The shrink is in: Here to help with all those Dodgers blues

I know, there is only so much Prozac in the world, only so many yoga classes out there, so many therapists with open couches.

And here I am to help. All free and everything; I mean, pay walls excepted.

Sure, it feels like doom and gloom in Dodgers Land right now. They’ve lost eight of nine, couldn’t hit a punching bag, are losing star players by the game and – embarrassment of embarrassment – were swept by the Giants.

So here is some good news to lift the spirits:

• Hey, it can’t get anymore mortifying than being shut out three consecutive times by the evil, dreaded, orange-and-black, garlic-fry-eating Giants. Really, that has to be as low as a just baseball god will allow any team to fall.
• They are still in first place. OK, they’re tied for first with the evil Giants. But still, they’re in first. Better than anywhere else.
• The season is not even half over. That’s right, not even half. Play 162 games and you’re going to have some ups and downs. This one just happens to feel like down into a bottomless black well.
• The Dodgers just spent $42 million to sign a Cuban outfielder you’ve never heard of. No, Yasiel Puig won’t be called up to hit now. And who the hell knows really knows how good a 21-year-old is who hasn’t played in over a year and was little seen when he was? Won’t help now, but think of the idea that the new owners really are willing to spend as a psychological relief.
• Mark Ellis could be back in a week, Matt Kemp possibly in two, and to this point it’s uncertain how long Andre Ethier will be out. Maybe Ethier’s strained oblique is fairly minor and he won’t be out a month.
• The Dodgers still have one of the best rotations in baseball and it should continue to keep them in games.

Feel any better? Come on, not even a little?

Try this: If the Dodgers can hang on and even play .500 baseball the next three or four weeks, then their injured players should return and there’s still plenty of time to make a charge.

There is also the likelihood some offensive help will arrive before the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline, although the Dodgers cannot afford to be counting on it. They need to scrap together, make the most of what they have now and try to grind out this next month and then see where they’re at.

Anything else would be just too depressing.

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