The Dodgers are in first place.
It may be by a razor-thin half game, but the
fact remains, the Dodgers are in first place in the NL West.
This team, which many wrote off earlier this
season (I was one of them), has stormed back into contention and they have done
it with baling wire and duct tape due to a long list of injuries, call ups from
Oklahoma City and the unlikeliest of heroes.
Last night, Ross Stripling tossed six innings of
shutout ball to notch his record at 8-2 with a stingy 2.03 ERA. Dave Roberts
named him to the NL All-Star team as a replacement and the funny thing is, he
earned it.
With Clayton Kershaw spending most of the season
on the DL, Stripling, who started the season in the bullpen, has emerged as the
staff ace. The Dodgers now have a pitching rotation of Stripling, Kershaw,
Kenta Maeda, Walker Buehler and Rich Hill.
And then there’s the offense.
Matt Kemp apparently made a deal with the Devil
because he came to L.A. as a washed-up veteran obtained to clear cap space and
earned a starting spot in the All-Star game. Then there’s Max Muncy. After two
lackluster seasons in Oakland, he is now the Munsternator, swatting 21 home
runs going into the weekend series against the Angels.
Other players have stepped up at times. Cody
Bellinger is having a little bit of a sophomore slump but is still productive;
Kike Hernandez is raking; Chris Taylor has moments; Yasmani Grandal can be
dangerous; and Justin Turner is trying to get healthy.
Yasiel Puig tweaked his oblique so Andrew Toles
showed up from Oklahoma City and promptly stroked a few hits. These are not the
juggernaut Dodgers of 2017. This is not the team that coasted into the World
Series with domination.
But they are in first place.
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