Frustration, Anger and Bitterness: Giants Win it All Again

The dark times are upon us. The pumpkin-colored foes have now won three World Championships in the past five years. Writing the word dynasty and Giants in the same sentence makes me cringe. Yet I have to accept the fact that San Francisco has completed a trifecta of championships, and us Dodger fans must somehow overcome these feelings of misery and anguish.

I’m wearing my black Dodger hat today in mourning. Not only did the Dodgers get eliminated by the Cardinals after winning just one postseason game this year, but looking back I feel as though 2013 was the best chance they had… and they failed. 2013 had the magic, and the Dodgers just fell short of reaching the elusive World Series for the first time since 1988. For some reason 2013’s ending still bothers me immensely.

I feel for the Royals and the city of Kansas City. While the Giants are certainly a force to be reckoned with and Madison Bumgarner suddenly became one of the best World Series pitchers in MLB history, the Royals had something very special this season. It would have been great for KC to pick up their second championship in front of a pumped up home crowd at Kauffman Stadium, but alas the Pandas were the ones celebrating with champagne last night.

I turned the game off before the ninth inning commenced. I just couldn’t bear to watch the Giants win another one. It was obvious that Madison Bumgarner was going to bring the championship home for the Giants, and the inevitable feeling of dread came over me. Why wasn’t Clayton Kershaw the one clinching the championship in Game 7? Why wasn’t Matt Kemp the one driving in the winning run?

I’m certainly bitter. Very bitter. I feel as though I have every right to be. $240 million couldn’t get the Dodgers a championship roster, and that’s very discouraging. The St. Louis and San Francisco fans will no doubt use this in argument to twist that knife a little more. While the Dodgers play in Los Angeles and not Hollywood, I can still compare this situation to a bad horror flick trilogy. There’s a lot of screaming, bad acting and predictable outcomes.

In Hollywood, you always need a leading male. Madison Bumgarner is not better than Clayton Kershaw. I’m going to boldly state that fact. Whether Kershaw struggles in the postseason or his appearances have been just a part of the overall discontinuity of the Dodgers as a team over the past two years, Kersh is still the best. Bumgarner does now have a ring and a World M.V.P. to brag about, but Kershaw is about to clean up in the season awards next month.

I can admit that Bumgarner is incredibly good. His postseason reign of dominance was deserving of acknowledgement even from this Dodger fan, but there’s no way you can persuade me that he is an overall better pitcher than Clayton Kershaw.

How do the Giants do it? They can pick up a no namer or washed up veteran for cheap, and he suddenly hits like Reggie Jackson down the stretch. They can string together bloopers and seeing eye singles like no others. Their rollie pollie third baseman is curiously golden at third base. Their awkward and all-of-a-sudden Melking the spotlight outfielder hit .444 with a homerun and 3 doubles in the World Series. Joe Panik is somehow very relevant. They did it all with a lukewarm Buster Posey who hit .154 during the World Series and no Angel Pagan or Matt Cain.

The Giants are aggressive at the plate, they have a good pitching staff, and Bruce Bochy is a respected and accomplished manager. The Giants know how to turn it on in the postseason as evident from this latest winning run. Although Ned Yost gave him a run for his money in this year’s World Series, and it was as close as it gets. Yost has to be commended for such an incredible run as well, and the 3-2 loss in Game 7 was a heartbreaking loss for sure.

My dream is to watch Clayton Kershaw pitch in the World Series, and all this San Francisco clam chowder is fogging my mind. The Dodgers have the cornerstone for the team in Kershaw. Like Bumgarner, who led his team to a championship with a solid season and dominant postseason, Kershaw will do the same for the Dodgers. Like his no-hitter this past season, it was going to happen. It was just a question of when.

When? I’ve been asking that since 1988. I thought 2013 was the year, but instead here we are a year later with an even more unnerving end to the season. When will the Dodgers get to the World Series again? The Royals had been asking that for a long time as well. Our time must surely come.

Baseball is over, and the long cold offseason is upon us. While some may be turning their attention to the other three sports, I will remain here ranting about the Dodgers.

Hope. Change. 2015.

We all look forward to a Bluer tomorrow. Photo: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

A political campaign or a Blue campaign?

The gloating from Giants fans will take awhile to fizzle out, but all we can do is look to 2015. It has been a tumultuous time in baseball over the past five years, and the Dodgers are still working on revamping themselves and emerging from the dark days of McCourt. The silver lining is that the Dodgers still represent the best city on Earth, and San Francisco has a bunch of lazy sea lions.

Sure, Ghirardelli chocolate is all delicious and stuff, and the Giants have like eight championships, but Los Angeles is home and where my heart will always lie.

The Giants can never take away the Dodgers’ rich history and tradition. A tradition which they are building on in order to shift the success toward the Dodgers. It takes time to rebuild after such a destructive time, and the Dodgers still aren’t quite there. The worst part is that the Giants are succeeding during this time. The Dodgers are in a better place than they were five years ago, and according to Andrew Friedman it is all about the “process.”

Until the process pans out, I’ll be here still loving the Dodgers and hating the Giants.