Diamondbacks vs Dodgers, June 1st

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Diamondbacks	Dodgers	B.Buckner vs H.Kuroda	Dodgers	63.37%	9.3

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers vs Cubs, May 31st

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Cubs	E.Milton vs S.Marshall	Cubs	58.16%	9.1

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

All-Star Manny

Not one to usually give a rats behind about off the field baseball stories, I would like to chime in about the recent popular topic of whether or not Manny Ramirez should play in the all-star game if voted in by the fans.

Let me get a couple of things out of the way from both sides of the argument before I give my opinion. First off, there is no rule against a player playing in the all-star game if he was suspended during the season. Secondly, the fans historically have made many poor choices in electing which players start for the NL and AL teams. You want the fans to vote, then live with the occasional bad choices. Thirdly, there is a rule in place that says that the league that wins the all-star game receives home field advantage during the World Series. Yes, this is a very lame rule, but it's a rule nonetheless. Home field advantage is historically between 4 and 5%, so of course the extra game at home helps.

My opinion is that Manny doesn't deserve to be voted into the all-star game. That part is probably a no-brainer. But if voted in, he 'should' play and should not be pressured not to play. As long as the rule exists that whichever league wins the all-star game gets home field advantage during the World Series, then each league should make as their top priority winning the all-star game, aka - putting your best players on the team.

Sure Giants, Nationals, Rockies and Astros fans probably don't care, because they have no shot at going to the World Series, but it's not fair to those teams trying to win the all-star game to not have one of their best players just because he did something wrong and was suspended for 50 games. Either A) get rid of the stupid winner gets home field advantage rule, or B) have a rule that is already in place stating that suspended players cannot play in the all-star game. Until either of those take place, then let the guy play if the fans happen to vote him in or the manager selects him as a reserve.

Dodgers vs Cubs, May 30th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Cubs	E.Stults vs R.Dempster	Cubs	58.51%	9.8

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers vs Cubs, May 29th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Cubs	C.Billingsley vs T.Lilly	Cubs	50.50%	7.9

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers vs Cubs, May 28th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Cubs	R.Wolf vs R.Wells	Cubs	54.55%	9.0

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers / Cubs, Series Preview

The Dodgers and Cubs both enter this game as teams of streaks. Not so much for their current modest win streaks (Dodgers 3, Cubs 2), but more for their recent streaks. The Cubs previous road trip saw them lose all 6 games, including 2 from a previous home stand, which totalled an 8 game losing streak. That road trip saw the Cubs score 5 runs in 6 games. The Dodgers on the otherhand have a 13 game home winning streak to their 2009 resume. More recently, the Dodgers just came off an impressive three game sweep of the Colorado Rockies in Coors Field and have won 11 of their last 15 games. The Dodgers have only played three games vs the NL Central so far this year, and sport a record of 1-2 (@ HOU) in those three games. The NL Central teams will pose a big challenge for the Dodgers even though the Dodgers won't see another NL Central team until July 10th when the Dodgers visit Milwaukee in the dead of the summer.

Team	Hitting	Arm	Range R	Error R	Overall Fielding	SP	RP	Overall Pitching	Team Total
Units	RAR	NL Rank	NL Rank	NL Rank	UZR	RAR	RAR	WAR	WAR
Dodgers	36.8				-4.9	44.1	13.8	6.1	15.4
Cubs	-20.4				3.5	41.8	-2.5	4.0	7.9
Dodgers NL Rank	1st	15th	10th	6th	11th	5th	4th	4th	1st
Cubs NL Rank	12th	9th	6th	4th	5th	6th	14th	9th	11th

Top Three Dodgers Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 2.0
1. 2B-Orlando Hudson 2.0
3. 3B-Casey Blake 1.6

Top Three Dodgers Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. *Chad Billingsley 2.0
2. *Randy Wolf 1.0
3. Clayton Kershaw 0.8

Top Three Dodgers Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Jonathan Broxton 1.3
2. Ramon Troncoso 0.6
3. Cory Wade 0.3

Top Three Dodgers Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 7.4
2. LF-Juan Pierre 1.4
3. 3B-Mark Loretta 1.0

