Lucky 13 For The Dodgers! UPDATED

Yes, this is another post professing both love and frustration with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. The team has a record 13 straight wins at home to start the season - well, a "modern record". Translate that into "current baseball fan base memory". The start of the season is always great for the team and Los Angeles has a butterfly-filled start to this relationship at the season's beginning. There are really three parts to a Los Angeles Dodgers season:

Part 1: The start of the season has the team winning games and hovering at the number one spot. Everyone is excited that the season has started and started off well. Last year's failure to bring home a title is a distant memory.

Part 2: The slump begins. Whoever is the big hitter, pitcher, or star isn't performing 100%. Injuries take out another key player or two. The team flirts with being a contender but falls back enough to remind fans that they haven't had a World Series win in a very long time.

Part 2.5: Major star gets suspended for alleged PED use and takes the wind out of the team's sails. Fans sigh and aren't surprised since it was only a matter of time before they would be dealt a crushing blow since things were going too well.

Part 3.1: The team makes a run for the playoffs. They start winning a few more games and give local media enough to start making speculations about post-season scenarios. They either *almost* make it to the post season or barely scrape in as a wild card. Every so often, they win their division. If they don't make it to the playoffs, the local media talk about what a great shoulda, coulda, woulda, blah...blah...blah...

Part 3.2: If the team does make it to the post-season they get eliminated in the first round. In the last few years this post-season appearance is enough to allow the current ownership to believe they somehow deserve to squeeze more money out of the fans. This is done in the form of higher ticket prices, parking, concessions, gear, etc. Of course, this past year the owners "rolled back" prices to a year or two ago for hot dogs or something like that and held ticket prices. Ooh, thanks.

Los Angeles deserves a World Series win. Chavez Ravine has the highest attendance in baseball for the longest period of time. There is Dodger blue all over the city since we all buy a plethora of shirts, hats, and other chotchkies. We've paid for it - now bring it!