Welcome to Paulywood? (cont'd)

I was going to write an entry this morning about the Dodgers "Magic Castle", as Vin so eloquently put it, but now something bigger has obviously come up. So now down to business.. My first thought: I am not shocked at all that Manny has used PED's. I am more shocked that he got caught in this new era of tests. I am not buying the whole "doctor's prescription" excuse. Manny got caught and now he has to deal with it. Since I love having Manny on the Dodgers, but am not in love with him like many Dodger fans, I am more concerned with what his loss means to the Dodgers. The timing is pretty bad, what with the Dodgers coming off the best home start in major league history. However, not all is lost Dodger fans. Bill Plaschke, the moron, is irate to the point that he wants Manny off of the Dodgers. This is what I hate about sportswriters, they are holier than thou on issues like this. But I digress from the true topic off of interest; mainly, how will the Dodgers stay afloat over this fifty game period? Here are a few of my thoughts:

• First off, the Dodgers need to realize that Juan Pierre is not the answer in left field. I mean, seriously, anyone but Pierre. Luckily, the Dodgers have some decent options who can probably pass as league average. Xavier Paul, the likely replacement for Manny, is a much better option than Pierre. Paul will outhit Pierre and has a much stronger arm in the outfield. In fact, Paul has been voted as the Dodgers best minor league arm by Baseball America multiple times. So I think he deserves the first shot. Now another viable option is calling Blake DeWitt up again and shifting Casey Blake to left field. Blake is no worse defensively in left than Manny and DeWitt is an upgrade over Blake at third. Either way, the Dodgers are going to have to find a way to maximize their potential lineup in any way possible, whether it be through upgrading the defense or the offense. One thing is for certain, Juan Pierre should not be given the opportunity. Having a left-fielder post a .650 OPS would sink the Dodgers' lineup faster than the iceberg sank the Titanic.
• The pitching will have waaaay more pressure on it now. Up til this point, keeping the team in the game until the offense came through was the pitching staff's M.O. Runs will now be harder to come by. It is going to be important for Hiroki Kuroda to come back healthy, and Kershaw, Wolf, and Stults are going to have to tighten the screws a bit. The starters need to get deeper into the games in order to keep the bullpen fresh. I will now go on record, after denying it all season so far, that the Dodgers NEED to add another starter somehow. Without Manny, the offense goes from best in the league to middle of the pack, and the onus is on the staff to step it up.
• Some good news: Martin is starting to heat up. If he can get back to his normal form, it will provide the Dodgers with a great boost. Also, Rafael Furcal is starting to get going and should return to his historical level of performance. Casey Blake, Matt Kemp, and James Loney will all need to play better as well. All three are more than capable. I don't really believe too much in lineup protection, but it will be interesting to see how Andre Ethier hits now with Manny out of the lineup.
• Other good news: It's only fifty games. Manny will be back on July 3rd. Now, how he will perform when he gets back is a fair question. But still, the Dodgers already have a 6 1/2 game lead on San Francisco. The Diamondbacks are a mess, and the Padres and Rockies are terrible. It's hard to imagine any team in the division playing higher than .600 ball ovet the next fifty games, so if the Dodgers can just level the storm and play .500 baseball, they will come out of this in first place. I am going to pretend that Manny suffered an injury, and hopefully his return for the second half of the season will provide a boost.
• It's going to be interesting to see the reaction of the fan to Manny now on. He was a God here, to the point that it actually annoyed the crap out of me. The hispanic demographic in Los Angeles really identified with him in a way not seen since Fernandomania. Will he be booed when he comes back? Will the fans support him? How will it be on the road (actually I know the answer to that one)? These are all intriguing questions.

The news today will either make or break the Dodgers' season. If the team can stick together and play well without Manny, his return will be a boost. If they fall apart and can't hold it together, it could get ugly really quick. I happen to think the Dodgers have enough talent to hold it together. ESPN may think the Dodgers only have one player, but Dodger fans know better. Now is the time for the rest of the team to show their talent. If the team can come together and get through this, I think it bodes well for the rest of the season. If not, it might not be fun to watch. This is definitely a bump in the road for the Dodgers, but don't think that it will necessarily send them flying off a cliff. With all the negative attention on the team, now is the time to shine for the Boys in Blue.. Please post your reactions below. I'm curious to see what people think.

P.S. Sorry for all the metaphors