There was something otherworldly about the 2009 Los Angeles Dodgers from the start. Signs of some sort of alien season started early, around November of last year, to be exact.
Its main star, Manny Ramirez, who bears a striking resemblance to the dreadlocked “Predator” of sci-fi movie fame, was a holdout in the off-season, refusing to play by the rules of cause and effect, give and take. , all time. The move implements a countermove aspect of trading physics.
The Dodgers offered once, and they offered big, and Ramirez and the agent said, “They offer again!” On this big blue planet, that’s not the way you play ball, ping-pong, or any receptive sport, trading with each other. Offers are supposed to evoke counteroffers, especially in a declining economy.
Literally running late to the game, RamÃrez arrived at spring training with little time to get in shape. By his own admission, when he arrived on opening day, he was at “50%” capacity. His hamstring kicked in, so he needed to rest just when he was supposed to go all out.
Then the 50-game failed drug test suspension hit him.
Still, the interplanetary Dodgers continued to play in the stratosphere, without Ramirez.
But even the magic of manager Joe Torre and the upbeat play of the near-rookies and grizzled-but-good veterans couldn’t stop this team from forever defying gravity.
On Earth, the perpetual motion machine has not yet been invented. If you want to keep your engine running, you need gasoline, batteries, hydrogen, steam or solar propulsion, biofuel, or a combination.
Teams do not stand still, improve or degrade. Without continuous improvement, entropy sets in; people wear themselves out, just as much as the Dodgers are doing pitching and clutch hitting.
The team had a chance to refuel and improve by signing ace pitcher Roy Halladay, who throws deep in games. But management passed on, and brought in a lower octane, instead.
No longer the greatest team in baseball, the Yankees are, with 30 wins over .500, the Dodgers have fallen back to Earth.
For them, that’s too normal; not paranormal.
Your Stargate for 2009 may have been closed.