Top Three Cubs Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. CF-Kosuke Fukudome 1.8
2. SS-Ryan Theriot 1.5
3. 3B-Aramis Ramirez 0.8

Top Three Cubs Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Carlos Zambrano 1.1
2. *Ryan Dempster 0.8
3. *Ted Lilly 0.8

Top Three Cubs Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Angel Guzman 0.3
2. Luis Vizcaino 0.1
3. Carlos Marmol 0.1

Top Three Cubs Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. SS-Ryan Theriot 4.2
2. RF-Kosuke Fukudome 2.8
3. 2B-Mike Fontenot 2.1

* Denotes a pitcher is pitching in this series.

This years version of the Cubs has not been all that impressive. They have struggled to score runs, especially on their previous road trip. They will have to put up some runs to compete with the Dodgers in this series. The Cubs starting pitching has been decent, but they obviously miss Rich Harden who is on the 15-Day DL with a lower back strain. The Cubs are a better fielding team than the Dodgers, their best fielder so far this year being shortstop Ryan Theriot. Still, Matt Kemp is the best fielder on either team. The most glaring weakness of this Cubs team is their bullpen and it's propensity for walking batters (BB/9: C.Marmol 7.71, A.Heilman 6.86, D.Patton 6.28, K.Gregg 5.59). An exciting player to watch in this series is RF-Jake Fox for the Cubs, who was just recently called up after putting up historically great numbers in AAA (Fangraphs: Free Jake Fox).

Last 15 Games, Dodgers: 11-4
Last 15 Games, Cubs: 7-8

Last 5 Games, Dodgers: 4-1
Last 15 Games, Cubs: 7-8


Series Pitching Matchups
G1: R.Wolf vs R.Wells
G2: C.Billingsley vs T.Lilly
G3: E.Stults vs R.Dempster
G4: E.Milton vs S.Marshall


Source for stats: Fangraphs

Riddle Me This

... let's suppose your best hitter goes down for whatever reason. Let's say he is your power hitting left fielder in this example. While he is unavailable to play, his backup, the teams fourth outfielder plays in his place and does extremely well. He becomes one of your teams most productive hitters and one of the reasons why your team is continuing to win. Then after... let's call it 50 games, your best hitter comes back. What do you do? Let's say your fourth outfielder really can only play left field because he has a poor throwing arm, but could probably sub in CF for a game or two a month. Then what? If you were in the managers shoes, what would you do? The options are plenty, some obviously better than others. But you want to make sure you give your team the best chance of winning. Well, for namesakes let's call this situation "The Juan Pierre Conundrum" and take a look at what some of the options are. And yes, the joke is over I am talking about Juan Pierre and the situation the Dodgers could very well find themselves in a month from now.

Option I: Platoon Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre, giving each of them equal amounts of playing time.
Pros: Juan Pierre's hot bat remains in the lineup two out of every three games.
Cons: Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier are better offensively and defensively than Juan Pierre and this weakens your team.

Option II: Platoon Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre, but only giving Juan Pierre one and on some occasions two starts per week.
Pros: Your fielding your best players most of the time, Juan Pierre still gets some playing time, and your starting three outfielders will need some rest anyways.
Cons: Sticking a hot bat on the bench and recently Juan Pierre's trade value has risen and he could possibly fetch you some depth at a different position.

Option III: Trade Pierre for pitching depth.
Pros: The Dodgers could use another strong arm out of the bullpen or 4th starter level pitcher. Juan is replaceable with what the Dodgers have in the minors (X.Paul, J.Hoffman, J.Repko). Plus if the Dodgers could get a favorable trade, they could sell high on Pierre and dump some of the salary he is sucking from this team.
Cons: It's all about depth. You never know if/when an outfielder will get hurt or suspended again. Pierre is too valuable as a backup outfielder to get rid of.

Option IV: Move Andre Ethier to first base.
Pros: Gets Juan Pierre more at-bats and moves either Ethier or Loney to the bench until they start hitting.
Cons:Can Ethier even play first base? You would have to LH firstbasemen, not an ideal platoon situation. You would have a downgrade defensively, as Pierre would then move to CF, knocking Matt Kemp over to RF.

