Yes, I voted for Zack Cozart
It wasn’t even a hard decision. I had hoped it would be but by any account, Zack Cozart has been the best shortstop in baseball this year and thus the vote was easy.
| Name | wRC+ | HR | AVG | OPS | wOBA | Off | Def | WAR | ISO |
| Zack Cozart | 170 | 9 | 0.347 | 1.042 | 0.435 | 17.8 | 6.9 | 3.2 | 0.265 |
| Carlos Correa | 145 | 11 | 0.306 | 0.905 | 0.383 | 13.3 | 1 | 2.3 | 0.218 |
| Xander Bogaerts | 120 | 2 | 0.322 | 0.828 | 0.357 | 11 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 0.126 |
| Francisco Lindor | 121 | 12 | 0.267 | 0.842 | 0.352 | 7.8 | 3.5 | 2 | 0.244 |
| Corey Seager | 126 | 8 | 0.274 | 0.83 | 0.359 | 8.6 | 2.8 | 2 | 0.177 |
| Andrelton Simmons | 106 | 6 | 0.276 | 0.74 | 0.322 | 2.7 | 4.4 | 1.6 | 0.125 |
| Tim Beckham | 101 | 9 | 0.271 | 0.74 | 0.318 | 3.3 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 0.156 |
| Jean Segura | 136 | 4 | 0.341 | 0.853 | 0.367 | 7.1 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 0.121 |
| Elvis Andrus | 115 | 7 | 0.302 | 0.811 | 0.347 | 4.2 | -0.4 | 1.3 | 0.164 |
| Chris Owings | 107 | 7 | 0.299 | 0.808 | 0.344 | 3.3 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 0.173 |
| Trea Turner | 89 | 5 | 0.27 | 0.729 | 0.311 | -0.2 | 2.9 | 1 | 0.156 |
Sure, if I had to draft a team I would draft Cory Seager over Zack Cozart and maybe that is what the all-star game is for many fans. For me, it is a huge % of what you are doing the year you are being voted.
Cozart has always been a great defensive shortstop but for whatever reason (Chris Taylor anyone?) his offense has exploded this year. I don’t vote early anymore, I learned my lesson with 2005 Izturis but I think by June I can vote. I fully expected Cosart to have a huge slump in May and Seager to surge but instead, Cozart continued to pound the ball and Seager had a bit of a misstep in May and most of June until his key home run on Wednesday.
I will admit to one other strange vote. I voted for Matt Kemp. I’ve decided going forward I’ll allow myself one sentimental vote if the player is having any kind of year. Since Matt Kemp is getting lots of votes and is having an excellent offensive season I decided to use my sentimental vote on Kemp. He’s not Conforto, or Duvall, or Ozuna but he’ll do.
I never expected to be voting for Yonder Alonso but he really does have the highest fWAR for 1st baseman in the AL. His competition was Marwin Gonzalez and Logan Morrison??????? What the hell happened to Miggy/Abreu/Pujols/C Davis/C Santana/Hosmer?
Here we go:
American League:
1st – Yonder Alonso
2nd – Jose Altuve
SS – Carlos Correa
3B – Miguel Sano
C – Salvador Perez
OF – Mike Trout, Aaron Judge, George Springer
National League:
1st – Ryan Zimmerman
2nd – Daniel Murphy
SS – Zack Cozart
3B – I did vote for Nolan Arenado – I may have bent over too far in trying to be objective but I just find his defense so dazzling. Turner missed to much time and is a good 100 PA behind his competition of Arenado and Byrant. I may have gone with Anthony Rendon as my 2nd choice.
Catcher – Posey
OF – Harper, Blackmon, Kemp
1st and 3rd base are beasts in the NL. At 1st the options are Goldy, Votto, Thames, and Bour. Plus, Freddie Freeman was better than all of them. At 3rd the options are Rendon/Turner/Byrant/ Suarez/Lamb
I expect Cory Seager to make the team either by getting the vote or being selected. I hope Grandal gets selected, he deserves to go. I think the injury to Turner keeps him from making the team.
Kershaw and Jansen have to go.
Usual suspects?
In this order of importance the usual suspects Clayton Kershaw, Cory Seager, Grandal, Puig, and Jansen kept the Dodgers from getting swept at home by the league-leading Washington Nationals.
Through six innings, Kershaw had only given up a home run to Babe Zimmerman but otherwise kept the Nationals off the board. With Strasburg dealing it appeared that run would hold up for the Nationals. Strasburg had given up one hit in five innings and seemed to be in cruise control.
