An Injury Depleted Roster

The Los Angeles Dodgers are starting the season with ten players on the Disabled List including three starting pitchers- Brandon McCarthy, Brett Anderson, and Hyun-Jin Ryu- and three starting position players- left fielder Andre Ethier, second baseman Howie Kendrick, and catcher Yasmani Grandal.

All of the injuries allowed some rookies to open the season with the Dodgers. The Dodgers opening day roster includes three rookies- shortstop Corey Seager, outfielder Trayce Thompson, and Ross Stripling who earned the role of the Dodgers fifth starter. Non-roster invitee utilityman Charlie Culberson also made the roster with a solid spring at the plate and he showed the ability to play multiple positions. A late addition to the Dodgers pitching staff, reliever Louis Coleman also made the roster as it was decided to option left hander Luis Avilan to AAA Oklahoma City. Coleman was signed right as camp opened.

Injuries Continue To Mount

Injuries continue to change the look of the Los Angeles Dodgers opening day roster. It was announced that outfielder Andre Ethier was going to miss 10 to 14 weeks with a broken tibia after fouling a pitch off his lower leg during a spring training game. Ethier had already been announced as the starting leftfielder and his absence can stretch into July. Carl Crawford and Scott Van Slyke will probably platoon in Ethier's absence and the Dodgers also have a couple of ex-infielder's- Enrique Hernandez and Alex Guerrero- that are trying to make the conversion to the outfield. There are enough at bats to go around for everyone- for now.

Trayce Thompson, the outfielder acquired in a trade this off season, is the odd man out. He has only batted .184 this spring with two homeruns but as brittle as the outfielders are- namely Carl Crawford and Scott Van Slyke- it is only a matter of time before Thompson is called up to the Dodgers.

A Camp Of Attrition

Spring Training 2016 has turned into a camp of attrition for the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers are still looking to fill out their starting rotation but the candidates- Brandon Beachy and Mike Bolsinger are the frontrunners- but they went down with nagging injuries with only a little more than a week to go in camp. Alex Wood has also been slowed by injury and has only made two stats this spring and Scott Kazmir had an encouraging last outing after getting shelled in his first two starts.

Rookie shortstop Corey Seager has been sidelined by a knee strain and has been limited to 13 at bats this spring, Andre Ethier just went down after taking a foul ball off of his lower leg, Yasmani Grandal has a shoulder issue, Howie Kendrick has missed some time, Adrian Gonzalez is just now getting in some time on the playing field, and Justin Turner is working his way back from microfracture surgery in the off season. That would be three potential members of the starting rotation and six regulars. As a Dodgers fan, that is not the start to the season I was hoping for.

The Baseball Gods

"I'd rather be lucky than good." Lefty Gomez, New York Yankees

The Baseball Gods smiled on the Dodgers yesterday afternoon. Andre Ethier was at bat in the top of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs. Ethier hit a ground ball to San Diego Padres pitcher Nick Vincent who promptly fired the ball over the first baseman's head and down the right field line. That cleared the bases and eventually helped the Dodgers to a 5-1 win.

The Dodgers took three out of four from the Padres and maintained their 7 1/2 game lead over the San Francisco Giants in the National League West. It is too early to start talking magic numbers but the Dodgers only have 26 games left.

Starter Brett Anderson pitched a solid game to improve his record to 9-8 but left in the sixth inning due to a cramp. This is the first relatively healthy season Anderson has had in about five seasons. In any playoff scenario, I believe Alex Wood would get the nod as the third starter over Anderson.

The Trade That Wasn't

Sometimes in baseball the best trades are the one's you don't make. It was a widely belief by many baseball people, me included, that the Dodgers would trade outfielder Andre Ethier this past off season. The Dodgers Outfield was crowded and Ethier was seen as the odd man out. He had only hit four homeruns in 2014, the lowest total of his career, and his trade value was virtually gone. Spring Training came and went and Ethier was still a Dodger. His role was seen as a spot starter, he can play all three outfield positions, and a left handed bat off of the bench. The phrase "until he is traded" was often added to that assessment of his role with the Dodgers.

