The Dodgers Bench

The Dodgers bench this season has been a good mixture of veterans who can play multiple positions and rookies who have been in the revolving door between Albuquerque, Chattanooga, and Los Angeles. I was most impressed with utility man Nick Punto. It seemed like every time the Dodgers scored an important run against the Toronto Blue Jays, Punto was at the top of the Dodgers dugout steps being the first player to congratulate the player that had just scored. He can play multiple positions with third base being his natural position but he gets the occasional start, he's a defensive replacement, and he can come off the bench as a pinch hitter from either side of the plate. Veterans Juan Uribe, Skip Schumaker (who hit his first home run of the season in the Toronto series) and Jerry Hairston, Jr., have performed the same functions. Several rookies and young players-Yasiel Puig, Scott Van Slyke, Tim Federowicz, Dee Gordon, and Justin Sellers- have made key contributions in between shuttle runs between Albuquerque and Los Angeles. Puig is the only one that seems to be here to stay. During the Toronto series, I was impressed to see Puig sitting between two veteran players, Uribe and Hanley Ramirez, when he was out of the lineup and he was cutting up with the two of them and didn't seem anywhere near the arrogant player that has been portrayed in the press. Now if they could just get him to lay off that pitch just off the plate with two strikes.