In the bottom of the 6th however, Clayton Kershaw did something that won’t show up in the box score unless you look real hard. Kershaw grounded out to 1st base but he forced Strasburg to throw nine pitches. Chris Taylor grounded out shortstop to 1st but he made Strasburg throw eight pitches. How that impacted Strasburg we won’t know for sure but what we do know is that the next hitter Corey Seager crushed the fourth pitch from Strasburg 412 feet to centerfield for his first home run since May 20th. With the score now tied Adrian Gonzalez struck out on a curveball that handcuffed the catcher allowing the Tortuga to reach 1st base safely. Gonzales took second on a wild pitch. The wild Tortuga was feeling it. Yazmani Grandal knew it would take more than a single to score Gonzalez so he laced a double into the LCF gap, and the Dodgers had the lead 2 – 1.
Could they hold it?
Kershaw took care of business in the 7th and after hitting for himself in the bottom of the 7th it looked like he was going to pitch the eight. Roberts had his own curveball ready and decided at the last minute to go with Pedro Baez. Baez has been great this year but every fan still holds their breath when he’s pitching in a key moment. This was a key moment. Not to disappoint his fans, Baez gave up a leadoff triple to Trea Turner. Taylor played that into a triple by getting too close to the fence and not handling the carom correctly but on the other hand, Turner hit the fence on the fly and just missed a game-tying home run.
I’ll be honest. With no outs, one of the fastest runners in baseball on 3rd, and knowing Harper and Zimmerman would get at-bats I was conceding the tying run and simply hoping they could keep it tied.
That didn’t happen. Dusty Baker allowed Raburn to hit and Baez struck him out. That was not surprising because Raburn has one skill. He can hit left-hand pitching. That is it, he can’t hit someone like Baez. It was nice of Dusty to burn an out and it was nice of Baez to make sure of that out. They still had Bryce Harper to deal with. Do you walk Harper and pitch to the hottest hitter of 2017? Maybe a few weeks ago you but this Harper was in a mini-slump so they went right at him. Harper hit it hard but the ex-3rd baseman turned pitcher Baez snagged the sharp ground ball and got Turner in a run down. It was not a picture perfect rundown but in the end, it was Baez applying the tag on Turner at home plate. Baez had made the play on both ends. Still not out of the woods, Babe Zimmerman loomed.
Kenley Jansen was on his way in. Another comebacker and the Dodgers had escaped with their 2 – 1 lead.
Of course, the Dodgers went meekly in the 8th. I don’t think they scored a run against the worst bullpen in the NL in three games. I should probably point out that Adrian Gonzalez reached on an error by Murphy and then decided to steal 2nd base. That ended as you would have expected it too.
The 9th started with Daniel Murphy slamming a shot down the line that looked like a sure double. Except that Puig patrols right field and he quickly got on it and fired to 2nd. Murphy was having none of Puig and stayed right at 1st. Jansen did his Jansen thing and three hitters later the Dodgers had salvaged the win 2 – 1.
It wasn’t easy but they got it done.
Scherzer joins Seaver/J. R. Richard
Only three pitchers have ever struck out at least fourteen Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Tom Seaver was one of the greatest ever. J.R. Richard was one of the most intimidating pitchers of his era. Max Scherzer can sit easily in that company. I don’t know about you, but I’m way more impressed by a pitcher who pitches twelve innings and strikes out sixteen than I am a seven-inning start no matter how dominant. Unlike last night the Dodgers were able to beat Tom Seaver and the Mets in fourteen innings. Seaver gave up just the one run in his twelve innings, a solo home run by Steve Garvey.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Tom Seaver 1974-05-01 NYM LAD L 1-2 12.0 3 1 2 16 106 Max Scherzer 2017-06-06 WSN LAD W 2-1 7.0 3 0 2 14 81 J.R. Richard 1977-10-02 HOU LAD W 6-3 9.0 4 3 2 14 79
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Generated 6/7/2017.
