20-1

"GET DOWN! Cause I ain't got nothing to lose
I'm having a bad day, don't make me take it out on you!"
--Get Back, Ludacris

No, these are not the odds on the Bills or the Rams to win the Super Bowl (actually, I just checked, and they really are the odds for the Bills and Rams, but that's not why I put it in the title; Chargers are 17-1, by the way), it's not Jake Peavy's strikeouts to walks ratio (that's actually 4.50, third in the NL), and it's not Drew Brees' touchdown to interception ratio (though last year it might have been close, we won't discuss the 2005 number at this particular juncture)--no, ladies and gentlemen, that is the scoreline from Tuesday night's NL West clash that had the division-leading Padres on the wrong end of an absolute shellacking by the last-place Rockies. What's so great about baseball (among a thousand other things) is that you can come back the next night, behind a guy like Jake Peavy and dominate the same team. When you play a 162-game schedule, it's much easier to put a game like that behind you than it would be in a 16-game NFL slate. The Chargers have lost two in a row and it's like the season's already over (not really, since we're going to be rebounding with a big win over Eli and the Giants on Sunday night), but the Padres, who lost eight in a row and 12 of 13 at one point this season, never even gave up the division lead (granted, this is the worst division in the history of baseball; never has a team this bad been in first place in any division ever). But my point is still made. The other part of the 162-game schedule is its marathon nature, as the White Sox can unfortunately attest. After last night's loss (and Cleveland's win), the Sox are creeping ever closer to missing out on the post-season, after maintaining baseball's best record for the majority of the season. They aren't done yet (1.5 game lead as of press time), but they're fading fast, and the Indians (Hafner? Sizemore? Peralta? Aaron F-ing Boone?) have been on absolute fire.

I think I need to set up a separate blog just for Dontrelle Willis, because it seems like I write about him in about every other entry. Granted, he's worthy of such acclaim, but it's starting to get ridiculous. I made sure to have a monitor in front of me at 4 p.m. yesterday so I could catch as much of the Dontrelle-Pedro duel as possible (and Johan Santana was facing the White Sox around the same time--good thing we have two TV's in the edit bay). His pitching exploits are well-known, and he continued to dominate last night, beating Pedro with 8 innings, 1 earned and 7 K's. It's his hitting, however, that might be even more impressive. I thought it was amazing that he batted eighth in his last start, something most pitchers definitely don't do, but McKeon batted him SEVENTH last night! That means that the Marlins have two position players who aren't better hitters than a guy who doesn't even take batting practice and isn't in the lineup four out of every five days. I don't know if it's more of a compliment to the D-Train or a slight to Joe Dillon (batted eighth last night) and Robert Andino (ninth).

I really am rooting for the Marlins to make the playoffs, not only because it would mean that the Padres (er, sorry, the NL West winner) will face the Braves instead of the Cardinals. I know we (whoever) have no shot in St. Louis, but the Braves definitely aren't the Braves of old, and they've got so many rookies that it'll be tough for them to do much. Jake and Eaton, maybe Woody and Lawrence--I like our chances. Of course, we still have to clinch, something I hope will be happening before next weekend, but just in case, I'm in touch with a PR guy with the Padres, acquiring tickets for next Saturday's tilt with the disappointing Dodgers (I don't know if that's more true or alliterative; probably equal amounts of both).

That Padre game (and the post-game fireworks) will be the meat portion of a sports weekend sandwich that begins with Glen Johnson vs. George Khalid Jones, live from Cache Creek Casino outside of Sacramento. It's our latest Best Damn Fight Night, and should be a good time--we fly up Friday morning, do the fight thing all day, goof around at the casino and fly back the next day around noon. Upon returning to Los Angeles, I'll continue the southward journey to S.D. and come back late-night after those fireworks. Sunday, as usual, will be all about football, and then another basketball game at night (if the fight and the football are the bread, maybe our b-ball game is the toothpick?). Fortunately, the following week is dark, so the fatigue generated by such a whirlwind schedule will theoretically be short-lived. It also remains a possibility that I'll be traveling that week, either to San Diego or to the Padres' road destination for the first round, if Fox should decide to carry a game or two of that series. I'm not holding my breath, but it would be pretty awesome to get to a playoff game.

'Literally' Mis-Use of the Week:
It's been a while since I've heard a good one of these--either my ear for it has been deafened, or the world is finally picking up on one of my pet peeves and limiting its exposure. Anyways, this morning, L.A. Times writer Gary Klein was on with Colin Cowherd, discussing his new book, "Conquest," and the Pete Carroll era at USC (incidentally, it sounds like a real good book; some inside stuff that a lot of people wouldn't be aware of). Cowherd talked about how Dennis Erickson and Mike Riley were considered for the job before Pete, but once the now-king of L.A. came in to speak with Associate A.D. Daryl Gross (then in charge of the hiring process, but has since become the A.D. at Syracuse), it was over. And I quote: "Pete Carroll literally knocked the socks off USC officials in his interview." Wow. It would have been fun to have a camera at the proceedings, huh? You don't have to say literally to drive your point home. We understand that he was impressive, but to destroy a metaphor by adding that word just sucks. I'm tired of hearing it in general, but it really peeves me when it's people who are paid to talk.

Good start to the fall session of bible study last night--I've really missed it the last two weeks, and it'll be real cool to get into the image of Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18 - "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit"), what that looks like, and how we're doing that (or trying to, at least) every day. Two big things I like about this passage, our starting point: 1) "unveiled faces" - that we come to church, to bible study--pretty much anywhere--without pretense, without having to hide who we are or what we're doing; and 2)"ever-increasing glory" - that as great as God's glory is in our lives today, it's going to continue getting better, all the time.

Looking forward to another Saturday off, and even a short day today (hopefully consisting of a noon departure and a relacing afternoon at the beach), followed by a typically-packed Sunday. Glad to be back in the blogging world, at least temporarily. Peace.