Option V: Juan Pierre goes back to his old role of 4th outfielder, makes a few spot starts and provides insurance should one of the starting outfielders gets hurt.
Pros: Most likely to be putting your best team on the field both offensively and defensively. Plus it's always nice to have a fourth outfielder who has been putting up all-star numbers this year.
Cons: A player who has been putting up all-star numbers is now relegated to the bench. Passing by a golden opportunity to trade Juan Pierre and his huge anchor of a contract.


Well, these are the options I came up with off the top of my head, I am sure there are more options and even slight variations of the ones I've mentioned. Please feel free to leave some other options in the comments section, or chime in on what you would do if you were the manager or GM.

Some of the themes in the options listed above are the importance of playing your best players, as well as resting them appropriately so they can continue to be your best players. Depth, and how important it is to have players who can fill in adequately should someone get hurt or in the Dodgers case suspended is something the Dodgers are currently benefiting from. Why throw that out the window? Then you have the 500lb gorilla, Juan Pierre's contract, which has been a burden to the Dodgers. A Juan Pierre who puts up all-star type numbers should have some trade value now. Perhaps not alot, but certainly much more than he had to start the season with. You may never get another chance to sell this high on Juan Pierre. There is some risk as well as reward to any path the Dodgers choose to take. Obviously, this could all become moot, if the clock strikes twelve on Juan Pierre's hot start to the season and he turns back into the pumpkin he has been the previous two years for the Dodgers. Remember, this is a player with a .434 BABIP and a career BABIP of .320. The bubble will eventually burst, the question is will it slowly seep or explode into a sea of ground ball outs.

Dodgers vs Rockies, May 27th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rockies	C.Kershaw vs U.Jimenez	Rockies	57.81%	9.3

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Taking The Extra Base

A Look Around The Dodger Blogosphere

Jon Weisman's book, 100 Things Dodger Fans Should Know And Do Before They Die, was highlighted by KCAL Channel 9. A great gift for any Dodger fan. Buy the book! Video link

Congratulations to the wonderful Dodger blog True Blue LA, which recently surpassed the 1,000 member mark. Co-moderator Eric Stephens points out that the Dodgers have drawn the most walks of any team in baseball with 217. The Dodger walk gap is +17, which is good for just under half a win.

Orel of Sons of Steve Garvey blog fame, had a great time in the Dodgers press box for a recent game. I may try this for a game or two later in the season, so thanks for helping blaze the trail Orel and not spilling any Nachos in the blog spot.

Tony Jackson over at LA Dodger Talk, says "that Jason Schmidt’s rehab has been shut down because of “discomfort” he felt in his shoulder". Can we just give up on Jason and make him a special assistant to the General Manager? I'm sure Bill Mueller, Lee Elia and company are getting lonely.

Are wedding bells in store for Casey Blake and Mike Scoscia's Tragic Illness blog? Apparently not, but MSTI does a great job pointing out how Casey Blake has been carrying the load since Manny was suspended.

And last but not least, Blue Heaven, shows off a recent college baseball workout (video) for some of the MLB scouts in attendance.

Buying Into The BABIP Babble

Hitting, pitching, fielding and a little bit of luck, well actually more than a little bit of luck win baseball games. One part of the equation when it comes to luck, is where a batted ball drops into play. While a line drive may end up in a fielders glove, solely because the ball was hit right at him, a blooper may fall in for a single or double because it landed in no mans land. One of the stats that shows alot of this batted ball luck is BABIP (Batting average on ball in play). For almost all pitchers this stat has been proven to be luck driven, not skill driven. Most pitchers will see their BABIP against hover around .300. With the luckier pitchers seeing their BABIP against, quite a bit lower than this figure, and the unlucky pitchers seeing their BABIP against, quite a bit higher. For example, for pitchers with 50 or more innings pitched this year, the luckiest AL and NL pitchers determined by BABIP against are Ross Ohlendorf (PIT, 0.235) and Matt Garza (TB, 0.243). On the other end of the slate, the unluckiest NL and AL pitchers have been John Lester (BOS, 0.386) and Tim Lincecum (SF, 0.382).

