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As a Dodger, Justin Turner is slugging .538 in 233 at-bats against right-handed pitchers. (Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers)
By Jon Weisman
When Justin Turner bashed his three-run home run to center field off Matt Garza in the sixth inning Tuesday, propelling the Dodgers toward an 8-2 victory at Milwaukee, there was something both noteworthy and increasingly mundane about it.
The home run came against a right-handed pitcher, just as Turner’s previous three homers in the past week have. Despite having only 38 at-bats against righties this season, Turner is tied for third on the Dodgers in home runs against northpaws.
That’s no small feat. So far in 2015, 82 percent of the Dodgers’ plate appearances have come against right-handed pitching, as well as 86 percent (36 out of 42) of their home runs.
Overall, the Dodgers are torching right-handed pitchers to the tune of an .841 OPS, which is .001 behind the club-record .842 set in 1953. If it were to hold up, the 2015 team’s .495 slugging percentage against righties would break the team record by .018 and the Los Angeles record by .048.
Righties had actually allowed 90 percent of the Dodgers’ home runs this year before Brewers lefty Neal Cotts entered the game with one out in the seventh inning and gave up home runs to two of the first four batters he faced, Jimmy Rollins and Adrian Gonzalez.
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Gonzalez’s home run, which hit the scoreboard dozens of feet above the center-field wall, was the first home run by a left-handed batter against a left-handed pitcher for the Dodgers this year. In 26 games this season, there have been only 55 plate appearances by Dodger lefty batters against Dodger lefty pitchers — 49 if you limit the count position players.
Dodger righty batters haven’t been similarly protected. They have come up 341 times against righty pitchers, producing an impressive .779 OPS. To put that in a little bit of perspective, no other National League offense has a .779 OPS, even when including situations in which they have a platoon advantage. Dodger right-handed pitchers have allowed only a .584 OPS to right-handed batters this year.
Leading the way for the Dodger righties against righties are names like Turner (1.179 OPS), Alex Guerrero (1.130 OPS) and Scott Van Slyke (.979 OPS), names that in other years might rarely be allowed to bat against same-sided pitchers. Small sample size warnings should be noted, of course — for example, Guerrero is already sliding, with a single, a walk and six strikeouts in his past 15 at-bats. But clearly, ruling their righty-vs.-righty matchups has been a key to the Dodgers’ early season success.
