Playoff push takes Dodgers to First Division title

The Dodgers won their first title in the First Division, rallying past the Washington Nationals during the playoffs to break open a five-way race.

Clayton Kershaw finished off the Washington Nationals in the playoffs, nailing down the First Division championship for the Dodgers (Tony the Tiger/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

The Dodgers, who have spent as much time in the First Division as anyone, finally won the premier league crown in 2016. Playoff results, which are included in our baseball divisions, dramatically turned the race for the Dodgers.

The Texas Rangers actually led the top division at the end of the regular season, 14-9 with a winning percentage of .609, one-half game ahead of the second-place Dodgers at 21-17 and .553. But the post season included two series in the divisional round pitting First Division performers. The Dodgers were to play the Washington Nationals, while the Rangers were to face the Toronto Blue Jays. All four of those clubs, plus the San Francisco Giants remained in the championship hunt during the postseason.

The Giants also were in the playoffs, going against the Chicago Cubs in the first round. If the Giants and Dodgers had both won in the first round, they would have met in the National League Championship Series, possibly with the First Division on the line.

Entering the first round playoff games of Oct. 11, the picture boiled down, just a little. The Rangers had taken themselves out of contention by losing in three straight against Toronto. The Dodgers and Giants both were down, two games to one, in the playoffs. So, the Giants (21-18, .538), Dodgers (22-19, .537), Blue Jays (22-19, .537) and Nationals (14-12, .538) all were rather stuck together.

October 11 was the day of Game Four both for the Giants/Cubs and the Dodgers/Nationals. But the Giants lost their Game Four to the Cubs, thus losing the series in as many games and missing their chance to face the Dodgers in the next round. Meanwhile, the Dodgers took a 5-2 lead in their Game Four against the Nationals, who then tied it with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Then the Dodgers regained the lead with Chase Utley's base hit to drive in Andrew Toles in the bottom of the eighth, and Kenley Jansen saved the ninth for a 6-5 Dodgers win.

Now, it came down to Game Five for the Dodgers and Nationals. The Dodgers were 23-19 and .547, first place, but barely ahead of the Giants (21-18, .538) and the Blue Jays (22-19, .537). The Nationals were 14-13 now, falling out of the race even if they were to win Game Five. With a loss, the Dodgers would have finished in a tie with Toronto and the Giants in the games back column, with the Giants leading by one percentage point, the slimmest of margins for the First Division title.

But the Dodgers wiped out that controversy with their 4-3 Game Five win against the Nationals at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers brought in Clayton Kershaw in a save situation, and, somehow, the Nationals resorted to Wilmer Difo as their two-out hitter with the tying run at second base in the top of the ninth. Kershaw struck out Difo in three pitches, giving the Dodgers, at 24-19 and .538, the undisputed First Division lead.

It remained that the Dodgers and Blue Jays could have met in the World Series with the First Division on the line between those two clubs. But neither club made it that far, the Dodgers falling to the Cubs in the National League Championship Series and the Jays losing to the Cleveland Indians in the American League Championship Series.

So, the 2016 standings in the top two divisions divisions ended like this:

We forewarn the Dodgers, though, that defending the First Division championship is a perilous station. For the last four years, a team defending the title fell to the relegation zone the very next year and was banished to the next level down.

In 2016, that team was the St. Louis Cardinals, the last standing charter member of the First Division in 2010 without since then being relegated. But once the Cardinals claimed their first share of a First Division title in a split with the Tampa Bay Rays and San Francisco Giants in 2015, they plummeted to 9-18 in 2016, last place in the top tier. They will be joined in relegation by the Kansas City Royals, who had just been promoted to the high level for 2016.

With the Cardinals now gone, Tampa Bay is the longest running member of the First Division, winning promotion to the top division in 2011 and staying there since. For all of their larger apparent troubles, the Rays hang tough every year against this high level of competition. Even in 2016, when they didn't contend, they still finished 19-20.

In fact, the Rays are the last team to win the First Division outright without being relegated the next season. They entered league and won it in 2011, then finished within a game of the top in each of the next two seasons before claiming a share of the 2015 title.

The New York Yankees won a First Division title in 2012 and earned relegation a year later. The same happened with the Texas Rangers, who won it in 2013, and the Angels, who won it in 2014 before it happened to the 2015 co-champion Cardinals in 2016.

Through the regular season, the Cleveland Indians were an afterthought in the Second Division – fifth place 13-10 and .565, well behind the first-place Boston Red Sox at 25-14 and .641. The second promotional position was held by the Pittsburgh Pirates (20-15, .571), barely over the Milwaukee Brewers and the Yankees, both 20-16 and .556.

But the Indians had an opportunity that the Pirates, Brewers and Yankees did not have – a divisional playoff series against the Red Sox. Winning three straight against the Red Sox, the Indians hoisted themselves through the standings, all the way up to the winning percentage portion of the Second Division title at 16-10 and .615, but still behind the Red Sox (25-17, .595 ) in the games column.

A key performer for the Indians, reliever Andrew Miller, notched the victory in Game One, then pitched two key shutout innings in Cleveland's clinching 4-3 win in Game 3 against the Boston Red Sox (Artura Pardavila III/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license).

Thus, the Indians and Red Sox are the two clubs being promoted to the First Division in 2017, replacing the Royals and Cardinals, who will come down from the First Division to the Second Division. At the bottom of the Second Division, the Angels and Atlanta Braves appear joined at the hip in their decline. Both were freshly demoted to the Second Division in 2016, and both are being demoted again, to the Third Division, in 2017.

The Detroit Tigers, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs dominated the Third Division in 2016. Each had a Third Division patsy within its regular big league division, and each took advantage. The Tigers were 15-4 against the Minnesota Twins, the Cubs were 15-4 against the Cincinnati Reds, and the Mets were 12-7 against the Philadelphia Phillies.

By being just a nudge better, nine winning percentage points, the Phillies staved off the Twins and averted relegation. The Reds, who finished in last place, are to be relegated, with the Twins, to the Fourth Division in 2017. The Twins, a charter First Division club in 2010, now are headed to the bottom level.

On the top of this heap, the Tigers were unstoppable. They roughed up the Twins pretty good, but they also were 20-12 against their other Third Division opponents and notched winning records against every such team that they played. At 35-16 and .686, the Tigers needed every bit of it to avoid sharing the division championship with the Mets and Cubs.

The Mets were the second-place team, 28-13 and .683. The Tigers, playing so many more games, still won the games column by two, but barely finished ahead by percentage. The Cubs were right there, too, 26-13 and .667. However, the Mets won five of their seven games against the Cubs to secure Second Division promotion with the Tigers in 2017.

Coming down from the Second Division and replacing the promoted Tigers and Mets in the Third Division are the Angels and Braves. Neither team seems likely to become a noise maker in the Third Division.

