February 15th, 2020 at 8:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka * * *
“I don’t know what human hits a walk-off home run against Aroldis Chapman to send your team to the World Series and one: Has the thought ‘Hey don’t rip my jersey off,’ but two: Go in the tunnel, change your shirt, and then come out and do your interview. Like, that makes no sense to me.”
– Cody Bellinger
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It was short, it was poignant, and it couldn’t have been more on-target … and it was 100 percent pure Cody Bellinger, the 2019 National League’s Most Valuable Player.
It was also just one of many similar quotes from nearly every Dodger player interviewed on Friday morning in the team’s spring training clubhouse at Camelback Ranch – the first time the media has been allowed into a Dodgers clubhouse since Game-5 of the 2019 National League Division Series; a series which they lost to the eventual 2019 World Series champion Washington Nationals. Ironically, that seven-game World Series was played against those very same cheating Houston Astros. The difference, of course, is that the Nationals prevailed, whereas the Dodgers did not.
“I don’t think anyone’s going to move on and forget about it,” said Dodgers unofficial team captain and third baseman Justin Turner. “After Game-7 I talked about it, it’s something that, you know, you take a World Series to Game-7 and you fall short, it’s something that is gonna stick with you for the rest of your life.
“Even if you win the next five World Series, I’ll probably remember losing that series more than winning the five,” Turner added. “So, this just kind of … it sucks. This is like ripping open a scab.”
“I saw it yesterday, I knew I was going to get asked and I was thinking about it a lot and, to be honest, I don’t know what to think anymore,” said Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw. “You know, some of those guys seemed remorseful, some of those guys said the right things, gave a good apology and that’s great, I’ll go along with that. And then you get the owner up there saying some dumb stuff. It’s like ‘What’s going on,’ you know? It’s just, how can you be that ignorant to the situation?
“I don’t really know what to make of it all anymore, so I think… honestly, I just don’t even know what to say about it,” Kershaw added.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)
“I think that that’s reasonable,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts about the consensus of his guys on the Astros cheating scandal. “Obviously, we were all impacted, but I think that everyone has that right to kind of voice their thoughts and opinions. But I do think at the end of the day, it’s very important for all of us to come together and move forward and look forward to ’20.”
Very important indeed.
Play Ball!
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Posted in 
When the series ended I have to admit I felt that we lost to a better team. It’s really a shocking thing to think of what happened, but I just have to go along with what the skipper said.
Justin Turner: “It’s something that is gonna stick with you for the rest of your life”. No doubt about it.
This cheating scandal has affected millions, but none more the players and organizations that lost because of it. We’ve all been cheated out of knowing who really was the best in 2017.
MLB has blown it big time so far. The tap on the wrist doled out on Houston is NOTHING! Giving the players immunity in exchange for information requires the players be 100% honest. Who thinks that has happened?
MLB’s downward spiral among young people will continue if this isn’t adequately addressed and appropriate punishments doled out. At a minimum, with what we already know the 2017 Houston organization has no right to be called Champions.
VACATE THE CHAMPIONSHIP
I haven’t seen anyone call them champions for weeks. Doubt I’ll see anyone call them champions going forward. I’ve seen one c-word. Only one. That’s the one that sticks to every one of them. It’ll never rub off.
This season has the potential to be payback/comedy gold, especially if AssTros away crowds and pissed off pitchers do their part.
We were also cheated out of another classic Dodgers/Yankees World Series.