to actually have ESPN Insider access. I want to read Gammons' article about the Dodgers and World Series since I'll probably never see those words juxtaposed again in my lifetime.

Copy + Pasting article here would be ofc

http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index...3dgammons_peter

i'd do it but dont feel like doing it

1. The Dodgers have their best chance to win the World Series since the Reagan Administration.

Remember, Jose Lima is the only Dodger to win a postseason game since 1988, and it came in 2004.

Let's not even think about what the Dodgers would be like if Rafael Furcal could play in the postseason. Rather, think about putting Takashi Saito at the end of one of the best bullpens in baseball. Think about Brad Penny in long relief with Jonathan Broxton and company, and then realize that every other National League playoff possibility other than the Cubs has some bullpen issue … and it's worth thinking about Joe Torre getting back to the World Series. Or Manny Ramirez getting to his fifth World Series, against perhaps the Red Sox.

Saito makes the Dodgers' bullpen potentially overpowering, with Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, Joe Beimel, Cory Wade, et al. Chad Billingsley and Derek Lowe have actually outpitched the Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb and Dan Haren down the stretch, and with Hiroki Kuroda, the emerging Clayton Kershaw (2-0 with 17 strikeouts in 17 innings in September) and the depth of their staff, they have the pitching to win.

The Dodgers certainly have flaws, but the fact is that even before Ramirez was handed to them, their very talented young players were already emerging. When Torre abandoned Juan Pierre and Andruw Jones and Andre Ethier began playing every day, he emerged as the team's best all-around player with his .888 OPS, and Matt Kemp, James Loney and Russell Martin are all tremendous young players. Casey Blake also gave them a veteran whose professionalism has been a major factor since he arrived.

It took Torre, Don Mattingly and Larry Bowa more than half a season to sort out this team, but they have it figured out now. The Dodgers have the best overall team ERA in the National League. They have Ramirez hitting in the middle of Ethier, Martin, Kemp and Loney. GM Ned Colletti also didn't trade away any of their best young players except catcher Carlos Santana, who brought them Blake and saved ownership money.

2. Manny Ramirez for NL MVP over Albert Pujols?

There is little question that Ramirez has had a huge impact on the Dodgers, and L.A. accepted the entire package when Manny and his agent, Scott Boras, realized that the only way to get to the 2008 free-agent market was for Manny to refuse to honor his existing contract with the Red Sox. But the MVP notion is silly. Rafael Furcal and his 1.045 OPS got the Dodgers off to a 18-14 start before he injured his back. In Ramirez's first 40 games, the Dodgers had a run differential of plus-22 and averaged 4.55 runs per game, as opposed to 4.43 through July 31. Thanks to Lee Sinis, we see that Pujols has 87 runs created, 22 more than runner-up Lance Berkman; Pujols is fighting through an elbow injury that likely will require him to undergo offseason surgery, and he has kept the Cardinals afloat through a slew of injuries, and played excellent defense as well.

It's hard to talk about the MVP Award for Manny when the team that paid the Dodgers to take Ramirez is 27-13 without him through Sunday and have seen their runs per game increase from 4.94 at the time of the deal to 6.22 since.

insider is free, no?

thanks m8. Hope my fellow Deutschlanders treat you nice at Oktoberfest

some articles they offer free previews to...but the majority you have to pay a monthly fee to read.

clearly not

This post has been edited by StQ on Mon - Sep 15 2008 - 20:51:18

free for a year if you subscribe to the mag or something

This post has been edited by ppkpkppk on Tue - Sep 16 2008 - 06:59:35