Sep 25, 2008 - 6:20 PM
0 shoutsJoe Torre gets the last laugh.
While his former team, the New York Yankees, will be missing the postseason for the first time since 1993, Torre is headed to the playoffs for the 13th straight season as the first-year manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Torre's return to the postseason became official when the St. Louis Cardinals defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 12-3, on Thursday afternoon. That result enabled the Dodgers to clinch the National League West Division title - their first since 2004 - even before their game against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night.
Torre guided the Yankees to the playoffs in all 12 of his seasons in the Bronx, but rejected the team's incentive-laden contract offer following New York's third straight first-round exit last year. He moved west to replace Grady Little as the manager of the Dodgers.
The Dodgers endured a number of injuries throughout the season, losing shortstop Rafael Furcal, former ace Brad Penny and closer Takashi Saito for long stretches, and got virtually nothing out of free agent acquisition Andruw Jones. However, they also benefited from playing in the weakest division in the major leagues.
Los Angeles (83-75) was under .500 as late as September 2 (69-70) before getting hot and likely will have the worst record of the eight playoff participants.
The Dodgers also got a huge boost when they acquired Manny Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline. While Ramirez was a disruptive force in Boston, leaving the Red Sox with little choice but to deal him, he has been on a tear since moving to Hollywood.
In 50 games with the Dodgers, Ramirez has been on his best behavior and is batting .398 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI.
Still, their hopes were fading following an eight-game losing streak that left Los Angeles five games under .500 (65-70) and 4 1/2 games behind the Diamondbacks on August 29.
However, the Dodgers won five straight against Arizona as part of a surge in which it reeled off 12 victories in its next 13 games. Los Angeles took over first place on September 6 and never relinquished it.