The more likely Third Division noise makers figure to be the teams coming up from the Fourth Division, the Houston Astros and the Miami Marlins. The Astros became a strong club across big league baseball in 2015, but only now have they been able to escape from the Fourth Division dungeon, a house of horrors they first entered in 2011.

The Fourth Division is loathe to give up good teams that fall into its clutches. The Baltimore Orioles fell to the Fourth Division in 2015. Last year, in their second attempt to escape, they finished at the bottom of this lowest division for the second straight time.

West League: Dodgers, Astros expand cushion

The Dodgers and Houston Astros now are running well ahead of the West League after a spectacular two weeks for both clubs. But the Astros were slowed down last week by the Texas Rangers, while the Dodgers haven't been slowed down by anybody.

Scott Van Slyke is one of several utility players for the Dodgers who are hitting with authority (TonyTheTiger/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

It was anticipated that the Dodgers would at least strongly contend for the West League championship. That expectation was not attached to the Houston Astros.

Right now, though, those are the two teams on top of the league, and they are more on top of the league now than they were two weeks ago. Through April 26, the Astros held a one-half game lead over the Dodgers, but four other clubs were within four games of the league lead. Now, the Dodgers lead the Astros by one game and no one else is less than four games out of the league lead.

The Astros don't seem to have a lot, but everything was going just right. They had a 10-game winning streak in the West League (and overall) from April 24-May 3, winning five of those by one run. The club that finally slowed them down was the Texas Rangers, who swept them three straight last week in Houston.

The Dodgers don't have everything going just right. How can we say everything is going just right when they have Yasiel Puig, Kenley Jansen, Carl Crawford and Hyun-jin Ryu on the disabled list?

But the Dodgers have four or five guys right now who are hitting everything coming their way. Adrian Gonzalez (1.152 OPS) and Joc Pederson (1.043) are leading the charge. But Justin Turner (1.032) and Alex Guerrero (1.155) both have been fantastic and productive in their utility roles. Andre Ethier, something of a forgotten man at the start of the year, is running a .943 OPS. And Scott Van Slyke, who has always damaged left-handers, now is doing it to right-handers, against whom he has a 1.035 OPS and two homers in 36 at-bats this year.

The Dodgers are going so well now that the San Francisco Giants have heated up and still lost ground. The Giants are 7-3 in the West League during the last two weeks, but they lost a game to the Dodgers, who were 7-1.

Games of April 27

Seattle 3, at Texas 1.

Colorado 5, at Arizona 4.

DODGERS 8, San Francisco 3.

Houston 9, at San Diego 4.

Games of April 28

at Oakland 6, ANGELS 2.

Seattle 2, at Texas 1.

at Arizona 12, Colorado 5.

San Francisco 2, at DODGERS 1.

Houston 14, at San Diego 3.

Games of April 29

ANGELS 6, at Oakland 3.

Seattle 5, at Texas 2.

at Arizona 9, Colorado 1.

at DODGERS 7, San Francisco 3.

Houston 7, at San Diego 2.

Games of April 30

at Houston 3, Seattle 2.

ANGELS 6, at Oakland 5.

Games of May 1

at Houston 4, Seattle 3.

Oakland 7, at Texas 5.

at DODGERS 8, Arizona 0.

at San Diego 14, Colorado 3.

at San Francisco 3, ANGELS 2.

Games of May 2

at Houston 11, Seattle 4.

at Texas 8, Oakland 7, 10 innings.

at DODGERS 6, Arizona 4.

at San Diego 4, Colorado 2.

at San Francisco 5, ANGELS 4.

Games of May 3

Houston 7, at Seattle 6.

Oakland 7, at Texas 1.

at DODGERS 1, Arizona 0, 13 innings.

at San Diego 8, Colorado 6.

at San Francisco 5, ANGELS 0.

Games of May 4

Seattle 3, at ANGELS 2.

Texas 2, at Houston 1.

San Diego 3, at San Francisco 0.

Games of May 5

at ANGELS 5, Seattle 4.

Texas 7, at Houston 1.

at San Francisco 6, San Diego 0.

Games of May 6

at ANGELS 4, Seattle 3.

Texas 11, at Houston 3.

Arizona 13, Colorado 7.

Arizona 5, at Colorado 1.

San Diego 9, at San Francisco 1.

Games of May 7

Houston 3, at ANGELS 2.

at Arizona 11, San Diego 0.

Games of May 8

at ANGELS 2, Houston 0.

at Seattle 4, Oakland 3, 11 innings.

San Diego 6, at Arizona 5.

DODGERS 2, Colorado 1, 6 innings.

Games of May 9

Houston 6, at ANGELS 5.

at Seattle 7, Oakland 2.

San Diego 6, at Arizona 4.

Games of May 10

at Angels 3, Houston 0.

at Seattle 4, Oakland 3.

at Arizona 2, San Diego 1.

DODGERS 9, Colorado 5.

Games of May 11

No games.

Games of May 12

San Francisco 8, at Houston 1.

at ANGELS 5, Colorado 2.

at Seattle 11, San Diego 4.

A Dodgers-Giants division race? About time!

It's been 10 years since the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants duked it out in the National League West. Now, at long last, blaring out of the All-Star break, here it comes.

We thought a National League West race between the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants might materialize in 2012, but it didn't. This season, it has (public domain image).


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

We're just about to that point at which every club across Major League Baseball has played 100 games, and the last month of Dodgers games will never be confused with 42-8.

But it's certainly good enough for now. And only for now.

For now, the Dodgers and the San Francisco Giants are right with each other on top of the National League West, trading the lead back and forth. The true reason is another June swoon by the Giants after they had won two thirds of their games. At the All-Star break, the Dodgers led the West by one game 54-43. A week following the All-Star game, the Giants hold the one-game lead at 56-44.

We're looking now at an enticing possibility, something we haven't seen in 10 years – a race for the NL West between the Dodgers and the Giants, who last really went toe-to-toe in 2004, when the Dodgers prevailed by two games over the Giants.

The Dodgers teased us a little in 2012, when they started so well, then the new ownership came in and splurged on players mid-season. But a true divisional race never materialized because that Dodgers club never synced together. The Giants won the division by eight games and played a solid postseason to win the World Series for the second time in three years while the Dodgers still hadn't won it since 1988.

Finally, last June, the Dodgers began to gel, hitting that 42-8 stride for the division championship while the Giants suffered the downturn of many defending World Champions. The Dodgers couldn't finish the job in the postseason, losing a six-game National League Championship Series to the St. Louis Cardinals, who then fell to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series.