In that Tom Seaver game, Andy Messersmith went eleven innings himself which made me wonder how many Dodger pitchers have gone at least ten innings since 1974? Here is the answer. No surprise to see Fernando all over the list. Rick Rhoden and Doug Rau show up.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Don Sutton 1975-08-24 MON L 3-5 11.0 4 1 3 9 89 Fernando Valenzuela 1985-09-06 NYM L 0-2 11.0 6 0 3 5 87 Andy Messersmith 1974-05-01 NYM W 2-1 11.0 6 1 2 5 84 Jerry Reuss 1983-06-25 HOU W 2-1 10.0 11 1 0 11 77 Fernando Valenzuela 1987-09-17(1) CIN L 2-3 10.0 10 3 3 8 65 Fernando Valenzuela 1982-09-19 HOU W 5-4 10.0 12 3 1 8 61 Fernando Valenzuela 1981-09-01 PIT W 3-2 10.0 8 1 1 7 78 Andy Messersmith 1975-05-17 PIT W 4-3 10.0 9 1 4 7 69 Rick Rhoden 1977-07-06 HOU L 1-2 10.0 7 1 1 6 79 Fernando Valenzuela 1984-09-06 ATL L 2-3 10.0 9 2 1 5 70 Jerry Reuss 1980-06-16 PHI L 2-3 10.0 5 2 1 5 78 Andy Messersmith 1974-05-18 ATL W 1-0 10.0 4 0 2 4 86 Doug Rau 1976-05-31 SFG L 1-7 10.0 9 0 3 2 71
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Generated 6/7/2017.
Mike Cameron should have hit the cookie
When I saw that Scooter Gennett had hit four home runs in a game my thought wasn’t congratulations but annoyance that a banjo-hitting utility infielder would impinge upon one of the hardest things to do in a baseball game.
None of this was supposed to happen. Gennett, a 27-year-old, 5-foot-10 career second baseman, was waived by the Brewers at the end of spring training, and picked up by the Reds to be a utility guy, which entailed learning some new positions. He’s started four games at third base this year, which he’d never played in the majors. He was in left field last night, a position he’d never played before this season. His previous outfield experience had consisted of one inning in 2014.
This is a personality flaw in how I view the game of baseball. I’m all for the underdogs in many aspects of the game, but I don’t like nominal players doing things that are completely out of the realm of their skill set. Unless it is Lee Lacy hitting three straight pinch hit home runs.
I’ve seen two players hit four home runs in a game. Shawn Green and Mike Cameron. When I say, I saw them do it, I’m talking about TV. The Shawn Green game has been talked about here before.
Mike Cameron did it on May 2nd, 2002. Unlike many of the seventeen players who have hit four home runs in a game, Mike had a chance for five, and he almost did it. Mike had hit four home runs by the end of the 5th inning. Mike and Brett Boone both hit two home runs in the first innings. That had never been done before. In his fifth at-bat, he was hit by a pitch. What kind of bullshit is that you have four home runs, and they hit you with a pitch? Couldn’t that have waited until the next game? Anyway, this is the at-bat I’ll always remember. He comes up in the 9th inning and works a 3 – 0 count. A cookie could be coming his way. A chance to do something no one has ever done.
He takes a pitch right down the middle. I couldn’t believe it. The announcer starts prattling about how Cameron is playing the game the right way. All I know is that I felt he should have swung with everything he had. Eventually, the count goes to 3 – 2 and Cameron crushes a ball to deep right-center field.
It had a chance.
It was caught.
But has anyone ever come closer? I don’t know but it was oh so close.
Don Sutton sits on top but this will be about Doug Rau
Don Sutton has the highest game score against the Washington National franchise at Dodger Stadium. It was a crazy game as Little D went eleven innings and they lost 3 – 5 even though he only gave up one earned run. The Expos scored three runs in the top of the 14th to win the game.
Tim Leary and Orel both had games from the 1988 World Championship club here.
With all the great names on his list like Andy Messersmith, Jerry Reuss, Burt Hooton, Tim Leary, and even Derek Lowe, this one will be about Doug Rau.
I saw his name on this list and I saw the date, and I wondered was this the game that I could never forget? Doug Rau was a part of the Dodger rotation from 1974 – 1978 making at least 30 starts every year. He was never the best pitcher on the team but he was always good for above average work. He pitched on three teams that went to the World Series. He was the Claude Osteen of the 70’s which is appropriate because he replaced Claude Osteen in the Dodger rotation in 1974 when Osteen was traded the winter of 1973 for Jimmy Wynn. Anyway after making 162 starts in five years, Rau started 1979 as a main part of the rotation. Something was wrong and Rau hit a rough patch and was getting shelled in April. He ended April of 1979 with an ERA over 10.00. There were whispers he was done, that the league had finally caught up with his soft throwing junk but he turned it around in May. This was one of those games. A beautiful one hit shutout. On May 28th Rau would throw another shutout. On June 4th he would pitch his last game as a Dodger. Rau gave up 13 hits in four innings and would never pitch another game for the Dodgers. He had blown out his elbow. It was a sad ending for a pitcher who had been a constant on the best overall teams the Dodgers ever had.