Hitters on the otherhand are said to have more control over their BABIP, through such things as line drive, ground ball, and fly ball rates, speed as well as park factors. Speed allows quick runners the extra advantage of being able to beat out a groundball hit in the infield. BABIP for hitters has proven to be a somewhat repeatable skill. So how are the Dodgers doing as a team when it comes to BABIP for their hitters? They come in at a lofty clip of 0.342! That is a full 0.015 points higher than the next team (TB, 0.327). So are the Dodgers hitters just incredibly lucky this year? One would think so, atleast to a certain degree... so let's take a look at which Dodger players are bringing up the BABIP and if it looks sustainable.

Player	2009 BABIP	Career BABIP	2009 Runs Created
Juan Pierre	0.412	0.319	24.2
Orlando Hudson	0.400	0.323	38.7
Mark Loretta	0.389	0.321	7.4
Matt Kemp	0.388	0.378	28.9
Manny Ramirez	0.377	0.345	29.0
Casey Blake	0.346	0.307	31.6
Russell Martin	0.339	0.316	18.6

So it appears that all these hitters (except for the amazing Matt Kemp) have their BABIP well over their career norms. A steady rise in BABIP this far into a career, outside of the steroid era isn't something likely to be sustainable. We may be seeing an amazing start of the season hitting-wise by this group of Dodgers, that very likely will regress back towards their career norms. Then the question arises, what would the "Runs Created" column look like if we were to regress all of these players BABIP to their exact career norm numbers. This can be easily done by taking each players 2009 distribution/ratio of hits, then modifying the BABIP, which in turn would spit out a new tally of singles, doubles and triples for each player. The "Runs Created" for each player (OBP*SLG*AB) then gets recalculated for each player.

Player	09 Runs Created	Regressed 09 Runs Created
Juan Pierre	24.2	15.6
Orlando Hudson	38.7	27.9
Mark Loretta	7.4	5.5
Matt Kemp	28.9	27.8
Manny Ramirez	29.0	26.5
Casey Blake	31.6	27.7
Russell Martin	18.6	16.7

First off, wow 30.7 runs right there! Let's hope Juan Pierre and Orlando Hudson take their time turning back into pumpkins. Keep in mind that I am only looking at the luckiest group of Dodger hitters, there are likely a few runs that need to be added to the other side of the ledger, though nothing nearing the 30.7 total you see here. What would 30.7 runs mean to this Dodger team? How would it effect their win/loss total. For that answer we can compare the Dodgers current Pythagorean record to one that has 30.7 less runs scored. The Dodgers current Pythagorean winning percentage is .675, and adjusted down 30.7 runs it would become .618. Over the 46 games the Dodgers have played so far, that would be a loss of 2.6 wins.

The Dodgers hitting is bound for a pretty strong regression, let's just hope the amazing starting pitching can keep it's current pace. The Dodgers probably feel pretty safe, leading the Padres who aren't sure if they are a contender or in the midst of a fire sale by 7-1/2 games. It's still early, the Dodgers have been lucky hitting wise, but they are still good enough and the rest of the division bad enough that it probably still doesn't matter. I would like to revisit this later in the season.

Dodgers vs Rockies, May 26th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rockies	E.Milton vs A.Cook	Rockies	59.35%	10.4

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers vs Rockies, May 25th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Dodgers	Rockies	E.Stults vs J.de la Rosa	Rockies	57.08%	10.7

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Dodgers / Rockies Series Preview

Interleague play is over for the time being and it's back to the NL West competition for the Dodgers. Next up is a three game road series against the last place Rockies. The Rockies might be the last place team in the NL West, 11 games behind the Dodgers and 1/2 a game behind the Diamondbacks, but they are the 2nd best last place team in the majors. The NL West is no longer the NL worst, as the division as a whole is only one game under .500. The NL East is now the NL Least, as the division finds itself 10 games under .500. The Rockies haven't been playing all that bad of late. They are 7-8 over their last 15 games and have a decent pitching staff that is keeping them afloat. The Dodgers will be throwing out three consecutive left handed starters (Stults, Milton, Kershaw), all three can be a bit of a grab bag at times.