Now, though, here at mid-season 2014, we've got that race that was happening on two coasts more than 3,000 miles apart for a pretty solid 65 years. The Dodgers and Giants have taken their turns this year, just as we might expect. Through June 8, the Giants were 42-21, 9 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Dodgers, stumbling along at a mere 33-31.

Then, all that Giants hitting went away. From June 8 until the All-Star game, the Giants were 10-22, batting only .234 with a team OPS of .630. The Giants, at their best, aren't a great offensive club, and they were well beyond their powers with a .717 club OPS through June 8. At the break, they were .688 (against a league average of .697). They really lost the home run stroke. Through June 8, they had hit 69 homers in 62 games, and they hit 17 homers in 32 games leading to the break.

The Dodgers were 21-12 from June 8 until the break, but they didn't become that by increasing their offensive potency. Through June 8, they slashed .253/.323/.407/.731. From June 8 until the break, they slashed .267/.339/.380/.718. Those slugging percentages tell us the Dodgers actually hit with less power, and they scored substantially less – 4.3 runs per game through June 8 and 3.9 from June 8 until the break.

But we've seen some pitching lately, have we not? On May 20, the Dodgers' team ERA peaked at 3.69. From then until the break, the staff tossed up a 2.92, bringing the season number down to 3.29. The Dodgers struggled early with their bullpen, which choked up about a dozen games in the first six weeks. Through May 20, Dodgers relievers notched 13 saves, five blown saves, three wins and nine losses. From then until the break, it was 17 saves, two blows, a win and a loss. That bullpen, which was supposed to be a huge strength, really is one now. Kenley Jansen is 29-for-32 in saves (90 percent) and the team is 82 percent against a league average of 68 percent.

The recovery of the Dodgers' bullpen is Reason No. 1 for the club's rise in the standings. And the bullpen isn't even where the Dodgers pitching staff is at its best. Day after day, their starting pitcher is simply better than the other guy. With Josh Beckett throwing the way he was throwing before going on the disabled list, their No. 4 is better than half of the other clubs have at No. 1. The Dodgers should out-pitch the other club every day, and that has been happening.

We could say the Dodgers will go as far as their pitching can take them, which is pretty far, but we don't have to. Imagine what this club can do when it starts hitting.

By many measurements, the Dodgers are an elite offensive club within the NL this year, and they're not nearly as productive as they could be. With only 78 homers in their 102 games, they would have to hit one per game the rest of the year to match last year's total of 138 homers. If those homers come, the Dodgers will light it up.

The Dodgers have a few left-handed hitters who might pick it up a little. Last season, Adrian Gonzalez ran a 124 OPS-plus and now he's carding a 114, while Andre Ethier is down from 120 to 94 and Carl Crawford is down from 107 to 94.

Oddly enough for a club whose best hitters are right-handed, the Dodgers continue as one of the league's worst hitting clubs against left-handed pitchers. Against lefties, the Dodgers split .231/.315/.360/.675 with a relative OPS-plus of 90 compared with the league, which splits .252/.317/.391/.708 against left-handers. Right-handed batters Matt Kemp and Juan Uribe OPS .613 and .606 against lefties.

Yet, the Dodgers are, by the measurements, better offensively than they were last season. In 2013, the Dodgers slashed .264/.326/.396/.722, ranking third, third, sixth and fourth in the NL. But they ranked only seventh in runs with 649. This year, they are slashing .258/.329/.397/.726, ranking second, third, third and third. And they're also third in runs with 424.

The difference in terms of their offensive efficiency, just to pick one, is Dee Gordon, a forgotten man, who, out of nowhere, became a second baseman – and an All-Star second baseman, at that. Gordon has added a running dimension that this club sorely needed. The Dodgers already have stolen 91 bases (and been caught 35 times), with Gordon already swiping 45 bases in 55 attempts. Last year, the Dodgers swiped only 78 bases all year (and were caught 28 times). Their stolen base leader, Carl Crawford, was 15-for-19.

So, the Dodgers approach their last 60 games as a strong contender with a lot of room to grow. It bodes well for the remainder of this season. But there is one thing standing in their way. The Giants.

Editor's note: All advanced statistics in this piece are from or are extrapolated from Baseball-Reference.com, unless otherwise indicated.

Is this the Dodgers? Is this for real?

The Dodgers suddenly have won five straight games, all against the National League West. They suddenly have all of their players back. And they suddenly look like they have purpose and possibilities, this last-place team with the highest payroll in the National League. And we ask: Is this real?

Hard to believe, but Clayton Kershaw pitched another dandy game Wednesday night, and the Dodgers actually won it (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike Generic 2.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON

Big Leagues in Los Angeles

So, now we ask ourselves: Is this the start of something?

We look up and see the Dodgers winning five in a row, sweeping three from the San Francisco Giants, winning a game for Clayton Kershaw. We see Hanley Ramirez and Matt Kemp in the lineup, and they're both making plays. We see Andre Ethier run hard out of the batter's box and hustling out doubles. We see Kenley Jansen coming out of the bullpen and not fiddling around. We see the standings, and the Dodgers are only six games out of first place in the NL West.

In short, we see the Dodgers, the Dodgers who we haven't seen all season.

It looks really nice.

Is it real?

It's kind of hard to believe, isn't it? The season is three months old now, and this team hasn't been good for any of it. If Kershaw didn't pitch a shutout, the Dodgers couldn't win for him. The batting order has never been solid. The bullpen has never been reliable. The defense has never been sound. The team often looked lazy.

Up until just now, the Dodgers had an eight-game losing streak and a six-game losing streak, but not even a three-game winning streak since the first week of April.

Up until just now, the Dodgers couldn't beat the teams within the National League West.

Up until just now, the Dodgers were, as manager Don Mattingly unfortunately said a couple of weeks ago, "on autopilot."

Up until just now, the season looked lost.

But, just now, the season is found again. Rediscovered. Unhidden.

Is it real?

It's certainly possible. It just seems so unlikely, even for a club with this talent, because these last three months have conditioned us to figure that the Dodgers somehow were missing something important. And, we remember, it's really been more than that. At the end of business on June 21, the Dodgers were 73-89 in the last year's worth of games, most of them with all of the big names who joined the team late last season. The group of players, over the course of a whole year, never, at any time, showed the ability to win. Injuries were a part of that. A part. The larger part was that this team had absolutely no flight.

But, all of a sudden, they won their last two in San Diego last weekend to gain a split in that series. And then, in came the Giants to Dodger Stadium, and, like that, the Dodgers swept them three games. And it's a funny thing about the Dodgers and the Giants, but they just have this way of striking keys upon each other. So, when the Dodgers sweep the Giants, wherever or however it happens, but particularly after three months of flat-lining baseball, it does put everything into a whole different perspective.

As always, the situation is fluid. As always, it's a long season. As always, tomorrow is another day. As always, it could flip right back.

