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| Courtesy of sportslogos.net |
A couple of weeks ago, I ruled out the Dodgers because they appeared to be the only team going nowhere in the NL Mess. Now, they're the only team who is playing well on a consistent basis as they have won eight of their last nine games. They're still in last place with a 38-43 record, but now they're only one game behind fourth-place San Francisco and four games behind first-place Arizona. That's because every other team in the NL Mess can't seem to generate any kind of momentum.
A lot of the Dodgers' success has been based on what rookie sensation Yasiel Puig provides them -- namely, an electric hitter and base runner who has shown no signs of slowing down (yet). He's batting .436 with seven home runs, 16 RBI, 19 runs scored and four stolen bases in his first 26 games. With those kinds of numbers, it may be nearly impossible for manager Don Mattingly (whom I thought was going to be fired by the All-Star Break) to bench Puig for Carl Crawford when Crawford comes back from a hamstring injury. Incidentally, Crawford was batting .301 with five home runs and nine stolen bases before he was sidelined.
While it's true that the Dodgers recently lost starting pitcher Josh Beckett for the rest of this season so he can have neck surgery, that may wind up being addition by subtraction. Beckett's absence has allowed Stephen Fife to join the rotation on a regular basis, and so for Fife has done a better job in his seven starts (3-2, 2.83 ERA, 1.21 WHIP) than Beckett did in his seven starts (0-5, 5.19 ERA, 1.50 WHIP). If he keeps it going, Fife gives L.A. a solid No. 5 starter. Also, the switch from Brandon League to Kenley Jansen at closer has worked well.
So with the Dodgers' recent hot streak, we now have all five NL West teams bunched tightly together. How long it will be before someone takes control of this division is anyone's guess.
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