It's a long way from the college burg of Stillwater, Okla.,hometown of the All- American Rejects, to Dodger Stadium, where thefledgling band played a postgame concert on Saturday night. But it'snot nearly as far as the Dodgers are from the playoffs.
Following their 8-3 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates before adubiously announced crowd of 45,730, the Dodgers officially couldn'tget there from here.
The inevitable finally became reality when the home team wasmathematically eliminated from its quest for a second consecutiveNational League West championship, a quest that never really got offthe ground anyway. As for the wild card, the route the past threeworld champions have taken to the postseason, the Dodgers were longsince eliminated from that.
They now will watch the postseason games from the comfort of theirliving rooms. Or at least they will read about them in their morningpapers. Or maybe they will just check the scores on the Internet, inbetween following their stocks.
Or maybe not.
"It has been tough with all the injuries and all that stuff,' saidleft-hander Odalis Perez, who made a successful if not triumphantreturn from the disabled list with a Grapefruit League-type start inwhich he pitched two innings and allowed a run on two hits. "Thisyear has been tough for everyone in this clubhouse. I don't see thesame atmosphere in this clubhouse that we have had the past fewyears. But we just have to deal with that.
"I don't know how to explain it, but it's different. It's just notthe same atmosphere we had last year. Everybody is different. Nobodyis the same. But mostly, it's just sad to know we're going to end theseason not going back to the playoffs. That is very sad.'
The saddest Dodger of all is veteran left-hander Wilson Alvarez,who announced almost two months ago that he will retire after theseason. He pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and although theDodgers have eight games of monotony left on their schedule, thereception Alvarez got from his teammates when he reached the dugoutafter that performance hinted that this might have been his lastappearance in the big leagues.
"I know Wilson Alvarez's mindset and the type of competitor (he)is,' Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "I think Wilson Alvarez wants togo out on a positive note. We will see what transpires. I will dealwith it as we go along. But he obviously had a good inning.'
The Dodgers (68-86) got to live a few more minutes when Arizonarallied in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat first-place SanDiego. But shortly after that final went up on the out-of-townscoreboard, rookie Jonathan Broxton gave up a two-run double to CraigWilson in the top of the ninth, putting the Dodgers in a five-runhole and their season on the ash heap of history.
The fourth-place Dodgers still trail the Padres by nine games andnow lead the last-place Colorado Rockies by four, which should givethem something to play for from here on out.
The lone run allowed by Perez (7-5) left him holding the check forthe loss, but if he feels OK today he will make another abbreviatedstart on Thursday night against the Diamondbacks, with Brad Pennyscheduled to piggyback off him if Penny's side session goes well thismorning.
"I felt good,' Perez said. "I'm just happy to go into theoffseason knowing I don't have to worry about injuries.'
Oliver Perez (7-5), one of several promising young players thePirates hope will elevate them out of their perennial small-marketoblivion and finally end what is now a streak of 13 consecutivelosing seasons, held the Dodgers to a run on five hits over sixinnings.
The Dodgers stranded seven baserunners, three of them in scoringposition. They ran themselves out of a first-inning rally with astrikeout-caught stealing double play.
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