Team	Hitting	Arm	Range R	Error R	Overall Fielding	SP	RP	Overall Pitching	Team Total
Units	RAR	NL Rank	NL Rank	NL Rank	UZR	RAR	RAR	WAR	WAR
Dodgers	28.4				-4.9	42.6	14.9	6.1	14.0
Rockies	-19.0				-7.4	42.7	10.2	5.5	8.0
Dodgers NL Rank	1st	15th	10th	6th	11th	5th	3rd	2nd	7th
Rockies NL Rank	12th	13th	11th	8th	12th	4th	6th	4th	1st

Top Three Dodgers Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 1.9
2. 2B-Orlando Hudson 1.6
3. 3B-Casey Blake 1.4

Top Three Dodgers Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Chad Billingsley 1.8
2. Randy Wolf 1.1
3. Clayton Kershaw 0.9

Top Three Dodgers Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Jonathan Broxton 1.4
2. Ramon Troncoso 0.6
3. Cory Wade 0.3

Top Three Dodgers Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. CF-Matt Kemp 7.4
2. LF-Juan Pierre 1.4
3. 3B-Mark Loretta 1.0

Top Three Rockies Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. C-Chris Ianetta 0.8
2T OF-Seth Smith 0.7
2T 1B-Todd Helton 0.7
2T 2B-Clint Barmes 0.7

Top Three Rockies Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. *Ubaldo Jimenez 1.4
2. *Jorge de la Rosa 1.2
3. Jason Marquis 1.0

Top Three Rockies Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. Jason Grilli 0.3
2. Manny Corpas 0.2
3. Huston Street 0.2

Top Three Rockies Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. 2B-Clint Barmes 3.8
2. LF-Ryan Spillborghs 2.2
3. RF-Ryan Spillborghs 2.1

* Denotes a pitcher is pitching in this series.

The Dodgers better not take the Rockies too lightly. The biggest difference between these two teams is the hitting. The Dodgers have the #1 ranked NL Offense and the Rockies the 12th. Fielding and pitching wise the two teams are very similar. The Rockies have three starting pitchers with an 09 WAR of 1.0 or greater, while the Dodgers have two, with Kershaw ready to climb over that threshold. Jason Grilli has been the Rockies best pitcher out of the pen (FIP 3.00, K/9 11.57), more impressively done while allowing a BABIP against of .411. Huston Street has been pretty decent too (FIP 3.95, K/9 10.38), but Manny Corpas has been a bit of a letdown (FIP 3.58, K/9 4.82) especially his K/9 rate which has dropped for the 3rd consecutive year. Corpas, admittedly has been a bit unlucky (BABIP .388). Either way, don't expect the Rockies to be a pushover, as this is a big series for them, as they try to close the gap on the Dodgers big NL West lead.

Last 15 Games, Dodgers: 9-6
Last 15 Games, Rockies: 7-8

Last 5 Games, Dodgers: 3-2
Last 15 Games, Rockies: 3-2


Series Pitching Matchups
G1: E.Stults vs J.de la Rosa
G2: E.Milton vs A.Cook
G3: C.Kershaw vs U.Jimenez


Source for stats: Fangraphs

Angels vs Dodgers, May 24th

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Angels	Dodgers	M.Palmer vs C.Billingsley	Dodgers	64.29%	7.8

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

NL Doesn't Suck So Far

Two days into interleague play the National League has been holding it's own for the most part. The American League holds a slight and statistically insignificant 15-13 edge so far. The American League actually has won 8 of the 14 games played in NL parks, while the two leagues have split the 14 games played in AL parks.

Angels vs Dodgers, May 23rd

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Angels	Dodgers	J.Lackey vs R.Wolf	Dodgers	53.49%	7.5

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Angels vs Dodgers, May 22nd

Visitors	Home	Probable Pitching Matchup	Favorite	Vegas Win Expectancy	Over/Under
Angels	Dodgers	J.Weaver vs C.Kershaw	Dodgers	54.55%	7.4

Note: All win expectancies are no longer from my Simulator, and are now from Vegas Odds.

