single player in the divisional era. In fact, he has the most walk-off hits in a single season since 1974, and his four walk-off homers are also the most since ’74.

Justin Morneau was the last player to hit three walk-off homers in a season, doing so in ’07.

Etheir's penchant for drama

Andre Ethier collected his 6^th walk-off last night; the most in the majors.

It is no secret that Chad Billingsley is struggling mightily at this point.  Fantasy owners almost wish that Joe Torre had opted to pull him from the rotation, giving him a week to clear his head, instead of reaffirming his position.  It would have made things a lot easier.

Looking at his overall numbers would show a solid pitcher, one definitely worth using, though more of a mid-rotation option as opposed to a fantasy ace:

12 Wins
182.2 Innings
3.99 ERA
1.32 WHIP
165 Strikeouts (8.13 K/9)
75 Walks (3.70 BB/9)
.303 BABIP

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Workhorse.

In a season that has seen 12 different starting pitchers for the Los Angeles Dodgers thus far, that’s the only way to describe how Randy Wolf put the starting staff on his back from the end of June until early September.

Wolf, in 14 starts from June 29-September 5, tossed 93.2 innings—good for an average of 6.2 innings per start.

Like most fans out there, I was completely fine with the Vicente Padilla deal. He cost the prorated league minimum and has pitched well thus far.

At the end of play on October 2, 1980, the Houston Astros led the Los Angeles Dodgers by three games, with three games left to play for each team.

The teams would face off at Dodger Stadium for what promised to be a dramatic series. All Houston had to do was win one game. They didn't.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers made it through the weekend and took care of business.

The offense finally came alive and boomed for 19 runs in the first two games against a tough Giants pitching staff.

On Friday night, they worked Matt Cain for a 31-pitch first inning, in which they plated two runs en route to a 10-3 win.

The key hit in the first inning was a James Loney two-out, two RBI double.