Dodger Thoughts

Some Matt Kemp facts to wrap up April, from ESPN Stats & Information, starting with the fact that Kemp led the majors with a weighted on-base average (wOBA) of .559:

This statistic measures the overall offensive value of a player. Each offensive “event” (single, double, etc) is weighted in proportion to its run value, or how much it contributes to a run scored, and it is based on the concept that all hits are not created equal.

The MLB average wOBA this season is .326. Anything over .400 is considered great, in the top 10 percentile, and anything below .240 is considered bad, in the bottom 10 percentile.

• Kemp finished April with a 1.383 OPS, almost 200 points higher than the second-highest total (David Ortiz). It’s the highest OPS for any player in a calendar month since the start of 2009.
• Kemp finished April with a .417 BA, 12 HR and 25 RBI. He is just the third player since 1920 (when RBI became official) to hit .400 with 10+ HR and 25+ RBI in April.
• Kemp dominated the zone, batting .456 against pitches in the strike zone.

Cliff Corcoran of SI.com and Jayson Stark of ESPN.com have their own looks at how great Kemp has been.

Elsewhere …

• Major League Baseball has seen at least 26 of its personnel arrested for driving under the influence since 2004, notes Arun Gupta of Struck Out Swinging (via Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk).
• Bill Shaikin of the Times explored the possibility of the Angels swooping in for a downtown Los Angeles stadium.
• Starting in 2013, the Dodgers and Angels might no longer play each other in two different series each year, according to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com.
• Sons of Steve Garvey wonders if Javy Guerra succumbed to the Snuggie curse.
• Ryan Braun became the first player with three home runs and a triple in the same game since Fred Lynn on June 18, 1975, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
• Hiroki Kuroda pitched seven innings of one-run ball for the Yankees and helped himself with this tag at the plate.
• Reds prospect Billy Hamilton (the 21st-century version, not the 19th-century one) looks even faster than Dee Gordon. How fast is he? Let Sam Miller of Baseball Prospectus show you.
• From the entertainment side: What do Grover Cleveland and Curb Your Enthusiasm have in common?
• Eric Nusbaum shares his ballot for the Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals at Pitchers & Poets. “Predictably, I leaned toward Dodger-associated figures and pitchers who ooze weird style,” Nusbaum writes. “I also thought it was important to take advantage of this more democratic induction process to get women their rightful respect and appreciation in the baseball world.”