Dodgers Find Their Footing At The Best Possible Time

The Los Angeles Dodgers had started off the season with two straight losses, and fans — even out here in Minnesota — wondered how they could climb off the canvas against their most hated rivals, the San Francisco Giants. The team rebounded in the road series, taking Barry Bonds and the Bay Area for a sweep this weekend:

Luis Gonzalez hit his first two home runs in Dodger Blue and Randy Wolf gave the Dodgers a third straight standout pitching performance to pull off a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants during a 10-4 victory this afternoon.
Gonzalez connected for a solo shot and three-run homer in his 26th career multihomer game, and Wolf (1-1) outpitched $126-million fellow left-hander Barry Zito in the Dodgers’ eighth consecutive victory in San Francisco.
Matt Kemp had three hits, two RBIs and scored twice for the well-rounded Dodgers, who have dominated in the Giants’ waterfront ballpark since their last loss there on Aug. 18 of last year. Jeff Kent scored three runs. …
San Francisco has only started 1-5 twice before since the club moved west from New York in 1958, in 1967 and 1980 — not the kind of start the franchise wanted for its All-Star season.

It’s a long season, and the two teams will play plenty of baseball between now and October. However, for long-time Dodger fans like myself, we will take a sweep against the Giants any time of the year. Taking the set from them in San Francisco is especially sweet.
The Dodgers now move to 4-2 and face off against the Colorado Rockies in another divisional series. The Rocks are a game behind the Dodgers, while LA is just half a game back of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have had a good start this season. With this sweep behind them, the Dodgers have to be feeling pretty charged up coming back to LA. Let’s hope they can keep the momentum — and the four-game winning streak — alive.