Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
So here’s the thing about the Dodger offense: Jimmy Rollins has been awful, and A.J. Ellis has been awful, and Yasmani Grandal & Juan Uribe have started slowly, and Yasiel Puig & Carl Crawford have both been injured. And yet: Wow, is this group killing it.
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D-Backs
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Dodgers
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1:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles
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LF
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Inciarte
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CF
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Pederson
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CF
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Pollock
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SS
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Rollins
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1B
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Goldschmidt
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2B
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Kendrick
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RF
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Trumbo
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1B
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Gonzalez
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3B
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Tomas
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LF
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Guerrero
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2B
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Owings
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RF
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Ethier
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C
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Gosewich
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3B
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Uribe
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SS
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Ahmed
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C
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Ellis
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P
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Anderson (R)
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P
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Anderson (L)
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Just check out the leaders in non-pitcher team wRC+ over at FanGraphs:
- Dodgers, 145
- Royals, 122
- Orioles, 119
- Tigers, 114
- Astros/Cardinals, 113
That’s not just a little bit of a lead, it’s a considerable lead, and it’s not like it’s all early-season BABIP fluctuations. (The Dodgers are tied for ninth with the Giants, at .306.) It’s that for all the talk about Alex Guerrero‘s insane April (he’s starting today in left field, his third start in five games), there’s been production from all over. We all know ridiculous Adrian Gonzalez‘ April was. Joc Pederson has been more than anyone could have hoped. Howie Kendrick somehow hasn’t received enough praise for his 141 wRC+, which is more than welcome not just because of the production, but because Dee Gordon is off to a wonderful start of his own in Miami.
All of that is without mentioning the rebirth of Andre Ethier, or the continued bench production of Justin Turner and Scott Van Slyke. I think we all knew that cries about “right-handed power” without Matt Kemp or Hanley Ramirez were overblown; I don’t think anyone could have expected that the offense would be this good. It’s almost certainly why worries about a rotation that currently features Carlos Frias and Scott Baker* have been muted. Who can complain with that kind of run production?
*For now, anyway. Eric Stephen notes that Mike Bolsinger was scratched from his start for Triple-A Oklahoma City today, which can’t bode well for Baker getting another shot his next time around.
It’s not a great spot for Arizona starter Chase Anderson today, is the point. He’s got a very good change-up, but not a whole lot of velocity on the four-seamer. A Dodger win today would give them a sweep, and keep at a minimum a three-game lead over San Diego, who send James Shields against Kyle Kendrick and the Rockies this afternoon.