Is it real?

Wednesday night, the Dodgers beat the Giants, 4-2, completing the three-game sweep. The end went like clockwork. Kershaw went into the ninth inning. When Marco Scutaro singled to start the inning, Mattingly had to hook Kershaw, because Buster Posey was due up. So the left-hander needed to leave after 104 pitches, and he had already allowed a home run to Posey in the game, anyway. Mattingly simply couldn’t let this game get away from Kershaw, who left the mound with a 2.08 ERA and still didn’t have a win since May 20.

So, the reliever had a job to do. We’ve been watching this team all year. We know what that means.

Posey singled against Jansen, moving Scutaro up to second. We’ve been watching this team all year. We know what that means.

But, just now, it meant something different. The reliever then struck out Hunter Pence, then Pablo Sandoval, and Brandon Belt popped up to end the game. Jansen threw nothing but fastballs, cutters and otherwise. He owned those at-bats against Pence, Sandoval and Belt. He owned the ninth inning. It almost didn't seem real.

Is it real?

Well, here's a reality check. After these next four games at Dodger Stadium against the Philadelphia Phillies, the Dodgers will go on the road. They will go to Arizona, Colorado and San Francisco. They will play three division rivals on the road. Even after sweeping the Giants just now, the Dodgers are 8-16 against those teams.

Let's see if the Dodgers can rip that up.

Then, it's real. For sure.

Bullpen blows up again: Atlanta 5, Dodgers 2

We might say that no lead is safe for the Dodgers, the way their bullpen is going, except that the Dodgers don't score enough to build big leads. Instead, they blow small leads, as they did in Atlanta for the third straight day Sunday, a 5-2 loss.

Receiving another chance to close out a lead, if only by default, Brandon League couldn't get the Atlanta Braves to hit the ball on the ground Sunday (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Share Alike-Attribution Generic 2.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The game: May 19, Dodgers at Atlanta, National League. The Dodgers entered 17-24, fifth place NL West, seven games behind Arizona. Atlanta entered 24-18, first place NL East, 1 1/2 games ahead of Washington.

The pitchers: Dodgers, Matt Magill, right hander (0-0, 6.92). Atlanta, Mike Minor, left hander (5-2, 2.75).

The result: Atlanta 5, Dodgers 2 (Baseball-reference.com box score).

Summary: The Braves swept out the Dodgers, who blew their third late-inning lead in as many games in Atlanta. But the last two, including Sunday's, were such small leads based on so few runs that it's not reasonable to blame them entirely on the bullpen.

The pitching: Dodgers starter Matt Magill came out getting swings and misses at his four-seam fastball, finishing three strikeouts in the first two innings that way and notching a fourth strikeout during that time frame with his slider. But Atlanta starter Mike Minor matched Magill strikeout for strikeout. Through five innings, both pitchers had eight strikeouts. The difference was that the Dodgers, particularly Carl Crawford, hit some balls hard against Minor, which resulted in their 2-1 lead through five ... The Dodgers bullpen stitched it together in the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, lefty J.P. Howell came in with a runner on first and no outs, waited through a rain delay and, right away, had to put up with another runner on base by an error to bring up two on and no outs. But Howell struck out Brian McCann, then got a fly out from Andrelton Simmons. With Saturday's killer, Evan Gattis, coming up as a pinch hitter, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly brought in Ronald Belisario, who threw all sinkers and sliders to force an inning-ending ground ball ... Belisario began the seventh by getting the first two men out, then walking Jordan Schafer. With Jason Heyward, a left-handed hitter, coming up, Mattingly called on lefty Paco Rodriguez, who ruined that strategy by hitting Heyward. So Mattingly called right away on Kenley Jansen, who whiffed Justin Upton by throwing all cutters to end the inning ...

But Jansen began the eighth by allowing a single to Freddie Freeman and a walk to McCann, and the disaster was begun with the Dodgers still up, 2-1 ... Enter Brandon League ... When third baseman Juan Uribe right away booted Simmons' sacrifice, meaning the Dodgers couldn't make an out even when the Braves gave them one, the bases were loaded. Freeman, not a fast runner, was now on third, so the Dodgers might have still choked the inning with a ground ball. In some past failures, League could at least make hitters put the ball on the ground. Not this time ... That was a 94-MPH sinker that pinch hitter Gerald Laird lined to right for a single on the first pitch to knock in the tying run ... That was an 85-MPH splitter that Ramiro Pena hit deep to right for a sacrifice fly to drive in the lead run ... That was an 85-MPH slider that Chris Johnson lined cleanly to left field for another single to knock in another run ... Finally, League got someone to hit the ball on the ground -- because Schafer bunted. That drove home another run, too ...

The hitting: The Dodgers put single runs together with the top of their order in the early innings ... In the first, Carl Crawford led off with a line-drive double to left and moved up on a ground ball to the right side by Mark Ellis, just back from the disabled list. Next, Minor buried a two-strike curve to Matt Kemp in the dirt. Kemp swung and missed for the strikeout, while Braves catcher Brian McCann blocked the pitch. But Adrian Gonzalez followed with a fly ball to center, which knocked in the first run ... In the third, Crawford led off with a walk, took third on Kemp's hard double to left and crossed on another sacrifice fly to left by Gonzalez ... But after the third inning, the Dodgers made 14 straight outs before Andre Ethier walked with two down in the ninth and the Dodgers trailing by then, 5-2.

The base running: The Braves made more outs on the bases than the Dodgers, getting caught stealing twice. Dee Gordon, who makes a big share of the Dodgers' base-running mistakes, began the game on the bench, but entered in a seventh-inning double switch.

The fielding: Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis is letting passed balls by him again -- four this year -- but teams run on him at their peril. In the first inning, Ellis threw out Jason Heyward while Justin Upton swung at strike three to complete an inning-ending double play. In the fourth, Atlanta catcher Brian McCann tried to run on Ellis with Andrelton Simmons batting and two out, but Ellis threw him out ... For the season, Ellis has thrown out 10 of 23 attempting base stealers, 43.5 percent. The league average is 28.6 percent ... Playing shortstop, Nick Punto short-armed his throw for an error in the fifth, allowing Simmons to reach base as the leadoff hitter. The error cost the Dodgers a run, as Atlanta later in the inning hit two two-out singles against Dodger starter Matt Magill to get the run home ... Rain delayed the game with a man on first and one out in the sixth, Dodgers leading, 2-1. After play resumed, the Dodgers were a different team. It began with the very first hitter, when second baseman Mark Ellis botched a grounder, enabling Freddie Freeman to reach and putting runners on first and second ... The killer error came in the bottom of the eighth, runners on first and second, no one out, Dodgers ahead, still 2-1, and Simmons batting. Anyone seeing that game knew Simmons was bunting. But third baseman Juan Uribe came up too fast on the bunt down the third base line and didn't even field it. The error loaded the bases. If Uribe makes the play, they get one out, then the Dodgers can intentionally walk the next batter and maybe get out of it with a double play, except that reliever Brandon League couldn't make anyone hit the ball on the ground. Following Uribe's error came a clean single, a deep sacrifice fly, a clean single and a sacrifice bunt, all of which drove in runs.

