MAGIC NUMBER and close to something we've never had

The Dodgers and the Angels both have a magic number of 4.

A Magic number is the number of wins or losses needed to secure a division championship in Major League baseball.

But more importantly this is the closest we've ever been to a FREEWAY or SUBWAY or L TRAIN series.

Of course there was a BART series in 1989 but an earthquake messed that up.

The Dodgers and the Angels in a World Series would be a great story for the west coast. The rest of the country might not be so enthralled but there are Dodger fans everywhere. The Angels probably don't have a wide fan base outside of California.

There are a few problems that might prevent a freeway series. Those problems reside in Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Boston and Detroit.

The Dodgers actually have a better record than the Angels but that could change with 8 games left....espically if the Dodgers lose another game or two at Pittsburgh.

Incidentally, the Dodgers seemed to blame the G-20 Summit on their 3-1 lost last night.

The real challenge right now is to see if the Dodgers can finish with a better record than Philadelphia and St. Louis. Home field advantage is important even if Joe Torre doesn't think so.

The Dodgers have the best cost performance player in baseball. Matt Kemp makes $467,000 a year.

There should be a special award for players making under $1 million dollars.

Call it the POORRICH BOYS award.

I think Matt wins it hands down.

Let's just hope the Magic number gets reduced during the current trip to Pittsburgh.

The last thing I want to see is a meaningful three game series against Colorado to end the season.

Michael Timothy McAlevey