Weekend Buzz: Dodgers still sailing along without Manny
Look Ahead: Best Interleague series
The Weekend Buzz while you were counting your Father's Day blessings. ...
1. Who needs Manny? Maybe they do this week here, in what is about to become Mannywood East (if only for a few "rehabilitation" at-bats). But they sure don't need The Big Dope in Los Angeles, where the Dodger Express continues to steamroll through the National League mostly unimpeded.
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| Juan Pierre has been great in Manny Ramirez's absence. (US Presswire) |
It is the best record in the NL during that period, and the Dodgers actually have increased their division lead while Ramirez has been away. They led San Francisco by 6½ games at the time of his suspension and jacked that up to eight games after Sunday's 5-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
The Dodgers' 46-24 record is the best in the majors, as is their 3.56 ERA and 16-6 mark in one-run games.
Torre's first instinct following the suspension was to remind the rest of the Dodgers "don't try to do anything more than you normally do, because you're fine."
With the largest divisional lead of any team in the game, Torre now can dispense the same advice to Ramirez when he returns.
Three keys to the Dodgers' success has been the deepest bench in the game, Juan Pierre's re-emergence in Ramriez's absence and a surprisingly effective bullpen in which emerging stars Ronald Belisario (team-leading 36 appearances) and Ramon Troncoso (scoreless relief in 19 of his past 22 appearances) have played unexpectedly large roles.
"I've been pretty proud of what we've done out of the bullpen," says Torre, whose relief corps ranked second in the NL with a 3.39 ERA entering Sunday.
As for the bench, there are two important factors to what Pierre, Brad Ausmus, Juan Castro and Mark Loretta have been doing. One, each has been a regular player elsewhere and, two, each is accepting of his role in Los Angeles. Combined, that affords Torre an incredible luxury.
Pierre, especially, has been instrumental in this not only because of the success he's had as a sudden-impact starter, but because he's worked especially hard at putting team instead of self after going through a sullen period when he was benched after the Manny acquisition last year.
"Juan Pierre has been unbelievable," Loretta says. "He's been a big spark. He's led off every game since Manny's been gone. He's driven in runs. He's scored big runs. He's been invaluable."
Pierre, who finally reached enough at-bats to qualify for the NL leaderboards a week ago Saturday, ranked seventh in the NL with a .330 batting average heading into Sunday's series finale in Anaheim. Also as of Sunday, Pierre had started all 40 games in left field during Ramirez's absence and was batting .326 with 11 doubles, 19 RBI, 28 runs scored, 14 walks and 15 steals during that stretch.
"I stayed prepared," Pierre says. "Extra hitting. Extra running. Whatever you normally do to stay ready, I did it extra."
In other words, same thing the diminutive Pierre (who is generously listed at 5-10 and 187 pounds) has done in exceeding expectations his entire career.
"I took more hacks than I usually do if I was playing every day," Pierre says. "Me and Donnie [Mattingly, Dodgers' hitting coach] ... it's hard to simulate a game. I just made sure that whenever I did get a chance to play, whether it was once every two weeks or whatever, I wasn't going to use [sitting] as an excuse.
"If I got one at-bat, I was going to focus on that one at-bat. No excuses. The situation I was in, it was unfortunate I was in it, but you play as hard as you can."
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| Joe Torre's team is cruising in the NL West. (AP) |
"I'm sure there will be," outfielder Matt Kemp says. "Of course. And then our bench will be even deeper."
So, too, the lineup. Third baseman Casey Blake started the season batting eighth. In Ramirez's absence, he's been bumped up to fourth (Friday night in Anaheim) and fifth (Saturday). When Manny returns, it only lengthens an already imposing lineup.
The Dodgers' defense is mostly excellent, too. Blake made as fine a play on Friday as you'll see, running toward left field, back to home plate, and diving to catch Erick Aybar's foul pop.
It may sound disingenuous being that they lead the majors in ERA, but the Dodgers' most glaring deficiency is that their rotation could cause some things to unravel if not fortified.
Into Sunday, the Dodgers starters ranked only 10th in the NL with 386 1/3 innings pitched. The extra strain on the bullpen could cause fatigue come August and September. The Dodgers have been looking for starting pitching help and will continue to do so between now and July 31.
As for Ramirez, it's off to Albuquerque, N.M., on Tuesday to begin the road back to the majors. Sounds like things are happening, too, according to the aforementioned website ("New baby giraffe at the Rio Grande Zoo"). Don't worry about hurrying back, big fella.
2. The Wedding Crashers: Dave and Gail Weaver were supposed to attend a friend's wedding on Saturday. Then their sons screwed that up by becoming only the eighth tandem of brothers to oppose each other in major league history.
Jeff Weaver, 32, pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, earned the win over little brother Jered, 26, of the Angels, by surrendering only two runs in five-plus innings. Though both brothers were gone by the time the sixth inning ended, Jeff was in control most of the way. He never had a three-ball count.
Figures. The older brother now has won in 12 of the 21 times brothers have matched up.
Plus, there's this: "I think [our parents] will root for Jeff," Jered said on the eve of the matchup. "They loved him a lot more growing up."
He was joking. What do you think, we're looking to mess up Dave's Father's Day?
3. Jim Leyland's operatic extension: Yes, the Detroit skipper richly deserves the two-year extension he received through 2011. But, come on. Did the Tigers really need to add drama to the occasion by playing Figaro? Oh, wait ... that was young Alfredo Figaro (24), who earned his first major league victory against Milwaukee on Saturday. That Leyland thinks of everything, doesn't he?
4. CC Sabathia leaves early in Florida with biceps tightness: This one is mysterious, because he hasn't even pitched on short rest yet this season. Must have happened while he was hauling that $161 million around.
5. The Mark Twain of managers: Look, reports of the death of Washington manager Manny Acta were premature. Now that they've won four of five, the Gnats are no longer behind the gawd-awful pace of the 1962 New York Mets for futility. Now, want something that's not a laughing (or chuckling or smirking) matter about them? Washington's 3.02 June ERA into Sunday ranked second in the majors behind that of the Chicago White Sox (2.80).
6. Daisuke Matsuzaka: The Red Sox put the beleaguered pitcher (and enemy No. 1 of fans who enjoy a quick pace of game) on the disabled list with shoulder weakness. I believe the clinical term is "World Baseball Classic Fatigue."
7. Chilly in Philly: Ryan Howard was so sick this weekend he spent two nights in the hospital, and wow, was I surprised to hear it was with flu-like symptoms. I just figured the Phillies play had made him ill. After losing six in a row to Toronto and Baltimore, they're now 13-22 at home. No team starting that poorly at home, by the way, has ever made the postseason. The race is on.
8. Kerry Wood and Wrigley Field: The Cubs' former closer, still beloved in Chicago for his grit and effort, returned with Cleveland over the weekend and blew saves Friday and Saturday as the Cubs swept the weekend. Stunningly, Mark Prior's fingerprints were not found at the scene.
9. Green Day: Boston's Nick Green belts a game-winning homer in the ninth inning on Sunday to beat Atlanta, and after St. Louis activates him from the disabled list (social-anxiety disorder), Khalil Greene smashes three home runs in three days over the weekend to help Tony La Russa toward career win No. 2,500. Going green, indeed. ...
10. Roger Clemens may author book to tell his side of story: Working title: Paradise Lost. Oops, that's taken.
