Dodgers Digest Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball Blog
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Giants
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Dodgers
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7:10 p.m.
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Los Angeles, Ca.
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LF
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Aoki
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RF
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Puig
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2B
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Panik
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CF
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Pederson
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CF
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Pagan
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3B
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Turner
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C
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Posey
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1B
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Gonzalez
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1B
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Belt
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2B
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Kendrick
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SS
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Crawford
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LF
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Ethier
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3B
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Duffy
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C
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Grandal
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Blanco
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SS
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Rollins
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P
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Heston (R)
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P
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Bolsinger (R)
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The Dodgers are 9-9 in June, including a recent string of losses to the Rangers. As a result of the recent struggles, the recent lack of offense is a frequent area of discussion. However, the numbers don’t really back that up, at least when looking at the full month. The Dodgers are 10th in baseball in total runs scored this month and 5th in the NL. They have MLB’s 8th-highest non-pitcher wRC+ this month. Collectively, the Dodger non-pitchers have the highest walk rate in baseball in June, and the seventh-lowest strikeout rate. The power is still there, too – Dodger non-pitchers are eighth in baseball in ISO since June 1st. You can cherry-pick to make the offense look worse if you want, but doing that just makes the numbers arbitrary and unreliable. Even a small three week sample has been good.
So, yeah, games like the last two against Texas are frustrating. But there really isn’t much to worry about, either. Even picking apart the data during a period of “struggle” reveals holes in the narrative that the team can’t hit anymore. When looking at the big picture, which is what actually matters for predicting future performance, the team has been just fine with the bats. Looking forward paints a good picture too: Fangraphs projects the Dodgers to have the ninth-best run/game total in MLB for the rest of the season (second in the NL, behind the Rockies). The real area to worry about is rotation depth. The bats will be fine.
That hasn’t stopped Don Mattingly from shuffling around the lineup a bit tonight with the Giants in town. The result of the shuffle is very interesting, though not necessarily bad. Yasiel Puig takes the leadoff spot from Joc Pederson, who has been moved down to number two. Justin Turner bats third, and Howie Kendrick is shifted back to fifth. Batting order generally doesn’t matter as long as hitters are in roughly the correct order, which is what is happening here. It’s amazing how much better the lineup looks with Turner in place of Alberto Callaspo.
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The Dodgers probably won’t win on a balk tonight. But, you never know!
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