Three Bundles of Joy

Three weeks ago, my beautiful wife brought our second child into this world, a son. One week later, Frank McCourt agreed to sell the Dodgers. To the casual observer, these were two completely unrelated events. But to me, this literal birth and symbolic rebirth served as monumental bookends to an uplifting week.

To paraphrase Dinah Washington's 1959 classic, What a difference a week makes!

Friends and family were thrilled for me. One after another, they'd come up to me and say, "Congratulations!"

I paused each time, confused as to which event they were referring.

They'd try to offer clarification: "On your baby, of course!"

The extra emphasis on your baby implied that it should be obvious to me. But it wasn't.

Which baby were they referring to?

My boy in blue?

Or my Boys in Blue?

*   *   *

Yesterday (almost as if to mark my son's three-week milestone), the Dodgers stunned the local fan base and rocked the baseball world by securing Matt Kemp for the next eight seasons with a hefty $160 million commitment. I wholeheartedly supported such a move and was just thrilled by the breaking story.

This combination of events once again led to ambiguity-laced moments such as this:

"Congratulations on your boy!"

Again, I wondered, which one?

My boy?

Or my boy -- Matt Kemp?

*   *   *

But that's as far as the ambiguity went. Because the future of the Dodger organization is now as clear as it has been in some time. After two years of stormy courtroom battles, the atmosphere surrounding the Dodger organization is refreshingly smog-free.

We can count on two absolutes that did not exist so much as a month ago: Frank McCourt is on his way out and Matt Kemp will be patrolling the outfield at Chavez Ravine for the balance of the decade. Either one of these developments alone is earth-shaking. Together, they represent a seismic shift in the direction of the franchise in the hearts of Dodger fans.

It might be premature to call this the dawn of a new golden era in Dodger history.

Then again, if the birth of a child isn't a time for hope, then when is?