As the season progressed, injuries started taking it's toll on the Dodger outfield. Yasiel Puig, Carl Crawford, and Scott Van Slyke have all missed major chunks of the season due to injury. Ethier's role with the team became much more valuable, he assumed a more regular place in the Dodgers outfield, and it all culminated with the two homerun game against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim including the walk off game winner in the bottom of the tenth inning.

Ethier has hit 12 homeruns already this season, tripling last season's total, and is batting a solid .280. The Dodgers would not be in first place in the National League West without him. He is signed through 2017 and there is no telling what will happen this next off season but Ethier has brought his trade value up.

An Angelic Sweep

This is something that I do not get to blog about often and that is a seep of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim or whatever they are calling themselves these days. Mat Latos pitched well in his Dodgers debut only giving up one run in six innings and he left with a 2-1 lead.

Newly acquired relief pitcher Jim Johnson immediately fit right in to the Dodgers bullpen and gave up the tying run in the top of the eighth inning. Andre Ethier hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the eight inning to give the Dodgers the lead back only to have J.P. Howell and Pedro Baez allow the Angels to tie it again in the top of the ninth inning at three. Andre Ethier provided the extra innings heroics that we have not seen from him in quite a while, hitting a two run blast into the Angels bullpen over the right field wall to win it 5-3, giving the Dodgers the walkoff win and a sweep of the Angels.

The Home Run Derby

Los Angeles Dodgers rookie Joc Pederson was one of eight contestants in the Home Run Derby and he did very well for the Dodgers and for himself. He made it to the final round where he lost to the Cincinnati Reds' Todd Frazier 15-14. I am not a big fan of this even especially from the perspective of the Dodgers going in to the second half of the season.

Pederson hit a total of 39 home runs on the night but remarked how tired he was after the event was over. A home run hitting contest is also a great way to mess up a swing. Pederson leads the Dodgers with 20 home runs but his average has dipped into the high .220's.

He is also starting in the All Star game so the Dodgers may need to rest him more in the second half of the season. Carl Crawford is due back shortly after the break and Andre Ethier can also provide a left handed bat in the lineup.

The Long Road Back

Dodgers reliever Chin-hui Tsao got the win against the Milwaukee Brewers in his first major league appearance since 2007. He pitched a scoreless inning, recording one strikeout, and was the beneficiary of three Dodgers runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, a two out two run single by pinch hitter Andre Ethier and a Joc Pederson opposite field double that drove in Ethier.

I had the opportunity to see Tsao pitch for the Asheville Tourists, the Low A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, in 2000. I had heard so much about the Taiwanese phenom, I had to go see for myself. He was a power pitcher in a power hitters park and he handled himself quite well. He went 11-8 that season with a 2.73 ERA and 187 strikeouts in 145 innings.

After a few injury plagued seasons with the Rockies, they released him in 2006, the Dodgers picked him up in 2007 and he made 21 appearances for them. He had some legal problems in Taiwan, received a five year ban, owned a barbecue restaurant, and thought he would give professional baseball another try. The Dodgers signed him to a minor league contract and after a handful of appearances at AA Tulsa and AAA Oklahoma City, the Dodgers called him up. Tsao's statistics in the minors were not overwhelming but the Dodgers thought his pitches showed enough movement to add him to the bullpen mix. The road between the Dodgers bullpen and Oklahoma City has been a well traveled one this season

Looking At The Numbers

The Dodgers have been scuffling at the plate lately. I know they went through an eight game stretch in May where they only scored nine runs. The Dodgers have suffered through a stretch of three straight shutouts at the hands of the San Francisco Giants and 42 consecutive scoreless innings on the road. These games came against the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, two of the best pitching staffs in baseball.

