This Year Just Feels Different

Come on, how great was that game last night?!?  You’ve just gotta love playoff baseball and all the drama that goes along with it.  Just when I was getting worried that the Dodgers might be a little tight, Loney hits the grand slam and you could almost hear Dodger fans across LA letting out a huge collective sigh of relief as they allowed themselves to believe that maybe, just maybe, the magic was real this year.  On the flip side, you could almost see Cubs fans begin to tighten up with thoughts of “God, not again!” running through their heads.

I don’t think you can overstress the importance of winning Game One in a short series when you’re the road team (even beyond the obvious fact that this was just the Dodgers second playoff win since 1988.  The other win was, of course, “Lime Time!”).  I think our third playoff win will come tonight: the match-up totally favors Billingsley, with Zambrano only having that one good start (and a no-hitter at that) since the All-Star break.  Think about it: he was 8-1 at the break and since then he’s only won two games out of nine starts.  Buckle-up Chicago, it’s going to get bumpy the rest of the way.

I also don’t think anyone would doubt that the reason the Dodgers have done so well of late is because of Manny.  The attitude, swagger, plate discipline and laughter he’s brought to this team and the Clubhouse is simply amazing.  He’s made them into a literal team, rather than a collection of vets and kids.  He embodies the Joe Torre philosophy.  Look beyond the stats and you see a team that’s gelling in the way I had hoped they would under Jeff Kent (which clearly didn’t happen).  How long this will last is yet to be seen, and I certainly don’t want to get ahead of ourselves with a 1-0 lead, but this year just feels different, doesn’t it?