Dodgers-Giants clash in rivalry series as the home stretch looms

Ready for some fun? Some early stretch-drive fun?

Come on, it doesn’t get any better in the baseball world than the Dodgers-Giants rivalry when there’s something really on the line.

And now here they are, ready to start a three-game series at Dodger Stadium in late August, the Giants trailing the Dodgers by a measly half-game in the National League West.

Two teams, two organizations — not counting tearful Ned Colletti — that don’t care for the other, filled with all kinds of historic animosity, ready to do battle circa 2012, another chapter at the ready.

And the recent past offers precious little guide as to what’s about to unfold. When the Dodgers were in San Francisco for three games in June, they were swept without scoring a run. When they returned in July, the Dodgers swept the Giants and held them scoreless the final two games.

The Giants haven’t been here since May, when the Dodgers took two of three. Even better, in early September the Dodgers will play three more in San Francisco and then finish the regular season with three games vs. the Halloween-colored, fog-shrouded, garlic-fry eaters at Dodger Stadium.

The only thing better for a Dodgers fan than watching the locals win a title is to do it by beating the Giants and dancing on their grave. And there is nothing more heartbreaking than losing a title to them. It’s amazing he can still do television commentary, given all the pins that have been stuck in Joe Morgan dolls.

Despite Melky Cabrera coming down with Manny Ramirez disease, the pitching-rich Giants don’t figure to fade. The Dodgers, either. Should be a great final six weeks. Should be great baseball fun.

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