Dodgers flex muscle; visit the DL

One month into the Los Angeles Dodgers 2015 campaign and two things stand out: LA has some pop in their bats and they are having a hard time staying off the disabled list.

The Dodgers have smacked 32 homers this season, tops in the National League and one ahead of Cincinnati.

Third starter Hyun Jin-Ryu and closer Kenley Jansen started the season on the DL and hope to return in May. Starting pitcher Brendan McCarthy started the season with a deceiving 3-0 record but is out for the rest of the year with an arm injury. Mr. Everything Clayton Kershaw is struggling with a 1-2 record and 3.73 ERA in five starts.

Zack Greinke, on the other hand, looks like a Cy Young winner with a 4-0 record and 1.93 ERA to start the season.

Outfielders Carl Crawford and Yasiel Puig are on the 15-day DL, which has allowed Andre Ethier and Scott Van Slyke some playing time. Ethier, once thought to be on the trading block as the odd man out, is hitting .304 and Van Slyke is hitting .393. Depth in the outfield is proving to be a strength.

Rookie Joc Pederson is starting to demonstrate why he is getting the start in center. Pederson is hitting .298 with four dingers and 10 RBI and has demonstrated great range in the outfield.

Adrian Gonzalez started the season on fire, hitting .383 in April with eight homers and 19 RBI.

Howie Kendrick (.295) and Juan Uribe (.278) are holding their own while shortstop Jimmy Rollins (.185) is 15 points below the Mendoza Line.

Subs Alex Guerrero (.423) and Justin Turner (.273) are providing punch off the bench. Guerrero has gone yard five times and is making it hard to keep him out of the lineup.

A definite liability last year, a young bullpen is holding its own with relievers Yimi Garcia, Adam Liberatore, J.P. Howell, Pedro Baez, Juan Nicasio and Joel Peralta holding their own.

Catcher Yasmani Grandal is contributing behind the plate but is hitting a paltry .189.

The Dodgers are using several young starters until Ryu gets back to fill out the starting rotation.

The Dodgers go into May with a three-game set against Arizona on Friday night.

In April, the Dodgers played seven three-game series and won five of them. San Francisco took a three-game sweep April 21-23 and Arizona took a 2-1 series in Phoenix April 10-12.

The Dodgers swept Seattle and Colorado and took two of three against the Giants in LA this past week. LA also won two series against San Diego, which figures to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West.

San Diego, Colorado, Arizona and San Francisco are all within striking distance of the first-place Dodgers as the pack has yet to see any team take a commanding lead in the standings.

Guerrero’s hot bat may force Mattingly’s hand

Alex Guerrero is a man without a position.

But if the 28-year old Cuban import from Las Tunas keeps hitting the way he has lately, Dodger skipper Don Mattingly will have to find a place for him in the lineup.

Guerrero hit two homers in the series against the Giants and is hitting at a .474 clip in limited playing time this year. Guerrero is 9-for-19 with four homers and 12 RBI. His slugging percentage is a crazy 1.211.

The knock on Guerrero is his defense and limited range. He was an All-Star shortstop in Cuba but does not seem destined to play that position for the Dodgers. Conventional wisdom says 36-year-old Jimmy Rollins is a stopgap measure at short until Cory Seager is ready to come up from the minors. Guerrero’s most likely position is at third base where 37-year-old Juan Uribe is entrenched as the starter and Justin Turner is the backup.

Uribe has been the mainstay for the Dodgers at the hot corner for years but has started slow (.250) with the bat this season. If Guerrero’s bat stays hot, Mattingly will have to find more frequent plate appearances for him.

Guerrero went yard against Madison Bumgarner in Wednesday’s loss and then went yard Thursday in LA’s 3-2 loss to San Francisco. 

Guerrero defected from Cuba in 2013, then established residency in Haiti in order to become a free agent. He signed a four-year, $28 million deal to play for the Dodgers. 

Dodgers-Giants rivalry renewed tonight

The Dodgers and Giants renew their blood feud tonight at AT&T Park and the feelings still run high.

I have been a Dodgers fan for as long as I can remember. It was a family tradition primarily because by Mom liked to go out to Dodger Stadium whenever she could and allowed me to tag along and bring a few friends at 75 cents a pop to sit in the left field pavilion.

The Giants have always been the enemy. Willie Mays, Will McCovey, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Hal Lanier and later Barry Bonds, Matt Williiams, Will Clark, Jeff Kent and others have played the role of villain against the Dodgers.

But let’s give credit where it is due. The Giants have won three World Series titles in the last five years. That’s as close to a dynasty that baseball has seen for decades.

San Francisco has proven that all that matters is getting to October and then anything can happen. The Giants won the one-game Wild Card play-in last year then marched all the way to the title.

I caught the Dodgers against the Giants for a couple of games last year at AT&T and the fans were friendly and playfully giving me and others a hard time for being decked out in Dodger gear. I never felt it was anything more than friendly competition.

