Weekend Buzz: Dodgers' season a forgettable summer flop

The Weekend Buzz while you were purchasing your Appalachian State sweatshirts for autumn. ...

1. Deadwood: Derek Lowe, the last Boston pitcher to throw a no-hitter before the precocious Clay Buchholz dazzled Red Sox Nation and the rest of the baseball world in only his second career start, was nowhere near a television set on Saturday evening.

Juan Pierre is not living up to his five-year, $44 million deal. (US Presswire)

He sort of had other obligations as the starting pitcher for the rapidly fading Los Angeles Dodgers, and those weren't going particularly well. He was outdueled by San Diego ace Jake Peavy, Dodgers third baseman-for-an-evening Shea Hillenbrand butchered a key play and then Lowe surrendered a grand slam to Mike Cameron.

So it was after the Dodgers avoided a sweep on Sunday afternoon that Lowe still was catching a few television highlights of Buchholz's evening, and as the Dodgers prepared for a flight to Chicago for another key series against the Cubs this week, one thing took him back to his magical no-no day against Seattle in April, 2002 -- also in Fenway Park.

"They were talking about the crowd in the ninth inning," Lowe was saying. "That's the one thing I've never forgotten. They stood up from the second I walked out there and never sat down. There were no commercial breaks.

"That's a special place to do it in, and TV doesn't do that place justice, how loud it is and how supportive they are."

Been a long time since Lowe has heard those cheers, and as one of the most disappointing teams in the game plays out its 2007 schedule, odds are they aren't awaiting him and the Dodgers the rest of this month, either.

That they considered simply avoiding a sweep in San Diego on Sunday a major accomplishment speaks volumes about the state of these stretch-run Dodgers.

"We're down but we're not out," says manager Grady Little, whose club lost 19 of 26 during a July-August free fall and is still attempting to recover. "There's always a chance, and we have a chance. ...

"We can't miss many steps between here and the end. But every game we play is not do-or-die."

It only feels and looks that way.

The game's sixth-largest player payroll -- just under $109 million -- has not been able to purchase health, depth, solid fundamentals or happiness.

The clubhouse is lifeless. It is divided between the old guys and the young prospects trying to steal their playing time.