Twelve Thoughts: Mat Latos' Cy Young Case, Dodgers' Downfall, Philly Surge

Anytime they get a hit off Padres pitcher Mat Latos, hitters should ask for the ball.

The Tattoed One continues to command four pitches, each above average. Hitters have batted only .193 against him this year and .176 in the last 21 games.

• Latos belongs in the Cy Young picture, and not only because he's a regular here at West Coast Bias.

If Latos were on the Yankees, ESPN would carve out 15 minutes a week for him. The 22-year-old has dominated hitters, even as the Padres have asked him to carry the team. Roy Halladay, my preseason pick for the award, looks like the leader of a crowded field, but Latos deserves consideration. His ERA over the last 21 starts is 1.66.

Latos isn't eligible for NL Rookie of the Year because Padres field personnel, failing to heed the front office, allowed him to pitch an extra 2/3 of an inning last year.

• In years ahead, psychologists who treat sports addiction will command big salaries.

We may be at tipping point: an entire generation of young adults has grown up with round-the-clock national sports coverage. At Dodger Stadium this summer, star actor Adrian Grenier, 34, marveled at his friends' sports addictions.

"I'm not that avid of a sports fan," Grenier told West Coast Bias, and I believed him after testing his Yankees IQ, "but all of my friends watch baseball, watch basketball, watch football and now, soccer (World Cup). It just seems to be becoming more and more embedded in the culture."

Grenier, best known as Vince in HBO's Entourage, said baseball is his favorite sport.

• The Cheatin' Phils owe Southern California a large shipment of cheesesteaks and Tastykakes.

Not only did Philadelphia knife through the Golden State recently, West Coast Bias gave his favorite manager from the Evil Coast, Charlie Manuel, the bright idea of sacrificing a pair of binoculars. You know, to end the karmic payback. Seems the baseball gods were as upset with Manuel's club as Rockies manager Jim Tracy was in May, when the Phils were caught spying through binocs on Tracy's catcher. After I suggested to Manuel to appease the gods, the Phils pulled out of their rut.

"Believe me, those binoculars never came into play," Manuel said after acknowledging that he's still mystified by the offense's dry spells. "Those binoculars shouldn't have been nowhere, they have no place in the game. But those binoculars, they don't have anything to do with our hitting."

• When Padres pitcher Clayton Richard is throwing but not pitching, his inner quarterback controls his left arm.

Richard was a reserve quarterback for the University of Michigan, so maybe it's still in him to spike a ball or throw it toward the stands. I have no other clue why the lefty has misfired to bases several times this year. Amid an intentional walk, he threw a pitch to the backstop. When tasked with throwing fastballs and sliders, Richard (12-6, 3.50 ERA) is as accurate as his former QB rival, the Dolphins' Chad Henne, will be this year in a breakout season.

• To Los Angeles divorce judge Scott Gordon, National League West clubs plan to anonymously send a Rolex watch, cash and a written plea.

Gordon is to decide which McKook will gain control of the Dodgers, and Dodgers rivals dearly want a verdict that leaves one of the McKooks with enough cash to stay in charge well beyond the verdict.. Here's how one rival exec described his worst nightmare: "Really, the Dodgers should have a payroll of about $140 million and should be very aggressive internationally and in the draft."

Instead the Dodgers have a payroll of about $85 million and until recently have skimped in the amateur markets, while also forfeiting chances to get compensatory draft picks.

• The McKooks are providing cover for Joe Torre and his coaches.

As Big Media continues to blame the team's struggles on the payroll and the circus up top, the baseball staff has been allowed to skate. Yet, the Dodgers have a high-paid manager and a high-paid coaching staff, and the baserunning remains dumb, while the bullpen management is dubious.

• Pennant fever has finally arrived in San Diego.

Not for Padres fans, who have yet to embrace their first-place team. Seems there's an actual baseball fever gripping a few Padres players, who appeared to hyperventilate from stress Wednesday as the club lost its seventh consecutive game.

A few of the younger Padres may want to go surfing today. It'll be their second-to-last open date of the season, and from the looks of it, the baseball waters are starting to boil.

• Baseball is wisely getting creative in its recruitment of future umpires.

Major league umps staged a clinic for several fit, gung-ho candidates recently: Dozens of Marines in San Diego.

"They take to it like a fish to water," said Rich Rieker, MLB's umpire supervisor. He said umpiring is fast becoming a career option for Marines upon completion of military service.

• On the eve of the NFL season, Southern California's only team talks like it may no longer be its own worst enemy.

"Guys are holding themselves more accountable," Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman told FanHouse. "That's just the feeling, the attitude that's going around here right now. It's just guys getting a year older, a year more mature, and wiser and more knowledgeable about the game."

Expect the Chiefs to create a tough opener, but with a first-place schedule that somehow ranks 29th in difficulty, the Bolts' preseason should extend until January.

• If Phils third baseman Placido Polanco were as chatty with reporters as he is with teammates, Philadelphia would sell more newspapers.

"He's a funny guy, he's a comedian," shortstop Jimmy Rollins told FanHouse. "Whatever he can comment on, he's going to make a comment. First time he was here, he always had his big old spoon in the pot stirring things up, and that hasn't changed (the) second time around."

• Next week, we'll hear from Flyover Land that the Arch will stay in St. Louis.

Reports are that the revamped Big Ten will continue to stage the Ohio State and Michigan football game in late November.