I decided to take a look at the overall offensive numbers of the Dodgers. What I saw really surprised me. After 60 games, the Dodgers are first in Major League baseball in OBP, tied for first in home runs with the Houston Astros, second in OPS, fifth in runs scored, and ninth in batting average.

The Dodgers have racked up these numbers in spite of outfielders Yasiel Puig and Carl Crawford missing large chunks of the season and starting shortstop Jimmy Rollins being off to the worst start of his career.

On the plus side Joc Pederson has been as advertised and Andre Ethier has shown flashes of his form of five or six seasons ago. Pederson leads Major League rookies in home runs with 17 and Ethier has already doubled his homerun output from last season. Alex Guerrero's emergence as a power hitter helped lead to Juan Uribe's trade.

Where is the consistency in the run scoring? It has always been said that good pitching beats good hitting and that is how the Giants and the Cardinals are taking it to the Dodgers this season and in last season's playoffs.. The Dodgers are also missing their third and fourth starters in Hyun Jin-Ryu and Brandon McCarthy and they have been piecing together the back end of their pitching staff since Opening Day. Right now Carlos Frias and Mike Bolsinger are doing the job and Brandon Beachy should be back in about another six weeks.

Kershaw At The Bat

Clayton Kershaw pitched seven strong innings against the Colorado Rockies last night in the Dodgers 11-4 win and he also had the first three hit game of his career, driving in a run in the process. He improved his record to 4-3 and his batting average to .185. It was also his first road win on the season. He has always had a tougher time pitching in Coors Field, with an ERA about twice that of his career ERA but that was his eighth straight win against the Rockies.

The Dodgers had been suffering from a team wide slump for about the past two weeks but broke out of it in a big way last night. They hit four homeruns- Ethier, Rollins, Pederson, and Kendrick. Joc Pederson leads all major league rookie with 14 homeruns although his average has fell into the .250's from a high of the low .300's.

Power Surge

There was a power surge in Los Angeles last night against the Atlanta Braves and in came in the form of three homeruns in the eighth inning of a 6-3 win. Andre Ethier, Alex Guerrero, and Jimmy Rollins all hit one out to bring the Dodgers back from a 2-1 deficit in the 7th inning. The Dodgers had only scored 9 runs in their previous 8 games.

The Dodgers versus the Braves takes on a special significance for me because I live in Braves country. It was real bad for me when the Braves were going to all of those World Series in the 1990's. I never heard the end of it. It was just as bad when they were National League West rivals. The Braves had some great teams in the 1990's but only won one World Series during that time. I got to refer to them as the "Buffalo Bills of baseball." That is a title that they still retain.

The Dodgers And A Slugfest

The Los Angeles Dodgers and slugfest are two words you normally don't hear in the same sentence. The Dodgers beat the San Diego Padres last night 11-8 so I guess that qualifies.

Adrian Gonzalez hit his 6th homerun, all against the Padres, and Andre Ethier and Juan Uribe also hit homeruns. In my last post, I wrote about how it was time for Alex Guerrero to replace Juan Uribe and Uribe goes out and hits a homerun. Alex Guerrero drew a walk in an at bat as a pinch hitter.

Brandon McCarthy got the win but gave up 6 runs in 5 innings, including three more homeruns. McCarthy has been almost Bert Blyleven-esque in his ability to give up homeruns this season. He gave up four in an earlier game this season in which he was also the winner. Reliever Chris Hatcher finally got his ERA under 10 (9.95 to be exact) by giving up a run in the ninth inning. It was a good game to let some of the bullpen some work in with a lead they could play with.

Another Walk Off Win

The Dodgers had another 6-5 walk off win against the Seattle Mariners last night. This time it was a broken bat single to Right Field off Seattle closer Fernando Rodney by Howie Kendrick. Alex Guerrero hit a pinch hit two-run homer in the 4th inning (his second) and Andre Ethier hit his first home run of the year. The top four spots in the Dodgers lineup all had two hits and the Dodgers had 12 for the game.

