Moorpark Acorn's National League West preseason showdown
Sportswriters Thomas Gase and Stephen Dorman debate which team will win the pennant

Gase

I am scared to death of the next Friday the 13th, which happens to be coming this April.

You see, my co-worker is Steve Dorman, and on April 13 his beloved San Diego Padres will officially be out of the National League West race when they play the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time. From then on out, Dorman will probably be angrier than the Incredible Hulk on steroids.

The Dodgers and Padres had the same amount of wins a year ago, but Los Angeles made some moves over the offseason that have the Padres running for cover, trying to hide in their hideous camouflage uniforms. (By the way, good job outdoing yourself on the worst uniform ever award).

The Dodgers signed former San Francisco Giant pitcher Jason Schmidt to a threeyear, $47 million deal over the winter to help lead an excellent pitching staff that already featured 16-game winners Brad Penny and Derek Lowe.

L.A. also signed Randy Wolf. He should be a solid fourth man.

Gone is Eric Gagne, but the Dodgers' immediate future in the bullpen looks bright with Takashi Saito, and even better further down the road with Jonathan Broxton.

Dorman

Juan Pierre was another great addition to the Blue Crew this year. Pierre has a .303 career batting average and has swiped at least 45 bases every year since 2001. Oh yeah, he also has a World Series ring, something that a San Diego Padres fan knows absolutely nothing about.

With Pierre and speedster Rafael Furcal at the top of the lineup, the Dodgers will physically run away with the West. Nomar Garciaparra, Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez and youngsters like Russell Martin, Andre Ethier and Wilson Betemit should have no trouble driving them in.

Dorman, before you tell me the Dodgers have no power hitters on the team I want you to try and remember the game when Kent, J.D. Drew, Martin and Marlon Anderson hit four home runs in a row before Nomar Garciaparra hit a bomb in extra innings. Oh by the way, who won that game? Oh yeah, the Dodgers won that one.

Come to think of it, when was the last time the city of San Diego won anything?

I mean, the Padres are so awful that the Chargers kicked them out of Jack Murphy Stadium so they could quietly lose playoff games by themselves. I wish Major League Baseball gave out honorable mentions; that way the Padres could have some banners hanging in the outfield.

Until then, San Diego fans will have to be stuck with their "Beat L.A.!" chants. Meanwhile, Dodger fans are planning on beating everyone this year en route to their seventh World Series title.

- Contact Thomas Gase at tgase@theacorn.com

That's not really my picture. It's some other dude. So if you see that guy in the streets, don't punch him in the face or anything. Please.

Now, here's something you never want to say to a city full of Dodger fans: Los Angeles won't win the National League West pennant this season.

How opportune it must have been for Gase- by the way, whatever happened to the other guy, ol' what's-his-name?- to open his face-off career by praising his beloved Dodgers. Everybody's sure going to adore him for that.

I, as always, will shoulder the more difficult task.

As Opening Day rapidly approaches, the experts will tell you Los Angeles is the favorite in the National League West. I'm not buying it, just like I'm not buying a Dodger Dog- ever.

Gase, every time you drive through that death plague traffic en route to Dodger Stadium, I want you to think about one thing:

The San Diego Padres beat the Dodgers 72 percent of the times the teams played last season. That's 13 out of 18 games, you knucklehead. The Padres are the twotime defending NL West champions because of that domination.

In fact, whenever I look in my rearview mirror these days I see two things: 1) cars that look better than mine, and 2) the Dodgers.

San Diego beat Big Blue at home, on the road and in those camouflage jerseys you can't seem to take your eyes off of. Chances are every time you watched the Padres on TV, they were putting the beat down on L.A.

Seriously, what was worse, 1996 or last year? Would you rather get swept for the pennant or simply get pillaged all year long?

Wait a second, should I even be worried about the Dodgers this season? Perhaps Padre fans should stop wasting their time thinking about L.A. and focus on the other teams that could really challenge for the division title.

Colorado is young, talented, and those folks can brew some good beer. Arizona is the same, except without the beer. I believe Arizona's major export is either cactus, tank tops or mullet cuts.

San Francisco . . . oh how we despise thee.

At least the Giants have "The Mustache" on the bench. I'm not talking about Jeff Kent, people- I'm talking about manager Bruce Bochy. Still, there's no way the Giants' bullpen holds up. They're done.

So maybe it will be the Padres and the Dodgers battling things out once again. I actually wouldn't mind it at all. I may even make it down to see a game.

I have one question though. If I do decide to go to a game in L.A., can I stay until the end, or do I have to leave in the bottom of the seventh along with everyone else?

- Contact Stephen Dorman at sdorman@theacorn.com