Strategic moves: After a loss like this, blaming the manager seems almost obligatory. Surely, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly can't hang it all on his bullpen. In that spirit, but not as a second guess so much as a thought for the future, we'll offer one idea. In the seventh, Dodgers leading, 2-1, Mattingly brought in reliever Kenley Jansen while double-switching with Dee Gordon entering as shortstop to replace Nick Punto. It seemed like an odd choice, considering the following: 1) Punto, we believe, is the team's best defensive third baseman; 2) third baseman Juan Uribe was batting seventh and Punto eighth (The ninth spot was due up for the Dodgers in the eighth. That's where Mattingly slotted Gordon); and 3) with a 2-1 lead, it makes sense to double switch for defense. Thus, it seemed more sensible to put Gordon at short, move Punto from short to third and remove Uribe from the game. As it turned out, Uribe made a crucial error in the eighth to open up a four-run inning by the Braves. The Dodgers only had two more innings to bat at that point, so batting the pitcher seventh instead of eighth would not have been a huge sacrifice. As it turned out, leaving Uribe in to play third base was a huge sacrifice. As it turned out, the seventh spot didn't even bat for the Dodgers in what remained of the game.

What now: The Dodgers fell to 17-25, still fifth in the NL West, seven games behind Arizona. If it's any consolation to the Dodgers, Arizona has the worst first-place record in baseball, 25-19 ... The Braves are 25-18, leading the NL East by 2 1/2 games over Washington ... The Dodgers have a chance to right themselves as they go to Milwaukee for three games. The Brewers are the last-place team in the NL Central at 17-25, same record as the Dodgers ... And the Dodgers will have their three best pitchers going -- Clayton Kershaw, Zack Grienke and Hyun-jin Ryu. We say that as if the Dodgers hadn't just wasted two good starts from Chris Capuano and Matt Magill ... The Milwaukee series starts Monday (5:10 p.m. PDT) with the lefty Kershaw (4-2, 1.40) going against Brewers right hander Yovani Gallardo (3-3, 4.50).

Kenley coughs it up: Atlanta 3, Dodgers 1

The Dodgers couldn't hold a slim lead Saturday in Atlanta and lost, 3-1, when reliever Kenley Jansen couldn't outwit the pinch hitter he came in to face, Evan Gattis. The pinch hitter's homer turned a 1-0 Dodgers lead into a 2-1 Braves lead in the eighth inning. Ball game.

Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen threw nothing but cutters to Atlanta pinch hitter Evan Gattis Saturday, and paid the price (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Share Alike-Attribution Generic 2.0 license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The game: May 18, Dodgers at Atlanta. The Dodgers entered 17-23, fifth place NL West, six games behind Arizona and San Francisco. Atlanta entered 23-18, first place NL East, one-half game ahead of Washington.

The pitchers: Dodgers, Chris Capuano, left hander (1-2, 6.60). Atlanta, Kris Medlen, right hander (1-5, 3.44).

The result: Atlanta 3, Dodgers 1. (Baseball-reference.com box score)

Summary: The Dodgers might have stolen a 1-0 win with an unearned run, but they ended up giving it back because their relief pitcher couldn't outsmart Atlanta's pinch hitter.

The pitching: We could recite all the bromides about pitching, but Saturday's Dodgers loss in Atlanta illustrates them well enough. Starting pitcher Chris Capuano repeated the plan he used to shut down the punchless Miami Marlins earlier in the week, and it worked just as well against the power-hitting Braves. Capuano threw a sinker in the high 80s and a change in the high 70s, moving them around and mixing in an occasional slider for seasoning. The Braves managed only five hits against him in 7 1/3 innings, and he didn't walk anyone ... When he was through, leading, 1-0, with one out and a runner on first in the eighth, the Dodgers brought in Kenley Jansen, who threw hard, but that was all he threw, and that was the problem. Against the pinch hitter Jansen came in to face, Evan Gattis, Jansen threw cutter after cutter after cutter after cutter. Eight of them. On 2-2, Gattis fouled off three of them, straight back. He was timing the cutter and getting on top of it. All of these pitches were the same speed, 92-94 MPH, and the same basic break. It was only a matter of time. And, while you were begging for Jansen to throw Gattis something off speed, he dialed up another cutter, and Gattis crushed it. Home run. Braves, 2-1 ... Then the next hitter, Andrelton Simmons, got a first-pitch cutter, and he hit it into the seats. Braves, 3-1 ...

We don't know what the Dodgers discussed with regard to pitching Gattis when Jansen entered the game, but we have to assume that some of the responsibility goes on the rookie catcher, Tim Federowicz, whose job it is to call the pitches. Federowicz caught Capuano in the lefty's two starts this week and pulled off the simple sinker-changeup plan. Unfortunately, his calls for Jansen were even simpler -- cutter after cutter after cutter. It cost the Dodgers a ball game. Perhaps the rookie was just following instructions, but if those were his instructions, that's an even bigger problem ... [UPDATE] This morning, courtesy of MLB.com's Ken Gurnick, we received clarification from Dodgers manager Don Mattingly concerning Jansen's pitch selection. Here is the money quote from Mattingly: "You want him to pitch to his conviction, but he pitched right into (Gattis') strength. (Catcher Tim Federowicz) called a slider, he didn't want to throw it. He called for a fastball away, he wanted to come inside. For me, (Federowicz) has to go out and make sure. If he says, 'I can get this guy inside,' that's his conviction ... But make him beat you in the big part of the park. If you go away, and he goes to center field or right-center, it's easier to take than going to the guy's strength. He gave up a home run and basically gave up the game." [END UPDATE]  ...

Last season, Atlanta starter Kris Medlen was 10-1 with a 1.57 ERA. Apparently, he has to pitch that well to win a ball game. Saturday, Medlen gave up but one unearned run and two hits in seven innings, and he still couldn't get a win. Medlen mixed two different fastballs with a curve and a change to very good effect ... Except for the effect on his record. Medlen now is 1-5 with a 3.02 earnie. The man is pitching in tough luck.