And yes, this was the game I could never forget. It has always stayed in my mind, how dominant you could be one day, and just a few weeks later, your career was over.
Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO GSc Don Sutton 1975-08-24 MON L 3-5 11.0 4 1 3 9 89 Fernando Valenzuela 1986-05-20 MON W 4-0 9.0 2 0 1 6 88 Andy Messersmith 1975-06-09 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 3 12 88 Tim Leary 1988-08-21 MON W 4-0 9.0 6 0 0 12 87 Jerry Reuss 1982-07-20 MON W 10-1 9.0 4 0 0 8 85 Doug Rau 1979-05-11 MON W 7-0 9.0 1 0 4 4 85 Clayton Kershaw 2015-08-12 WSN W 3-0 8.0 3 0 0 8 84 Clayton Kershaw 2013-05-14 WSN W 2-0 8.2 5 0 1 11 84 Orel Hershiser 1988-08-19 MON W 2-0 9.0 5 0 1 8 84 Orel Hershiser 1985-09-03 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 1 6 84 Derek Lowe 2008-07-26 WSN W 6-0 8.0 1 0 1 4 83 Tim Leary 1988-05-19 MON W 2-0 9.0 7 0 0 10 83 Jerry Reuss 1980-08-31(1) MON W 2-0 9.0 4 0 1 3 81 Burt Hooton 1978-08-28 MON W 4-0 9.0 4 0 1 3 81 Andy Messersmith 1974-04-26 MON W 7-1 9.0 3 1 3 7 81 Pedro Astacio 1994-07-05 MON W 2-1 8.0 2 1 2 8 80 Don Sutton 1978-06-18 MON W 5-0 9.0 6 0 1 6 80
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Generated 6/6/2017.
Ron LeFlore makes a surprising appearance
As I do these leaderboards, I’m learning two things. Hideo Nomo and Shawn Green had some monster games as Dodgers.
No Dodger has ever had a double digit total base game against the Washington Nationals at Dodger Stadium, but if we include the Montreal Expo franchise we can find three Dodgers who did the trick.
Shawn Green rocked three home runs against Montreal back in 2001, driving in seven runs. Raul Mondesi hit two home runs and two singles for ten total bases way back in 1995. Old friend Joe Ferguson hit two home runs, and a double to net his ten total bases.
Player Date Opp Rslt PA R H 2B HR TB RBI BB Shawn Green 2001-08-15 MON W 13-1 5 3 3 0 3 12 7 0 Raul Mondesi 1995-09-02 MON L 8-9 5 3 4 0 2 10 4 0 Joe Ferguson 1980-08-31(2) MON W 7-2 4 2 3 1 2 10 3 0
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Generated 6/6/2017.
How about against us?
This was unexpected. I expected to possibly see the names of HOF Andre Dawson, HOF Tim Raines, HOTFG Larry Walker, slugger Adam Dunn, future HOF Bryce Harper, or maybe HOF Gary Carter, but I did not expect to see Ron LeFlore who was famous for being an ex-convict and his speed, not his power.
LeFlore only hit 59 major league home runs, but he stole an amazing 459 bases. Included in that 459 stolen bases was his major league leading 97 in 1980. Doing more digging into LeFlore I had every right to be surprised. This was the only game in a long career that he had at least ten total bases in one game. Only one other time would he even hit two home runs in a game.
If you have never heard the story of Ron LeFlore you should give this a read. LeFlore was one of the unique players that dot major league history. A story of perseverance against massive odds.
If there was any consolation to his prison sentence, it was that it afforded him the opportunity to play some organized baseball, albeit within the structure of a state prison. LeFlore’s ballplaying skills became so evident that one of his fellow inmates, a man who knew Tigers manager Billy Martin, convinced the Detroit skipper to come to the prison and take a look at the young outfielder. Martin came away duly impressed and worked out an arrangement for LeFlore to be paroled for one day, so that could participate in a tryout camp in front of Tigers coaches and executives.
When I wonder why I do these leaderboards I find a Ron LeFlore and remember why. It isn’t to read about Clayton Kershaw dominating once again, it is finding these pearls among the big clams. At the time the Ron LeFlore story was a big deal. Over the years his unique story has probably faded to the point that only fans from that era remember him unless you are from Detroit. I was glad to see he’s still alive though I always have a hard time picturing the men who used their legs as their weapons going through senior life without them.
Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA R H 2B HR TB RBI Ron LeFlore 1980-06-18 MON LAD L 7-8 5 3 3 1 2 10 3
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Generated 6/6/2017.
The best a Washington National could do was Ian Desmond putting up nine total bases back in 2015.
Which one of these guys is the relief pitcher?
If you start with the premise that Clayton Kershaw is still the ace, That the NL May Pitcher of the Month Alex Wood is the number two, and Brandon McCarthy is the 3rd part of the rotation you are still left with four pitchers fighting over two rotation spots.
The decision to send Ryu to the bullpen on May 25th seemed reasonable at the time. However since that time Ryu has pitched three times, once in relief and has been extremely effective. His start last night showed him getting stronger as the game went on and able to get great hitters out even as they faced him for the 3rd/4th time in the order. Ryu has made nine starts and has been able to get more than 15 outs six times. Rich Hill has made six starts and not once has been able to get more than 15 outs. Kenta Maeda has made ten starts and only twice has gotten more than 15 outs. Urias is back in AAA and still struggling to find the stuff that allowed him to plow through AAA in 2016 and make his major league debut at age 19 in May of 2016.
Last night it looked like Ryu was throwing as hard as he ever had, and Brooksbaseball backed that up. In June of 2014 Ryu was throwing his four seamer at 91.49 MPH, last night he averaged 91.35 MPH. This is a step up from his 90.03 in April of 2017. I liked everything I saw of Ryu last night against a potent offense.
When Wood comes off the DL this weekend, which starting pitcher hits the DL or bullpen? It shouldn’t be Ryu.
Rk Player Date Opp Rslt IP H ER BB SO HR GSc 30 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-24 SFG L 1-2 6.0 5 1 1 3 0 60 31 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-18 MIA W 7-2 5.1 7 2 1 3 2 48 32 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-11 COL L 7-10 4.0 8 5 6 4 0 14 33 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-05-31 STL L 1-2 6.0 3 1 1 4 0 65 34 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-06-05 WSN L 2-4 7.0 7 4 0 4 1 51 35 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-07 COL L 1-2 4.2 6 2 1 5 1 48 36 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-13 CHC L 0-4 4.2 6 4 2 5 2 39 37 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-18 COL L 3-4 6.0 7 4 1 7 3 48 38 Hyun-Jin Ryu 2017-04-30 PHI W 5-3 5.1 3 1 3 9 0 64 44 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-30 STL W 9-4 4.0 4 3 3 2 0 41 45 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-04 SDP L 0-4 5.0 6 3 2 4 1 45 46 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-25 STL W 7-3 5.0 7 3 2 4 0 43 47 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-09 COL W 10-6 5.0 5 4 1 5 1 45 48 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-15 ARI W 8-4 4.0 4 4 1 5 1 42 49 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-22 ARI L 5-11 5.0 9 6 1 5 4 29 50 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-10 PIT W 5-2 8.1 5 2 0 5 1 70 51 Kenta Maeda 2017-06-04 MIL L 0-3 4.0 2 2 3 7 1 54 52 Kenta Maeda 2017-04-28 PHI W 5-3 7.0 5 2 1 8 0 66 53 Kenta Maeda 2017-05-05 SDP W 8-2 5.0 3 1 3 8 0 60 54 Rich Hill 2017-04-16 ARI L 1-3 3.0 5 2 2 2 1 41 55 Rich Hill 2017-05-24 STL L 1-6 4.0 4 5 7 4 0 31 56 Rich Hill 2017-05-29 STL W 5-1 5.0 2 1 2 4 0 61 57 Rich Hill 2017-04-05 SDP W 3-1 5.0 2 1 3 5 1 61 58 Rich Hill 2017-06-03 MIL W 10-8 4.0 3 2 4 5 1 47 59 Rich Hill 2017-05-16 SFG L 1-2 5.0 6 1 0 6 1 57
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Generated 6/6/2017.
Zimmerman uprising
When the Dodgers played the Nationals last year in the NLDS the one thing they thought they could count on was Ryan Zimmerman not being much of a factor. The weary 1st baseman came into the postseason with the 3rd worst wRC+ in the NL. He had been horrible in the regular season. The postseason, however, was a different beast. Zimmerman ended up posting a .917 OPS in the NLDS. He outhit his teammates, Harper/Rendon/Turner. The Dodgers won the NLDS but it wasn’t because of Ryan Zimmerman.
