Season in seven words: "They won in spite of themselves, no?" ... Hero: Matt Kemp would've put up even more serious numbers had Joe Torre realized before August that it's legal to bat an under-31 player higher than sixth ... Loserhead: Russell Martin notched a more Ausmusian OPS (.680) than Brad himself (.712) ... Key need: None, really. There's depth here and there's young talent. Now it's just a matter of weaning themselves off the Casey Blakes of the world ... Prognosis: They're the only team in the NL West with limitless resources. That bodes well for the years ahead.
09/29/2009
4
4
For all the talk about the bulletproof St. Louis and San Francisco pitching, the Dodgers have surrendered fewer runs than the former and just as few (596, tied for the best in baseball) as the latter ... Randy Wolf is the ace here, whether or not the Dodgers want to acknowledge it. Line him up against the Phillies' lefty hitters and enjoy the groundball deluge that will follow ... Silly Chad Billingsley. You can't rebuild your confidence against the Nationals. You have to do it against a real team expending real effort in pursuit of victory, as opposed to a bunch of clock-punchers.
09/22/2009
4
5
Chad Billingsley's body language suggests nothing if not a kitten that just spent 28 hours stuck in a storm drain. ... Joe Torre is doing Orlando Hudson a disservice by sitting him in favor of Ronnie Belliard, but it's striking to note how much harder Belliard is playing now that he's escaped Nationals purgatory. You can tell by the savage tremors of his man-mammaries as he huffs it from base to base. In D.C., he never moved fast enough to set a single flap of flab into motion.
09/15/2009
5
3
Hell yeah, I'd be concerned. Chad Billingsley is off the reservation, Randy Wolf is dealing with elbow irritation and Clayton Kershaw is nursing a bum non-pitching wing. They can win regular-season games against the Pirates with Jon Garland and Vicente Padilla on the mound, but the Phillies or Cardinals would devour those guys whole.
09/08/2009
3
6
Jim Thome has been billed as a mere pinch-hitting doomsday weapon against righty pitchers, who still quake in their cleated booties at the site of the nearly immobile 39-year-old. Let's not forget, however, that four of the seven World Series games are scheduled to be played under American League rules. He's certainly a better DH option than anyone the Phillies, Cardinals, Rockies or certainly the Giants have. ... File the injury to Clayton Kershaw's non-pitching shoulder, incurred while shagging flies, as a blessing in disguise. He'll only miss one start and besides, he's just about at the point in the season where fresh-faced turbo-pitchers get logy.
09/01/2009
6
5
Loved the dammit-we-wanna-win-NOW acquisition of Jon Garland, who instantly stabilizes a rotation that was looking Lohan-shaky. I'm not quite as sold on the last-minute addition of Jim Thome, who will be fun to watch late in the game against righty relievers but horrifying should he be allowed to pick up a glove. As for the under-the-radar grab of Ronnie Belliard, wasn't it cute how pundits noted that he added "a little heft" to the bench, as opposed to "a little pop?" Gotta use the big-boy puns whenever you can. ... Demoting the Dodgers in the rankings might be a bit unfair, as even during their sub-.500 August lull they outscored their opponents by 33 runs. At the same time, would you pick them over any of the top five teams in a seven-game series? ... I'm sounding like a broken record here, but Joe Torre continues to confound with his bullpen decisions. Last week's masterstroke occurred in the extra-innings loss to the Rockies, during which he chose not to use either of his two best relievers (Jonathan Broxton or George Sherrill, both of whom were rested). On the plus side, he batted Matt Kemp higher than fifth every day last week, which suggests that somebody gave him a forged birth certificate stating that Kemp is 32 years old.
08/25/2009
5
3
They still lead the run-differential standings at a punchy plus-125, but in recent weeks this team hasn't played like the best team in its division, much less in its league. ... This is not a commentary, insinuation or anything else other than a sober recitation of a statistic: Since returning from his suspension, Manny Ramirez has notched an OPS of .859. Before it, he was cruising along at 1.133. ... Joe Torre's flip-flop of his two best late-inning relievers on Saturday –- he called on Jonathan Broxton in the eighth and George Sherrill in the ninth –- is being heralded as the epitome of new-age thinking, a concession by an old-school mainstay to the numbers-grounded strategies favored by think-tank visionaries clad in khaki trousers and Kangol hats. But really, all Torre did was match up the better reliever (Broxton) against the better hitters (Milton Bradley/Derrek Lee/Aramis Ramirez). Let's not overcomplicate any of this.
08/18/2009
3
2
For a league front-runner, they provide little fresh fodder for discussion. Deep lineup, manager's inexplicable dislike for Matt Kemp, overworked bullpen, fifth-starter void, Manny Being Granny –- been there, discussed that. ... OK, fine, let's talk boring, stupid fundamentals: One overlooked aspect of the Dodgers' success has been the improved defense. The error Russell Martin committed on Monday night was the team's first since Aug. 7. OK?
08/11/2009
2
1
It seems like yesterday they were leading the no-talent West by 26½ games and set to clinch a playoff spot by July 1. Now, they're looking shaky in the rotation (especially with Chad Billingsley's right and left hamstrings taking turns hobbling him) and 'pen (at this point my arm hurts whenever Ramon Troncoso or Ronald Belisario are summoned from the great beyond), plus the Rockies ain't goin' nowhere ... Is the Dodgers' fifth-starter slot a black hole, a planetary nebula or a death star? Astronomers and Star Wars dorks, I welcome your input ... Hothead/coward Guillermo Mota gets a slap on the wrist after he successfully plunks Prince Fielder -- granted, the guy isn't easy to miss -- but St. Louis' Brad Thompson gets a three-day suspension after he brushes back David Wright? Baseball's disciplinary process is administered with less consistency than a junkie's meds.
08/04/2009
1
1
It's a shaky perch upon which the Dodgers sit, however, owing to their failure to fill the fifth-starter black hole at the deadline. Jason Schmidt isn't the answer, unless the question is "what's more brittle than grandma and half as fragrant?" ... Dear Mr. Torre, Do not ever let George Sherrill pitch to a club-club righty like Albert Pujols. Warmly, Larry D. ... I realize I'm supposed to be beside myself about the possibility of a world without Vin Scully's buttery baritone, but really: his imminent retirement is just another step toward the depersonalization of the sports experience. I'm inured to it by now. It happens.
Preseason Power Rankings
Date
Ranking
Previous
02/16/2009
11
-
This ranking assumes common sense will prevail and Manny will return to the fold. If he doesn't, bump them down five spots and put L.A. Times columnist/Dodgers co-GM Bill Plaschke on suicide watch. ... Have there ever been two people on this planet more meant to be together than Joe Torre and Brad Ausmus? This is baseball's very own version of Richard Gere and Julia Roberts. ... All the Manny stuff has obscured the real concern here, which is the starting pitching. Chad Billingsley is inked in as the ace, but he has been worked hard and is coming off a broken leg. The over/under on "injury-free starts by Randy Wolf and Jason Schmidt" has been set at 29.5; bet the under. Clayton Kershaw can't be pushed past 160 innings at age 22 without risking his golden thunderbolt of an arm.