Dodgers starter David Huff just lasted four innings, gave up four runs, including two more Mariners home runs, but the Dodgers relief pitching followed with a solid five innings of relief only giving up one run, including 1 1/3 innings by Chris Hatcher. Yimi Garcia pitched the final inning to get his second win of the season.

The Opening Day Roster

The Dodgers went 16-11 with 8 ties this spring. There are no real surprises on the Los Angeles Dodgers Opening Day Roster. None of the Dodgers twenty non-Roster invitees made the Roster.

The Dodgers are going with four starting pitchers and seven relievers until a fifth starter is needed sometime in May. The two left handed Relievers they decided to go with were J.P. Howell and Paco Rodriguez even though non-Roster invitee Adam Liberatore pitched in 11 games without giving up a run. Rodriguez had a good camp and the experience factor may have won out. Pedro Baez and Yimi Garcia are two rookie right handed relievers that made the staff. Recently acquired Chris Hatcher may get the first crack at the Closer's role until Kenley Jansen comes back sometime in early May. Hatcher did not have a good camp with an ERA over 8.

Rookie Centerfielder Joc Pederson cemented his hold on the starting job as he tied for the team lead with Infielder Enrique Hernandez in home runs with 6 and he batted .338. Andre Ethier also had a good spring but the Dodgers are looking to deal him but it may be closer to the trade deadline before he can be moved. The Dodgers are going to carry five outfielders going into Opening Day but Scott Van Slyke can also play First Base. Darwin Barney and Alex Guerrero both made the team as backup infielders, Barney for his glove and Guerrero for his bat.

Enrique Hernandez and off season acquisition Outfielder Chris Heisey were both sent down. Hernandez had a solid spring but he can be an every day player in AAA and Heisey did not help himself out any by batting .100 this Spring. Left hander David Huff had a decent spring but was sent down to get in some innings until the Dodgers need a fifth starter in a couple of weeks.

The Dodger Record Books

Los Angeles Dodgers records are hard to break. Clayton Kershaw ran his scoreless innings streak to 36 with 8 more shutout innings in the Dodgers 9-0 win over the Colrado Rockies last night. The 36 inning scoreless streak is only the third longest in Dodger history behind Orel Hershiser's 59 and Don Drysdale's 58. Kershaw improved his record to 10-2 and his ERA to 1.85. He even went 2 for 4 at the plate and drove in his first run on the season. He was leaving nothing to chance. Yasiel Puig hit his 12th homerun and Scott Van Slyke hit his 8th in support of Kershaw. Dee Gordon, Andre Ethier, and A.J. Ellis all had 3 hits among the Dodgers 19 hits and Gordon stole his 41st base. The win gave the Dodgers a 1 1/2 game lead on the San Francisco Giants with the All-Star break getting close.

Kershaw

That is all my headline needs to say. Clayton Kershaw ran his scoreless string to 28 innings by shutting out the St. Louis Cardinals last night for 7 innings, striking out 13, and walking 2. He improved his record to 9-2. The Dodgers scored 6 runs in support of Kershaw this time around, the big blow being a two out, three-run homer by Andre Ethier (his 4th) off Shelby Miller in the 5th inning. More important than Kershaw's dominance, is the fact that the victory allowed the Dodgers to catch the San Francisco Giants for the lead in the National League West. The Dodgers have made up 9 1/2 games in three weeks and this was about the time the Dodgers started their incredible run last year.