Whatever got Zimmerman going in October last year has carried over into 2017 and more so. Hard to remember an over 30-year-old player being so bad one year and coming back with an MVP type season the next.
The Nationals are neck and neck this year with Dodgers as they fight for the best record in the NL. You don’t have to look far to figure out why the Nationals are playing so well. You just have to gaze out toward 1st base.
Get the picture?
Anyway, back to Ryan Zimmerman:
- He’s tied for most home runs in the NL with 16.
- He has the 2nd most doubles with 18, one behind Nolan Arenado.
- He leads the NL in RBI with 48
- He leads the NL in Slug % at .713. His closest competitor is Bryce Harper at .648. That is a crazy number.
- He leads the NL in ISO at .338
- He leads the NL in OPS at 1.133
- He leads the NL in wRC+ at 194.
- He leads the NL in wOBA at .469
He’s not slowing down. The A’s intentionally walked Harper yesterday. Zimmerman crushed a home run.
This is a dangerous lineup. This isn’t October 2016.
Dustin May wins June 4th FFA
There was some heated competition for the Dodger Farm Factory Award for the week ending on June 4th but it involved mostly pitchers and Nineteen-year-old Dustin May got the nod.
Wilmer Font had the best game of the week when he struck out ten in a six-inning two-hitter.
Trevor Oaks had the most interesting game. Oaks pitched a seven-inning two-hit gem with zero walks and seven strikeouts. That was a sweet pitching performance but what made this game stand out was that Oaks also hit a three-run home run off of ex-Dodger Javy Guerra. Even stranger was that Oaks hit the home run in the top of the 8th and would not pitch the 8th inning.
Dustin May won the award for pitching two games in the week. His second game was the gem, but he combined for thirteen innings, eleven hits allowed, three earned runs allowed, zero walks, and thirteen strikeouts. On the year Dustin May has struck out fifty-four with only eight walks.
On the hitting side, it was nice to see Yusniel Diaz finish the week on a hot note. He started out zero for ten but finished with three straight multi-hit games going eight for fourteen with two home runs.
Oneil Cruz had a four-hit game on Sunday, the first time in his professional career he had four hits in a game on the mainland. Heck, it was the first time he had more than two hits in a game on the mainland.
Continuing to muddle the waters at Shortstop for the Great West Loons, the Dodger added 6th round 2016 draft pick Errol Robinson to the mix. Robinson started at SS on Sunday and collected four hits and stole three bases. Robinson is older than his other shortstop competition. Robinson has now played nine games at 2nd, one at 3rd, three at SS, and two in CF. He’s the Kiké Hernandez for the Loons. The strange part of this is that Gavin Lux spent most of the week playing 2nd base. Lux now has more starts at 2nd, than he does at SS. Go figure.
Dodgers roll through the best of the NL Central
On May 23rd the Dodgers were 26 – 19 and 2.5 games back of the Rockies. They were about to face the Cardinals/Cubs/Cardinals/Brewers. The best teams the NL Central could throw at them. This was the time to answer the question. Can this team beat the good teams?
They started the four series set without their best hitter Justin Turner. They lost their starting CF on May 23rd, the first game of the four series set. Their second best starter would make his last start in the four series set on May 26th.
With all that, they went 9 – 4 including a sweep over the World Champion Cubs. For a few moments, they even caught the Rockies and were in first place.
- They did it with a new starting center fielder in Chris Taylor who put up a .870 in 46 plate appearances as a center fielder. Hard to believe that Taylor had never played center field before and now he’s already a seasoned veteran.
- They did it with their NL May Rookie Player of the Month having a tough patch as his OPS dropped from .965 to .884.
- They did it with their 2016 MVP candidate Cory Seager dropping his OPS from .871 to .820
- They did it without much help from Rich Hill or Kenta Maeda
- They did it with their cleanup hitter hitting four doubles and one home run and looking more like James Loney than Adrian Gonzalez.
- They did it with Clayton Kershaw having one of the worst games of his career
Basically, the Dodgers did it without hitting on all cylinders, which just goes to prove you don’t need all cylinders, you just need the right ones. Ha, probably not true in a mechanical sense. You kind of do need all your cylinders to get the most production but I like the line so it stays.
The NL Central is behind them, but now they face a team who can challenge them for the best team in the NL this year.
The Washington Nationals.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 