ShareThisOh, the Dog Days. .... Yes, the proverbial Dog Days of August/September have their teeth into the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blue is slumping and slumping hard. The Dodgers are 65-66, three games behind the surging Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West, losers of four in a row and seven of their last 11. Hope is not lost. The future is bright. Or at least it has the potential to be. Consider: After getting swept out of Philadelphia by the Phillies, the Dodgers only play six more games against teams with a winning record ( a pair of three-game series against Arizona). The rest of their schedule includes: -- Three vs. Washington (46-85) -- Nine vs. San Diego (49-82) -- Three vs. Colorado (62-71) -- Three vs. Pittsburgh (57-74) -- Six vs. San Francisco (58-72). The average win-loss record of the Dodgers remaining opponents is 56-74. Take away the Diamondbacks and it's 53-77. The Dodgers do play six of the final 10 series on the road including three at Arizona (Aug. 29-31) and a cross-country 10-game trip from three games in San Diego to three in Colorado to four in Pittsburgh. By comparison, the Diamondbacks' remaining opponents have an average win-loss record of 62-69. Five of their remaining 10 series are at home. But the key to who wins the NL West could come down to the final week of the season when the Dodgers are playing the Giants (Sept. 19-21) and Padres (Sept. 23-25) at home and the Giants (Sept. 26-28) on the road. At the same time, the Diamondbacks are on the road for three at Colorado (Sept. 19-21), four at St. Louis (Sept. 22-25) and back home for three against Colorado (Sept. 26-28). With the Cardinals in the hunt for the NL Wild Card (they are 3 1/2 games behind Milwaukee and a game ahead of the Phillies), that four-game series in St. Louis could go a long way to deciding two playoff spots.(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Will Dog Days be Dodger Days?
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