Dodgers down now, but Corey Seager gives them leg up on future

Enter the Warzone, a sports media conspiracy of one.

▪ Dodgers fans feeling blue over their team’s 2-1 deficit in the NLDS should be consoled by this fact:

They’ll have Corey Seager playing shortstop and batting in the middle of the order for the next decade – which gives the Dodgers an edge on every team in baseball except maybe the Astros (Carlos Correa).

▪ Third baseman Justin Turner wore a “Turner for President” T-shirt at Monday’s pre-game news conference and unveiled a “Trust in Justin” campaign slogan.

“I think I’ve got a chance this year,” Turner quipped.

Right about now he sounds like a pretty good option.

▪ An MLB-record 111 players hit 20 or more home runs during the regular season, and not one of them plays for the orange and black.

Well, at least not Giants orange and black. The Orioles had six.

▪ Hawaii, the team picked to finish last in the Mountain West’s West Division, sits atop the standings at 2-0.

San Jose State and Fresno State, picked to finish third and fourth, respectively, are tied for last at 0-2.

Chins up, Red Wave. There’s a team even more disappointing than yours.

▪ One more loss and Fresno State is guaranteed a third straight losing season for the first time since 1994-96.

Even the Dogfather himself, Jim Sweeney, didn’t survive that downturn.

▪ After beginning the season No. 14 on CoachesHotSeat.com, Tim DeRuyter is up to No. 3 behind Texas’ Charlie Strong and Boston College Tom Addazio.

Proof the Bulldogs are making progress in some areas.

▪ If you think the $3.1 million Fresno State still owes DeRuyter after this season is a lot of dough, keep in mind the $18 million Notre Dame reportedly owed Charlie Weis after it fired him in 2009.

Now that was a bad contract.

▪ Rather than second-guess the play calling (or reasoning) during the ill-fated final series at Nevada, let’s just make this point:

There would have been plenty of time for a run had the Bulldogs not used 20 seconds switching personnel groups after Dontel James’ first down to the 4.

▪ What’s worse than being 1-5 and having your marquee home game moved to a Friday night?

Moving it to Friday night at the behest of CBS Sports Network, which doesn’t pay bonus money.

▪ While Jack Del Rio (aka Jack The River) gets credit for his bold decisions, Derek Carr’s audible may have required even more … uh, courage.

Raiders offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave wanted a slant on that pivotal fourth-and-3. Carr changed it to a fade, a lower-percentage route, and then threw a perfect rainbow to Michael Crabtree for a 21-yard touchdown.

“That’s one Coach (Musgrave) will be a little upset at me for,” Carr told NFL.com. “He wanted a slant. I wanted (Crabtree) to go deep. I just felt it.”

▪ According to owner Jerry Jones, Tony Romo will be the Cowboys’ starting quarterback when he returns from injury.

Just in case you thought those decisions were up to the head coach.

▪ The 49ers are about to restructure Colin Kaepernick’s contract so they don’t owe him $14.5 million next season if he gets injured during this one.

Almost like management never expected Kaepernick to play ...

▪ The Sacramento Kings built a spiffy new $557 million downtown arena named the Golden 1 Center.

Now if they could only construct a team worth watching.

▪ For no particular reason: Melvin Mora

▪ Days before Tiger Woods was supposed to tee off at the Safeway Open in Napa, he withdrew from the event.

Which will put that No. 786 world ranking in serious jeopardy.

▪ Police in Fayetteville, Ark., arrested a university professor for yelling profanities at Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema after the Razorbacks’ loss to No. 1 Alabama.

Dr. Lawton Nalley is an associate professor specializing in agricultural economics and agribusiness, so he knows dung when he sees it.

This story was originally published October 10, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Dodgers down now, but Corey Seager gives them leg up on future."