The hitting: As we saw Saturday, Atlanta's Evan Gattis isn't in the big leagues because he sat in a pickup truck for three years without playing baseball. He's up because he can hit a fastball. He caught a break when the Braves had to start the year with catcher Brian McCann disabled and they needed a catcher. Gattis won the audition in spring training and hit so well that the club had to keep him when McCann was ready to play again ... His homer against Kenley Jansen was his eighth of the season … Atlanta's Chris Johnson was the only multi-hit performer against the Dodgers' Chris Capuano Saturday, going three-for-three. All three of his singles came off changeups. Johnson now is batting .339 ... Not much to speak of with respect to the Dodgers' hitting. Only two hits for the entire game.

The base running: Not many base runners in this one, so there wasn't a lot of base running. In the third, with two out and Matt Kemp batting, Dee Gordon tried to steal third base for the Dodgers, and he was thrown out. It took a perfect play to get him. One hates to see the final out of the inning at third base. But, the way this season has gone for the Dodgers, the final out was just as likely to be made in the batter's box ... [UPDATE] Here is what Mattingly said this morning about that stolen base attempt, courtesy of MLB.com's Ken Gurnick: "The first year (Gordon) was here, you want to be patient with him and you're always teaching, but yesterday, we've been there before, and I told him when he got to the dugout that you can't run there unless you're 100 percent ... You're in scoring position already. Matt Kemp's at the plate. Come on, Dee, we've been there. There's no real upside to stealing the base. Only an infield hit or a passed ball. It doesn't make any sense to me. It's just a mistake you really can't make. I don't want to come down on Dee. He's trying. But it's just not the right time to steal a base. It's a useless base." [END UPDATE] ... Sounds like Matty is a little frustrated with his guys, and you can't blame him ... In this corner, we're less upset with Gordon's stolen base attempt than with Jansen's pitch selection.

The fielding: The Dodgers would not have had a lead to protect for so long without Matt Kemp's nice catch at the center field wall in the first inning. Kemp took a solo home run away from Atlanta's Jason Heyward on a ball that was over the yellow line on top of the fence when Kemp caught it ... Braves catcher Brian McCann made a perfect throw in the third inning to nab the Dodgers' Dee Gordon trying to steal third base ... The Dodgers countered with a sweet double play in the third, started by Nick Punto, who came in and to his left on a ground ball by Andrelton Simmons and shuffled underhand to Skip Schumaker at second base. Because the runner coming from first was the Atlanta pitcher, Kris Medlen, there wasn't a lot of interference for Schumaker, who completed the double play with a strong throw to first. Medlen came in straight, but not especially fast ... The Dodgers scored their only run, unearned, in the fourth, when Atlanta left fielder Justin Upton mishandled Schumaker's ball in the left field corner for an error that allowed Adrian Gonzalez to come all the way around from first base.

Strategic moves: Dodgers manager Don Mattingly long resisted batting Dee Gordon in the eight hole, and his reasons were sound. Gordon ends up there at times, but one can see why it doesn't work. First, Gordon isn't good enough at reaching base with two out to get the pitcher out of the way for the top of the order next inning. Second, even if Gordon does get on with less than two out, the ball club ends up using an out in the pitcher's spot and moving him up, but then one hates to take the bat out of a hitter's hands by risking an out on the bases. So, Gordon’s speed ends up wasted … In the third inning Saturday, Gordon led off by being hit by a pitch. Chris Capuano bunted Gordon to second for the first out. Then, Carl Crawford flied out to right field, but not far enough to advance Gordon against the strong-armed Jason Heyward. So, with two out and Matt Kemp batting, Gordon attempted to swipe third and was thrown out in a close play, ending the inning ... True, one hates to take the bat out of Kemp's hands. However, with runners in scoring position this year, Kemp doesn't really have a bat in his hands. With runners in scoring position this year, Kemp is seven-for-40 (.175), all singles. Gordon certainly could have scored from second on a single, but there are a lot more ways home from third. If the big bats were driving runners home, Gordon could easily be chastised for trying that steal, but the way it is now, that's not so obvious ... Here's an idea: when Gordon reaches from the eight hole, especially leading off an inning, give him a couple pitches to run before the pitcher gets a bunt down. Then, if he succeeds, the bunt moves him to third with one out, and even the Dodgers should have an excellent chance to score under those circumstances ...

Doubt if anyone is second-guessing Mattingly for his pitching choices Saturday. He let Capuano bat in the eighth so he could pitch to Dan Uggla to start the Braves' next inning. Uggla, four-for-24 lifetime against Capuano to that point, flied out to start the eighth for Atlanta. When the next batter, slumping B.J. Upton, hit a clean single, Capuano was up to 91 pitches and Mattingly called for Kenley Jansen from the pen. Obviously, the Dodgers didn't have a very sharp pitching plan for Jansen against the pinch hitter, Evan Gattis (see above, under "The pitching).

What now: The Dodgers dropped to 17-24, fifth in the NL West, seven games behind the new outright division leader, Arizona. The Braves, at 24-18, padded their lead in the NL East to 1 1/2 games ahead of Washington ... Saturday's loss for the Dodgers guaranteed that they would lose their first series in Atlanta since Don Mattingly became their manager in 2011 ... The final game of the series Sunday (10:35 a.m. PDT) is looking like a pitching mismatch in Atlanta's favor. The Braves are sending lefty Mike Minor (5-2, 2.75) against right hander Matt Magill (0-0, 6.92) ... The Dodgers are batting .300 against left-handed pitching this year, but they're only 6-8 in games started by opposing left handers ... Rain was in the forecast for Atlanta all day Sunday.

Angels, Frieri, win battle of the bullpen closers

New Angels closer Ernesto Frieri and Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen met twice this week in the Freeway Series at Dodger Stadium. Frieri won the matching both times, and it made the difference as the Angels won two of three, taking the series in the city yard for the fourth year in a row.


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

If there's anything to be learned from the Freeway Series just concluded at Dodger Stadium, we could surmise that the Angels are better situated for a closer.

The rubber game Wednesday came down to a one-inning showdown between the Dodgers' Kenley Jansen, who lost it to a long fly, and the Angels’ Ernesto Frieri, who came within less than an inch of giving it back.

But the Angels don't give a lot back to the Dodgers, against whom they are 11-4 since 2009. A 2-1 win for the Angels Wednesday gave them four straight series wins at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers have only won four series anywhere against the Angels since 2002. Angels lead the series all-time, 52-37.

Wednesday night was the second such encounter between Jansen and Frieri in this series. Monday night, Frieri prevailed with a ninth-inning save after the Angels scratched out a run against Jansen to take a 3-2 lead. Wednesday, the blow was more sudden and surprising -- Erick Aybar's first home run of the year, a line blast to right field in the ninth inning, giving the Angels their decisive 2-1 lead. Jansen's pitch, a 90 MPH fastball, went straight through the middle of the plate with no apparent signs of life.