The Whiff And Poof Express

I borrowed the title for this blog from an old BC comic strip. The manager of their baseball team was asked to describe his lineup a la the "Murderer's Row" lineup of the 1927 New York Yankees. The manager referred to his lineup as the "Whiff And Poof Express" because of their hitting futility. I realize that the Dodgers are missing some key parts to their lineup but they only had 6 hits in last nights 2-0 win over the Kansas City Royals. Jeff Turner led off the game with a triple (he's batting leadoff?) and was eventually driven in by Adrian Gonzalez. The Dodgers scored their only other run in the top of the Ninth inning when pinch hitter Andre Ethier drove in Adrian Gonzalez with a single for the final margin of 2-0. Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was not at his most dominant but he did stretch his scoreless streak to 21 innings by pitching 8 innings last night, striking out 8, walking 1, and giving up 6 hits. He improved his record to 8-2 and lowered his ERA to 2.24. Kenley Jansen pitched the Ninth inning for his 23rd Save.

Give Me Some Excitement

I would like for this years Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team to give me some excitement and I am not talking about the kind the bullpen gives when they come in in the 8th and 9th inning and blow a two or three run lead. Yesterday's 2-1 win against the San Diego Padres was just another ho hum performance. The Dodgers scored single runs in the first and second innings and then have to hold on for dear life against former Dodger Eric Stults who is the pitching equivalent of Bob Uecker. Stults came into the game with a record of 2-9 on the season with an ERA of around 6. The Dodgers managed to turn it into a pitching duel between Stults and Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu and luckily for the Dodgers, Ryu was up to the challenge as he only gave up one run in six innings, allowing only 4 hits. He improved to 9-3 on the season and dropped his ERA to 3.06. It was a typical Ryu performance. He gets the Dodgers to the 6th or 7th inning, has a high pitch count, and then has to turn the game over to the bullpen. This season turning it over to the bullpen has been like turning the ball over to the batting practice pitcher. Kenley Jansen did turn in his most dominate inning of the season, striking out the side in the 9th inning on 13 pitches for his 22nd Save. Yasiel Puig does provide some excitement but here lately it has been the various ways in which he can pull something, bruise something, or strain something and have to be removed from the game. I am issuing a call to Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Hanley Ramirez, and Adrian Gonzalez or anybody else with a bat in their hand.... Do something useful with it other than knock the dirt off your cleats!

Beckett's First Win

Josh Beckett got his first win of the season last night (1-1) over one of his old teams the Miami Marlins 7-1. He went 6 1/3 innings, giving up one unearned run, struck out 6 and walked 3. He dropped his overall ERA to 2.38. The Dodgers broke the game open with 5 runs in the bottom of the 6th. Hanley Ramirez started the scoring with a two-run double, Yasiel Puig had two hits and an RBI and improved his average to .326, and Matt Kemp and Carl Crawford also had two hits a piece. Manager Don Mattingly noted Puig's sudden consistency at the plate by saying in a postgame interview "he's growing up before our very eyes." Puig has a career high 13 game hitting streak and leads the team with 30 RBI's. His mother even threw out the first pitch last night on "Yasiel Puig bobblehead night."

A Clueless Fan With A Laptop And A Blog

It seems like everytime I write or make any disparaging comments about Andre Ethier, he does something that makes me look like another clueless fan with a laptop and a blog, which I might be because no one reads this anyway. I try to be relevant and keep it interesting because I am a true blue Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Anyway, back to Ethier. The Dodgers Dan Haren gave up five runs last night (only two earned) and the Dodgers found themselves down 4-0. Andre Ethier's three-run homer in the bottom of the fourth inning got the Dodgers going in an 8-6 win. Matt Kemp and Adrian Gonzalez had 2 hits and 2 RBI's and Dee Gordon's 2 hits raised his batting average to .375. Dan Haren went 7 1/3 innings, improved his record to 3-0, his ERA is at 2.16 and he is kicking his old team, Arizona's, ass. He has proven to be an important free agent pick up thus far. Since my blog has such a positive effect on Ethier maybe I should talk about how Brian Wilson (ERA of 10.13) carrying that goofy beard around is hurting his pitching arm. Hey, I am as superstitious as the next baseball person.