It’s been weird. Just how weird? Check it out …
With two hits Saturday, James Loney has a positive OPS+ for the first time this year: 12. Just for fun: If you add together the OPS+ for the Dodger infield, you get 174, which is less than the OPS+ of Andre Ethier (201). And if you tally the infield plus Juan Rivera, the sum of those five OPS+ is less than that of Matt Kemp (300).
Kemp has 15 RBI in the Dodgers’ first nine games. “The only other Dodger with 15 or more RBI in his team’s first nine games is Hall-of-Famer Roy Campanella, who had 16 in 1953,” notes the Elias Sports Bureau (via ESPN Stats and Information).
Mark Ellis is the only Dodger starting infielder with an OPS over .500. Dee Gordon has gone 2 for 20 with two walks and two steals in his past six games. His OPS has fallen to .498.
Off the bench, Jerry Hairston Jr. is 4 for 12 with a double and two walks this year.
Overall, the Dodger infield has a .577 OPS with one home run in 161 at-bats – and that’s if you include catcher A.J. Ellis. Ellis is the only Dodger besides Ethier and Kemp to homer in the team’s first nine games.
The Dodgers are 8-1 despite their leadoff batters for their 79 offensive innings having a .241 on-base percentage and .243 slugging (.484 OPS). In contrast, the Dodgers’ OPS with two out is .817. With runners in scoring position, the Dodgers have a .429 OBP and .507 slugging (.936 OPS).
And quickly turning to the pitchers: The Dodgers’ team WHIP (walks plus hits/divided by innings pitched) in 82 innings is 1.037, and they have 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings. Only seven individuals had better figures in 2011: Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw, Cole Hamels, Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, Josh Beckett and Cliff Lee. And only Zack Greinke and Brandon Morrow had better K/9s last year.
Opponents are batting .189 against the Dodgers this year.
The Dodgers have used 13 pitchers this year. Two of the 13, Mike MacDougal and Jamey Wright, have ERAs between 1.00 and 5.00.
Who, by the way, would have thought the Dodgers would have eight wins before Kershaw got his first?
Each of the past two years, as well as 2006, it took the Dodgers 17 games to win eight. In 2008, a postseason year, it took the Dodgers 19 games to win eight. Of course, the 2005 Dodgers started 12-2 before finishing 71-91.
Anonymous
Can’t we play SD and Pitt all year!? Someone needs to tell the infield that it ain’t gunna get much easier than this. We were 19-7 against them last year. Then, after 9 games we were 5-4, having played SD, SF and Col, with relatively hot starts out of Kemp and Dre.
Anonymous
Vinny! Vinny! Vinny!
What metaphor will Vinny use to describe the season so far? I’ll pick “swimmingly”
Steve Hall
Oh, no thanks for that last sentence, Jon! Ouch.
Champ Kind
The 2005 team, man I remember that “hot” start with the likes of Jose Valentin. I just have this image of him having hit a triple, sliding into third, pumping his arms in jubilation at pointing and the Dodger dugout, and thinking Valentin is doing this? This isn’t going to last.
Flash forward to now, and we see this success coming due to the hot starts of Kemp, Ethier, speed from Gordon, a decent rotation (surprisingly) and a great back end. Yeah, I have a lot more confidence than that ’05 season.
Champ Kind
By the way, Jon you said you were taking the kids to last nights game, looks like you didn’t jinx it afterall. I think this is a sign you should attend more games with your family, seriously, don’t mess around with these things, the power(s) that be are telling you something and I think you should listen to them, for all our sakes.
Anonymous
I don’t get this sentence :
“Two of the 13, Mike MacDougal and Jamey Wright, have ERAs between 1.00 and 5.00.”
Shouldn’t they all have an ERA between 1 and 5, with the closer to 1 the better?
Jon Weisman
No, six Dodger pitchers have ERAs below 1.00, and five have ERAs above 5.00.
Anonymous
Oh now I see. I thought Wright and MacDougal were sticking out for all the wrong reasons.
Anonymous
Football can be a cruel sport. Tottenham has outplayed Chelsea but at halftime:
Tot 0 – 1 Che
Anonymous
Tottenham pulled one back!
Tot 1 – 2 Che
However Chelsea was given a huge break in that Cech should have been given a red card for pulling down Adebayor in the box. Chelsea should be at 10 men right now.
Anonymous
Como? ;-)
Anonymous
Adebayor ended up one-on-one with the goal keeper. He tried to round the keeper who made contact and brought him down. Should be a penalty and red card. But Bale pounced on the ball and scored. So good for Tottenham but Chelsea was spared.
Anonymous
Cech stayed on the field because his deliberate fouling attempts were so bad.
Jon Weisman
NPUT
Anonymous
Chelsea pulls away:
Tot 1 – 3 Che
Look offside to me, but what do I know.
Liverpool – Chelsea should be a wonderful final
Anonymous
SPECTACULAR GOAL BY LAMPARD!!!! A BRILLIANT STRIKE.
Tot 1 – 4 Che
Congrats to Chelsea.
Blue-eyed Gal (Ellen)
What were youbsaying about a crazy start?
I’m watching the replay of that triple play and still think maybe it’s CGI.