Pitching on a day of rest after three days of work, Frieri barely preserved the lead. He walked A.J Ellis to start the inning, then James Loney singled Ellis to third with no one out. Up came Juan Uribe, just off the disabled list and entering the game with a .333 average against right handers.

Frieri missed with his first two fastballs and fell into a 2-0 hole. The Dodgers had him right where they wanted him. Next, Frieri threw a 94 MPH fastball and Uribe just missed it, fouling it straight back. He hits that ball a couple centimeters higher and it's traveling. Next pitch, same thing -- 94, through the middle, fouled straight back.

That was the Dodgers' chance to win the game, and it was gone. We mean not to put everything on one player or at bat, but to point out that the Dodgers didn't get a good rip at Frieri after that.

Uribe hit the next pitch, another fastball, hard on the ground right at Aybar. Running on contact, Ellis was dead at the plate, but he prolonged the rundown enough to get Loney to third and Uribe to second. The Dodgers traded a base for an out, which isn't necessarily the best deal in the game because the runner on first with no outs scores more frequently than the runner on second with one out. But putting the winning run on second seemed worth the trade with one out for the Dodgers, because now they would get two cracks at it.

But Tony Gwynn struck out looking, and Bobby Abreu hit a ground ball right back at Frieri, who made a nice play on it before ending the game with his throw to first.

Following Wednesday's game, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly told reporters that the club was asking a lot of Jansen to work for his third straight night. Tuesday, Mattingly used Jansen to work a one-inning save with a 5-2 lead in the ninth.

The Tuesday game, of course, turned out to be a gimme for the Dodgers in the bullpens because Frieri had worked his third straight game, successfully, for a save Monday night. Scioscia was counting on lefty Scott Downs to be available for Tuesday, but Downs couldn't go because of pains in his side, so Scioscia left starting pitcher Jerome Williams in there to give up the game-tying and game-winning hits in the eighth inning.

In other words, close as this series was, the Dodgers could have swept, but the Angels, unlike the Dodgers, were actually very close to sweeping, perhaps, if Downs hadn't come up sore Tuesday.

One has to be impressed with the Angels going into Dodger Stadium and winning two of three. Much as we fret about the Dodgers being tattered and patched together, they still have the best record in baseball at 40-24. But they're 17-15 since Matt Kemp first went on the disabled list, not 23-11 like they were before he went on it.

Right now, the Angels are a little better. Especially at the very end of the game.

Through Act One, Dodgers set up nicely

Right at about one-fifth into the 2012 season, the Dodgers are right where they want to be, leading the NL West. Whether they stay there will depend quite a lot on the next three weeks, which will be played almost entirely at Dodger Stadium.

Matt Kemp, who hit this game-winning homer against the Washington Nationals, is the main reason the Dodgers are set up well through one-third of the season (photo courtesy of Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

By this old baseball reporter's reckoning, the pennant race begins when every club across the major leagues has reached double figures in wins and losses. That's when the baseball standings really look, for the first time, like baseball standings. It generally happens about 20 percent into the season, which is very near the point to which we have arrived in 2012.

Up to that point, the season is like the time trials at the Indy 500, in which teams fight for starting position. We might also think of the season up to this point as the first act of a three-act drama. In the first act, we are introduced to the characters. In the long second act, which begins about now, we see the conflicts and tensions of the plot thickening. In the third act, the September playoff races, the tensions resolve into the outcome.

We haven't quite reached that second act, yet, because there's still one club straggling to reach double figures in victories. The Minnesota Twins have only eight wins. Largely, that's because the Angels have been fattening up on the Twins, beating them in five of six meetings since April 29.

To be perfectly official and precise about all this, we probably should wait until the Twins have reached 10 wins before declaring the first act (or the time trials) complete. However, the American League standings show that its teams are so spaced apart right now that they wouldn't look any different if the Twins had two more wins. Nor do we expect that the standings will look any different when the Twins reach ten wins. When that happens, they still will be in last place.

On top of all that, the Angels and Dodgers both are off until Friday evening, which makes the next couple days as good as any for saying that we comfortably know who these teams are. So, we might say, as they will say on Memorial Day in Indianapolis, "Gentlemen, start your engines."

We’ll take the better news first, which means we're talking about the Dodgers right now. We'll get to the Angels on Friday or Saturday. By then, the Twins might be up to nine victories. As of the moment, the National League standings are in order.

All of the leading indicators for the Dodgers right now are good. Not great. Good. They are tied with St. Louis for the National League's best record at 20-11 and they hold a five-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West, which is the largest lead for any division leader.

The Dodgers have been in every game this year except for a 12-0 blowout loss at Houston on April 22. Though half of the Dodgers games are one-run games, they have not been especially reliant on winning them. They are 9-6 in one-run games, meaning they are 11-5 in games decided by more than one run. Good sign. They are putting up a nice share of solid victories. A team that lives too much off winning one-run games is in permanent danger of losing them. It is, of course, dangerous merely to be in so many one-run games. However, it's better to be in a lot of 3-2 games, like the Dodgers, than to be in a lot of 6-5 games because it's easier to improve a batting lineup than to improve a pitching staff. The Dodgers have a lot of players on hand already who can, and should, hit better than they are.

One might think the Dodgers should have beefed up their offensive numbers in their last nine games, during which they played in home run parks Coors Field and Wrigley Field, then played the error prone San Francisco Giants. But the Dodgers are going to have games when they don't swing the bat well no matter whom or where they play. So, in those nine games, they scored 42 runs, which isn't all that great, everything considered. They scored three runs or fewer in three of them, all of which they lost.

All together this year, the Dodgers are scoring 4.23 runs per game, fifth in the NL. They are an outstanding 15-4 when they score four or more runs and a very impressive 5-7 when they score three runs or fewer. This club always gives itself a chance to win.

The pitching staff did take some beatings at Coors and Wrigley. During one four-game stretch at those parks, the Dodgers allowed 25 runs. However, in their last five games, one trip through the rotation, the Dodgers allowed only ten runs. They still lost two of those five games.

That's the Dodgers. They are so reliant on two hitters -- Matt Kemp (12/27/.385/.469/.780) and Andre Ethier (6/30/.284/.534/.888) -- that when those two guys don't hit, they will usually struggle to win no matter how good their pitching is. At the same time, their pitching and defense are so solid that they still have a chance in those games.

Kemp and Ethier are third and first, respectively, in the National League RBI race, even though the three hitters coming up before them include the pitcher and a leadoff hitter (Dee Gordon) with a .268 on-base percentage. But the No. 2 hitter, Mark Ellis, pitches in with a .377 on-base percentage, 16th in the NL. With Kemp and Ethier immediately following, Ellis is as likely as not to score when he reaches base. He has done so 21 out of 43 times.

