And that will just about do it

I told a colleague as the nightcap headed to the bottom of the ninth that I had a bad feeling about this game. But after Saito retired the first two in the ninth, I figured I was wrong. Nope. I was right. Holliday singled, Helton homered and the Dodgers were left to try to pad their record as win as many games as they can before this once-promising season comes to an inevitable end a week from Sunday. They're not mathematically eliminated yet, but that's a little like me saying I still have a chance to date Jessica Alba before I die because I haven't died yet. But it could be worse. The boys are going to have a winning season. They would have to go 2-9 the rest of the way to not finish above .500, and even that would leave them 81-81, which is a whole lot better than where they finished just two years ago when they went 71-91 and everybody got fired, even though it took Frank and Jamie a good month to get around to canning DePo. It's possible that a few heads could roll after this one, too, but I have serious doubts that those heads will belong to either Grady or Ned -- and I have a strong opinion that says neither of those heads SHOULD belong to either Grady or Ned. And I still think there is a LOT of promise for 2008, when some of these kids who have gotten their rookie growing pains out of the way early over the past couple of years truly become bona fide big leaguers. The guess here is that there will be a lot of magic in this franchise over the next four or five years. And for those of you who shell out your 50 cents every day to read yours truly in the print edition, well, for the 12 days that are left of THIS season, expect most of that coverage to focus largely on NEXT season. ... Good night, all. And sleep well, because there isn't much of a reason to toss and turn anymore.