At least of half that old notion that all theaters and the best restaurants are dark Mondays was once more laid to rest last night as the eternal drama between the L.A. Dodgers and San Francisco Giants played out once more. In a rather quiet game, the Dodgers won handily,4-2. More important, their victory showed that as they stumble to regain their self-confidence (and victories) in the last part of the season, the Dodgers have nothing to fear but you-know-what. They certainly have nothing to worry about from the occasionally surging Giants. Having sat through their miserable defeat to Cincinnati at ATT Park Friday, I can assure you the Giants don't have the resemblance of a fighting spark or team spirit. You think the Dodgers blow opportunities? The Giants on Friday gave up their late-game lead to the Reds on a silver platter engraved with walks, errors and squandered hits.

Ever the astute sports-theater critics, the Giants fans recognized this familiar narrative and turned on their heroes far more viciously than fed-up Dodger partisans are ever known to do. San Francisco's sagging fortunes (those of the team and the city) were shown in vivid relief the next day at Lefty O'Doul's. Shortly before the broadcast of Saturday's afternoon game, the venerable and noisy cafeteria and bar was nearly deserted, a sign of a slumping economy and team. The Dodgers, who went into Monday's game having lost three consecutive games (and four out of their last five), are not going to lose first place to the Giants or even the Rockies. What their lackluster hitting and pitching may suggest, however, is their inability to get very far in whatever post-season play awaits them.

Let's hope Manny's not-so puzzling slump (it stems from his need to

show he can hit now that he's out from the under the cloud of doping

suspicions) and the ninth-inning home run Jonathan Broxton served up

last night prove to be aberrations that can be overcome in the fullness

of time — or at least in the fullness of the next 49 games.

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