Angels / Dodgers, Series Preview

Heading into the Freeway Series both teams find themselves without their big sluggers. The Angels have been playing without Vladimir Guerrero for most of the year due to torn pectoral muscle and the Dodgers without Manny Ramirez for the last dozen or so games. The Angels enter the series in 2nd place in the AL West, with a 21-19 record and only two games behind the surprising Rangers. The Dodgers on the otherhand hold a whopping 9 game lead over some god awful team. The Angels, whose pitching staff has been in shambles this year, recently got a big boost from the return of both John Lackey (Saturdays pitcher) and Ervin Santana. Please read below for a more statistical breakdown of the matchup.

Team	Hitting	Arm	Range R	Error R	Overall Fielding	SP	RP	Overall Pitching	Team Total
Units	RAR	NL Rank	NL Rank	NL Rank	UZR	RAR	RAR	WAR	WAR
Angels	4.7				-4.1	33.4	14.7	4.7	9.1
Dodgers	25.1				-8.8	43.6	13.4	6.0	12.9
Angels MLB Rank	15th	23rd	20th	24th	21st	17th	7th	11th	12th
Dodgers MLB Rank	6th	29th	23rd	17th	24th	5th	10th	4th	2nd

Top Three Angels Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. CF-Torri Hunter +1.5
2. C -Mike Napoli +1.3
3. RF-Bobby Abreu +1.1

Top Three Angels Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. *J.Weaver +1.1
2. J.Saunders +0.8
3. S.Loux +0.6

Top Three Angels Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. J.Arredondo +0.7
2. D.Oliver +0.6
3. B.Fuentes +0.4

Top Three Angels Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. 2B-H.Kendrick 4.2
2. LF-J.Rivera 1.4
3. 1B-R.Quinlan 1.0

Top Three Dodgers Hitters by 2009 WAR:
1. M.Kemp +1.7
2. O.Hudson +1.6
3. M.Ramirez +1.3

Top Three Dodgers Starting Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. *C.Billingsley +1.8
2. *R.Wolf +1.1
3. *C.Kersahw +0.8

Top Three Dodgers Relief Pitchers by 2009 WAR:
1. J.Broxton +1.2
2. R.Troncoso +0.6
3. C.Wade +0.4

Top Three Dodgers Fielders by 2009 UZR:
1. CF-M.Kemp 7.3
2. 1B-J.Loney 2.0
3. 1B.M.Loretta 0.6

* Denotes a pitcher is pitching in this series.

Statistically, the Angels aren't all that impressive. Their biggest strength appears to be their bullpen, but their closer Brian Fuentes, is not even their first or second best pitcher out of the pen. Niether team fields all that well, but the Dodgers do have the 4th best fielder (Matt Kemp) in all of baseball based on 2009 UZR. The Dodgers continue to be near the top in hitting and pitching, and should be favored to win this series. Of course with the return of Lackey, the Angels starting pitching is better now than what the early season stats show. The Dodgers counter with their three best pitchers (Kershaw, Wolf and Billingsley), so be prepared for some great pitching and low scoring games this weekend.

Last 15 Games, Angels: 9-6
Last 15 Games, Dodgers: 10-5

Last 5 Games, Angels: 3-2
Last 15 Games, Dodgers: 4-1


Series Pitching Matchups
G1: J.Weavers vs C.Kershaw
G2: J.Lackey vs R.Wolf
G3: M.Palmer vs C.Billingsley


Source for stats: Fangraphs

The Tortoise and The Dodgers

After sweeping the New York Mets out of first place, the Dodgers find themselves an amazing 8-1/2 games in front of the 2nd place Giants in the National League West. The Dodgers got great pitching, outscoring the Mets by a narrow 10-6 margin over the three game series. At the current pace, the Dodgers would win the NL West by over 19 games. We all know that won't happen, but the Dodgers are sure building themselves up a nice little cushion.

Next up for the Dodgers will be the cross-town rival Angels who were shutout for the second time in four games tonight by none other than Mariners rookie Chris Jakubauskas. The Angels play one more game against the Mariners thursday, while the Dodgers lay in waiting with the day off. I will have a series preview up as we get closer to friday nights game. Until then ponder this... Juan Pierre (162) and Mark Loretta (135) rank first and second in the National League in OPS+ for players who have played more than 25 games and have yet to hit a HR.