Web musings: Does the devil know Frank McCourt is dead? (Video)

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Wednesday is the latest big day in the ongoing demise of Frank McCourt’s ownership of the Dodgers. It’s the day a bankruptcy judge is scheduled to rule on whose interim-financing plan will be used during the proceedings -- McCourt’s or Major League Baseball’s.

McCourt had all kinds of, er, interesting filings Monday, as detailed by The Times’ Bill Shaikin.

McCourt would be signing ‘a deal with the devil’ by accepting a loan offered by a commissioner intent on stripping McCourt of his team, attorneys for the Dodgers’ owner argued in a bankruptcy court filing Monday.

McCourt and the devil, not exactly the way you might have expected the two to be linked.

The filings also showed that MLB has estimated that the McCourts have taken ‘more than $180 million’ from the Dodgers for his personal use, though his attorneys said something like, not really, it was from all those Dodgers entities and he took less than $30 mil from the club.

His attorneys also said that MLB rejected a McCourt offer to put all the $385 million upfront money from the Fox deal into the team, which seems odd, since the divorce agreement called for almost half of it to go to him and ex-wife Jamie McCourt.

Also on the Web:

-- Evan Weiner of New Jersey Newsroom wonders if the scandal enveloping Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. could impact its sports partnerships with Fox. Could Fox pull its offer to McCourt?

-- Hiroki Kuroda told The Times’ Dylan Hernandez he is uncertain whether he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause.

-- Though the Giants and Dodgers have put up similarly unimpressive offensive stats, Don Mattingly said the Giants win partially because they believe they will.

-- San Jose Mercury News columnist Mark Purdy writes that the Giants need the Dodgers to be a healthy franchise: ‘Because at the end of the day, can the Giants really be the Giants if the Dodgers aren’t really the Dodgers?’

-- ESPN/LA’s Tony Jackson said the Dodgers have met the worst possible greeting in San Francisco by Giants fans -- indifference.

-- There was one Dodgers’ highlight in their 5-0 loss to the Giants on Monday, and it was this sensational catch by Matt Kemp of a Andres Torres drive, courtesy of MLB.com.

-- Sports Illustrated’s Ben Reiter said the play of Kemp has been the lone consistent bright spot to the Dodgers’ season.

-- SI’s Ann Killion profiles peerless Giants closer Brian Wilson.

-- Political comedian Bill Maher teased Mark Cuban about buying the Dodgers, though he admitted to hoping he’d actually buy the Mets.

Mark Cuban on ‘Real Time’ by yaysarcasm

-- And Tuesday’s game notes from the Dodgers said Marcus Thames had cleared waivers and has been given his unconditional release.

-- Steve Dilbeck