When the Dodgers begin play on Wednesday evening in Cincinnati, they will be trailing the Giants by 7.5 games in the NL West (8 games in the loss column, if your’re counting). While this is a rather uncomfortable margin as we near the halfway point of the season, it is certainly not insurmountable. But if the Dodgers are going to overcome this deficit, they are going to need a little help from the teams that face the Giants. They also, of course, need to win themselves – especially at home.

The Dodgers have played the Giants 10 times thus far and are a dismal 3-7 against them – that’s the good news. The bad news is that there are nine games remaining against the Hated Ones, of which six are in the extremely unfriendly confines of AT&T Park, where the Dodgers have won exactly once this season. Sure, it’s possible that the Dodgers will win all nine remaining games against their fiercest rivals, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

One of the very few highlights in the 10 games against the Giants thus far this season was Matt Kemp’s two-home run game on April 6. Hanley Ramirez also homered twice that day in the Dodgers 6-2 win over Matt Cain and the Giants. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Winning all nine remaining games would, of course, be a full nine-game swing in the standings, but even if the Giants win four or five of the nine, the Dodgers would still trail the Giants by a considerable margin. In other words, the Dodgers cannot allow the Giants to continue to dominate them at home or away if they hope to win their second consecutive NL West title. (By the way, six of those final nine games occur in September – three at AT&T and three at Dodger Stadium).

As most Dodger fans are well aware, the Dodgers have yet to win more that three games in a row and, quite frankly, this isn’t getting it done. As noted before here on ThinkBlueLA.com, during their historic 42-8 run last season, the Dodgers had winning streaks of six games, four games, five games, six games, four games, five games and ended the run on a 10-game winning streak – their longest since 2006. And while another 42-8 run is highly unlikely, something in the 20-8 range is not, but it would require a few winning streaks of four, five or six games – something that they are poised to do later this evening, having won three straight.

For the Dodgers to get back into the division race, they must… absolutely must have Adrian Gonzalez snap out of his slump. AGon’s two doubles in Tuesday night’s 6-1 win over the Reds could be a sign that it is happening – and not a moment too soon. (Video capture courtesy of MLB.com)

It’s hard to believe that the Dodgers are a dismal 13-19 (.406) at Dodger Stadium this season. It’s equally hard to believe that they are a MLB-leading 22-12 (.647) on the road. The difference, of course, is that the Giants are 22-11 (.667) at home, which is the sole reason for their 7.5-game lead over the Dodgers. If the Dodgers can start winning at home like they have been on the road, and if the Giants come back down to earth as they finally appear to be doing, then the Dodgers are right back in the division race – Wild Card be damned.

While a lot of fun was made over Brandon Belt’s comments about the Dodgers lacking “chemistry” last season before spring training and before the Dodgers won the NL West by a comfortable 11-game margin, nobody’s laughing about it now. The fact is that the Giants are playing with the intensity, drive, desire and, yes, chemistry that the Dodgers have been lacking. And regardless of how the Dodgers get into the postseason, they will most likely have to face that same Giants intensity, drive, desire and chemistry.

It is time, Dodgers. It is time to bring that fight that you are showing on the road back home to Dodger Stadium.