Dodgers' pitching staff is a shutdown force

If the Dodgers get back to the World Series for a third straight year, much of the attention will focus on Cody Bellinger, who is having an MVP season.

But it is the moundwork that could make this team a three-time National League champion.

Hyun Jin-Ryu is having a masterful season, posting an 8-1 record and 1.48 ERA. Walker Buehler, the ace in waiting, is 6-1 with a 3.69 ERA and Kenta Maeda is 7-2 with a 3.61 ERA. Rich Hill came off the injury list and looks strong at 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA.

Then there's Clayton Kershaw, he of the diminished fastball who is 5-0 with a 3.20 ERA. He's doing it with smoke and mirrors these days, and a
devastating slider and curve, and the Dodgers just don't lose when he takes the hill.

And if those five were not enough, Julio Urias (3-2) and Ross Stripling (2-2) are working out of the pen and can start if Roberts needs them.

The only real weakness so far is the middle relief where Roberts hopes Urias and Caleb Ferguson can settle things down for closer Kenley Jansen, who has found his groove again.

The Dodgers are up 9.5 games on the Rockies and have the best record in the National League and second best in all of baseball.

They have won six in a row and 10 out of 11. It doesn't get much better than this.

When they cool off, which they inevitably will, that pitching staff will keep the slumps from getting out of hand.

As for that World Series, let's hope the third time is the charm.

Roach races and the Elvis - minor league baseball in America

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos of the Southern League are the AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, which is where this story starts.

In 1965, the Los Angeles Dodgers won the World Series over the Twins, four games to three, as Sandy Koufax pitched three games to lead Walter Alston's club to the title.

I was nine years old that summer and loved going to Dodger games with my mom and aunt, sitting in the 75-cent left field bleachers.

Koufax didn't pitch Game One because it was Yom Kippur, but lost Game Two to put the Dodgers in a hole.

The Dodgers rallied for a win in Game Three behind Claude Osteen and Game Four behind Don Drysdale.

Koufax pitched a gem for a win in Game Five, but the Twins evened the series in Game Six with a win over Osteen.

That set up a Game Seven showdown between Koufax and Jim Kaat in Bloomington's Metropolitan Stadium where Koufax, pitching on two days rest, pitched a complete game shutout three-hitter for a 2-0 championship victory with Sweet Lou Johnson hitting a solo homer and Ron Fairly driving in Wes Parker with an insurance run.

So now some 54 years later I am sitting behind home plate watching the Blue Wahoos lose to the Mississippi Braves on a night when the highlights were the Roach Race and a report on the Elvis at the snack bar.

A local exterminator sponsors the Roach Race, which involves a horde of kids chasing a guy in a roach costume from the right field foul line to the left field foul line. One kid almost caught the roach.

Then there's the Elvis. The Elvis is a deep-fried banana with peanut butter. The guy behind me talked about getting one and when he came back he was a little disappointed.

He said, "it wasn't what I had hoped it would be."

Ya gotta love baseball.