I guess it depends on how you look at it.  Let’s say you’re a country named “Boston” and you have a great deal of dissension among your people despite the fact of devoting the third highest amount of your fiscal portfolio on salaries.  Heck, you’re a legend and you’ve got to keep pace with those damn Yankees.  But at this point, and with the way this season has gone, it’s looking more like the “Curse of Ruth” has come back to haunt you and will keep you out of this years limelight.  Or, let’s say you’re a country named “Los Angeles” and you’ve just emerged from the grips of a dictator who held onto power long enough to drive you into the ground.  Paychecks bounced and the horizon disappeared in darkness.  But new life and leadership – and new checkbooks – have come into play and you’re looking to climb the power ladder back to prominence and are on the precipice of a chance at history.  Well, it’s a matter of context.  And absolutely it’s bad taste to extend these metaphors – and lord knows I want to avoid an electoral op-ed here –  but with the RNC’s debt ticker and its figurative comparison of our country to a business in our immediate review mirror – I couldn’t help but imagine Mitt’s critique – in some sort of Mystery Science Theater 3000 scenario – regarding the financial stakes of the blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and Dodgers.  For Mitt, the Dodgers are undoubtedly on an ignorant “spending inferno” that is certain to produce an unrecoverable debt that only a World Series Title might balance back, yet that might just be the kind of entrepreneurial risk that could produce such an American legend as Staples and restore the Dodgers the superpower status they long for.  On the other side, in one shot the Red Sox had knocked $262.5 million in payroll and “rid” themselves of some under-performing veterans, at the same time investing in the young and promising arms of Rubby De La Rosa and Allen Webster who they acquired from the Dodgers’ farm system.  A dismantling of the present and a wager on the future – a chance to say “we built it.”  Yeah, it’s all a matter of context.  If your country is out of the running, “think for tomorrow.”  But if your country is inches away from a chance at history, “think now”…or, at least, as new Dodgers’ CEO Stan Kasten states, “think big…think about players that could have a huge impact on this team.  Even if they may be playing for another team, even if they’re signed long-term, think big.”  And there’s no question about it now, while the Mets try to focus the pains of a sliding season upon the young lights of Matt Harvey, Zach Wheeler and the like, the Dodgers are big time on the horizon, but still teetering on a precipice and looking for cohesion.  While the Mets lost 16 of their 28 games in August, the Dodgers went .500 and have lost 8 of their last 11, including being swept by their running rival Giants who are clinging to that NL West lead by only a game and a half.  That Hollywood, so far, is an awfully pretty sign on the hill, just don’t go down into those streets quite yet until they’ve cleaned things up a bit and lived together for awhile.  In the meantime, let’s celebrate our newest ‘Dem Bums title winners: Team Roberts’ R.A. Dickey and Team Reid’s Luis Cruz.

SIGHTS ON CY

This is not to say that all the lights are dark in Citi Field.  In fact, in an impressive come from behind victory to take the August Pitching Title, Team Roberts’ R.A. Dickey threw a complete game shutout of the Miami Marlins on the last day of the month to snatch glory out of Team Talley’s Chad Billingsley’s hands.  Billingsley, who had brought home the July Pitching Title for Team Talley, continued his solid pitching performances throughout August by winning 4 of his 5 starts and allowing only 8 runs total to post an ace high 2.27 ERA and seemed to have the August Pitching Title locked up going into the last night of the month.  But that’s what I mean by “lights.”  The only postseason that New York Mets’ fans can hope for now – barring an absolutely incredible and historic September – is a ceremony that convenes the NL Cy Young Award to R.A., making him only the third Mets pitcher to take home the award after Seaver and Gooden (Seaver won the award three times in 1969, ’73 and ’75).  The general benchmark is 20 wins or more and with his 3 wins in August, Dickey is tied for the League lead with 17.  The Reds Johnny Cueto is probably Dickey’s strongest competition as he has 17 wins of his own and, currently, a slightly lower overall ERA at 2.48 but Dickey outshines Cueto in strikeouts 190 to 144.  In August, Dickey brought Team Roberts to glory with the franchises’ first Pitching Title of the season after allowing only one run in his last three starts and posting an ERA of 2.00.  Regardless of what the MLB decides, Dickey is the ‘Dem Bums Cy Young award winner of 2012 as he is the first pitcher and the first player to take home two titles overall.

CRUZOMANIA

The lynchpin of the blockbuster trade between the Red Sox and the Dodgers was Adrian Gonzalez, not only because of his middle of the lineup bat potential, but because he would tap into the Dodgers strong Latino fan-base and perhaps resurrect a 21st-century “Fernandomania” with his Mexican-American heritage.  “Fernandomania” was born in 1981 after Valenzuela started the season a perfect 8-0 that would eventually catapult the Dodgers to win the World Series that season and Fernando to be the first pitcher to win the Rookie of the Year award and Cy Young in the same season.  However, in 29 ABs for the Dodgers this August, Gonzalez managed only 6 hits to just barely stay off the interstate with a .207 AVG and Dodger fans – Latino and all – are less than maniacal about the former Red Sox first baseman thus far.  In the meantime, it’s a lesser known Mexican player that’s posting the numbers worthy of a ‘Dem Bums August Batting Title: Luis Cruz.  In 84 ABs in August, Cruz had 28 hits with 13 RBIs and only 9 strikeouts, half the number of the rest of the Dodgers’ lineup with similar opportunities at the plate.  While Ruben Tejada has done an excellent job of filling the Mets’ shortstop void with the departure of Jose Reyes, Cruz not only is hitting with the best of the bats in the Los Angeles lineup, but more than holds his own on the infield at third and short.  Cruz’s .333 batting average gives Team Reid their first Batting Title of the season.

FROSTING ON THE CAKE

As we enter the last month of baseball, we not only enter into the race for the last two Batting and Pitching Titles of the 2012 MLB season, but also the opportunity for one ‘Dem Bums franchise to take home the “Bum Crown.”  As you may recall from the beginning of the season with the launch of ‘Dem Bums, every franchise would pay in a $10 per month fee that would fund two monthly prizes of a Batting and Pitching Title worth $30 each (for a refresher you can check the “About” page).  However, if you do the math, this leaves $10 in extra funds for each month – a total of $60 for the season – that goes toward the winner of the most titles at the end of the season.  Currently there are four franchises that have two titles each and are therefore in the running for the “Bum Crown”: Team Carlson, Team Parry, Team Reid and Team Roberts.  If two (or more) teams tie for the “Bum Crown” – they will split the pot.  Good luck for your last chance at glory and see you one last time in the digital drafting rooms with a whole new batch of bums to choose from.

AUGUST PITCHING TITLE RESULTS

1) Team Roberts – R.A. Dickey (2.00 / 6)
2) Team Talley – Chad Billingsley (2.27 / 5)
3) Team Parry – Clayton Kershaw (2.49 / 6)
4) Team Carlson – Jonathon Niese (2.61 / 6)
5) Team Reid – Matt Harvey (3.19 / 5)
6) Team Rybakova – Chris Capuano (4.59 / 5)
7) Team Wanzel – Chris Young (4.76 / 5)

AUGUST BATTING TITLE RESULTS

1) Team Reid – Luis Cruz (.333 / 84)
2) Team Talley – A.J. Ellis (.291 / 79)
3) Team Wanzel – Ike Davis (.287 / 87)
4) Team Parry – Matt Kemp (.286 / 98)
5) Team Roberts – Andre Ethier (.283 / 106)
6) Team Rybakova – Hanley Ramirez (.282 / 110)
7) Team Carlson – Scott Hairston (.298 / 57 DNQ)