LA teams provide Shock & Awe in St Louis

A little over 24 hours ago two planes sat side by side on a private runway at LAX. Armed for battle, one plane was boarded by a crew of blue and white - the other filled with purple and silver warriors. After arriving in St Louis they set up their command centers at the same downtown hotel. Mid-day Saturday the blitz was underway and at this hour the city of St. Louis sits silently, stunned by the devastation of earlier today.

The next few days will be rough. Many people are already plotting their reason to call in sick Monday. However, one group remains hopeful that tomorrow could provide relief for some. After checking the NFL schedule, they realized it wont be a team from Los Angeles visiting the Rams at the dome tomorrow, so they still have a chance. Well, maybe. It is the Rams.

Before writing this article I put a call into the National Guard and it appears the city's treasured arch is safe for now. Although the enemies have left, extra protection will be stationed in and around downtown for the foreseeable future - just in case.

Battling on different terrain - just blocks apart from each other - the Dodgers and the Kings flat took care of business on Saturday in St. Louis. Both, desisive victories for Los Angeles.

The similarities between these two teams has been written about before here on MayorsManor.com. Both teams have been built with a core of young talent. Both have been guided and assembled by a GM that has a plan and is sticking to it, regardless of what some fans and media say about it. Both found their swagger after acquiring that missing piece - Manny for the Dodgers and Ryan Smyth for the Kings.

How the script ends for both organizations is still yet to be written. While one team's season draws closer to the end, the other's is just beginning. Within a month, the Dodgers will be done for the Winter. Meanwhile, the Kings are just getting started.

Just one more question about the Dodger game before we move on though. Were the white towels in St. Louis supposed to represent a unified surrender? Some of the players on the field - on both teams - probably thought so. Dodgers win. How sweep it is!

Down the street the greatest show on earth, the NHL, was on the ice in a crucial early season match up. There will be eight teams making the playoffs from the Western Conference this year, with really only three of them undecided at this point. Six or seven teams are battling for those three spots, including the Kings and Blues.

It was Murray vs Murray.

I miss Andy Murray. Always liked him as a coach and respected him as a person. I was mostly frustrated with Terry Murray last year. However, it's been said many times that winning solves everything. It might be true after all...because I'm starting to miss one Murray less and growing to like the other Murray more and more. I guess 3-1 to start the season will do that to a person.

Sure, it was too bad the Kings couldn't hold on in the third to keep the Blues off the scoreboard. Getting Jonathan Quick his first shutout of the year would have been icing on the cake. No need to be greedy. The two best lines put goals up again and defensively they were able to control a team with plenty of offensive options. Good enough for two points, pack it up and keep it movin'.

While the Dodgers fly home to LA and await the identity of their next opponent, the Kings are heading east to meet the Islanders. It will be a typical New York matinee on Monday, just not on Broadway. The purple and silver warriors will dawn their crowned sweaters again at 11am PST, this time taking on young phenom John Tavares and 19 of his newest friends.

Two more points will be at stake. Two more points that will help the Kings achieve their goal of following the Dodgers into the postseason.

If it happens, history could repeat itself. That private runway at LAX could find the same two planes parked side by side again in late April. One being filled with a team headed out on an early season road trip. The other headed to a playoff game.

One19

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