By Jon Weisman
You can almost hear those kids in the back of the Dodger van: “Are we there yet? Are we there yet?”
From a batting standpoint, they might be.
Over the past four weeks, the Dodgers have starters at 6 1/2 positions OPSing above .800. Los Angeles is 16-7 (.696) in that time, which is tied with the Giants for the best record in the National League.
Adrian Gonzalez reached base four times July 8, the night of Yasmani Grandal’s three home runs.
The half-position belongs to Joc Pederson, who has an .804 OPS in his most recent four weeks of play, before he went onto the disabled list following his June 28 injury. Trayce Thompson, who essentially moved from right field to center at that point, has a .452 OPS in the past four weeks.
Chase Utley is the other full-time player who has slumped, with a .649 OPS over the past four weeks, though he showed signs of coming out of it with a three-hit game and six-hit game in the last week before the All-Star Break.
Overall, however, the Dodgers have seen encouraging signs over the past four weeks from several players who were below par early in the season, namely Yasmani Grandal (1.019 OPS), Adrián González (.958 OPS), Yasiel Puig (.883 OPS) and Howie Kendrick (.847 OPS).
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