Short Hops: Dodgers lack pop, yet still near top of NL West
Insider | Love Letters
All quiet on the Western front?
It is in Los Angeles, where the Dodgers are finding ways to stay in the thick of what is shaping up as a very entertaining NL West race despite having about as much thump as a ghost-less haunted house.
Not the Grady Little's club is home run-challenged, but the last time two Dodgers actually went deep in one game, Scooter Libby was still gainfully employed by the Bush Administration. OK, so it hasn't been quite that long, but we're talking 17 days -- and counting.
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| Is Nomar having a bad season? No. Does L.A. badly need more than one HR from its first baseman? You could say that. (US Presswire) |
In Los Angeles, much of the attention is focused smack on first baseman Nomar Garciaparra, who, playing a position historically filled by power hitters, has produced exactly one (1) homer in 234 plate appearances. Even Luis Gonzalez, whose power seemed to shrink in Arizona, has six.
However, Garciaparra also is hitting .280 with a .326 on-base percentage and 34 RBI, so when the wolves begin to howl too loud, Little preaches patience.
You were expecting something else from a manager?
"We don't talk about lack of power around here," Little drawled in his molasses-thick North Carolina accent this week. "Nomar is driving in runs for us. He's getting some hits. We figure when it's time, the home runs and the doubles will come. Right now they're not, but when runners are in scoring position, I can't think of anybody else I'd rather have up there."
In RISP situations, Garciaparra is batting .456, and it's difficult to argue with that. Of course, the flip side is that 33 of Nomar's 34 RBI have come in those situations -- meaning, again, he's not hitting homers and he's not finding the gaps when he's at the plate when runners are on first.
In many ways, the Dodgers lineup remains a work in progress. They never did add the big bat they sought after J.D. Drew shocked them by opting out of his contract last winter; they made strong runs at Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Lee, but were rejected.
Instead, they added center fielder Juan Pierre, and general manager Ned Colletti said this spring that he thinks they'll end up scoring more runs this year than they did last, when they won the NL wild-card slot. They ranked fourth in the NL in runs scored a year ago and currently stand ninth -- in no small part because shortstop Rafael Furcal started slowly after a spring injury and Pierre (.298 on-base percentage, .269 batting average) has been misfiring all season.
The Dodgers lost 1-0 on Tuesday night to San Diego despite the fact that the Padres mustered only two hits. Pierre, in four at-bats in the leadoff slot that night, saw a total of eight pitches.
