With the unofficial decade coming to an end, a close look should be given to the Dodgers’ work. After all, it’s not every day that ownership changes, a team that hadn’t won a playoff series in 20 years sweeps the NLDS in consecutive years, and the team achieves a staggering amount of attention, from injuries to trades to steroids to divorce.

If this game is the first of a back-to-back, I’d hate to see what will happen tomorrow. The suddenly erratic Lakers (24-6) drops their second of their last three games to the smaller Phoenix Suns (20-12) 118-103 in a game that eerily resembles their performance in another road loss against the Jazz.

During yesterday’s practice, Kobe Bryant iterated that tonight’s matchup with the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder (13-14) will be a tough game for the reason that it is a home game. He was right. The Thunder were pretty much in control of the game in the first half leading by 5 after the first quarter and 7 going into halftime 61-54. But the Lakers (23-4) rallied in the third outscoring Oklahoma City by 13 points leading to their league-high 5th win a row in front of a bewildered Staples Center crowd.

KDOC was having technical issues for the majority of the game but for those of us die-hards who refuse to believe the game isn’t showing we got the game finally toward the end of the 2nd period. The first 2 periods were an apparent wash, the Ducks were down 2-0 and a shutout looked imminent but then came the 3rd period. Actually not even that. Then came the last half of the 3rd period and something happened. The Ducks got 1 through…. then they got another one through. In a span lasting less than 8 minutes (7:34 if you want to be precise), the Ducks got 4 goals and absolutely stole the 2 points that were almost certain to go to Colorado.

The Angels have capitalized on playing in a division with teams in transition in recent years. They’ve won four of the last five A.L. West division titles as the Rangers, Mariners, and Athletics have been reshaping and retooling their respective organizations. With a strong farm system and a willing owner in Arte Moreno, the Halos have clearly been the class of the west for the last half decade. But it is clear that the gap between the Have’s and Have Not’s in the division is narrowing.

Unless something drastic changes, it looks like we’re going to lose Shawne Merriman in the near future, whether it be after this season, or after the 2010 season if we choose to Franchise Tag him after this one.  Either way, I would really love to see Julius Peppers in a Charger uniform.  The guy is an absolute monster on the football field,