The funniest moment came on the Muni train after the game when a decidedly inebriated young lady starting berating a group of us wearing Dodger gear.

“LA, everything about LA is phony. Even the women with their boob jobs. Everything there is fake,” she said. Then (pointing at her own chest) she proclaimed, “these are real.”

The guy sitting next to me then earned a high five when he said, “Prove it.”

You gotta love baseball.

Dodgers off to quick start

It’s only April and the sample size is pretty small – only 12 games.

But the first impression being made by the 2015 Dodgers is a good one. The baseball minds now running the Dodgers, they of the sabermetrics and analytics, could have a strong team on their hands.

The Dodgers swept Seattle and Colorado this week and have rattled off seven straight wins to post a 9-3 record and a 1.5 game early lead in the NL West.

The acquisitions have shown well early. Jimmy Rollins at short and Howie Kendrick at second have been impressive – especially Kendrick’s bat.

The rookie in center, Joc Pederson, is still a little green but we can already see why he tore up the Pacific Coast League last year and earned a shot to win the job in center.

Yasmani Grandal at catcher is struggling at the plate but should provide an upgrade at catcher.

Though Yasiel Puig, Pederson and Carl Crawford will get the nod in the outfield most nights, Scott Van Slyke and Andre Ethier give Mattingly a deep bench and the ability to exploit lefty/righty matchups.

Then there’s the pitchers. Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson have been holding down the fort until Hyun Jin-Ryu returns to the rotation and relievers Yimi Garcia, Juan Nicasio, Joel Peralta, Pedro Baez, J.P. Howell, Paco Rodriguez, Chris Hatcher and Adam Liberatore are keeping the pen producing while Kenley Jansen recovers from foot surgery.

The pen was LA’s weak link last year but appears to be stronger in 2015.

Clayton Kershaw (1-1) has yet to return to Cy Young and MVP form but Zack Greinke (2-0) is pitching like an ace.

Then there’s the power. The Dodgers are third in homers in the major leagues out of the gate and lead the majors with 36 doubles through the first 12 games. The Dodgers have the best team batting average (.288) in the National League and the third-best in the majors.

Gonzalez leads the club with five dingers but Kendrick, Alex Guerrero, Pederson, and Puig each have a pair.

I like the bench where Van Slyke, Ethier, Guerrero and Justin Turner are capable of winning a game with their bats.

It’s April. It’s early. But the Dodgers are off to a good start.

Dodgers are must-see tv

Two-hundred dollars.

Some would say that's a bit much to watch the Dodgers play on television.Of course, if you live in Los Angeles it doesn't matter.

Seventy percent of Los Angelenos can't get the team on local cable or satellite because of the ongoing dispute with Time Warner Cable and other carriers.

But living here in Carson City, Nevada, I can get the Dodgers on MLB Extra Innings for $200 for the whole season.

That comes to about a buck and a quarter per game.

I don't drink coffee but I'm guessing you can't get a cup of coffee for $1.25, unless you go to McDonalds.

So when the Dodgers spotted Seattle 4-0 and 3-0 leads on long balls the past two nights and then stormed back for 6-5 wins in the bottom of the tenth and ninth innings, I was there, nestled on the recliner.

And on those nights when I can't watch live, I record the game and do a speed watch on fast forward. You can speed watch a game in 30 minutes and never miss a big play.

To my boyhood friends from Bell Gardens who post pictures from Chavez Ravine, I salute you and wish I was in the seat next to you.

But here in Carson City, at the foot of the Sierras and down the mountain from shining Lake Tahoe, Dodger fever runs high.

Gonzalez overshadows Kemp's return

It was odd seeing Matt Kemp in the other team’s dugout.

Kemp, now the right fielder for the Padres, was cheered loudly in the season opener but more and more boos surfaced as he wielded a hot bat against the Dodgers in the season-opening series that wound up last night with a 7-4 Dodgers’ victory fueled by three home runs by Adrian Gonzalez.

Kemp, who was traded to San Diego to solve an overcrowded outfield situation, demonstrated his 2014 second half was no fluke, giving Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Brandon McCarthy fits.

But it was Gonzalez who earned national attention, clubbing five dingers in the first three games, punctuated with his three-homer night on Wednesday.

Neither Kershaw nor Greinke earned victories in their openers, though they pitched well enough to win. McCarthy, the former Diamondback and Yankee, tossed a strong five innings before running out of gas in the sixth.

Paco Rodriguez, Pedro Baez, J.P. Howell and the ancient Joel Peralta finished up for McCarthy, who got the win. The Dodgers are without closer Kenley Jansen but hope to have him back in May.

With the loss of Kemp, Hanley Ramirez and Dee Gordon in the batting order, the Dodgers are looking to veterans Jimmy Rollins and Howie Kendrick and rookie Joc Pederson to deliver this season. Rollins hit a game-winning homer in the season opener and Kendrick and Pederson have had promising at bats.

Lefty Brett Anderson will make his Los Angeles debut Friday against Arizona. Anderson has been slowed by injuries the past several seasons.