One of the things a lot of us have counted on for overcoming the slow start to this season was the rotation returning to form, with Garza, Zambrano, and Dempster getting things turned around and Wells and Cashner coming back from injury.
After watching him last night, I don't see Dempster coming around any time soon, and that's going to be a huge setback for the rest of the season if he's not able to get things righted. He's a complete mess, and I think he may even be hurt. When a normally low to mid 90's pitcher is sitting at 86-89 on the fastball and hanging sliders up there like it's tee-ball, something's probably wrong.
To me, it's looking like this is going to be a lost season for him. I don't think I can stomach much more of the likes of Coleman, Russell, Doug Davis, Thomas Diamond, etc., but Dempster probably needs to be on the DL . . . even if it's for some phantom injury.