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By Jon Weisman
In a Dodger season already overflowing with incredible stories, Andre Ethier is big-fonting his own headlines.
Continuing his rebound from career lows offensively in 2012, Ethier went 5 for 5 in the Dodgers’ 11-1 victory tonight over Miami.
Ethier pushed his 2015 OPS to 1.021 and has six consecutive hits dating back to Monday. Ethier holds the Los Angeles Dodger record (and is tied for the all-time franchise mark) with 10 consecutive hits in August 2012.
“It’s a good feeling,” Ethier said. “You’re doing what you want to do — every at-bat, you want to get a hit. But more importantly, it’s just keeping this thing going and building off that momentum from last night.”
"Andre's swinging the bat really well. He's totally healthy at this point, and it's probably been a while since that happened." – Mattingly
— Dodger Insider (@DodgerInsider) May 13, 2015
Although Ethier had one of five hits off old friend Dan Haren in the first two innings, they were still trailing 1-0 on Giancarlo Stanton’s out-of-Dodger Stadium home run. However, the next two Dodger hits were solo homers by Howie Kendrick and Ethier in the third and fourth innings to give Los Angeles the lead. (Haren might have been adversely affected by a first-inning Kendrick shot that struck his arm.)
Then, in the fifth and sixth innings, the Dodgers unloaded for nine runs on 10 hits, giving them more than double their already impressive season-long run production.
In all, the Dodgers had a season-high 21 hits. Kendrick’s 4-for-5 night put his at .871. Alex Guerrero, who Mattingly said has turned third base into a three-person rotation with Juan Uribe and Justin Turner, had a double and two singles and is OPSing 1.177.
The Dodgers are 15-2 at home — the best home start in franchise history — and have already clinched their 10th consecutive home series victory, a Los Angeles record.
“Everyone wants to go out there and play well and contribute, and no one’s trying too hard to do too much,” Ethier said. “Someone steps up every night, and that’s just a key thing. … No matter what, whether you succeed or you don’t succeed, everyone’s going to pull for each other.”
Roger Miller
So far the depth of the Dodger offense has been the storyline. Puig and Crawford’s injuries have not slowed things down one bit. This has allowed Frias and Bolsinger to hold the fort and let the offense do the rest.
oldbrooklynfan
When SVS turned his head to watch Stanton’s HR, it reminded me of seeing Carl Furillo do the same thing, watching a gigantic shot some years ago at Ebbets Field.
I hope all this offense coming from Ethier doesn’t just increase his trade value.