Here's an indication of how weak the Dodgers have been in the bottom half of their order. Their No. 8 hitter, catcher A.J. Ellis, has 25 starts with a .303 batting average and a .927 OPS. He's batting .348 with runners in scoring position. And he still has only 11 RBI. Philadelphia second baseman Freddy Galvis has a .577 OPS and he has 11 RBI batting eighth in that lineup.

We shouldn't be too surprised to see Ellis move up in the order, placing him closer to the mix with more productive bats. The only problem is that it's great to have a No. 8 hitter who knows how to reach base with two outs and get the pitcher out of the way so the next inning can start with the top of the order. With two out and the bases empty this year, according to baseball-reference.com, Ellis has a .467 on-base percentage in 15 plate appearances. About as often as not, he keeps a dead inning alive for long to spare the next one.

As far as starting pitching goes, the Dodgers are strong, but Washington, St. Louis, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco are as good or better. The Dodgers are third in starting pitcher ERA across the NL at 2.95, behind the Nationals (2.26) and the Cardinals (2.82). The Dodgers' overall staff ERA is 3.27, tied with Cincinnati for fourth in the NL.

The three Dodger left-handed starters -- Clayton Kershaw, Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano -- have been just about everything you would want. However, the home run ball is hurting Kershaw. During his Cy Young 2011 season, Kershaw allowed 15 homers in 233.1 innings. At his present 2012 rate, he would allow 25 homers in those same innings.

Right hander Chad Billingsley has been good more often than not, and righty Aaron Harang eeks out an acceptable start about half the time (We use "acceptable" rather than "quality" start.).

Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly pinch hit for Billingsley in the fourth inning, and it wasn't just because the bases were loaded and the Dodgers trailed, 2-1. Billingsley couldn't find the plate and threw 85 pitches through four innings. As Mattingly told reporters, Billingsley had only one inning left, anyway, so, "It was a no-brainer." Pinch hitter Tony Gwynn made it an act of genius, tripling to right field and clearing the bases to charge a 6-2 win against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

We talked about the bullpen a bit a couple days ago. It remains to be seen if Kenley Jansen will make it as a closer. One concern is that the Dodgers don't have a left-handed reliever who can be counted upon to enter in the seventh or eighth inning and retire a tough left-handed hitter. The only lefty in their pen, Scott Elbert, isn't doing the job. Left-handed batters are seven-for-16 (.438) with a homer and a 1.214 OPS against him this year.

Defensively, this is a pretty nice ball club. Gordon is a bit of a circus at shortstop, for good and ill, and that's about the worst that can be said about the whole operation. It seems as though James Loney will never again hit like when he came up in 2006 and 2007, but his glove work at first base is so strong that you love seeing him out there. And wherever you put Jerry Hairston, he makes a really sharp play. He might be the team's best defender.

Behind the plate, A.J. Ellis is death to opposing runners, throwing out 10 of 22 attempting base stealers (45.5 percent), fourth in the league. Ellis has allowed more passed balls (four) than any other catcher in the NL. But adding together offense and defense, Ellis is right with Philadelphia's Carlos Ruiz as the NL's best catcher at this moment.

The Dodgers have made 17 errors, tied for second fewest in the NL with Philadelphia and Cincinnati and trailing only St. Louis, which has 14. The Dodgers have the fourth best unearned run average across the NL at 0.21 per game, behind St. Louis (0.12), Milwaukee (0.18) and Atlanta (0.19). The league average is 0.36. So, when the Dodger fielders do kick the ball, the pitchers are picking them up. In defensive efficiency, the Dodgers are third in the NL at .713, behind only Washington (.724) and Chicago (.722). The league average is .693. The Dodgers are doing a lot right defensively.

It's a little harder to say that about their base running. The derring-do that made so many thrills during the first ten games of the season turned into outs when the Dodgers started playing against better clubs. Once those dashes for the extra base became outs, the Dodgers dialed it back a bit, Now it seems sometimes like they don't run enough, and sometimes it seems like too much. A lot of that's in the results.

The Dodgers have been caught stealing 14 times, the most in the league, and they have only 20 steals, which is one less than the league average. The percentages say you need a 75-percent success rate to make base stealing worthwhile. The Dodgers lag well behind at 58.8 percent. Gordon has taken half of the club's base stealing attempts, succeeding 12 of 17 times.

The bench is not bad, but it could be better. Juan Rivera began the year as the regular left fielder, but Mattingly has since taken to platooning him a bit at first base, which puts his bat in the lineup against lefties while removing Loney’s bat against them. Now, left field is something of a catch-all for rotating various reserves into the lineup once or twice per week to keep them sharp. Not a bad idea.

Gwynn has taken a lot of starts there lately, but Bobby Abreu, acquired recently from the Angels, seems to have a new lease on life at Dodger Stadium, where he has made a couple starts in left field this week. The Dodgers have two 36-year-old benchers, catcher Matt Treanor and infielder Adam Kennedy, who struggle offensively.

Hairston also is 36 and he has not struggled offensively (.315/.403/.463). Plus, you can put a glove on him and send him anywhere. You probably don’t want to see him more than about 80 times per year because, the record shows, his best offensive seasons are about that long. But managers across baseball have been running him out there about 125 times per year for the last three seasons, likely because he brings so much presence of mind to the game that they just want to squeeze a little more out of him. Very nice player.

The Dodgers aren’t going to finish this season at their present .633 winning percentage, which would come to 102 or 103 wins. They just don’t have the depth going through their lineup or pitching staff. If all goes very well, they can approach 95 wins, and the guess here is that they would end around 92 or 93 wins. Obviously, they need to maintain their strong performance against the NL West. The Dodgers are 9-4 within the division, having played all those teams except the defending champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They play 59 of their remaining 131 games against division foes.

But they also need to remain good right now, while the getting is good. With their three games earlier this week against the Giants, the Dodgers began the most favorable stretch of their schedule. Through the end of May, they make only two road trips, and they are the shortest trips – two games at San Diego and three at Arizona. The rest of their games through May are at Dodger Stadium, where they are the best home team in the NL right now at 12-3. They are on all but a three-week home stand. Going through these next 20 games, it would behoove the Dodgers to win at least 14 of them and build a little bit of a cushion for a rainy day, because the schedule will become tougher.

Along with what we’ve seen already, though, there is other good news. First, no one else in the NL West is ten feet tall. The pitching that served Arizona so well last year has faltered. The Giants have to fight through injuries to Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez and Brian Wilson. The Rockies are flawed, and so are the Padres. The division is out there to be won. Also, the new owners make fans confident that the Dodgers can add a piece at the trade deadline, if they must.

Probably, they will have to. The players on hand are doing what they must, so far, to make that bold move a compelling possibility. And the possibilities don't end there. They might even include a pennant.