Dodger Day Off

The Los Angles Dodgers have played 156 games. The San Diego Padres have played 155. Today the Dodgers have a day off while the Padres send David Wells (2-5, 4.80 ERA) to the mound to oppose the Cardinals’ Jeff Suppan (12-7, 4.07 ERA).

The matchup is not inspiring but the Padres need to come through with a win. Remember, when the Padres win the first game of a series, they’re 7-0 (in series wins) since the All Star break, furthermore, if the Padres win, they would lead the Dodgers by a resounding 2 games with only six to play. On the other hand, if the Padres lose tonight, they would fall to only 1 game up. A 1-game margin with six games remaining is not confidence inspiring. Only one game more however, provides quite a bit of confidence.

Assuming the Padres do win tonight, the Dodgers would have to finish 2 games better than the Padres out of the remaining six (i.e. if the Padres finish 4-2, the Dodgers would need to go 6-0 – or if the Padres went 3-3, the Dodgers would need to go 5-1). I think the Padres will the division, but a win tonight would take a lot of wind out of the Dodgers’ sails.